My Wife and Kids (TV Series 2000–2005) Poster

(2000–2005)

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8/10
Sad that it Ended when the Characters were at their peak
chethanclassified25 March 2021
Probably one of the best cast for a family sitcoms out there, I do not have to say much as there are decade worth of reviews however I feel sad that it ended with only 5 Seasons, Especially when the characters were at the peak of their acting chemistry on 5th Season.
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8/10
A really real and funny concept of family
raulfaust14 September 2008
Warning: Spoilers
My wife and kids is a good and funny series that truly shows the worries and problems that happen the most even in the best families.

Michael Kyle (daddy) is a man who is always trying to stop his children from doing teen's stuff like partying, drinking, loving or making love. When they do something wrong, he is right there to correct them (by the way he loves to make bad penalties)

Janet 'Jay' Kyle (mother) has a strong personality and rarely agrees with her husband. She understands that their children are teenagers and like to do "wrong" things, unlike Michael does

Michael Kyle 'Jr' is a dumb guy who believes in everything other people say. In the beginning of the series, he's such a cool guy and tries to be like his father, but lately, I don't know why, he becomes a very very dumb dude and he starts being a problematic guy. In the end of the series he falls in love with Vanessa and becomes a father, or should I say, a dumb father who does nothing right

Kady Kyle is a typical teenagers who loves to party, kiss and drink. She has many problems with her parents because they invade her privacy too much. She has a boyfriend called Tony who is catholic and is scared of everything, so we can't understand what makes she date him. I can remember one episode that they're prepared to have sex, but Michael Kyle scares Tony claiming that sex is very dangerous and deadly, so he decides to guard himself until he's married.

I resume this is the best series of my life and I still watch it everyday after 3 years so I recommend to all of you - mostly for teenagers.
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8/10
The Colonoscopy episode with Lou Rawls is the MOST HILARIOUS EVER!!! ;D
midnitepantera29 April 2021
Love Damon Wayans and Trisha Campbell in this show, they have great chemistry and comedic timing.

I can't believe they got Lou Rawls to play the Doctor for the colonoscopy episode. It is PERFECTIION and will make you laugh till your face and sides hurt. The song is the cherry on top and gotta give that dancing, sassy nurse a shout out too. Wonderful retro show to rewatch during this pandemic if you wanna laugh for a change. :D.
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Great show!
supertom-329 July 2004
This is the modern take on the Cosby Show. While this isn't as successful it is funny. The thing with the Cosby show was that it was quite realistic. This show has some realism but is generally exaggerated and overplayed for more overt humour. It has more daring portrayals and deeper situations too, with the Kyle's young son taking drugs and also impregnating his girlfriend throughout the series of the show.

The key thing that works here is the cast, much in the same way they did in Cosby. This is predominantly a far more modern family, younger parents and wilder children. Damon Wayon's is the father, Michael and he is hilarious. Damon is all about his delivery and is also a great physical comedian. I love Tisha Campbell as Jay, the mother of the household. She looks way to young to have two adult children but you soon forget that. She is vivacious and infectious. Then there is George O Gore as Junior the idiot son. The part is very over the top but funny, with Gore playing the dullard superbly. Jennifer Freeman is very good as the eldest daughter too, and not to mention sexy. The stars for me though are the child cast. Firstly Parker Mackenna Posey as Kady, the cutest sitcom creation since Rudy and the other little kid in the Cosby show. She's a great little actress and some of the lines she has a classic. I laugh almost every time she's on screen and she says something. Kids in these shows can often not have much charisma or can deliver lines well, but she does it excellently. The one that really makes me laugh though is the young genius and future husband of Kady, Franklin played by Noah Gray-Cabey. Every line he is given is superb, because generally he is given lines to say that you would never hear from someone that young. He's also the maestro pianist who serenades his girl with concerto pieces. The trademark line `Anyhoo!' is a gift for the audience that Franklin must utter at least once an episode. It's all funny stuff and lots of running jokes such as the ever more imaginative deliveries of the words `yes' and `no' with dances and palpitations resulting in an answer to a request from the kids. I have found myself doing the same, on one occasion taking a whole 2 minutes to tell my brother that I wouldn't buy him a takeaway.

This is a very good comedy show and something I regularly watch. It's been done before but not like this.
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7/10
A Tale Of Two Shows...
Dart_Adams9 June 2006
Warning: Spoilers
This show was crap when it first came on. The first actress that played the daughter didn't fit the role, the writing was hit or miss, and Damon Wayans CLEARLY wasn't comfortable doing such a cornball family friendly show. The chemistry between himself and Tisha Cambell (they're long time friends, as are all of the Wayans clan with Tisha's husband and Will Smith and Jada Pinkett) DID work so they retooled the show. Once it returned, they recast the daughter, made the son much dumber (a la Eric from "Boy Meets World")and made the youngest daughter into a genius...(later they gave her a little genius boyfriend to do comedic guest appearances). The show, while if often rollercoasters from over the top buffoonery to being corny walks the line enough to keep it as a show that you can see Damon Wayans be comfortable in his own skin on the set (especially since the main writers, directors and consultants were ALL members of the Wayans family) AND in his character. Once everyone had been on the show for a while, they worked to everyone in the casts strengths and were able to make a consistently funny show on the air.

However, there is TOO MUCH buffoonery, too many over the top antics, and oftentimes too much chaos happening in the life of the Kyle family. They made Junior TOO STUPID, they also made the eldest daughter an attractive, clumsy idiot from time to time and the youngest daughter wasn't even spared by the writers. I feel they jumped the shark and signed the shows death warrant when Junior got his girlfriend pregnant, she moved in and he married her and her parents were introduced (Junior's wife's father's character makes me WINCE just thinking about him). The show remained funny...but it was a UPN show on ABC if that makes any sense to the reader.

The reruns are funny enough, but I'm relieved it's over...there was nowhere left to go with it. When it's bad it's REALLY BAD. It tends to be cornball at times but at least he was a black man who had a sitcom make it to syndication on a major network..Who can say that for themselves now? (Given the CW merger and the "brownout" on TV networks lately, that is). One.
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7/10
Started off great and then went disastrous
speakyogz22 October 2020
Warning: Spoilers
All episodes up to when Vanessa gets pregnant and her parents enter the picture were awesome, unbelievably funny and entertaining. Then the annoyance started, there is way too much sex-related content and stupid jokes / attempt at humor.

Junior is way too stupid, Jay can be ungrateful and childish at times and Vanessa and her parents are just too annoying. There is way too much "romance" between Kady and Franklin ... what was the point of Kady making Franklin wear pink girls' underwear? Too much sexual connotation for 11 year old kids

I literally watched an entire season without laughing once. So much potential wasted. Missed the episodes with Michael Kyle "signature moments" and just pure family time. Michael Kyle is very awesome and definitely one of the best TV dads but everyone else seems to just make the show annoying
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9/10
An absolute ABC classic!
Catherine_Grace_Zeh22 January 2006
"MY WIFE AND KIDS," in my opinion, is an absolute ABC classic! I haven't seen every episode, but I still enjoyed it. There are many episodes that I enjoyed. One of them was where Junior (George O. Gore II) got his driver's license. If you want to know why, you'll have to have seen it for yourself. Before I wrap this up, I'd like to say that everyone always gave a good performance, the production design was spectacular, the costumes were well-designed, and the writing was always very strong. In conclusion, even though it can be seen in syndication now, I strongly recommend you catch it just in case it goes off the air for good.
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6/10
An American family comedy
atomius7 July 2007
Warning: Spoilers
This show concerns the life of a family of African Americans living in Connecticut. As one would expect it has the classic American style sitcom feel to it, with a more modern touch. The family's issues range from simple 'who stole my pie' plots to pregnancy situations and has an equal range of humour. Michael Kyle, the father, often acts with good faith as does his family, and they all try to get along and prosper. Most situations are resolved with a cunning plan or comedic deal, and the humour, whilst not on the level of Frasier or Daria, is above that of According to Jim or Becker. Remember, these are Americans. The series sees the family 'grow' somewhat, including the puberty of Jnr Kyle and Claire Kyle and their teenage issues. The show has some truly funny moments and is certainly worth watching.
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10/10
The funniest African-American sitcom!!!!!!!!!!
stephenchase-6350423 February 2021
Warning: Spoilers
The funniest episode is about the kids leaving as adults!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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6/10
A great show, they did well with it
smooth_op_8525 July 2006
I give the show a six because of the fact that the show was in fact a platform for Damon Wayans as the Cosby Show was for Bill Cosby, it dealt with a lot of issues with humor and I felt that it in fact tailored to getting a laugh as opposed to letting the jokes come from the character.

Michael Kyle An interesting patriarch and a wisecracking person. He is PHENOMENAL in movies, but in the show he was there for the wisecrack and though I loved it, I felt that the laugh was more important than plausibility.

Jay Kyle I have loved her since House Party and have enjoyed her in School Daze and Martin, this was a great role for her and she made a great choice in picking this sitcom to co-star in. I also feel that Jay and Michael were more like equals in the show but Jay was more the woman who fed her crazy husbands the lines and went along with his way of unorthodox discipline because she may have felt that it worked

Jr Just plain stupid, his character should have been well developed and even though he does have his moments of greatness, we are returned to the stupidity as if he learned nothing, which drives me nuts!!!!!!!! Not to mention that most of the situations (in episodes I've seen) seems to center around him

Clair The attractive sister who dated a Christian, I found her boyfriend's character to be more interesting than she was (she'd be better off sticking to movies, the writers should have done more to show her intelligence but it's not stereotypical enough)

Kady Lovable and the youngest daughter. I think the writers established her character most on the show aside from the parents and Franklin

Franklin I LOVE this character and I think they derived it from Smart Guy (T.J. Mowry) which only lasted one season. They did a great job of casting for this little genius (the effort would have been made if Jr would have been the smart one but show the down sides also)

All in all, this sitcom is a wonderful thing and it's homage to the Cosby Show is well done, I love the show and wished it would have stayed on longer than that. I can't wait to see the series finale
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1/10
Bad, worse, the this
heppu7824 October 2012
Watched some episodes hoping to find a one funny joke...didn't get any. :( The most annoying is the leading role, father. But they really have collected surprisingly many bad actors and actresses in one series. The writer must be no more than 12 years old boy who really have nothing to say.

Im so sorry that this kind of junk have ever got in the TV. Thank god its over now. Maybe the makers of this "comedy" series have noticed now how bad they are and i wish they have already retired.

You all should really avoid this thing. This is my one and only review. Hoping there's never gonna be series like this anymore so i don't have to open out again.
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10/10
Great comedy
twanster-9765513 April 2021
Tho there are some forgettable episodes, overall it's very funny, the great episodes are some of the best comedy I've seen. I've rewatched them over the years and each time they get funnier. The cast all work real well together. It's over the top, outrageous and just so funny. It has depth too that makes it the full package. Well worth binge watching.
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7/10
i loooved it
angelorwez13 August 2022
Am writing this review basing everything on memory...2001 was a long time ago...

everything i remember about this show is great...Michael was ridiculous in a fabulous way...his chemistry with his wife was good...i didn't like his wife all that much...acting-wise...

Michael junior was another favourite...his youngest sister was fantastic...but her boyfriend even better...

i can't speak much to the plot...i can't trust my memory for that...but i remember it made me laugh...
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2/10
A sorry modern day version of the Cosby Show
NasKid918 July 2007
I never really started watching the show until it was canceled and started showing re-runs. I actually enjoyed it for the first to third season. Once I saw the fourth and fifth one I was beginning to get irate. The first problem was that they did that irrelevant, scenario of history repeating itself (Jr having a kid like his parents did). The second had to be the one where they had everyone paired up with someone (ex: Katie and franklin) . The third one was when they made Jr even more idiotic than before which was beginning to be tedious and vexing to the point where I wanted to go into the T.V. and beat the stupidity out of him until he's unconscious . The fourth one had to be that zealous dork that Clarie claimed as a boyfriend. The fifth one had to be Katie, she was beginning to be too good for herself and was treated her "boyfriend" Franklin like the pushover he was. The last but not least was Noah Gray-Cabey!! Franklin, Franklin was just scary. It was like watching a terrible combination of Urkle and TJ Henderson only more annoying!!! They seriously jumped the shark when came he to the show. There was little to no realism to his character and the way he laughed was a sign of obvious force showing that Noah can't act. Eveytime I saw that kid just made me want slap he silly. However, B.F.(before frank) this show was funny and very entertaining.
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A very silly show!
SonicStuart21 January 2006
"My Wife and Kids" is one of the funniest sitcom shows ever! Damon Wayans is really silly in every episode and it makes me laugh in every single episode. Damon Wayans plays Michael Kyle who is a modern day patriarch and husband who rules his household with a unique and distinct parenting style. As he teaches his three children some of life's lessons, he does so with his own brand of wisdom, discipline and humor. Michael can only hope his parental advice, mixed with witty humor, will steer his children to act responsibly. Through it all, Jr., Claire and Kady know they can turn to their father when they need his guidance. This show has very silly and witty humor that can break your funny bone! This show premiered March 2001 on ABC and was canceled May 2005. But why did ABC cancel this show? I think it should have gone another season or two or at least some other network should have picked it up.

User Rating: 10/10

BOTTOM LINE: VERY SILLY!
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8/10
My wife and kids
Atomic_Peace9 August 2012
This is the # 1 show on T.V that I really miss, that and Married... With Children.

My Wife and Kids follows Michael Kyle, who married his wife, Jay, after accidentally impregnating her, and now three children, his dimwitted eldest son Junior, whom he frequently smacks upside the head, a coming of age daughter Claire, and his youngest child Kady.

The show follows the relationship between Michael and his kids. Although it is shown he has a complicated relationship with his kids, he loves them deeply.

This is a show you instantly fall in love with, I give it an 8.
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8/10
I was so invested in this show !!
tpoint-4364430 March 2024
I started watching this show a couple weeks ago on Netflix and just finished it today. I was so interested in the show and would just binge watch it. I'm a fan of Black Sitcoms and this was for sure one of my favorites. Damon Wayans is played as Michael Kyle, the father of three children and the husband of Janet Kyle. Janet Kyle (or Jay) is played by Tisha Campbell. Both Damon and Tisha are funny people and great actors.

I enjoyed this show a lot. The one thing that really bummed me out was the fact that ABC canceled the show May of 2005, ending it on a huge cliffhanger. I feel like they should have at least left the people watching with closure. I know it's not possible to bring the show back now due to the cast most likely being separated or not in the "acting biz" anymore. I wish it could have ended differently, otherwise I do suggest this show being watched !!
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2/10
Not a classic, doesn't age well
texxas-17 January 2017
This is something I enjoyed as a kid when it first came out, but it's not the kind of thing you can watch over and over again and still like it. This is one of the TV shows that gets stale and annoying fast. It also falls into the trap of other black comedy shows, where it doesn't make an effort to be funny and relys on natural black humour as comedy. It's not funny. None of the characters are funny and the show heavily relys on the kids dumbness and the fathers despair as humour. But it just doesn't work. I don't know why it's still gets aired here in the UK, especially in 2017. It is done. It needs to go. It needs to be forgotten about, because this may have been entertaining in 2001 but the world of TV has changed a lot since then.
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10/10
The funniest show of all!
ce-coletti8 March 2008
It's one of my favorites TV series. A wonderful cast, great screenplay and a out siding plot.

Watching the routine of the Kyle family is grantee of great moments of humor and great comedy performers. Let's see: - Damon Wayans: no commentaries. He's one of the bests today. Se has a perfect timing and always get the point of the joke.

  • Tisha Campbell: Her's paranoid and sentimental Jay is just wonderful to see.


  • George O. Gore II: perfect for the paper. It's impossible to imagine someone else as the adorable (and dumb) Junior.


  • Jennifer Nicole Freeman: the egocentric Claire found the perfect actress. Beautiful & talented.


  • Parker McKeena Posey: impossible to not fall in love for her.


  • Noah Grey-Cabey: this boy have future, i'm sure of it.


I get very sad when it ends, but this show will be in my mind forever. Michael, Jay, Claire, Junior, Kadie... we love you!
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4/10
Was tagged the 00s Cosby show- only this is nowhere near as great as the latter show
wchngliu25 June 2007
My Wife and Kids was billed as the 00s very own Cosby show- but unlike the latter, it was unfunny and unwatchable. In fact, it is so poorly written and some of the jokes revolve around Michael mickey taking Michael Jr's dumbness and the fact that he is such a loser- which got more and more tedious and annoying as the show went on.

What was supposed to have been a promising hit, eventually turned into a dumb, silly show later on where the ideas became so OTT and ridiculous. And as for the second Claire, i ended up disliking this character so much: she became a spoilt, childish and moaning teenage brat, in most of the later episodes.

MWAK was no Cosby show trend setter, rather it was just a poor black sitcom by general standards.
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FUNNY FUNNY FUNNY FUNNY FUNNY!!!!!!!!
superboy47820 May 2002
Co-Creator, writer, and producer Damon Wayans also stars as the fun, loving, caring, and nightmarish father of 3, Michael Kyle.

The show is about a married dad named Michael Kyle who has a sexy wife named Janet (Tisha-Campbell Martin) and three kids. Tow of which are growing into adulthood. Their names are : Junior (George O Gore II) who is a dummy at times but really is a cool bro, Claire (Jennifer Nicole Freeman) who doesn't care about anything but looks and boys, and finally there's Kady (Parker McKenna Posey) who is nothing but adorable and sweet with animals.

This show is meant to be hilarious. But at the same time, it will teach you lessons about what life is like. And the right person for the job of being a dad is Damon Wayans. I think that he does a brilliant job with raising, punishing, and loving his kids.

This show is my absolute favorite! I have never missed a single episode and don't plan to. I feel sad that the second season is ending this Wednesday at 7:00. I'll miss you Damon and the Kyles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Coming Soon: My Wife and Kids- SEASON 3! I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!
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10/10
One of my favorite sitcoms
weldingr31 August 2021
This is everything that should be expected from a comedy. A variety of great main and guest characters, unforced diversity, stupidly funny jokes, and best of all, no social agenda. This one is on my list of GOATs sitcoms.
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8/10
Ma Famille d'abord
mdavidarthur18 May 2021
Best comedic show lol! Hands down, nothing more nothing less ahah

Personal favorite.
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1/10
An incredibly bad show
nilebix19 February 2007
Lets be realistic here. This is one of the worst shows I have ever seen. My Wife and Kids showed real promise in its first season and only went down hill after that. It is so bad that words do not describe. The acting and writing are so dreadful on a consistent basis I wonder if Damon Wayans was producing such an atrocious show on purpose. From top to bottom every performance is ridiculous. Damon Wayans completely phones it in and George Gore II is so horrible I cringe at every over-acted line. Can anyone really watch this show and find it to be entertaining let alone funny? Please I implore you. Do not watch this show. As soon as TV affiliates stop picking this up in syndication we can finally be rid of this absolute garbage.
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8/10
Entertaining
mhayes-284826 January 2022
Ignore all the boring low scores, clearly don't have any sense of humour.

It is an easy show to watch, background or not, I've watched this a lot and I always come back to it, just one of those enjoyable shows.
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