Wayaniacs Are Rejoicing Over Damon Jr.'s New Show With His Dad

Junior Wayaniacs, which is what my devoted community of Damon Wayans Jr. fans call ourselves, have reason to celebrate today. Wayans Jr., the most comically gifted performer of our time, and his father Damon Wayans Sr., the co-creator of In Living Color, are going to produce and star in a forthcoming CBS sitcom.

According to Deadline, the show, which will be co-written by the elder Wayans, “revolves around legendary talk radio host and happily divorced ‘Poppa’ (Wayans), who has to drag his grown son (Wayans Jr.), who has all his charm and none of his drive, kicking and screaming into adulthood before he turns 40.”

Sounds cute enough. Listen, do the Junior Wayaniacs wish it were a single-cam show with a sprawling production budget anchoring a new era of HBO Max? Of course. Or better yet, do we wish it was a reality show about the two Damons filmed entirely by GoPros mounted to the foreheads of lesser members of the Wayans comedic dynasty? Obviously. Or maybe even just a fourth season of Happy Endings revolving entirely around Brad (Wayans Jr.) reconciling further with his straight-laced father (played in a one episode cameo by Wayans Sr., looking gorgeous in a tracksuit)? Yes.

(And if Brad’s wife Jane, played by the second most comically gifted performer of our time, Eliza Coupe, wants to pop in time to time for a few bon mots, you won’t see me complaining. I have, for some reason, been watching the Hulu Original “Reboot,” and I squealed when I saw her as a brunette in the first episode, though she hasn’t reappeared since.)

But we’ll take this CBS sitcom, too, because nobody does it like Damon Wayans Jr. He blends mischief, silliness,and hotness like no other working actor. Even when his character is underwritten, aloof, and merely recurring, as was the case with his role as Coach in New Girl, Wayans Jr. imbues it with enough physical litheness and commitment to the bit to make us stans forget about the bad writing. His presence even elevated the abominable Netflix film Love, Guaranteed to one of 2020’s top 20 films to fall asleep to. He should be a real movie star, not a one-off Netflix guy, even if he and my other boyfriend/Wayans Jr.’s New Girl costar Jake Johnson boofed it with releasing 2014’s goofy Let’s Be Cops amid massive anti-law enforcement protests.

For what it’s worth, Johnson and Wayans Jr. are also undeniably great together, and I first learned about this news from the former’s Instagram, which often celebrates his best buds.

They better utilize my guy correctly. No matter what, I’ll be watching.