Living Single - The Complete First Season Review
Living Single - The Complete First Season Feature
- Best friends and "sista-girls", this group of seemingly mismatched women have found the recipe for twenty-something happiness. Enjoy all 27 Season One episodes (plus terrific Bonus Featurette) of the comedy series about four fly women living large and living single. From " round the way" to "Rodeo Drive", Regine (Kim Fields) has a new look (and a new man!) for every occasion. Hard-nosed attorney M
When it appeared on the Fox TV network in 1993,
Living Single was one of the first sitcoms to portray the everyday doings of a group of African America friends living ordinary American lives. It also pretty much launched the acting career of rap artist Queen Latifah (who performed its theme song) before she moved onto a thriving profession as a movie star. The format was nothing new, but it quickly became a hit and ran for five successful seasons. The setting was the office of urban-lifestyle Flavor magazine, where Khadijah James (Latifah) was editor, and the New York apartment Khadijah shared with roommates Synclaire (Kim Coles) and Regine (Kim Fields). There were frequent drop-ins by Khadijah's friend Maxine (Erika Alexander) and the duo of bickering best-friends from the apartment upstairs Kyle (Terrence T.C. Carson) and Overton (John Henton). From that formulaic setup came the good-natured storylines that allowed for plenty of
Friends-like repartee (although
Friends didn't premiere until the next year). It was also a little
Seineld-like (which was just hitting stride in 1993), except that
Living Single did not adhere to
Seinfeld's "no hugging, no learning" policy. In episodes with titles like "Crappy Birthday," "Whose Date Is It Anyway," "Fatal Distraction," and "A Tale of Two Tattles," Khadijah and company engaged in familiar sitcom ensemble wise-cracking, back-stabbing, name-calling, and grudge-holding that elicited plenty of "WOOOOO!" responses from the studio audience, but everyone always went back to being supportive pals for the denouements. The series made it clear that Latifah was a charismatic and charmingly telegenic personality who had no problem sharing screen time with her co-stars. The bickering is most fun in episodes heavy on scenes between the gossip queen Regine and the upscale, quick-witted lawyer Maxine. The Ralph Kramden/Ed Norton dynamic between Overton and Kyle also makes for lively sitcom chemistry. There's no episode commentary on this first season, 27-episode four-disc set. The only extra is a 13-minute documentary, "How Ya Livin'? Season one of
Living Single," which features new interviews with series creator Yvette Lee Bowser and some of the cast members (but not Queen Latifah).
--Ted Fry
Best friends and "sista-girls", this group of seemingly mismatched women have found the recipe for twenty-something happiness. Enjoy all 27 Season One episodes (plus terrific Bonus Featurette) of the comedy series about four fly women living large and living single. From " ?round the way" to "Rodeo Drive", Regine (Kim Fields) has a new look (and a new man!) for every occasion. Hard-nosed attorney Maxine Shaw (Erika Alexander) has an appetite for winning, both in and out of the courtroom. Sweet cousin Synclaire (Kim Coles), legendary for both her charm...and her naivete. And rounding out the crew is Khadijah James (Queen Latifah), a burgeoning entrepreneur who holds Flavor Magazine, and the household, together. Smart, sassy and single --- now that's Living.
