I really enjoyed watching the first few seasons of In The House when it was just Marion Hill, and the Warren clan Jackie, Austin and Tiffany. It was very funny and enjoyable to watch.
I found the mother Jackie played by veteran actress Debbie Allen (of Fame, erm fame!) hilarious to watch at times, especially as I thought she had great delivery and comic timing, as well as the funnier lines.
Her constant barracking of her ex-husband and the mickey taking of his bald head had me in stitches.
To many people, especially the elder generation, Debbie is best known for her associations with 'Fame','A Different World'. For those of us who were born after 1980 and too young to remember either of those shows and of whom are fans of Debbie Allen, it was this show 'In The House' in 1995 that first introduced us to her as an actress, producer, director.
Of course it is never easy for a show such as 'In The House' to carry on from where it's so called 'predecessor'the Fresh Prince had left off. Although the only comparisons I can draw from both sitcoms is that Debbie Allen was the executive producer of the first two seasons of The Fresh prince and In The House, and in that in both sitcoms the lead roles were played by then famous rappers in Will Smith and LL cool J. Not forgetting also that Alfonso Ribeiro appeared in both shows, so a lot of similarities can be drawn between the pair.
However, as soon as Jackie and Austin- who for me wasn't a bad sitcom kid- departed, this sitcom was never the same as it was, afterwards. As in their place were Kim Wayans and Alfonso himself. Kim played Tonya, of whom was at first a crazed, obsessed stalker of Marion's and she was just funny. Eventually she had mellowed down afterwards and wasn't as much the same crazy Tonya as she was a few seasons ago. Alfonso played Dr maxwell Stanton and whilst his role was supposed to be a far cry from his Fresh Prince days as Carlton Banks, in truth he was basically another version of Carlton- only slightly more arrogant. Both Kim and Alfonso are very talented actors, but i felt that their talents had been wasted when they became regular characters from season 3 onwards.
In all, I preferred it when it was just Jackie, Marion, Austin and tiffany... and so by the time the mother and her son went, In The House was no longer as funny as it was when they were around. If the show had retained those two characters and not added Maxwell, Tonya and the gym, then maybe perhaps In The House would've had a slightly longer run.
But In The House was good, i really liked it... up until the changes were made in the show.
