I Saw That!

One woman's opinions about popular entertainment.

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Location: Chicago, Illinois, United States

Amateur boxing coach, Christian (but not so heavenly-minded that I'm no earthly good) singer, writer, self-defense advocate, childfree. feminist www.smartwomenboxingtraining.org

Saturday, December 17, 2005

"Livin' Single" (1993-1998)

Funny sitcom about a group of African-American friends living in New York City. Khadijah James (Queen Latifah) was the publisher of a magazine called "Flavor". She shared an apartment with her daffy cousin Synclaire James (Kim Coles), who also worked as a receptionist at Khadijah's magazine, and materialistic Regine Hunter (Kim Fields). Regine worked at a fashion boutique. Maxine "Max" Shaw, a wild college friend of Khadijah who was a lawyer, hung out in their apartment constantly. Max was always exchanging insults with smooth financial planner Kyle Barker (T.C. Carson), who lived upstairs with roommate Overton Jones (John Henton), a handyman.

The friends were always involved in romantic entaglements, career issues, and other mishaps. Max ended up being booted out of the prestigious law firm she worked for after the advice she gave a client about getting a prenup before their wedding backfired. The firm rehired her, but when she found out they had demoted her, she quit and took a job with the Public Defender's office. Khadijah constantly fought battles to keep her magazine afloat and get good articles published. Synclaire and Overton became a couple which led to them getting married. Regine became the buyer at the boutique and had a romance with a rich guy (played by rapper Heavy D) who wasn't quite sophisticated enough for her.

The series had decent ratings, but it was up against NBC powerhouse "Seinfeld" (1990-1998) throughout most of its run. Unfortunately, during the last season, the FOX Network kept pre-empting episodes, then the show was yanked off the air. When Synclaire and Overton got married, they moved into their own apartment. Khadijah and Regine welcomed Ira Lee Williams III, or Tripp (Mel Jackson) as he was called, as a roommate. The dynamics weren't quite the same after that. Kyle and Max fell for each other despite of their mutual hostitlity towards each other. The craziest plot in the last season had Max pregnant after a visit to a sperm bank, only to discover the sperm had been donated by Kyle. Regine planned a party for a rich computer company owner (Don Franklin); he proposed to her, but their marriage was never shown. Her character disappeared from the show after she got engaged. Khadijah finally decided to get serious with old flame Terrence, otherwise known as Scooter (Cress Williams).

Queen Latifah--real name, Dana Owens--began her career as a rapper, with such hits as "Latifah's Had It Up To Here" and "U.N.I.T.Y.". Mel Jackson appeared as a slimy ex-boyfriend of Nia Long in the movie Soul Food. John Henton was later a regular on "The Hughleys".

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