I watched Living Single its first year out and enjoyed it (my sister was older than me and she loved it) but I never put together how much Friends stole from it. (I didnt watch it after the first year because my sister moved out, I wasnt really even allowed to watch friends until a few years into the show.)
I loved Friends at the time and I do still enjoy it, but its more for the nostalgia factor than anything. The lack of POC on it is staggering. I'm trying to remember any characters who were minorities besides Aisha Tyler.
That doesn't even get into the fact that they all have these nice apartments and barely seem to work. they kind of tried in the beginning to push the whole "struggling in NYC" but by the time Rachel stopped working as a waitress that storyline was over. Chandler supposedly had this job that made enough to support himself and Joey, Monica's apartment was rent controlled which was supposed to explain it, etc.
Anyway, I never realized before this article how blatantly it stole from LS. I kind of just thought that was the thing in the 90s for sitcoms - friends living in big cities, trying to recreate "Cheers." (think Seinfeld, Frasier, mad about you, will and grace, etc.) But reading this article just makes it so clear how Friends took the exact same premise and gentrified it.
LOVED Living Single. And A Different World. I watched those fair more than Friends. In fact, during the summer, I would make sure I was at home and controlling the TV at 10am when A Different World would rerun.
ETA: I did watch Friends, but in the last few years, since I have been more aware of race and have been out of my bubble, I realized how homogeneous it was. And homophobic. And sexist. And not funny.
Great article. Living Single was funny AF and Friends was hokey almost all of the time. I used to get into it with my BFF about how dumb I thought most of the Friends episodes were.
Almost every scene with Max on LS had me dying. And I had a huge, huge teen crush on Overton. And Friends had what for male eye candy? Joey? Please.
Great article. Living Single was funny AF and Friends was hokey almost all of the time. I used to get into it with my BFF about how dumb I thought most of the Friends episodes were.
Almost every scene with Max on LS had me dying. And I had a huge, huge teen crush on Overton. And Friends had what for male eye candy? Joey? Please.
I was all about Kyle. I still get excited when he shows up as a voice actor on something I'm watching/playing.
LOVED Living Single. And A Different World. I watched those fair more than Friends. In fact, during the summer, I would make sure I was at home and controlling the TV at 10am when A Different World would rerun.
ETA: I did watch Friends, but in the last few years, since I have been more aware of race and have been out of my bubble, I realized how homogeneous it was. And homophobic. And sexist. And not funny.
Someone (TBS maybe?) started airing A Different World when I was in college. I watched it every.single.day. I watched it when it originally aired but I was pretty young then. It is still one of my all time favorite shows. I've seen LS, but did not watch regularly.
I vaguely remember this show. Now I want to see it! It doesn't look like it is streaming anywhere. That sucks. It's got Queen Latifah, you'd think someone would have it in their collection.
I used to love Friends. There's a sense of nostalgia that causes me to stop on that channel if I see a rerun is on, but I'm increasingly getting so uncomfortable by it. It's super creepy all the sex jokes that Joey and Chandler make about the girls, and Ross is a controlling douche.
I vaguely remember this show. Now I want to see it! It doesn't look like it is streaming anywhere. That sucks. It's got Queen Latifah, you'd think someone would have it in their collection.
Post by sparrowsong on Nov 15, 2017 13:13:59 GMT -5
It was a good show. I remember really liking it. Can't remember any specifics though. It was on a station we didn't get reliably. As a non-cable household we got NBC, cbs, abc, pbs and a channel that is now wb but was something else when I was young -lots of local programming. I never watched 21 jump street or even early 90210 when they were popular because it was hard to get reception. *limps away with old lady cane*
I think it was on one of the "almost" networks (?WB) in the early 90's. It was really good and far more believable than Friends.
It was on a major network. Fox was doing some great work in the 90s. Not only did they air Living Single, they also showed Martin and NY Undercover. I lived for my Thursday Night line-up.
Also Roc, that was a great show cancelled way too soon
Post by thejackpot on Nov 15, 2017 13:31:21 GMT -5
Loved LS! What's not to like about that cast, pure goodness. Overton was my fav because he was so good sweet and caring. Khadijah was me finally seeing a female rapper get some limelight.
I think it was on one of the "almost" networks (?WB) in the early 90's. It was really good and far more believable than Friends.
It was on a major network. Fox was doing some great work in the 90s. Not only did they air Living Single, they also showed Martin and NY Undercover. I lived for my Thursday Night line-up.
Ah, as you can see, I couldn't remember. Thanks for the info!