A network wanted to recast Pops Williams — Marlon and Shawn Wayans refused

Most of the time, the final version of a show looks nothing like the first draft of the script. Changes are part of the process. Sometimes they improve the show, but other times, they ruin it before it even airs.

When Marlon and Shawn Wayans were pitching The Wayans Bros., they felt confident it would be a hit. But one network wanted to change the father character, Pops Williams, who was played by the legendary John Witherspoon.

"We didn't make it to NBC," Marlon said during an interview with Keke Palmer on her Baby, This Is Keke Palmer podcast. "We did a table reading, and they thought [Witherspoon's character] was too ghetto. And they wanted us to have a different father…like a Danny Glover type, and we was like, ‘No.'"

If you watched the show in the '90s or now on Dabl, you know that Pops was nothing like a typical strict dad, and that was the best part. Witherspoon brought something special to the role. "We was like, ‘It's John Witherspoon or it's not.' … We ain't going to do the show. And they was like, ‘Well... you're not doing the show," he added.

Knowing what this show had the power to become, the Wayans gave the idea of a recast a thought, but another network scooped in and saw the beauty in Witherspoon's Pops. "We was like ‘Wait, hold on, Danny Glover, you say?' But then, the WB was starting, and it was like, ‘I think that's a great combination.' So, everything is God. One man's trash is another man's treasure, and it's not about the doors that close; it's the ones that open up."