(www.amazon.com)
Happy Black History month y'all!!! Normally, during black history month, trials, tribulations and overcoming these trials seem to be promoted heavily, which is fine but it can be mentally draining sometimes. So I am focusing on t.v shows such as Living Single, which shows six successful black people, go through life's challenges such as careers, love and even each other, while living in a brownstone in Brooklyn!! Living Single was created by Yvette Lee Bowser, which aired on the Fox network for five seasons, from August 22, 1993 to January 1st, 1998. Yvette Lee also wrote for A Different World and Half and Half. Yvette wanted to create a show which focuses on successful black women, following the footsteps of A Different World, which shows successful people going through life from a black perspective.
As mentioned above, the show features six characters who are successful in their own right. Khadijah James (Queen Latifah), an entrepreneur who runs an independent magazine Flavor, Synclaire James (Kim Coles), Khadijah's cool and a bit naive cousin, who is also a receptionist at Flavor Magazine. Maxine Shaw (Erika Alexander), an attorney who is opinionated but loyal and Regina "Regine" Hunter (Kim Fields), always in gossip or bacchanal as we say in Trinbago! And she loves to shop! A woman of my own heart. Also note that Maxine and Regine are always arguing which makes good comedy. I can't forget the men; Overton Wakefield Jones (John Henton), the handyman, Kyle's roommate and Synclaire's boyfriend and Kyle Barker (T.C Carson), stockbroker and eventually Maxine's boyfriend. I also need to add Ira Williams (Mel Jackson) who is Khadijah's roommate in season five, (Wikipedia).
(www.vibe.com)
The 90s were the golden age of entertainment, especially black entertainment in my opinion and it was segregated (as usual) in terms of audiences. Yet, there was a variety of entertainment for black audiences and since the creation of the Cosby Show, shows such as Living Single, Martin and Fresh Prince of Bel Air, black audiences and even mainstream audiences are exposed to successful black people who live their lives as normally as the mainstream (white) people do, as opposed to the gangster, baby-mama trope we see on t.v. And let's talk about the style! I don't know who was the costume designer but the cast was very stylish, even adding African elements and promoted natural hair. I remembered growing in Trinidad (as were many Trinis), I wanted my hair just like Maxine, but I was in high school so it was a no-no. I wanted to be like them, a career woman living in a beautiful brownstone. That is until I moved to Brooklyn and realized that these brownstones are expensive. No wonder they were roommates. Well a girl can dream!
Living Single was so successful that it had higher ratings than Martin and it was the fourth highest rated show on Fox, (Wikipedia). But as the saying goes, good things must come to an end and sadly it happened to Living Single. Promotion, race and gentrification are some of the reasons why Living Single did not last as long as its pale counterpart, Friends. In fact, Friends was "inspired" by Living Single and went on to become one of the successful shows in the 90s, which lasted well into the early 2000s while Living Single only lasted five seasons and it was cancelled. Ms. Bowser even noted that her show was not promoted by Warner Bros, compared to Friends (Wikipedia).
Speaking of gentrification and straight up plagiarism from the mainstream crew, the show centers on six friends who live in apartments in NYC, going through tribulations in life. The only difference is the cast on Living Single have successful careers while the cast on Friends have questionable jobs or just skating on by. That wouldn't work on Living Single, we as black people already have a stereotype of being lazy and don't want to work while our pale counterparts can afford to be lazy and unemployed. Talk about privilege. Adding insult to injury, Friends became more financially popular and its stars became instant celebrities with high incomes while the Living Single cast barely made half of their counterparts.
Friends cast member David Schwimmer, suggested that there should be a black version of Friends, apparently unaware that Living Single was the blueprint for Friends but thankfully, Living Single fans, even Erika Alexander dragged him to hell and back. Talk about willfully obtuse from these colonizers. I'm not a fan of Friends to be honest, I don't find their sense of humor funny and I can't relate to them as a black woman. But the mainstream entertainment will always market to majority which is white even if they have to steal from black creators and then raked in millions of dollars. Nothing new under the sun. However, Living Single continued to inspire future shows such as Girlfriends, Insecure, Awkward Black Girl and recently Amazon's Harlem. Living Single is on Hulu, if you want to enjoy this classic show and reminisce about the 90s. Living Single is a breathe of fresh air promoting positive and sometimes complicated characteristics of black people instead of one sided negative tropes and I wish that it lasted longer but I'll still watch reruns. Until then, happy Black History Month y'all!!
