The TRUTH About Girlfriends | Drama On The Set? Why Did Toni Disappear? Why Did It Get Canceled?

[Music] screenwriter and producer Mara Brock ail knew what it was like to feel invisible in 1999 she looked around Hollywood and saw an Extinction underway black women and their stories being written out of prime time TV at the time the then 30-year-old was putting the finishing touches on her first Network show a sitcom for UPN called called girlfriends a new millennium was on the horizon and she wasn't going to let the future begin without black women front and center she told glamour in 2020 it was really simple for me I wanted black women to feel seen I was tired of us playing in the background and in some cases we couldn't even play in the background I wanted black women to see and enjoy their complexity to see their beauty reflected thankfully girlfriends which debuted on September 11th 2000 did just that the sitcom executive produc by cheers and Frasier star Kelsey gramar introduced us to four interesting complex and sometimes downright messy black women trying to make their careers and relationships work fun fact the catchy theme song used for all eight seasons of the series was performed by R&B soul singer Angie [Music] Stone [Music] through my girl friend girl for anything my girlriend Joan Carol Clayton played by Tracy Ellis Ross was the ambitious attorney originally from Fresno California she moved to LA with Tony her best friend since the fourth grade she frequently looked out for her friends even at the expense of dealing with her own problems which were plentiful throughout the series happy birthday thank you so how old are you 26 I lied I'm 29 today and according to my life's day planner I should have it all by now the career the husband the kids so if I say 26 and I bought myself some time okay she was able to have so much and build on her dreams because of the financial stability of her family Mara recalled a glamour how much people questioned everything Joan had going on in her life at such a young age I remember people saying she had a house at 29 but I was like you never question when white people have houses at 29 why can't she have a house at 29 also the joke about Janes Toyota Camry is that she could afford a house because she didn't have a luxury car Antoinette Tony Marie Childs later Garrett played by Jill Marie Jones was a real estate professional who pulled herself up by her bootstraps she left Fresno with Joan for the big city with a willingness to work hard and do whatever it took to get more out of life her hyphenated surname came after marrying Dr Todd Garrett played by Jason Pace a Jewish Beverly Hills doctor go back to Jones here she enjoys playing the mama get that that that not that what this is mine just because I let you try it on does not make it yours Maya Denise wils played by Golden Brooks was a straight shooter and former Teen Mom of a son named Jabari she later married jabari's father Darnell who was also her high school sweetheart she becomes good friends with Joan and by extension Tony and other close friend Lynn after working as Jan's executive assistant even though she came from humble beginnings in Compton California an had to deal with a lot of challenges and obstacles throughout her life she believed in herself and had Big Dreams what why you looking at me I'm sorry it's why are you looking at me you dropped verbs Tony I go to college I don't need you correcting me well apparently they didn't teach you that a sentence must have a verb well you know I did learn that kiss is both a verb and a noun so how about you give my ass a kiss or kiss my ass an Lyn an cersi played by Persia White the highly educated and directionless one who met Joan and Tony in college she constantly depended on the support of her friends and family to get by dayto day while trying to find her purpose I noticed you moved back in last night would have been nice if you asked I already did remember our sophomore year when I asked if I could crash at your place and you said anytime fun fact Mara revealed in a 2017 Instagram post that she named the main four characters after black role models who positively affected her live Joan after her mother Tony after novelist Tony Morrison Maya after poet Maya Angelou and Lynn after author elen Harris the main cast also included two male characters William Jerome Den played by Reggie Hayes was the girl's closest male friend he was an attorney and worked at the same law firm as Joan I'm not 26 I'm 29 I know how do you know well let's just say $5 still goes a long way and Darnell Leroy wils played by Flex Alexander in season 1 and then played by khil Kane thereafter was Maya's husband he was an Airport baggage handler before becoming a mechanic at a local car repair shop all I know is before you hooked up with those girls you never left your son and ran off anywhere waxed anything more than a car or hung out with a girl who would try and sleep with another girl's man from season since 3 to 6 Monica Charles Brooks later Dent played by Kesha sharp made recurring appearances as Williams girlfriend she became a main character in Seasons 7 and 8 as his fiance then wife would you like to engage in some witty repar first or is this pretty much a done de I'm not a Haggler I'm an Impulse buyer girlfriends skillfully maneuvered divorce miscarriage HIV AIDS career highs and the full spectrum of family drama it spoke directly to the lived experience of black women and reminded us that those experiences aren't a monolith it taught a generation of women about Sisterhood and the power of the chosen family after UPN merged with the WB Network the show moved over to the CW in 2006 at the time girlfriends was one of the longest running series featuring a predominantly Black cast since The Cosby Show surpassing the runs of ABC's My Wife and Kids foxes the Bernie Max show and even NBC's The Fresh Prince of delir it was also the most veteran UPN series to survive the merger unfortunately to add to that change the network made another one that spelled the beginning of the end they move the show's time slot after airing for several years on Mondays the CW moved girlfriends to Sundays the idea was to make the show The Anchor of its Sunday lineup of African-American shows that included Everybody Hates Chris and all of us while also serving as the springboard leadin for its spin-off the game Mara was TR trouble though that the show wasn't included in the Network's billboard and bus placard campaign hyping its programming the push focused on America's Next Top Model Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars while also giving a boost to Smallville Everybody Hates Chris and Supernatural which have not been on the air as long as girlfriends she told the LA Times in 2006 girlfriends has never had a billboard even though more times than not we've been the number one show in Black households that's not right if I meet this challenge even though our numbers may be small I will consider them double what they are because we would have done it without marketing support I know it's the reality of the business but I don't like it responding to her comments a network spokesman said when you're launching a new network there are countless marketing priorities including an overall branding Campaign which featured every show on the CW girlfriends is one of those shows and we are very proud that it's anchoring our new Sunday night as the most watched program on television by African-Americans since it premiered in 2000 sadly after the time change the ratings plummeted making the transition even tougher was the unexpected departure of one of the series main cast members Jill left the show and caught the rest of the cast plus Mara off guard Mara admitted that Jill's departure and her refusal to make a farewell appearance shook her I would love for her to come back but Jill doesn't want to return I don't know 100% why she made this decision she didn't tell me all she said when we talked was that she felt it was time for to move on the door is not closed we've asked her to come back and have offered different ways for her to return but I completely wish her well there's no drama involved years later Jill herself summed up her decision to Essence I left because I wanted to do movies my contract was up after my sixth season and people forget that just like the network can choose whether or not to renew your contract I can also choose and evaluate whether or not I want to come back she also clarified that the decision had nothing to do with money which was another speculation in the media in a 2019 in-depth interview with Charlamagne the God on the set of Jones Show ABC's blackish the women talked about all things girlfriends including Jill's decision to exit the show she elaborated on her decision adding that she wish she had told her co-stars ahead of time that she was leaving explaining that she didn't know how to go about it at the time discussing the fact that Jill didn't let them know of her plans Tracy said we've never had a chance to have that conversation and truthfully it's not a necessary conversation while golden added one thing you cannot do is tell someone or project how you would do something onto someone else she made a choice that was right for her and we have to respect that after eight seasons girlfriends ended abruptly in 2008 with no explanation and no closure for fans so what happened one answer is the 20072 2008 riters Guild of America strike Tracy shed more light on what occurred at that time in a 22 interview with deadline our last episode that we shot was during the writer strike and I actually directed it we had 13 more episodes to do we never did them we didn't have a rap party we didn't know we were ending the last moment wasn't with all our writers and everybody it was not sort of a ceremonial end during their interview with Charlamagne the god the cast also spoke about how the show ended Tracy share that the lack of support outside of the black community didn't help when the show became cancelled our show ID think was as important to them as it was to our community girlfriends and our crew the cast had so much diversity we were led by Mara Brock ail by a black woman our writer room was majority black women our crew our Director of Photography was a black man and it changed the way I go forward in my career because it was such an assumption and that's not the way it is everywhere the more specific answer to the show's cancellation can be pinned on simple economics when the strike ended the network decided it didn't make Financial sense to resume the series and canceled plans to film the eight seasons remaining episodes as a consolation though it was announced that the CW was considering a retrospective episode to close out the series The Character story lines wouldn't get any kind of resolution but at least the sitcom would have a series finale that idea was later scrapped after the network reportedly offered the actors only half of their usual episodic salary to take part the actors collectively turned them down aside from being insulted by the reduced payoff the actors were also said to be upset that the network wouldn't be paying them for the remaining episodes that were ordered and later cancelled it was rumored that the actors wanted to sue the network but it seemed unlikely they'd have much luck since during the strike networks and Studios invoked a force meure contract revision the standard Clause essentially allowed them to cancel a contract if work cannot be performed due to an extraordinary event or circumstance in this case the writer strike Mara shared her philosophical Outlook about the way the series closed out did I like the way it ended no would I have liked it to have a proper ending of course unfortunately this was one of those budget decisions to put value into a show they knew wasn't coming back when they were trying to keep life in others I understand it when the news came I chose to focus on the blessings nobody wants to end this way but after 172 episodes we had a wonderful ride while it was a wonderful ride things could have gone and looked much different if it weren't for a couple of major changes that happened after the filming of the pilot in a 2020 virtual reunion with Entertainment Tonight Jill broke the news to fans that she and Persia were not part of the original cast then the following year Instagram account culture content shared a photo of that original cast clearly showing two unfamiliar faces the woman originally cast as Lynn was Christina Cox a white Canadian born actor while Leslie Silva was originally cast as Tony the two also appeared in the unaired pilot between 2007 and 2010 all eight seasons of girlfriends were released on DVD girlfriends the soundtrack was released in 2008 it features a variety of R&B and Neo Soul artists like Jill Scott Erica Badu India Ari and even cast member Persia wide the entire series began streaming on Netflix in the summer of 2020 it launched on September 11th to mark the 20th anniversary of its [Music] premiere

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Id: NqlOAah4exc

Length: 13min 43sec (823 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 07 2023