The 90s were a brilliant time for sitcoms, with shows like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Boy Meets World, Family Matters, Full House, A Different World, Seinfeld, Sister Sister, Martin, The Nanny, and many others competing for weekly ratings. This era featured a diverse group of faces in comedic shows on a weekly basis, each with its own stories to tell.
It would be impossible to mention 90s sitcoms without mentioning the success of Warner Bros. In addition to Family Matters, Full House, The Wayans Bros., and quite a few others, the studio produced Living Single and Friends. These two series premiered within a year of one another and have a similar sitcom plot, but only one of them is actively remembered and celebrated consistently.
From 1993 to 1998, Living Single aired on Fox over the course of 5 seasons. The series was distributed by Warner Bros., which produced some of the most popular sitcoms in the 90s. Its cast included six main characters who changed the way Black characters were being portrayed on television. When paired with series like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Family Matters, A Different World, Martin, and Sister Sister, which were also on the air during this time, Black characters were no longer supporting additions to that were only meant to serve as a stereotypical form of comedic relief for the focal character. Instead, Living Single's group of six began to tell a women-driven story of friendship, love, and success.
The series was created by Yvette Lee Bowser who had previously worked on A Different World. As the creator, she landed Queen Latifah, Kim Coles, Kim Fields, Erika Alexander, T.C. Carson, and John Henton as the leads for the show that would become known as Living Single. It revolves around Khadijah James (Latifah), founder of Flavor magazine, and her friends and family in Brooklyn. She lives with her cousin Synclaire (Coles) and friend Régine (Fields) in a brownstone, but the three receive frequent visits from successful attorney Maxine Shaw (Alexander), Khadijah's college friend. They are joined by Kyle (Carson), a successful stockbroker, and Overton (Henton), who acts as the handyman around the building. Kyle and Overton live above the women and often drop by unannounced.
By the end of Living Single, Synclaire and Overton have gotten married and live with one another. Overton's affections for her loom large over Living Single, but Synclaire and Overton are not the only members of the group that end up together. After seasons of teasing one another and indulging in an on-again-off-again relationship, Max unknowingly chooses Kyle's sperm sample at the bank to get pregnant to fulfill her life's purpose of being a mother. Years later on Half & Half, it is revealed that Max and Kyle are engaged and have a daughter named Kyla.
A year after Living Single's premiere, Warner Bros. would release another sitcom with a different set of 6 leading characters. Its premise is eerily similar to Living Single, in that a group of friends resides in New York and live (and eventually date) amongst one another. As opposed to the success of the characters in Living Single, most of the characters in Friends are not financially stable. Its cast includes Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, and Matt LeBlanc. In it, Rachel (Aniston) moves in with Monica (Cox) while Chandler (Perry) and Joey (LeBlanc) live across the hall from them.
Much like Living Single, by the end of Friends, there are a few members of the group that have paired off. Monica and Chandler end up married and have adopted twins. One of the focal storylines of Friends involves Monica's brother Ross and childhood friend, Rachel. After many ups and downs that include marriage and children, Ross and Rachel seemingly receive their happy ever after by the end of the series.
Two episodes into Living Single's final season, Kyle's main character role would be reduced to a recurring role. Carson spoke to Comedy Hype about this, insisting that his demotion was due to his comments about Warner Bros. showing favoritism toward Friends over Living Single. With both sitcoms being filmed on Warner Bros.' lot, Carson noted that it was difficult to see the different ways the shows were treated. According to Carson, he made a habit of being the spokesperson for the Living Single cast and the issues they agreed needed to be addressed as a cast. Carson stated that Warner Bros. execs assumed that these were his personal opinions and took it as an issue in regard to his ego.
Friends ran for twice as long as Living Single, airing from 1994 to 2004 with 10 seasons under its belt. During that time, Friends would be nominated for 10 Golden Globes and 26 Primetime Emmy Awards. Living Single would only earn 2 Emmy nominations over the course of its 5 season run. While there are a number of factors that could have resulted in Friends' success over Living Single, Carson's comments cannot be ignored. Given the significance of a series like Living Single and the way it depicted success in the Black community, Warner Bros. should have rallied behind it.
Living Single is now streaming on Hulu.