Living Single is an American television sitcom created by Yvette Lee Bowser that aired for five seasons on the Fox network, from August 22, 1993, to January 1, 1998. The show centers on the lives of six New York City friends who share personal and professional experiences while living in a Brooklyn brownstone. Living Single is widely regarded as being one of the most influential shows of the ’90s, and is often seen as being the predecessor of the hit show “Friends”.
Living Single centered on six people consisting of four women and two men living the single life in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.
The series focused on two different households in one brownstone, one shared by a trio of independent women and another shared by two male friends who had known each other since childhood while living in Cleveland, Ohio. In the first apartment, Khadijah James (Queen Latifah), a hard-working editor and publisher of the fictional urban independent magazine Flavor, lived with her sweet but naive cousin Synclaire James (Kim Coles), an aspiring actress who worked as Khadijah’s receptionist and had an affinity for Troll dolls, and her childhood friend from East Orange, New Jersey, Regina “Régine” Hunter (Kim Fields), an image-conscious boutique buyer who was on a constant search for a well-to-do man to spend her life (and his money) with. Later in the series, Régine became a costume assistant for the soap opera Palo Alto. When the soap was canceled, she became a wedding planner and left the apartment to move in with her fiancé Dexter Knight (Don Franklin). Maxine “Max” Shaw (Erika Alexander), a sharp-tongued Attorney and Khadijah’s best friend from their college days at Howard University, frequently stopped by to share her unique insights and the events of her day, to make sure that the girls’ refrigerator wasn’t overstocked, and to start trouble with Kyle, looking for any chance to make his life worse.
Kyle Barker (T.C. Carson) lived in the second apartment with Overton Wakefield Jones (John Henton). Overton was the friendly but bucolic maintenance man for the owner of their (and neighboring) building, who held a deep affection for Synclaire and plenty of hilarious homespun wisdom for everyone else. Kyle was a stockbroker whose constant verbal sparring with Max did little to mask their obvious sexual attraction to each other. Kyle and Max pursued a sexual relationship, but when he decided to take a job in London and invited Max to join him, she turned him down. Maxine subsequently became distraught over her decision and, after defending a man who claimed to be the second coming of Jesus (Harold Perrineau), she began to take her life more seriously. Through a series of events, Max decided that her purpose must be to become a mother. During the insemination process, she unknowingly picked Kyle’s sperm specimen based on a list of qualities she would like for her child to have. Kyle returned in the series finale, and the two reconciled. Overton and Synclaire also got together, and their relationship culminated in marriage by the end of the fourth season. In season five, they moved in together, leaving Overton and Kyle’s apartment open for new character Roni DeSantos (Idalis DeLeon), a New York-area D.J., to move in. It was eventually revealed that DeSantos had a fling with Ira Lee “Tripp” Williams III, (Mel Jackson), a songwriter whom Khadijah and Régine allowed to move in when Synclaire’s room became available. Synclaire joined a comedy improv troupe where she gained the attention of Tony Jonas, a Warner Bros. Television executive who cast her as a nun for a new comedy series he was developing.
Along with trying to make Flavor a success, Khadijah also looked for Mr. Right. She eventually found him in childhood friend Scooter (Cress Williams), with whom she left the brownstone for the final time in the series finale.
During Living Single’s first season, it consistently garnered higher ratings than Martin, which aired in the time slot immediately before it on Thursday nights, and it quickly became the fourth highest-rated show aired on Fox among their 12 current series.
Throughout its run, Living Single became one of the most popular African-American sitcoms of its era, ranking among the top five in African-American ratings in all five seasons. Newspaper critics contrasted Living Single with the NBC sitcom Friends which was inspired by the post-college experiences of Marta Kauffman and David Crane and in development during the summer of 1993 before the cult show premiered. Living Single featured successful Black characters including an attorney, a stockbroker, and a business owner, in contrast to Friends, which featured white characters including a waitress, a folk singer, and an unemployed actor. Show creator Yvette Lee Bowser was disappointed that Warner Bros. did not promote Living Single nearly as much as it did Friends but usually networks promote shows, not studios.
Living Single was never one of the highest-rated programs among audiences during its run from 1993 to 1998. Indeed, the show had struggled to break into lists of top television programs viewed by larger audiences and never broke into the Top 50, though it was a higher performer for the Fox network itself. Those who loved and watched the show regularly have told show creator Yvette Lee Bowser that they connect with its characters, love the cast, and are inspired by the positive, elegant, and professional portrayal of Black people on television. Bowser noted that “People say our characters remind them of themselves, their friends or their relatives. They all know someone like one of the characters.”
Regular cast
Queen Latifah – Khadijah James, Howard graduate and editor and publisher of Flavor Magazine, an independent magazine devoted to the interests of the African-American community.
Kim Fields – Regina “Regine” Hunter (Episodes 1–115), Khadijah and Synclaire’s gossip-loving roommate; Khadijah’s childhood friend.
Kim Coles – Synclaire James-Jones, Khadijah’s good-natured cousin and roommate; receptionist at Flavor and aspiring actress. The role of Synclaire was originally intended for Queen Latifah’s long-time friend and collaborator, Monie Love, but she was unable to take the part.
Erika Alexander – Maxine “Max” Felice Shaw, strong-willed Attorney, Khadijah’s best friend and former college roommate at Howard, who grew up in Mount Airy, Philadelphia; spends most of her time at the women’s apartment.
T.C. Carson – Kyle Barker (Episodes 1–107; guest appearance in episode 118), stockbroker and Overton’s roommate; Max’s verbal sparring partner and on-again-off-again love interest.
John Henton – Overton “Obie” Wakefield Jones, Kyle’s roommate and the brownstone’s handyman; Synclaire’s sweetheart, also co-owner of the apartment complex the gang lived in.
Mel Jackson – Ira Lee “Tripp” Williams (Season 5), Khadijah and Regine’s new roommate; aspiring songwriter.
Warner Home Video released the complete first season of Living Single on DVD in Region 1 on February 14, 2006. The entire series is also available for digital download on Amazon.com and the iTunes Store.
Warner Archive subsequently released seasons 2–5 on DVD in Region 1. These are Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) releases, available from Warner’s online store and Amazon.com.
iving Single started reruns in syndication on September 22, 1997, through various Fox, UPN, and WB affiliates; these were later CW affiliates in terms of UPN and WB. The series formerly reran on USA Network, Logo TV, BET, and Oxygen. Syndication carriage on the local level fizzled out in 2006. Reruns of the series currently run daily on cable networks TV One, MTV2, Bounce TV, WCIU and VH1. As of January 11, 2018, all episodes began streaming on Hulu, and on HBO Max as of September 22, 2022.