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37-520: Shawn and Marlon Williams ( Shawn Wayans and Marlon Wayans ) are brothers who live in an apartment on 117th Street in Harlem . Shawn owns a local newsstand , where he and his brother Marlon work on a daily basis. Their father, John "Pops" Williams ( John Witherspoon ), owns a diner called Pops' Joint, where Marlon once worked (during season 1). Formerly located in Harlem, the restaurant was later moved downtown into

74-430: A joint venture with Starz (then-owned by John Malone's Liberty Media , but later acquired by Lionsgate years later) to launch a multiplex service of the premium channel featuring black American-oriented films called "BET Movies: Starz! 3" (later renamed "Black Starz" after BET dropped out of the venture following its purchase by Viacom, then-owner of Starz rival Showtime , and now known as "Starz InBlack"). In 2001,

111-515: A BET-branded channel was launched on Pluto TV (which was acquired by its parent company two months earlier). In June 2019, the launch of BET+ was announced, a premium streaming service targeting Black Americans. The service launched in the United States in Fall 2019 with First Wives Club (which was originally planned to launch on Paramount Network before being shifted to BET) announced as one of

148-404: A bus. The camera then shows the brothers inside the bus with the title of the show underneath them. The "second half" part of The Wayans Bros. theme song was changed twice throughout its four-year run ( 1995 – 1999 ). In the first two seasons, the show's theme song was A Tribe Called Quest 's " Electric Relaxation ". In the third season, the theme song changed to a four-second hip hop beat. In

185-503: A large variety of programming, but the problem is that then the video revolution started up... And then something started happening, and I didn't like it at all. And I remember during those days we would sit up and watch these videos and decide which ones were going on and which ones were not. We got a lot of backlash from recording artists...and we had to start showing them. I didn't like the way women were being portrayed in these videos." BET has launched several spin-off cable networks over

222-560: A news program, BET News , in 1986, with Paul Berry as its first anchor. Berry was also a local anchor at WJLA-TV in Washington, DC at that time. Ed Gordon became anchor in 1988. Gordon later hosted other programs and specials on BET, such as For Black Men Only: The Aftermath , related to the 1992 Los Angeles riots , and a recurring interview show, Conversations with Ed Gordon . In 1996, the talk show BET Tonight started with Tavis Smiley as host; in 2001, Ed Gordon replaced Smiley as host of

259-577: A thrice-daily automated wheel schedule of eight hours outside of temporary "roadblock" closures during Paramount Global's awards events, with all of its programming currently denoted in hour blocks as BET Jams – Music Videos within electronic program guide listings. The channel launched on May 1, 2002, as MTV Jams, and carried that name until October 5, 2015, and was placed under BET's purview as MTV drifted away from music programming along with 106 & Park . The network space itself launched on August 1, 1998, as MTVX , carrying modern rock videos, and

296-479: Is an American basic cable channel targeting Black American audiences. It is currently owned by the BET Media Group , a subsidiary of Paramount Global 's CBS Entertainment Group . Originally launched as a program block on January 25, 1980, BET would eventually become a full-fledged channel on July 1, 1983. As of November 2023 , BET is available to approximately 67,000,000 pay television households in

333-426: Is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He made his debut on the comedy television series In Living Color (1990–1993). He went on to work with his brother Marlon Wayans on The WB sitcom The Wayans Bros. (1995–1999) and the comedy films Don't Be a Menace (1996), Scary Movie (2000), Scary Movie 2 (2001), White Chicks (2004), Little Man (2006), and Dance Flick (2009). Wayans,

370-583: Is available in Europe, Africa and the Middle East through satellite providers. BET launched on February 27, 2008, on Sky channel 191 and began to be carried by Freesat channel 140 on August 8, 2008. BET+1 is also available on Sky channel 198 and Freesat channel 141, and is free-to-air. BET International shows with a mix of content from the main BET channel and locally produced shows. An exclusive, but temporary, HD version of

407-691: The King funeral live. On the evening of the funeral, February 7, 2006, BET broadcast the tribute special Coretta Scott King: Married to the Mission , and repeated it the following Sunday, February 12. Showell hosted the program featuring highlights of the funeral, Coretta Scott King: Celebrating Her Spirit , that broadcast that same day. In its 2007 convention, the National Association of Black Journalists gave BET its "Thumbs Down Award" for not broadcasting King's funeral live. The New York Times reported that

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444-575: The Reverend Delman L. Coates and his organization Enough is Enough led protests every weekend outside the residences of BET executives against what they claim are negative stereotypes of black people perpetuated by BET music videos. Enough is Enough backed an April 2008 report titled The Rap on Rap by the Parents Television Council that criticized BET's rap programming, suggesting that the gratuitous sexual, violent and profane content

481-466: The United States-down from its 2011 peak of 92,000,000 households. After stepping down as a lobbyist for the cable industry, Freeport , Illinois native Robert L. Johnson decided to launch his own cable television network. Johnson acquired a loan for $ 15,000 (equivalent to $ 55,648 in 2023) and a $ 500,000 (equivalent to $ 1,854,921 in 2023) investment from media executive John Malone to start

518-670: The channel was made to show the 2009 BET Awards on Freesat EPG 142. BET is additionally an associate member of the Caribbean Cable Cooperative. BET launched an app called BET Play allowing international access to BET content in over 100 countries in June 2016. The channel was shut down on April 8, 2021, with its content moved to My5 and Pluto TV . BET became available through most Canadian pay television providers on October 17, 1997, though with select programming substituted and blacked out due to domestic broadcast groups owning

555-456: The channel). As a result, BET heavily censors suggestive content from the videos that it airs, often with entire verses and scenes removed from certain rap videos. Many scholars within the black American community maintain that BET perpetuates and justifies racism by affecting the stereotypes held about black Americans, and also by affecting the psyche of its young viewers through its bombardment of negative images of black Americans. Following

592-405: The death of civil rights leader Coretta Scott King in 2006, BET broadcast its regularly scheduled music video programming, rather than covering King's funeral live, as was done by TV One and Black Family Channel , and by cable news channels such as CNN , Fox News Channel , and MSNBC . The network's website streamed the funeral live, while it periodically broadcast taped, 60-second reports from

629-503: The fictional Neidermeyer Building, in Rockefeller Center , where Shawn's newsstand is located and Dee Baxter ( Anna Maria Horsford (onwards from Season 2)) works as a security guard. Many transitions were made in season 2: The Wayans Bros. was the first of the four sitcoms that aired as part of the original Wednesday night two hour lineup that helped launch the network (along with Unhappily Ever After , The Parent 'Hood and

666-521: The final two seasons, the show's theme song was changed again to a regular hip hop instrumental beat (which was produced by the Wayans Bros. & Omar Epps ). In Brazilian reruns of seasons one and two episodes that have aired in SBT in 2015, this version replaced the seasons one and two sequence with the season three sequence. Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution handles syndication distribution of

703-407: The funeral by senior news correspondent Andre Showell. Michael Lewellen, BET's senior vice president for corporate communications, defended the decision: "We weighed a number of different options. In the end, we chose to offer a different kind of experience for BET viewers." Lewellen also explained that BET received around "two dozen" phone calls and "a handful" of emails criticizing BET for not showing

740-535: The network on September 11, 2008. He was then replaced by Stephen Hill, who is also executive vice president of music programming and talent. BET announced in March 2010 that Ed Gordon would return to the network to host "a variety of news programs and specials". In March 2017, president of programming Stephen Hill and executive vice president of original programming Zola Mashariki both stepped down. Connie Orlando, senior vice president of Specials, Music Programming, and News

777-705: The network was bought by media conglomerate Viacom (later to become part of Paramount Global ) for $ 3 billion. In 2005, Johnson retired from the network, turning over his titles of president and chief executive officer to former BET vice president Debra L. Lee . In 2002, the network had launched two more music-oriented networks: BET Hip-Hop and BET Gospel . BET also launched a series of original programming by this time, including reality shows Baldwin Hills and Hell Date , competition show Sunday Best , and town hall-style discussion show Hip Hop vs. America . BET's president of entertainment Reginald Hudlin resigned from

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814-499: The network would not arrive at all until as late as the early 2010s and Viacom considered it compulsory in retransmission consent negotiations to carry the BET-branded networks with Viacom Media Networks , due to some providers claiming that there was an overall lack of demand for the channel, or excused their lack of interest in BET due to an alleged low to non-existent Black American population within their service area. BET launched

851-424: The network's lineup was composed of music videos and reruns of popular black sitcoms . In 1983, BET became a full-fledged entity, independent of any other channel or programming block, though continuing to share channel space with other cable networks on local cable systems due to lack of channel room for their 24-hour schedule until the time of digital cable allowed for larger channel capacity. In some markets,

888-517: The network. The network, which was named Black Entertainment Television (BET), launched on January 25, 1980. Cheryl D. Miller designed the logo that would represent the network, which featured a star to symbolize "Black Star Power". Initially, broadcasting for two hours a week as a block of programming on the Madison Square Garden Sports Network (which would change their name to USA Network three months after BET launched),

925-747: The ninth of ten siblings, was born in New York City, the son of Elvira Alethia (Green), a homemaker and social worker, and Howell Stouten Wayans, a supermarket manager. His family were once Jehovah's Witnesses . Wayans grew up in the Fulton Houses in the Manhattan neighborhood of Chelsea and is a 1989 graduate of the Bayard Rustin High School for the Humanities . Black Entertainment Television Black Entertainment Television ( BET )

962-574: The program. In 1991, the network became the first black-controlled television company to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange . Starting the late 1990s, the network expanded with the launch of digital cable networks: what is now the general interest channel BET Her was initially launched as "BET on Jazz" (later known as "BET Jazz", "BET J", and "Centric"), created initially to showcase jazz music-related programming, especially that of black American jazz musicians. In 1997, BET entered into

999-566: The series aired on Ion Television , where it ran until 2008. Since then, several Viacom networks, including MTV2 , VH1 and BET Her have run the series in continuous rotation. As of 2023, reruns air frequently on VH1 . All five seasons of the show stream on HBO Max and BET+ . Warner Home Video released Season 1 of The Wayans Bros. on DVD in Region 1. Warner Archive subsequently released Seasons 2 to 5 on DVD in Region 1. Shawn Wayans Shawn Mathis Wayans (born January 19, 1971)

1036-468: The series did not end on a cliffhanger , it was cancelled in 1999 due to declining ratings and was not given a proper finale. In the horror comedy film Scary Movie (2000), Shawn Wayans' character, while furiously stabbing another character to death, breaks the fourth wall and says: "And The Wayans Bros . was a good show, man! It was a good-ass show, and we didn't even get a final episode!" The show's official opening title began with Shawn and Marlon on

1073-489: The series. In September 1999, after the series was cancelled by The WB, the series began airing in off network syndication nationwide. At that same time, Chicago based national cable superstation WGN began airing reruns of the series, airing the series until 2002 (when its broadcast syndication run also ended); WGN (both the local Chicago feed and the national superstation feed) aired The Wayans Bros. in first run form from 1995 to 1999, when WGN (whose local Chicago feed

1110-401: The service's original series. BET Gospel is a television network in the United States that launched on July 1, 2002. The network provides gospel and religious-related programming, and much of its time is paid for by religious organizations to carry their programming and services. BET Jams is an American pay television network airing hip-hop and urban contemporary music videos on

1147-508: The short-lived Muscle ). While in development, the series' working title was initially supposed to have been Brother to Brother , before the name of the series changed to The Wayans Bros. In the show's second season in 1995, Pops' Joint (the restaurant owned by Shawn and Marlon's father, John "Pops" Williams) was moved into the Neidermeyer Building, where the location was changed from Harlem to Rockefeller Center, Manhattan. While

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1184-425: The steps of a brownstone apartment building, donning afros and wearing 1970s preppy attire, moving in rhythm to an accompanying satirical music piece that's supposed to have a 1970s style "urban" sitcom theme song feel. Marlon forcefully smacks the camera, and then segues into "the real opening" of The Wayans Bros. The scene then cuts to them with their normal clothes and trying to help an old woman who gets hit by

1221-496: The years, including BET Her (formerly known as "BET on Jazz", then "BET J" and later "Centric"), BET Hip-Hop, and BET Gospel. Overtime, spin-offs from sibling channels would be realigned under the BET branding; such as BET Jams (formerly known as " MTV Jams"), BET Soul (formerly known as "VH1 Soul"), SHO×BET, a premium Showtime multiplex network, and VH1 (an older-skewing spin-off of MTV that drifted into reality shows and, later, Black American-centric programming). In May 2019,

1258-438: Was an affiliate of the network) carried WB programming nationally to make The WB available to markets where a local affiliate did not exist ( The Wayans Bros. is one of three WB series to have aired on WGN in both first run and syndication form; The Parent 'Hood , 7th Heaven and Sister, Sister being the others). In 2006, reruns began airing on BET , after a four-year absence, where it ran until 2007. In 2007, reruns of

1295-934: Was named the interim president of programming. In July 2017, Viacom signed new film and television development deals with Tyler Perry following the expiration of his existing pact with Discovery Inc. in 2019. As part of this deal, Perry would produce The Oval and Sistas for BET and co-own the network's newly launched streaming service, BET+ . A wide range of people have protested elements of BET's programming and actions, including Public Enemy rapper Chuck D , journalist George Curry , writer Keith Boykin , comic book creator Christopher Priest , filmmaker Spike Lee , Syracuse University professor of finance Dr. Boyce Watkins , former NFL player Burgess Owens , and cartoonist Aaron McGruder (who, in addition to numerous critical references throughout his series The Boondocks , made two particular episodes, " The Hunger Strike " and " The Uncle Ruckus Reality Show ", criticizing

1332-515: Was re-focused around hip-hop music on that date, to some controversy from MTVX's former viewers. BET UK first transmitted on Videotron (now known as Virgin Media) and several other subscription providers from 1993 until 1996. In May 2007 by Ofcom , BET International Inc. was given a license to rebroadcast in the United Kingdom. BET International is the first international version of the channel and

1369-457: Was targeting children and teens. In a 2010 interview, BET co-founder Sheila Johnson explained that she herself is "ashamed" of what the network has become. "I don't watch it. I suggest to my kids that they don't watch it," she said. "When we started BET, it was going to be the Ebony magazine on television. We had public affairs programming. We had news... I had a show called Teen Summit , we had

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