Living Single>Friends article

[childofhiphop]

Nov 15, 2017 9:49:47 GMT -5 05heel said:

I loved Living Single. I also consider it a point of pride that I’ve never seen a single episode of Friends.

Exactly this. Living Single spoke to my 90’s reality with humor of working and having my girls as my roommates.

[meshaliuknits]

Nov 15, 2017 13:39:50 GMT -5 agnes said:

I think I heard Kim Fields say a reboot might be possible. I would love that!

Queen Latifah mentioned it earlier this year.

[meshaliuknits]

Nov 15, 2017 14:10:29 GMT -5 orangeblossom said:

Nov 15, 2017 10:43:57 GMT -5 meshaliuknits said:

Dude, I really wanna watch this now. I wonder if TVOne (or whatever they are called now) is still airing it?

They do show it. Marathons all the time.

WOOT!

[Michelle]

I loved Living Single. I always think Khadijah when I see Queen Latifa.

I saw parallels with the stories back then, but didn't see it as a blatant ripoff. I'm not sure whether it's because I was young, looking through my white lens, or oblivious (maybe all three). But when I look back on the show, I remember the guys in Living Single as more incidental to the plot of the 4 women. The show really being about Kadijah and her girls, Kadijah and her career - her friend the attorney, her other friend the trophy girl and then her silly friend. I can't remember all their names, I'm sad to say. Kyle was blatantly handsome but they wrote his character so he had such a smarmy personality, coming on so strong all the time, and Overton was lovable and dependable but seemed so dopey I never took him seriously as a guy I'd crush on.


Friends seemed more balanced in giving all the characters equal opportunity to lead the storyline whether male or female. None of the women were the focal point of the story like Khadijah clearly was, or at least as I remember her being. I saw Friends as kind of a combo ripoff of Seinfeld and Three's Company. In contrast, Khadijah and her experience seemed central to almost every storyline, like it was her world and we are seeing it through her eyes. Everyone else was supporting cast.

I'm lots of beers, sleepless nights and a traumatic brain injury away from those years so I could definitely be remembering it wrong. But the article in the OP does point out some really poignant themes from the shows and the reflection of the racial divide of socioeconomics within those themes. It is good food for thought. I would LOVE to see Khadijah back with a revamped version of the show!

[bronxgirl]

Nov 15, 2017 11:38:25 GMT -5 cubed said:

Nov 15, 2017 9:55:02 GMT -5 dirtyred said:

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. 

And the WB didn't exist in the early 90s.

[AndyCohen]

I loved Living Single in the 90s and I still watch reruns of it and Martin. They used to be on the same channel, but now Living Single is on Bounce and Martin is on BET.

[eb777888]

I loved that show!!!

A date took me to see Kim Koles stand up show in Dallas. We sat in the front row and she told my date he was going to get lucky that night, lol. (He didn't). I forgot how that even came up!

[vicky]

One of my favorite shows when I was a kid. Even my mom loved it.

[underwaterrhymes]

Nov 15, 2017 16:44:20 GMT -5 1234FIF! said:

THE COAT EPISODE

I forgot how much I loved this show.

Okay, so this is a dumb question.

These can’t be 90’s commercials, right?

[hopecounts]

underwaterrhymes probably early 2000.
But yes real commercials from when it was recorded.
Someone just MP4d the recording and put it on YouTube.
You can find kids 80s shows on YouTube with 80s commercials, it’s a trip.
We die watching the muppets Christmas special on YouTube each year and seeing the osh gosh b’gosh and various 80s commercials
Wendy’s did a whole marketing thing with ‘Wendy’

[underwaterrhymes]

Nov 15, 2017 18:57:08 GMT -5 hopecounts said:

underwaterrhymes probably early 2000.
But yes real commercials from when it was recorded.
Someone just MP4d the recording and put it on YouTube.
You can find kids 80s shows on YouTube with 80s commercials, it’s a trip.
We die watching the muppets Christmas special on YouTube each year and seeing the osh gosh b’gosh and various 80s commercials
Wendy’s did a whole marketing thing with ‘Wendy’

Huh. The clothes didn’t look so outdated. That probably means I’m hopelessly unfashionable. LOL.

[tacokick]

Nov 15, 2017 19:06:40 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

Nov 15, 2017 18:57:08 GMT -5 hopecounts said:

underwaterrhymes probably early 2000.
But yes real commercials from when it was recorded.
Someone just MP4d the recording and put it on YouTube.
You can find kids 80s shows on YouTube with 80s commercials, it’s a trip.
We die watching the muppets Christmas special on YouTube each year and seeing the osh gosh b’gosh and various 80s commercials
Wendy’s did a whole marketing thing with ‘Wendy’

Huh. The clothes didn’t look so outdated. That probably means I’m hopelessly unfashionable. LOL.

It was clearly taped in the last 10 years or so. I wouldn’t feel bad. That Dennis Haysbert commercial is from about 2008.

[Queen Mamadala]

Loved Living Single. I mostly watched it in middle school, often with my mother. I couldn't get into Friends.

[sofamonkey]

I LOVED that show. Khadijah was my absolute favorite. As a big girl myself, I loved that she was so epically awesome. Much more of an inspiration than a Melissa McCarty type.

I loved when she told people off, like that rich dude (I think!) on one episode. Something like, “Khadijah don’t need ya, see ya!” And she meant it. It really helped me see what strong women are made of. I had absolutely no idea that show was on just a year before friends. I watched allllll of it before I watched any of friends. Lol!

[fryjack2]

I loved LS. K. is a family name and I was so psyched to see it on national TV.

I have never understood why so many people liked Friends. Ross was an annoying nasal whiny pathetic man. Joey was dumb as rocks and not attractive. Rachel was also so annoying and needy. Annoying is actually a good description of the whole cast.

[shauni27]

Nov 15, 2017 9:51:54 GMT -5 isabel said:

Wow. I have literally never heard of this show.

same. I am blaming it on growing up in a rural area with crap TV--we ha 2 channels until I went to college. PBS and NBC. 

The article and this thread, however, have me watching youtube clips and I cannot wait to watch more! (still no TV so I cannot watch reruns)

[sushi]

Given all the tv I consume today it's probably surprising how little I watched as a kid. The only friends episodes I have seen were post college reruns because a friend/neighbor was obsessed and we couldn't walk our dogs together until the episode finished. It was awful.

Never saw 90210 or Melrose. Nor probably most of the big shows of the 90s.

So it's even more surprising I have a vague recollection of living single. Did it air around the same time as different world? I feel like I watched them together, but it was a long time ago.

[Skyesthelimit1212]

I liked Friends, and I started watching it again on Netflix and I can't believe how I never noticed how homophobic and sexist it was.

Over the weekend I was flipping through the tv channels and came across Girlfriends, I had forgotten how much I liked that show. I may have to see if can find it anywhere to watch from the first season.

[meshaliuknits]

Nov 16, 2017 10:41:13 GMT -5 Skyesthelimit1212 said:

I liked Friends, and I started watching it again on Netflix and I can't believe how I never noticed how homophobic and sexist it was.

Over the weekend I was flipping through the tv channels and came across Girlfriends, I had forgotten how much I liked that show. I may have to see if can find it anywhere to watch from the first season.

Let it go, let it flow is an awesome Girlfriends podcast. They're going through all of them.

[summer]