The COLD, HARD Truth About Living Single | Blueprint For Friends?, Kyle & Regine's Disappearance

[Music] foreign s all energetic 20-somethings are  living together in a vibrant City   facing relationship drama job struggles  and everyday Shenanigans but no matter   what happens their bond remains strong  any guesses on the sitcom's name [Music] nope not that one the one that  came before it check it out to me Living Single created by Yvette Lee  Bowser premiered on Fox in 1993 and featured   an all-black cast a funny inspirational and  upwardly mobile friends sharing laughs love   and a Brooklyn Brownstone the immediate and  unexpected hit starred Queen Latifah Kim Coles   Erica Alexander TC Carson John Hinton and Kim  Fields Yvette told the Atlantic in 2018 that   she felt obligated to create a show like living  single I was a very frustrated writer on a show   about Black people where there were basically no  black people in power behind the scenes so that   set the tone that was the impetus for me becoming  more determined to create something so that I   could create what I felt were more well-rounded  depictions of us as well as creating a workplace   that was not necessarily warm and fuzzy but more  open to us a workplace that embraced us and by us   I mean women and people of color her goal was to  develop a show about herself and her friends that   would change the portrayal of young black people  on television she wanted the characters to be   positive and less stereotypical so how did things  get off the ground this is how Living Single got   started I had a deal at a studio Queen Latifah had  a deal at a studio they put the two of us together   and then the studio went out and found the right  person to create this show around the two of us   so I wasn't interested in doing something that was  just kind of this wacky slapstick thing I wanted   to do something that was really a little more  gritty a little more edgy a little more based   in my personal reality and I happened to have an  idea for a show which was about kind of me and   my friends and our adventures as young women  trying to make sense of the big cruel world   since Latifah and Kim Coles were new to narrative  storytelling on TV Yvette's goal was to surround   them with veterans who would carry more weight if  needed to go about finding these experts she said   she did something very unusual she sat in on  on the pre-reads when the casting team meets   with all the many actors interested in the roles  and filters the numbers down to the select group   who audition in front of show producers she did  this to learn more about the process and hone her   own sensibility about casting the breakout star  of the bunch would end up being Erica Alexander   in the auditioning process she was a revelation  to me because of course I had seen her as cousin   Pam on The Cosby Show but I didn't think that  the character was particularly humorous the   character of Max though is a funny character  and Erica showed she could go there during her   audition but it almost didn't happen years later  Yvette revealed that Executives wanted to cut   Erica from The Ensemble ultimately they reached a  compromise which is how Max ended up living across   the street from everyone else after deciding  on who would play Max Yvette knew she had to   be mindful of whom to select as Kyle TC Carson  was an actor out of Chicago who sent in a tape   yes a VHS tape people I'm talking about a VHS I  popped his tape in and watched his audition and   I was like that's Kyle that's Kyle she also said  she could Envision him opposite Erica as Maxine   interestingly enough the two actors didn't do a  chemistry read which is the standard these days   but it still worked out I just had to rely on  my own instincts about how that would pan out   but Erica and TC share a birthday they were always  supposed to be two sides of the same coin so it's   very interesting the Serendipity that came into  play from there it was just a matter of casting   regime and Overton and Yvette already knew who  would fit those roles perfectly I did actually   meet with Kim Fields whom I knew from a mutual  friendship and asked her if she would be in the   show she did have to audition unfortunately it  wasn't an offer but she was regime in my mind   Yvette had admired her work as 2D on The Facts  of Life and wanted to do something that was a   contrast to that John caught yvettesai when  he worked on a pilot the previous season for   a show that didn't get picked up I was like that  guy's funny really really funny and I just got an   energy about him that was just lovable I didn't  know if he could really act but he could and   I found that out during the casting process fun  fact the show's original title was my girls and   was changed to Living Single just before a debut  the theme song so catchy that it became burned   into the minds of fans everywhere was performed by  none other than Queen Latifah herself while parts   of the song are wrapped which makes her voice  easy to identify the singing vocals are hers too [Music] [Music] there was also another part of the intro  that was just as loved as the theme song and that   was the woman dancing in silhouette at one  point it was assumed to be a few different   people including Erica later we learned that  it was dancer choreographer actress radio   and television personality Leslie Segar better  known as Big lez but this is a good friend of   mine Leslie and you viewers don't get to see this  she's a dancers her ass off for everybody Living   Single featured three women and two men living in  two different households in the same building the   sixth character although technically receiving  her mail across the street spends so much time   over at the apartment with the other three women  that she's seen as somewhat of an honorary fourth   roommate we've never seen these women before you  know in terms of you've never seen this kind of of   premise of four black women that 20-something age  range who are in New York trying to make it you   know one of our critics said you know that this  kind of premise sounded familiar not I mean the   whole point is that you know something like this  is not not been done before in the first apartment   Khadijah James played by Queen Latifah is a Howard  University graduate and the smart hard-working and   enterprising editor and publisher of flavor a  fictional Urban independent magazine devoted   to the interests of the African-American Community  she lives with her sweet but naive cousin Sinclair   James played by Kim Coles an aspiring actress  who works as khadijah's receptionist as well as   her childhood friend from New Jersey Regina Regine  Hunter played by Kim Fields a gossip-loving social   climber and clothing boutique buyer who is on a  constant search for a man of means to put a ring   on it Maxine Max Shaw played by Erica Alexander  is a sharp tongued attorney and khadija's best   friend from their college days she spends much  more of her time in the other women's apartment   than her own frequently stopping by to chat raid  their kitchen and start some mess with Kyle Kyle   Barker played by TC Carson lives upstairs in the  second apartment he's a stockbroker and roommates   with Overton Wakefield Jones played by John Henton  despite their constant bickering he later becomes   Max's on-again off-again love interest Overton  is the friendly and simple-minded maintenance man   of their and the neighboring building who's had a  major crush on Sinclair since the day she moved in   the two eventually begin dating and later marry by  the end of the fourth season fun fact even though   Overton and Sinclair get together on the show  in real life Jon and Kim Fields were an item at   one point during filming in season 5 Overton and  Sinclair then move in together leaving Overton and   Kyle's apartment open for recurring character  Ronnie desantos played by idalis De Leon a New   York area DJ to move in it was eventually revealed  that she had a fling with new main character Ira   Lee Williams III better known as Tripp played  by Mel Jackson a songwriter whom Khadijah and   regime allow to move in when Sinclair's room  became available another change in that Fifth   and final season was Kyle's absence in the second  episode he moves to London where he's accepted a   job offer that type of send-off may have led fans  to believe that TC left the show of his own accord   years later though we'd find out that assumption  couldn't be further from the truth I got fired   um we had a lot of and I won't say a lot but  there were times when we had issues on the show   and we would come to them as a cast  but I would be the spokesperson for it   and so that last season before I left um it called  me in and they basically said well you know all   these problems that you know we've been having  they listen to you you're the person they listen   to so if you said something else then they would  do that and I kind of looked at them I said well   first of all we're dealing with five grown people  and they have their own mindset and their own   ideas about what we're doing and everything  we come to you with is a group decision not   my decision but if you think I have that much  power then I need to have a different job   I need to have a different job and I don't think  they like that but so they were sending me off   to London and I said so are you getting ready to  fire me I just need to know so I can line up my   stuff and so I can be prepared they're like no we  never break up the group no we wouldn't do that   watching the episode episode goes off  not two minutes later my phone rings   it's my lawyer telling me that they're  not going to bring me back next year and it wasn't that I got fired  it was the way it was done another cast member's absence that was felt during  the final season albeit not on the same level as   TC's was Kim Fields regime may have continued  to remain an official main character but fans   didn't see much of her the reason why was very  personal I left Living Single a few episodes shy   of completing the final season because the work  the process and everything else didn't feel the   same for me I was at that point either divorced  or about to be divorced I started a production   company and we had all these great projects  but no deals I went through a stage where I   completely shut down I had these blackout  drapes in my house and I closed the drapes   and stayed in the bed for about two weeks maybe  longer I kept running down my resume to God I'm   a tither I'm a worshiper I'm faithful I'm a  good person I was a good kid all the things   that should not equal me being here I didn't claim  depression but if I'm being real with myself I'm   sure there was a little bit of that there in a  2021 interview with Entertainment Tonight Kim   Cole noted that while the show was important for  representing black communities it was a hit among   many different audiences even if some tried to  say it wasn't we kept being told that we were   a black show but I remember going to the bank  one time this little old Jewish man and I knew   who he was because I'm from Brooklyn he squeezed  my arm hello beautiful I love that show with all   you beautiful girls beautiful girls I love  it it's wonderful and he's nothing like the   demographic that they said we had and yet he  was watching because it reminded him of Home   outside of the show's groundbreaking level  of representation the show was also very fun   to watch it kept audiences enthralled and did so  well that after a year NBC used the same formula   and aired friends in 1994. some who worked on  Living Single are skeptical of the originality   of friends with Latifah doubting it publicly  during a 2017 appearance on Andy Cohen's Show   Watch What Happens Live it was one of those things  where it was a guy called Warren Littlefield that   used to run NBC and they asked him when all  the new shows came out they said if there's   any show you could have which one would it be and  he said Living Single and then he created friends even worse all pretenses were dropped when Fox  moved Living Single from its prime Sunday night   spot to Thursday to compete directly with friends  Thursday night spot on NBC a stark polarization   developed in which viewers had to choose between  the sitcoms and the rest is history friends went   on to become a cultural Juggernaut still popular  today and Living Single was canceled after five   seasons John expressed his frustration about  the whole thing to Comedy hype in 2019. we got   no acknowledgment that's that's the thing that  bothered me the most but it was just too similar   it was six of us and six black folks in New York  City versus six white folks in New York City same   apartment same apartment it was just yeah and  it was it was just like and then they'll say   oh that was the most creative show in the world  they don't give us that kind of love and that's   the thing because what event came up with was  something that had never been done as friends   became popular it received more promotion from  NBC while Living Single was left to flounder and   slowly fade from the Limelight by Fox in in  the 90s up through to today anyone can walk   into a gift shop in New York City and find friends  cups t-shirts pens hats calendars and every other   form of merchandise in contrast merch for Living  Single is nowhere to be found Erica spoke to today   about the larger conversation about the ongoing  comparisons between living single and friends   though the shows have similar cast structures and  story lines she says the shows didn't receive the   same support from their respective Studios she  also said that how Studios go about deciding which   projects are green lit into production and their  specific budgets warrants further scrutiny the   production budget for the final season of friends  was 10 million dollars per episode according to   NBC News Yahoo entertainment reported that of  the 10 million dollar budget each of the six   main cast members received one million dollars per  episode the production budget for each of the five   seasons of Living Single was just over 1 million  per episode show budgets typically increase though   with every new season renewal but Yvette said that  wasn't the case for her show we had tremendous   budgetary limitations we were on a particularly  lean budget and the reason we were given that was   we were still part of a startup Network FOX and it  was still claiming new status Fox was founded in   1986 Living Single premiered seven years later  NBC was founded in 1926. friends premiered 68   years later in 2020 friends star David Schwimmer  made a comment about his former show and the issue   of equality during his interview with the  guardian that blue Living Single fans minds   and not in a good way maybe there should be  an all black friends or an all Asian friends the following day Erica tweeted an article of  his comments with a message for him that reads   in part hey at David Schwimmer at Friends tv Are  you seriously telling me you've never heard of   Living Single we invented the template you're  welcome bro David took to Twitter now X the   day after to respond to Erica's comments in a  lengthy statement that reads in par I didn't   mean to imply Living Single hadn't existed  or indeed hadn't come before friends which   I knew it had please remember in an interview  quotes are often pieced together and taken out   of context and then these quotes are repurposed  in other articles by other people who are trying   to be provocative in any event if my quote was  taken out of contacts it's hardly in my control   I assure you I meant no disrespect today reruns  of Living Single currently air daily on various   U.S cable networks it's also now streaming on  Hulu and Max formerly HBO Max Warner home video   released the complete first season of the show  on DVD in 2006 with the rest of the season slowly   released East over the next decade the entire  series is also available for digital download on   amazon.com and iTunes when asked what she thinks  the legacy of Living Single is Yvette says two   words immediately come to mind cultural impact we  didn't just set out to make a TV show we set out   to make a universally entertaining but culturally  specific experience and I think we achieved that thank you

Channel: Juicy Pop

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Keywords: what happened to the cast of living single, the truth about living single, living single finale, living single queen latifah, living single kim, living single kim coles, living single kim fields, why kim fields left living single, why kyle left living single, living single erika alexander, living single john henton, living single vs friends, living single vs friends similarities, living single max and kyle, behind the scenes living single, erika alexander david schwimmer

Id: MTyZ6vAaGJI

Length: 16min 40sec (1000 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 04 2023