The multi-camera sitcom The Wayans Bros. ran for 5 seasons/101 episodes on The WB, from 1995-1999. It stars real-life brothers Shawn Wayans (In Living Color, Scary Movie, White Chicks) and Marlon Wayans (Scary Movie, In Living Color, White Chicks, The Ladykillers) as siblings Shawn and Marlon Williams, who share an apartment in Harlem. In the first season, older brother Shawn works for courier service APS and longtime girlfriend Lisa (Lela Rochon, Waiting to Exhale, Any Given Sunday) is encouraging him to apply for a promotion to Dispatcher. Younger brother Marlan works as a busboy in Pops’ Joint, the diner owned by their father, John “Pops” Williams (John Witherspoon, Friday, The Tracy Morgan Show, Boomerang, The Boondocks). Despite Shawn being the more responsible one, the brothers are constantly getting into trouble as they embark on some new moneymaking scheme.

The series saw several big changes in its the second season, starting with the fact that Shawn’s girlified Lisa doesn’t return (we find out in episode 2 that she dumped him). And so we see Shawn getting back into the dating world. Also, we learn that Shawn was laid off from his courier job, and in the second season opener, he buys the newsstand next to his father’s diner (which has now moved into Rockefeller Center rather than being a standalone restaurant). Marlon also now works at the newsstand. The second season also introduces a few short-lived characters, including neighbor White Mike (Mitch Mullany), love interest Monique (Paula Jai Parker), and security guard Louise “Lou” Malino (Jill Tasker), unfortunately none of whom last the season. Though Lou is replaced by new security guard Dee Baxter (Anna Maria Horsford) for the rest of the series. The second season also introduces Marlon’s recurring friend Thelonious “T.C.” Capricornio (Phill Lewis), while the third season introduces recurring characters of Grandma Ellington (Ja’Net DuBois), and heavy-set friend Dupree (Jermaine ‘Huggy’ Hopkins).

I don’t think I ever watched this series when it originally aired, but I found it to be quite entertaining as I binged through the episodes on this DVD set. The episodes move at a fast pace, and have a fun blend of physical humor, witty banter, jokes, and impressions. The series often makes references to/pokes fun at the Wayans’ previous projects/characters. The Wayans Bros. is a fun showcase for the Wayans’ trademark wild antics and brand of humor, but with a more scripted nature rather than sketches. Though we still get to see them dress up in crazy costumes, such as two old men in order to infiltrate an old folks home. For the most part, the show and the humor hold up really well. Marlon and Shawn have such great comedic chemistry, and the physical humor really works. There are some then-contemporary references to various celebrities’, musicians, and athletes that may be slightly dated, and some of the weight-related jokes probably wouldn’t fly if pitched for today’s often more-sensitive audiences. But overall I quite enjoyed the show.

In addition to the Wayans brothers, the series also has a great ensemble, especially the hilarious patriarch Pops, who’s constantly getting annoyed by his sons’ antics. The series also has some wonderful guest stars, including Garrett Morris, Gary Coleman, Beverly Johnson, Sherman Hemsley, Richard Roundtree and Dionne Warwick.

Warner Bros. had previously released all five seasons of The Wayans Bros. individually on DVD—the first season as a retail release, and the other four seasons via Warner Archive. This new Complete Series DVD box set appears to just be a repackaging of those previous discs together for the first time.

The DVD picture quality generally looks quite good and pleasant, not perfect and sometimes slightly faded, but pretty much better than what you would expect for a standard definition show of the era. The back of the packaging says that the first season contains a 5.1 audio track, but I found that all 5 seasons only played back in stereo. Dialogue is clear and the stereo track is more than sufficient for a sitcom like this. The audience laugh track feels natural and never over-powering. One annoyance is that only the first season offers closed captions/subtitles—which is the same as the previous DVD releases.

The five seasons are split across 14 discs, with 2 for the first season and 3 for each of the other seasons. Oddly, for the seasons spread across 3 discs, there are 9 episodes on each of the first 2 discs, and only 4 on the third, rather than spreading the episodes out more evenly. The discs are placed overlapping on plastic trays in a single large, thick plastic keepcase, similar to the ones used by other recent WB complete series releases we have reviewed. The plastic keepcase is covered by a carboard slipcover, with the episode lists detailed on the inside of the case insert (though the insert needs to be removed in order to read it).

The discs unfortunately do not contain any bonus material, and there is no digital copy included.

What’s Included:

Episodes: (37:31:28)

• All 101 episodes of the series on 14 discs:
  • Season 1 (1995) (4:50:04) – 13 eps, 2 discs
    Disc 1 (2:36:48): “Goop-Hair-It-Is”, “First Class”, “I’m Too Sexy for My Brother”, “Free Wally”, “My Fair Marlon”, “Pops Moves In”
    Disc 2 (2:13:16): “Afro Cab”, “The Shawn-Shank Redemption”, “ER”, “The Poppa-Cabana”, “It’s Shawn! It’s Marlon! It’s Superboys!”, “Pulp Marlon”, “Brazilla vs. Rodney”
  • Season 2 (1995-96) (8:13:20) – 22 eps, 3 discs
    Disc 1 (3:21:37): “Shawn Takes a New Stand”, “Fatal Subtraction”, “Blood is Thicker Than Watercolor”, “Two Men and a Baby”, “Loot”, “The Liar’s Club”, “Scared Straight”, “Head of State”, “The Sting”
    Disc 2 (3:22:29): “Think Fast”, “Farmer’s Daughter”, “Psycho Santa”, “Getting It”, “Who’s In Charge Here?”, “The Odd Couples”, “Hearts and Flowers”, “The Ghetto Gourmets”, “A Hero’s Story”
    Disc 3 (1:29:14): “It Takes a Thief”, “New Lease on Life”, “Mama, I Wanna Act”, “Trial and Error”
  • Season 3 (1996-97) (8:08:08) – 22 eps, 3 discs
    Disc 1 (3:18:28): “Grandma’s in the Hiz-House”, “Unbrotherly Love”, “Movin’ On Up”, “Gots to Have a J.O.B.”, “Trippin'”, “Drama for Yo’ Mama”, “Family Business”, “An Officer and a Homegirl”, “The Return of the Temptones”
    Disc 2 (3:21:00): “Going to the Net”, “Do the Wrong Thing”, “Boyz in the Woods”, “Life Without Marlon”, “Unusual Suspects”, “Goodbye Mr. Gibbs”, “Risky Bid-ness”, “Pops’ Secret”, “I Do…?”
    Disc 3 (1:28:40): “Dee’s Baby Daddy”, “The Black Widower”, “Say It Ain’t So, Marlon”, “Marlon Goes On the Road”
  • Season 4 (1997-98) (8:12:17) – 22 eps, 3 discs
    Disc 1 (3:22:08): “Marlon’s Return”, “Prom Fright”, “Pops’ Daughter”, “Stand Up Guy”, “Unspoken Token”, “Odd Man Out”, “Pops’ Last Hurrah”, “I Was En Vogue’s Love Slave”, “Can I Get a Witness?”
    Disc 2 (3:23:03): “Ted’s Revenge”, “All in the Family Feud”, “Raging Marlon”, “The Son of Marlon”, “Dee’s Deelemma”, “Independence Day”, “Help a Brother Out”, “The Rich Girl”, “Busta Saves the Day”
    Disc 3 (1:27:06): “Talk is Cheap”, “Bringing It All Back Home”, “Recipe for Success”, “Fire!”
  • Season 5 (1998-99) (8:07:39) – 22 eps, 3 discs
    Disc 1 (3:20:56): “Brother Can You Spare a Dime?”, “Six Degrees of Marlon”, “Pops’ Campaign”, “Romeo & J’Leeta”, “Ho’s on First”, “Escorting Ain’t Easy”, “The Kiss”, “The High Life”, “Misery”
    Disc 2 (3:18:50): “Marlon Joins a Cult”, “A Country Christmas”, “Green Card”, “Big Brother”, “Saving Private Marlon”, “Jump!”, “Pops Gets Evicted”, “Crazy 4 You”, “Hip Hop Pops”
    Disc 3 (1:27:53): “Everybody Loves Shawn”, “Dream Girl”, “Three on the Couch”, “Rope-a-Dope”
• 480i / Full Frame 1.33:1
• Audio: English 2.0
• Subtitles: (Season 1 only) English, French, Spanish
• Closed Captions: Season 1 only
Extras:
There is no bonus material included on this release

Final Thoughts: