Living Single: Difference between revisions

'''''Living Single''''' is a sitcom that ran from 1993 to 1998, beginning a year before ''Friends''. It featured an ensemble cast of New York twentysomethings living in the middle-class Park Slope section of Brooklyn. The one obvious distinction is that the cast was African-American, but the audience was never hit over the head with it (too hard). The show gained points for showing Blacks succeeding in corporate America, from law to stocks to entrepreneurship.

One of the show's main draws was its realistic depiction of women. The show passes the [[Useful Notes/The Bechdel Test|The Bechdel Test]] with flying colors, the ladies have a varying range of body types, and it's never a [[Hollywood Homely|plot point.]] The two male characters live next door, and while they're seen as annoying at first, they soon develop friendships with the women and eventually romance.

{{quote| The people...Alderwoman...City Council...Mayor...Garbagemen...[[God]].}}

* [[Big Applesauce]]: Brooklyn, to be precise.

{{quote| '''Regine:''' You put one hand on your date, one hand on your chest. ''*laughs*'' See it’s a kind of laugh that says: "I’m amused and I have these."}}

* [[Big No]]: Regine with a side of corn bread in ''On The Rebound'', when Khadijah's caught kissing [[Special Guest|Grant Hill]].

* [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]]: After a particularly bad date in ''Mystery Date'', Khadijah actually turns towards the camera and blames the audience for it.

{{quote| '''Khadijah:''' ''*glares at the audience*'' You did this to me. I thought y'alls were my peoples! }}

** That particular episode was in fact the subject of an audience voting event.

* [[Broken Aesop]]: From ''Five Card Stud'', hustling/cheating at poker is perfectly acceptable as long as you do it against a [[Straw Misogynist]].

* [[Catch Phrase]]: It had a couple:

{{quote| '''Regine:''' Aww sookie sookie now! (or) Smooches! <br />

* [[Chivalrous Pervert]]: Russel will do anything to put a smile on Regine's face . . . because then she's more likely to [[Gainaxing|shimmy]] for him.

{{quote| '''Khadijah:''' Let me clarify the situation. Regine and me living with garbage is like you being barefoot and pregnant - ''and liking it.''<br />

* [[Cool Old Lady]]: Khadijah's grandmother, Grammy James.

{{quote| '''Synclaire:''' I haven't had this much fun since Grammy James's 80th birthday, okay.<br />

* [[Disappeared Dad]]: Khadijah's father left her and her mother when she was young, although they seem to have reconciled at some point before the show's timeline (somewhat).

* [[Disproportionate Retribution]]: An escalating [[Cycle of Revenge]] occurs between Regine and Max in the episode ''Mr. Big Shot''. Max wants to borrow a dress Regine is working on for her Soap Opera ''Palo Alto'' for a function at the mayor's house, and Regine won't let her have it. Turns out the dress is actually a tear-away dress for a cat-fight on the soap, but when Regine discovers Max stole the dress anyway, she decides not to try and warn her and let Max be publicly humiliated instead. If that wasn't enough, after Max discovers Regine knew the dress was a prop and didn't try to warn her after she stole it, Max completes a long list of things to get back at her, including: letting the air out of her tires, putting sugar in her gas tank, canceling her credit cards, ordering two dozens pizzas to be delivered in the morning, and fixing her up on a date with [[Drag Queen|RuPaul]].

* [[Dropped a Bridget On Him]]: Synclaire dresses up as James "Jimmy" Overton to get into a comedy troupe.

** A female assumed as male example (sort of) by Max in a [[Gay Bar]], when a man tries to pick her up assuming she's actually a [[Drag Queen]].

* [[Drop in-In Character]]: Maxine has her own apartment, but is rarely seen there. Lampshaded the first time the cast is there in person.

{{quote| '''Kyle:''' What's your middle name?<br />

* [[Fun with Acronyms]]: For a while Regine is involved with an organzation called E.L.B.O.W. - 'Enterprising Ladies Benefiting Our World'

* [[Gold Digger]]: One of the prerequisites to being Regine's "Chocolate Ken" is having a lot of extra money to spend on her.

* [[Gossipy Hens]]: Regine is the biggest hen of them all, not even court-ordained community service with monks under a vow of silence could keep her mouth shut.

*** T.C. Carson is possibly this for gamers as he goes on to voice [[God of War (series)|Kratos]]. Which makes a [[Stinger]] where Overton asks him to open a Box from his aunt Pandora [[Hilarious in Hindsight]].

{{quote| '''Khadijah:''' Oh my God! That voice! My God! My God, why hast thou forsaken me?!<br />

* [[Impossibly Tacky Clothes]]: Regine's mother loves to dress like this (and encourage Regine to do the same), Regine once worked for a boutique that specialized in selling extremely tacky clothing.

{{quote| '''Max:''' I don't know. The club scene is tired. There's nothin' but a bunch of brothers there with beepers and gold teeth talkin' about "Baby, I'd like to put you on a plate and sop you up with a biscuit."<br />

''(later at the club)''<br />

{{quote| '''Khadijah:''' Damn! Smell like . . . cheese!<br />

'''Overton:''' Does not!<br />

* [[LampshadedIf DoubleYou EntendreKnow What I Mean]]: Max's campaign slogan when running for Alderwoman, when she says "Ride the Maverick . . . [[Intercourse with You|she means it!]]"

* [[Large Ham]]: Most of the cast has a chance to ham it up from time to time, but Kim Fields gets to do it at the end of every one of the revamped opening credits. After her credits pop up, she starts pantomiming with trumpet before dramatically lipsyncing with the last note of the song.

{{quote| '''Regine:''' Yeah, she was a riot upstairs, rifling through my underwear drawer. Man, thank god I hid my . . . <br />

'''Kyle:''' ''*who is sitting right next to Regine, just grins and chuckles knowingly*''<br />

* [[Meat Versus Veggies]]: When Regine becomes a [[Straw Vegetarian|vegetarian]], she attempts to force her roommates to be the same by throwing out all the meat in the apartment. Her roommates counter this by throwing out all her veggies and having a huge meat-only BBQ in the backyard.

* [[The Nineties]]: The show does date itself between television and musical references, but the most obvious reference comes right from the theme song:

{{quote| '''Queen Latifah:''' "Ooo in a [[The Nineties|90's kind of world]], I'm glad I got my gurls!"}}

* [[My Biological Clock Is Ticking]]: After Max delves into her [[Past Life Memories]], she realizes after numerous lifetimes of being a man, this is the first time she's ever been a woman. As such, she realizes her purpose in life is to be a mother, and thus, needs to have a baby.

* [[My Sister Is Off-Limits]]: Overton is less than pleased when he discovers that Kyle is dating his sister, Olivia.

** Averted with Khadijah's half-sister, Ashley, to whom she practically begs Ivan to take out to get her off her hands for the night.

* [[Out-of-Character Moment]]: During the show's [[Christmas Episode]] Kyle states his preference for celebrating Kwanzaa, a holiday dedicated towards sharing as opposed to the commercialism of Christmas. This is the same Kyle who works for a brokerage firm and once claimed [[Greed]] as a business asset. Lampshaped immediately afterwards, however, when Kyle excuses himself to supervise a hostile takeover.

** It does fit in, however, with his love of all things from the african culture.

* [[Parrot Exposition]]: We get this exchange in ''A Kiss Before Lying''. Interesting to note, all the characters already knew who Greg was, so this bit of exposition is purely for the audience's benefit.

{{quote| '''Max:''' Greg called.<br />

* [[Real Life Relative]] - Khadijah's mother and grandmother were played by Queen Latifah's real mother and grandmother. Averted with her baby half sister and her father.

{{quote| '''Kyle:''' How did someone who comes from the same place as me, who had the same opportunities as me, end up as self-loathing and pathetic as you?}}

* [[Schoolyard Bully All Grown Up]]: Lester Tate, Kyle's old High School bully.

* [[Sickeningly Sweethearts]]: Overton and Synclaire, who are a rare case of this ''and'' [[Happily Married]], complete with [[Tastes Like Diabetes|kissy faces]] and [[Fluffy the Terrible|cutsey pet names]], even after they are married.

* [[Stalker with a Crush]]: Ivan for Khadijah, some of things he says to her can get ''really'' creepy, but its always [[Played for Laughs]].

** Russel for Regine, although he mostly comes off as a [[Chivalrous Pervert]].

* [[Stealth Pun]]: At least twice in the series they refer to Khadijah, played by Queen Latifah, as acting like a 'Queen', one use of this joke included an [[Aside Glance]] though, so it wasn't as subtle.

{{quote| '''Khadijah:''' Synclaire! this is a queen sized matress! that means there's only enough room for the queen!}}

* [[Straw Misogynist]]: Lawrence from the episode ''Five Card Stud'', although he seems to rubber band between being an alright guy to acting chauvinistic until the end of the episode, where he turns into a full [[Straw Misogynist]].

{{quote| '''Kyle:''' (while over the women's apartment & eating their chinese food) You women are so indecisive. Men, on the other hand, move with a swift and deliberate purpose. Goes back to prehistoric time when we men were the hunters and you women did what we told you to. And you liked it.<br />

* [[Straw Vegetarian]]: Regine becomes a vegetarian because she saw it was good for you and could keep you young looking on a daytime talk show. Despite the shallow reasoning which led her to become a vegetarian in the first place, she does end up remaining one permanently from that episode forward.

* [[Tragic Hero]]: During the first season finale Max recommends that her wealthy client seek a pre-nuptial agreement with her fiancé, although does so without first getting approval from the firm's partners. This advice leads her client's fiancé to call off the wedding, and said client to blame Max for the reccomendation, causing Max's subsequent suspension from the firm.

* [[Wardrobe Malfunction]]: Max steals a dress from Regine to attend a function at the mayor's house. What Regine didn't tell Max was the dress is actually a [[Clothing Damage|prop tear-away dress]] for a catfight scene in her Soap Opera, ''Palo Alto.'' [[Hilarity Ensues]]!

* [[What Do You Mean It's Not Heinous?]]: In the episode ''A Hair-Razing Experience'', Kyle is told by one of his superiors that his hairstyle isn't business appropriate and he should consider cutting it. In the end, Kyle turns it into an argument for his right to represent his African heritage . . . until it turns out it was just one of his superior's opinion and all his other higher-ups didn't care about his hair.

* [[What Happened to the Mouse?|What Happened To The Dog?]]: Kyle and Overton's dog, Sanford, appeared in all of one episode and is never heard from again. Strange case in that we're also told they've had the dog for a few months when the episode starts although he was never seen before.