Rap star LL Cool J made his TV series debut in this NBC comedy as NFL star Marion Hill, who shared a house with a harried single mother and served as nanny to her two cute kids.
Marion, a cool, self-confident type, was on medical leave from the Oakland Raiders due to two injured knees (he ran into a goalpost), with little to do other than work out to stay in shape.
To raise some extra cash, he moved into the apartment over his garage and rented out his small house to Jackie Warren, a recent divorcée (Debbie Allen).
Jackie had been wealthy but was now forced to work, and her new job as a legal secretary to the demanding lawyer Heather Comstock (Lisa Arrindell) left little time for the kids; self-centred teenager Tiffany (Maia Campbell) and hyperactive little Austin (Jeffrey Wood).
Both the kids really liked the superstar over the garage, and he was home all day, so – egged on by the kids – Jackie reluctantly asked Marion if he would be their nanny and (with a bit of persuasion) the superjock agreed.
In the House was scheduled right after NBC’s Fresh Prince of Bel Air, which it strongly resembled and which was from the same producer (Quincy Jones).
When NBC cancelled the series due to low ratings, the show moved to UPN. In the new series, Jackie moved back East to Nashville with her son Austin, leaving daughter Tiffany in Marion’s charge to finish her senior year in high school in Los Angeles.
After he found out his injury would force him to retire from football, Marion purchased the sports injury clinic where his condition had been diagnosed in partnership with physical therapist Tonia (Kim Wayans) and arrogant Dr Maxwell Stanton (Alfonso Ribeiro).
Marion wanted to employ holistic medicine techniques at the clinic, which was okay with arty Tonia but created conflict with Dr Stanton and his “slice and dice” moneymaker ideas. After working out their problems – although Tonia and Max continued to spar – they renamed it the Hill-Stanton Clinic.
A cute little boy named Rodney (Dee Jay Daniels) hung out at the clinic for a time, and at the beginning of the 1997-1998 season, Tiffany enrolled at UCLA along with her friends Carl (Ken Lawson) and Raynelle (Gabrielle Carmouche), and the clinic was severely damaged by an earthquake.
Natalie Davis (Paulette Braxton), a childhood acquaintance working on a master’s in psychology at UCLA, turned up that fall and moved in with Marion and Tiffany. By late January, she and Marion were (unsuccessfully) fighting an intense sexual attraction.
Marion Hill
LL Cool J (James Todd Smith) Jackie Warren
Debbie Allen Tiffany Warren
Maia Campbell Austin Warren
Jeffrey Wood Heather Comstock
Lisa Arrindell Tonia Harris
Kim Wayans Dr Maxwell Stanton
Alfonso Ribeiro Rodney
Dee Jay Daniels Coach Sam
John Amos Carl
Ken Lawson Raynelle
Gabrielle Carmouche Bernie
Derek McGrath Natalie Davis
Paulette Braxton
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Jackie had been wealthy but was now forced to work, and her new job as a legal secretary to the demanding lawyer Heather Comstock (Lisa Arrindell) left little time for the kids; self-centred teenager Tiffany (Maia Campbell) and hyperactive little Austin (Jeffrey Wood).
A cute little boy named Rodney (Dee Jay Daniels) hung out at the clinic for a time, and at the beginning of the 1997-1998 season, Tiffany enrolled at UCLA along with her friends Carl (Ken Lawson) and Raynelle (Gabrielle Carmouche), and the clinic was severely damaged by an earthquake.
