Introducing: ReLiving Single

Hey, One Song Nation, Diallo here. Luxury and I are taking a short break this week, but we didn't want to leave you completely hanging. Our network, Heartbeat Audio, has teamed up with Color Farm Media to create a new show about an old show called Reliving Single, the official, unofficial, living single rewatch podcast.

hosted by Erica Alexander, a.k.a. Maxine Shaw, attorney at law, and Kim Coles, a.k.a. Sinclair James. Reliving Single dives deep into the cultural impact of living single through the lens of those who lived it and those who loved it. As you guys know, I'm an actor, writer, comedian, sometimes DJ, and Living Single was a huge influence on me as a young creative. We'll be back with more One Song next week, but in the meantime, satisfy your nostalgia craving with Reliving Single.

Hey, Kim. You know, what is chemistry? You know, chemistry is that sort of je ne sais quoi. You can't quite put your finger on it, but you know it when you feel it, right? Yeah, and if you feel it, then the audience can see it. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, that kind of thing. And I really, truly believe. that we had it.

at Living Single from episode one, moment one, like right away. That's exactly why they greenlit the show. I mean, our chemistry is part of the legion. It is. Do you know that they still do chemistry reads on auditions? You want to explain to the people what a chemistry read is? Well, okay, so a chemistry read.

is where you go in and you see if you vibe with the other actor and they want to bring you in to make sure that you have, you know, some kind of communication. Right. That Jenna Shea Kwa you're talking about. So I think maybe we should do one here. Why would we need one? It's clear that we have chemistry.

I don't know. There's a lot of things that change. You know, there's a lot of water on the bridge. You know, years have gone by. We've had COVID. What does COVID have to do with it? I just mean that you could have changed. You know what I'm saying? I could have changed too. So I say let's test it. Because we're going to go on this new reliving single journey. We need to make sure that we have now what we had then. Okay.

All right. Are you scared of it? No, no. I'm down for it. I'm down for it. Okay, let's do it. I'm a little worried, but no. Okay. Okay, tell you what. On one condition. What is it, though? Okay. If we're going to do a chemistry read, then we need to read a script, and I want to choose it. Deal. I'm scared.

Don't be scared. Don't have me out here looking crazy. No, we're going to look good. All right. Wait till you see. I got something in mind. Don't get too excited now. I'm excited. All right, let's do this. Let's do it.

Reliving Single. Reliving Single. The unofficial Living Single podcast. So it's official, but it's unofficial. Unofficial, of course. Because we're rebels like that. So it's officially unofficial. Kim, we talking about... The journey of living single through our eyes. Yeah. It was 30 years ago. 30 years ago. We're still here and it's still on and it is playing somewhere even as we speak right now. Somewhere in the world, living single is plain. That's so wonderful. And thank you to our...

fans and our friends and our family. You're the reason that this has gone on this long. Again, they will not let us let this go. I embrace it and we're getting younger and younger fans and people who's... Kids are watching. So, like, how many Maxes have you met? I've met Maxes. I've met someone whose name was Erica Alexandra. Oh, wow. Yes, Erica Alexandra Harris, a tech entrepreneur. Wow.

Not kidding. You did that. Yeah. Or her mama did that. Or her mama did it. She crazy. And I've met several Sinclairs. I didn't have any children. Neither did I. But I have lots of Max's. It's incredible. But it's amazing when people pay tribute to you like that because that means it went to the heart. That's more than resonating. Which is why we're doing this show here at The Heart Beat. Get it. Okay. So what are we going to do in this show? We're going to actually, what's a rewatch?

So we're going to watch the show. Now, what's weird is I don't know how much I watched the show when it was on. Did you watch it? So I watched some of it and I would forget stuff. Like, oh, when did we do that? Well, no, because on Thursday nights when it came on, we were all... So taping that night. And we're talking about you had to put a VHS in and record it and push it. No one knew how to work no VHS.

Shoot. Nowadays, these kids don't even understand how lucky they are. They're so lazy. They can just go boom, pop it in. Next thing you know, they got everything at their fingertips. We're going to bring them back to when it was hard work. We're going to bring them all the way back. Okay?

Okay. So we're going to re-watch it. So watch the show with us. Re-watch the show. Watch it show with us. And we're going to start with number one. Here we go. The first episode. That's right. What is it? I forgot the name of it. It was 30 years ago, people. So you'll be all right.

Every great business starts as a dream, but turning that dream into reality, that's where Shopify comes in. Shopify is proud to power many sources of UK e-commerce from brands like Mattel and Gymshark to new entrepreneurs. Worried about building a website? Shopify's ready-to-use templates help bring your brand to life. Need a hand with content? Shopify's AI tools generate product descriptions, headlines, and even enhance your images.

And if you ever get stuck, Shopify's award winning 24-7 support is always there to help. Turn those what-ifs into why-nots. Turn those dreams into... And give them the best shot at success with Shopify. Sign up for your £1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.co.uk slash try. Go to shopify.co.uk slash try.

We're going to watch the show episode by episode starting with number one. What is episode number one? Episode number one is judging a book by its cover. Yeah. in which Regine thinks that she's found the perfect man, but Sinclair and Khadija and Max learn that he is, dun-dun-dun, married. Married. Ooh. Ooh. He was played by Silk Cozart. Who is silky. One of the finest.

He was silky, wasn't he? He's a good looking man and he's a sweetheart. He is a sweetheart. Good dude, respectful, gentleman, all of that. Playing this married man. I wanted to oil him up. They had to decide how to break it to her. without her getting upset because Regine would lose trust in them. Meanwhile, the B story. Sinclair forgets to secure the front cover celebrity for Flavor magazine.

Now, we talk about B story. There's an A story and a B story in sitcom. And the A story is basically the main story, the story that the characters will be dealing with mostly. And the B story is the kind of fun story that comes up and that threads it through very lightly.

and sort of has maybe a couple of scenes and then ties up the end. You'll never watch a sitcom the same way ever again after you know that. Now you'll see the A story, you'll see the B story, and you'll see how they fold into each other. It's beautiful. Fun to watch and fun to do. I mean, you know, dating them.

married man in the 90s. Was it a big deal in the 90s? It's a big deal all the time. It's something you should never do. I don't know. Nowadays, these young people be dating everybody. They get on their apps and they have an app for, do you want to date a married man? Really? Think I'm lying. There's never a case in which... the married man is the right man for you. And by the way...

If Yvette was thinking about the longevity of the show and also capturing attention, something controversial like that would be a good thing. Right. So she lays it down early on. This is a dating show, but it's going to be a little messy. And by the way, Yvette is Yvette Lee Bowser, the creator of the show. You'll learn more about her. Are we going to watch this episode or what? It's time for The Rewind, where we watch and relive living single with you. So before we get into the episode...

We got to talk about the theme song. Theme song. Yeah. Everywhere we go, people sing this theme song. Where we're living. Yes. Let's listen to this. Come on. What is that? What is that?

Okay. So that is not the theme song. The name of the living single show was originally My Girls. Okay, I do know that. And we were told that it had to be changed because there was a movie of the same name. What movie? My Girl. My girl. A decision was made. We're going to change the name, and the name was going to be changed to Living Single. Just in case anybody out there mistook the movie with two white kids. With four.

Oh, sitcom with four black women. And six, and two men. Yeah, it was a tough time. Yeah. So it was changed to Living Single. Okay. Which I thought it was a terrible name. Okay, why? Because no one talks that way. You say, I'm living the single life. Or, ooh, I'm single and living it up.

Like, who says living single? It sounded harsh and hard to say. What did you do about it? Did you say anything? Well, okay, so Dana and I went to Warner Brothers, and we went to go see Les Moonves, who was running Warner Brothers. And Dana is Queen Latifah. Right. My memory is that we took a golf cart over from the lot where we were over to the big lot where his office was. And I remember a set of doors opening up as if we were walking into heaven. It was like, oh.

The executive office. And it took... 15 years to walk to his desk because it was like a long walkway. And we fought for it. We're like, this is a terrible name. And why are you changing the name? It's not going to, nobody's going to say it. And he just listened and said, okay, well, thank you so much for coming back and get on in your golf cart and go on back across.

Dismissed. Dismissed. And we had to take it on. And now I couldn't imagine another name. I like that you stood up. Yes, we fought for it. You know what? Over and over, people don't understand that we have these battles. Right. You know what I'm saying? Sometimes you lose. You lost. Most times you lose. It's all good. What did we win? We won a great name. Once we got our name, Living Single. Boom.

Who wrote the theme song for it? Queen Latifah. Who performed the theme song for it? Queen Latifah. It was incredible. It was great. Roll it! I remember that day, standing and dancing. Okay, so much to talk about there. It's a bop and it bops to this day. It does. And I think I only learned the lyrics last year. I mean, you know, hey. By the way, they all think I'm the woman dancing underneath the bridge. Let's do a little moment to her.

Big Les is her name. She's an incredible dancer and was, you know, really one of the premier video girls that was happening in the 90s. And she came and did that dance. We've got to have her on the show. We do. She's a wonderful choreographer. need to just prove that we are two different people you know i don't mind if i can get paid her checks right but i was never that limber

And plus, she's got strength. She looks like she's in Woman King. If I kicked up my leg, I'm telling you, you've been calling them EMT. It's not going to happen. Shut it down. Shut it down. So people come up to us and sing the song all the time. All the time. It has been remixed a thousand times. It's in all sorts of. There's a jazzy version. There you go. There's a country version. And it just, it shows that when you have great music, it lasts the test of time. For sure. She did that.

Too blue and tight like glue. So one of the things that's really special about this episode is, of course, it was written by our creator, Yvette Denise Lee, and Tom Anderson was brought in to be the overarching showrunner. I'm really... grateful that Tom Anderson knew to stand down and let Yvette create the show that needed to be created. He was brought in to oversee everything. But she wanted to create extraordinary female friendships.

And that was the foundation for the show. Right. So we should watch clip one because we're going to see the beginning of it.

What are you doing? Making them think we're international. Make them think we need some money. What we're getting from this is that Khadija, played by the great Queen Latifah, is always going to be concerned about the health. of her business. She's always going to have to be watching Sinclair, despite her good intentions, will mess her up and or miss things. And then she's always going to be interrupted by the continuing saga and soap opera of her various friends.

There you go. That's the show. Sinclair was a royal mess up, but you play her beautifully. Thank you. Thank you. You know what I'm saying? I love Sinclair and I don't like that people think she's dumb. She's not dumb. So she did see and, you know, marches to the beat of her own drummer. That's dumb.

That's not dumb. That's not dumb. She's doing accents. She has thought this through. She wants her cousin's magazine to be, to feel as if it's international. So she's willing to put on a fake accent. Like, I want people to think this is international. It's fantastic.

shtick or whatever she did. You know, she's thought this through. That's not dumb. It's not well placed, but it's not dumb. It's not effective. I don't even know what to say. No, that's what's up. Sinclair. Genius. Yeah. Pure genius. Right? Yeah, I think so. Me too. Okay. And what's played by a pure genius, Kim Coles, let's just be real. No diggity, no doubt. No diggity, no doubt. You were just coming off of Living Color.

Yes. You have a background in comedy. Yeah. How much did that play into? Because the play is, here you are doing this receptionist cousin role. Right. Dumb characters are actually very smart. It's actually very hard to play so-called characters who are seen as innocents or, you know what I mean, simple. Because I was a grown woman playing that, so I couldn't be too dumb. And by the way, you're smart. You went to the... Brooklyn.

Tech, right? Tech, it's a school you have to take a test to get into, but that's neither here nor there. It's one of the top three high schools in New York and in the country. But, you know, to play, you know, someone who was naive and innocent and childlike. Yeah, Suzanne Somers did that. It's Chrissy. Oh, please.

a classic, wonderful thing. Who's our golden girl? Right. The great Betty White. Please, please. So to have that sort of innocence and childlike wander and wander around the set was fun to play and fun to do and a great... you know, contrast to Khadija who has this magazine and she's pulled and she's got to put together. Oh, she's complicated and she's frustrated, but she's also very upfront that, you know, that...

She's got a lot of things that she's tumbling around. And actually, I think that you're the great equalizer there. Thank you. You know what I mean?

You compliment each other. You actually compliment each other as performers, too. I think so, too. We had chemistry. We shared the same dressing room all five seasons of that show. There was no point that... Did anybody think... I always thought that you shared the same dressing room because you both had big titties. Yes, big breasts. Did they fit in the same room? We would actually... I don't know if people know this. I was smoking at the time. We would go in our little...

dressing area and smoke cigarettes in between the scenes and go, we'll be right out. Girls, this is something. Oh, I went to a store and bought us a little sofa. We had pillows in there. Made it nice.

I didn't have nothing but a folding chair. Oh, no. We had plants in there, and we would sit and have a cigarette, and we'll be right out. Oh, my gosh. That's why we were late all the time. Wow. Well, you know, everybody thinks it's all fancy back there, but we're in a huge warehouse, and they've got in the back.

The back of these sets, the sets are built with sort of plywood and whatnot. They look great from the front. From the back, it's all, you know, smoke and mirrors. And we are in dressing rooms that are curtains. Curtains. Curtained off.

And you have to quickly, they're called quick change booths. So you just go in there, change and get ready for the next scene. And we would go in there and laugh. And so you had yours and Kim had hers and the guys had theirs. And we would go in there and just sit in our underwear and get ready for the...

So let's say you and TC were out doing a scene. We'd be in there smoking a cigarette and getting ready for the next scene. Just like, we'll be out shortly. That's what's up. What I like is they got you in that big hat. You look great in hats. I love those big hats. You look good. It had to be a cap that... was easy enough to move on top of all those micro braids. There's a lot of thought that goes into

this thing that we're putting together. Even what you wear and the costumes, and we'll talk about that too. It's all a part of the show. But what you're doing is establishing the two main characters, their dynamic as friends, and then also the third friend.

Regine is about to walk in. Hello, ladies. I've got good news, and I couldn't wait till you got home to rub your noses in it. Just came by to tell you that the limo outside happens to belong to my new boyfriend, Brad. Well, if we didn't have so much work to do here, we'd love to hear more about your latest canine catch. Oh, would you? Wow. It's freaking awesome. That's the first episode, by the way. That's the first episode. The legend coming in. Come on. Laying it down. And.

In the front of our eyes, she is no longer a child star. She is touting the fact that you can lick caviar off of her ample bosoms. By the way, if you put caviar in there, you ain't finding it. You'll never find it again. But what's really cool about this is that Kim has been working for years and years and had done some work as an adult. But this was really her first role, at least from my perspective.

first role that we see her in a full-on woman. And she stepped into it beautifully and owned it. and owned it and the wigs and the clothing and the desire to have a great man. But it really comes from wanting to grow out of this girl who just grew up in New Jersey. She wants this other world of what she thinks that she is. She wants, you know, a security. I think that Kim Field's regime set the bar for the bag. Like, go get that bag. 100%. You know what I mean? And wig culture. Unapologetic.

Unapologetic. I'm going to wear these. I'm going to switch it up. I'm going to serve it. Serve it and enjoy. I guess there's no shame in that game. No, no. You know? If you know it and if you know this is what you want. What you want, you know, what she was going for. I think she was going for security. And I think people think that her character was a gold digger. I think it was a gold digger, as in G-O-A-L. Look at you. Right. Not gold digging, but gold digging. Gold digger.

life that you have when you have a wealthy man in the eyes of someone like that. Well, you know, Kim was the gateway drug from wholesome to hussy. Everybody need a little taste. She was it. The bridge. We all have to give her props. She would be very upset that we were calling her a hussy, but she's a hussy-ish. She understands that we mean that in the most beautiful sense. And guess what? That's a career shift and certainly a person.

She's a child star. She's a veteran. She's also wholesome, but also she's now playing the vamp and the hussy. Who's done that? Who's done that after her? Kiki Palmer, Zendaya. They were child stars. And then they had to prove that they were also women and they made that sort of... So they transitioned from like wholesome to scandalous. They did. Look at euphoria. You're right. She's the first one. Yeah.

It's one thing to be a hussy. It's one thing to be a hussy on cocaine. So, you know, we all have our, you know. Our trajectory. Yeah. Let's give props to the great camp field. As always. What does hussy mean? Well, it's a very kind word to say you use your feminine wiles to you a hoe. I don't know how else to put it. Sorry. You know, it is what it is. I didn't come up with that. This is from time immemorial. You ain't finna put this on me.

Did I say it or did Amber the writer? I think our producer said it. So let the record be shown that I, Kim, I did not call you a hussy. You were a gold and gold digger. And you had different, you had other goals that you were digging for. For sure.

And I was just digging for some brains. I was digging for some brains. Okay, moving on. And what you never, ever want to do is to touch this wire right here. You thought I was going to touch it, didn't you? Just a little handyman humor. I fall for that every time. You've probably worked up quite a thirst. Why don't I get us a beverage?

Wow. Wait a minute. Was he the first person to say Sookie Sookie now? On the show? I guess so. Oh my gosh. We all thought it was Ray Sheen. It was Overton. It was Overton. That's right. Wow. We just discovered this at what age? Way, way. So let's talk about the great John Hinton. I call him Hinton. Fine as hell. Fine and funny. Cleveland, Ohio knows best. Listen, I remember... watching John Hinton on the Johnny Carson show. And I know I'm...

dating myself, if those of you remember watching the show. And as a stand-up comedian myself, I understand the power of a stand-up comedian going on The Johnny Carson Show and Mr. Carson saying, come on over and sit down and talk to me, because that's never planned. Unless you're a big, big name. It was his first network television.

And I remember when he said, you know, come on over. The look on John's face was like, I'm about to sit next to the great. And Johnny Carson loved him. And that was the night that John Hinton became a star, like all kinds of phone calls. And we'll have him on the show and tell him.

It's a huge deal. And so here he is introducing us to the apartment. Now, this is very important in episode one. We've already seen one of the most important anchors in there is Flavor. Flavor Magazine. Flavor Magazine. We also, by establishing... that say that they are career women. Yes. They're not homemakers. Who's at home? You are now at home.

With the handyman. With the building's handyman. And we are in the girl's apartment and we get to see Ground Zero. Ground Zero in a sitcom is usually... where the couch is, and where we see most of what's going to happen throughout the entirety of the show. And so it's funny that the leads don't introduce us there. You are there, but meaning it's John Hinton's.

character which is and you see him establishing a little flirt and a little something going on so we're giving the audience an inside insight and inside into what's what's to come exactly so that's now framing up some of the relationships that we're going to see and testing out those things. We don't know what's going to happen, but we're also seeing that Overton has a thing for Sinclair. Again, chemistry. Sinclair is clueless. She's gold digging. No, she's... Childlike Wonder.

Childlike wonder. Both of them have childlike wonder. And that's why we got along great. Now, so Overton's character, let's talk about that a little bit. Where's he from? From Cleveland. You know, a simple guy. And I don't mean simple as in simpleton. That's another character that people think...

You know, he's an inventor. He can fix anything. He knows the inner workings of everything that's happening in the building. He knows the inner workings of relationships. He's actually a meat and potatoes. What you see is what you get. Salt of the earth and strong. strong in who he is. He's the Nat Turner of handymen.

Okay. No, because he has that little rebel in him. Like, you're not going to just turn him. He's very strong in who he is and he understands that in the world where people might judge him, he's a rock. He never apologizes for that. Yeah, I love that. I mean, so he's masculine. Right. And easy on the eyes. And he's very accessible. He's everyone's homeboy.

100%. And let me say this about him too. What I love about John is John loves women. He would make every woman who came on the set feel beautiful. How are you doing today? Beautiful? He just makes you feel loved and seen and appreciated.

He has a thousand sisters, and I think that's where it comes from. He really loves women and made them feel beautiful. Well, that's the thing, and that would be an ongoing thing with both men. Oh, 100%. We have a second one that's going to enter, but that they... really went out of their way to make sure that they took care of us, but also to protect us. 100%. Treat us like a lady. You are off key.

Yes, I am. You know what I'm saying? Childlike wonder. Yeah, that was, wow. Now today, she let me fix the vacuum. But I figured once I'd get up under that sink, I'm in there. Take notes. Dealing with a woman is like playing a basketball game. And brothers like you... dribble around the perimeter fixing vacuum cleaners while a man like me drives straight up the middle and slams there we have our men come on right

Right there. Right there. Rocket and rocket fuel. We loved them and they loved us. Rocket and rocket fuel. We're learning so much. And this is dialogue, a sitcom dialogue. But what have we learned? Now, we're clear that Overton is interested in Sinclair and he wants to get up under that. Oh, what?

That's scandalous. That's very naughty. Very naughty. Very naughty. And then you have this other man come in, which we find out is his roommate. Yeah. Alpha. Alpha male. Dressed totally different. Got this. suspenders, dressed to a tee, got his whole formal game going on, a business game going on. Look at the locks. Now, let's talk about Kyle Barker.

What? What? We had never seen someone like him in the sitcom world. No. Proud, chocolate, black, blackity black. Well, you know, wait a minute, we had Dwayne Wayne. Okay, right, right. I have to say. T.C. Carson with the locks is coming in a professional setting with those locks. That's already saying that he is pushing. You know what I mean? That he's his own person. I love it. I mean, he's unapologetically Afrocentric. He is our Afrofuturist. Seriously. But so, Kyle...

Barker is named after Yvette Lee Bowser's boyfriend at the time. Right. Kyle Bowser. Kyle Bowser is a... The amazing dresser. Yes. Smart. A lawyer from Philly. Right. In real life. In real life. Smart, masculine, alpha male. Raggadocious. Right, right. Well, see, that's down to T.C. Carson. So T.C. Carson is played by the great- T.C. Carson of Chicago. And Chicago is nothing if not full of swagger. Swagger for days. And so T.C. brought that to Kyle.

He did. 100%. 100%. Even down to the African clothing he would wear, the jewelry he would wear. He really influenced that character and took it. all the way there. And they were also immediately best buddies. They understood that this show was going to be mostly centered around the four women, and they...

very quickly coalesced that they would have to advocate for themselves. They also knew and saw very quickly that we were going to protect them. So it was a love affair from the beginning. From the very beginning. Talk about chemistry. And so they were roommates who had

But they had known each other. The storyline is that they knew each other in Cleveland. So that's how they came to be friends and live in the big city together. Is that how they came to be friends? Okay. Oh, that's right. Okay. But that they were very different, but very...

much brothers and they live above the women in a whole nother apartment and one's a handyman of the apartment the other one is the roommate right there you go don't you ever go home good to see you too girl where you going carnival

my law were fierce. I got my client the house, the Winnebago, alimony, and 70% of all the assets he tried to conceal. I left that man with nothing but a lint ball and half a tic-tac. And here you come, a force of nature, a force of energy. You come in and we know who you are right away. That you have taken the Winnie bagel. You left it with a lip ball and a what now? A Tic Tac.

Don't touch me unless you want to get burned. What was that? So that right there was the audition piece. And that's why I was. Was it? Let me tell you, I served that hard. You know how many times I had to do that scene? That was the scene. So people should know that sometimes the audition, the audition that you have for the show is actually in the show. So you were ready. You were revved up. I was ready. I was ready. Did you strut like that? Did you really work it in the audition too?

Yeah, I had to. You know, you get up there like, you know, dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun. Right, right. I mean, but, you know, basically I knew one thing, that she was written very strong, that she came in immediately. She, you know, she serves a response. A zinger right away. And boom, right away, she comes in, she dumps her bag, and then she tells her best friend, Khadija.

what she's done for the day. And this is a winner. So basically, if a house has its own weather, Max has her own weather system. And she's coming in like a tornado, like a tornado. I love it. Stay tuned. There's a whole lot more. rewatching the reliving show coming after this. Right, Erica? She ain't going nowhere. Every great business starts as a dream, but turning that dream into reality, that's where Shopify comes in.

Shopify is proud to power many sources of UK e-commerce from brands like Mattel and Gymshark to new entrepreneurs. Worried about building a website? Shopify's ready to use templates help bring your brand to life. Need a hand with content? Shopify's AI tools generate product descriptions, headlines, and even enhance your images. Struggling to get noticed?

Shopify's marketing tools let you launch email and social campaigns with ease. And if you ever get stuck, Shopify's award-winning 24-7 support is always there to help. Turn those what-ifs into why-nots. Turn those dreams into... And give them the best shot at success with Shopify. Sign up for your £1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.co.uk slash try. Go to shopify.co.uk slash try.

Every great business starts as a dream, but turning that dream into reality, that's where Shopify comes in. Shopify is proud to power many sources of UK e-commerce from brands like Mattel and Gymshark to new entrepreneurs. Worried about building a website? Shopify's ready-to-use templates help bring your brand to life. Need a hand with content? Shopify's AI tools generate product descriptions, headlines, and even enhance your images.

And if you ever get stuck, Shopify's award winning 24-7 support is always there to help. Turn those what-ifs into why-nots. Turn those dreams into... And give them the best shot at success with Shopify. Sign up for your £1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.co.uk slash try. Go to shopify.co.uk slash try.

Every great business starts as a dream but turning that dream into reality, that's where Shopify comes in. Shopify is proud to power many sources of UK e-commerce from brands like Mattel and Gymshark to new entrepreneurs. Worried about building a website? Shopify's ready-to-use templates help bring your brand to life. Need a hand with content? Shopify's AI tools generate product descriptions, headlines, and even enhance your images.

And if you ever get stuck, Shopify's award winning 24 seven support is always there to help. Turn those what-ifs into why-nots. Turn those dreams into... And give them the best shot at success with Shopify. Sign up for your £1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.co.uk slash try. Go to shopify.co.uk slash try. Shopify.co.uk slash try.

Every great business starts as a dream, but turning that dream into reality, that's where Shopify comes in. Shopify is proud to power many sources of UK e-commerce from brands like Mattel and Gymshark to new entrepreneurs. Worried about building a website? Shopify's ready-to-use templates help bring your brand to life. Need a hand with content? Shopify's AI tools generate product descriptions, headlines, and even enhance your images.

And if you ever get stuck, Shopify's award-winning 24 seven support is always there to help. Turn those what-ifs into why-nots. Turn those dreams into... And give them the best shot at success with Shopify. Sign up for your £1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.co.uk slash try. Go to shopify.co.uk slash try. Shopify.co.uk slash try.

You should know that Maxine Shaw is named for Yvette Lee Bowser's lawyer, the great Nina Shaw, who was a pioneering black lawyer, entertainment lawyer. And still is. But what you see, of course, with her braids and all of that. Let's talk about your hair. I came in the door with that hair. Debra Hair Bay of Red Salon. I was growing it out from another show. She put that in. And I came to the audition like that. I really feel like we did.

this taping. We were at the table read and like three days later we were taping. I don't even remember, but it went fast. It was fast. It was fast. It was very fast. So that's what it was. So you talk about this hair. So you're known for these yarns. So they're yarn... locks. They're locks made out of yarn. Yeah, they're called new locks. Now they're called in-ray, yarn backwards. New locks. It's important that...

people know that this is how you came to the character. It was decided that you would have these locks or that you would wear this particular style. Erika Alexander was wearing this style. And that's Max's style. That's Max's style. And I was fine with that because... I can't even lay claim to the fact that I think I get a lot of love for having established that. But you got to look at Whoopi Goldberg's Jumping Jack Flash to understand that that's in our minds too.

You know, when we talk about the type of pioneering show this is, I always have to give props to the people who built us. And the people who built me coming into that show would be people like Cecily Tyson, would be Goldberg, who had played my mother, Cecily Tyson, who I wanted to be like. her confidence, her sexuality, that unapologetic barracuda. I think that all that energy is...

piled up in there. And it certainly is coming off of Yvette Lee Bowser, who went to Stanford and wanted to be a lawyer. This is, you want to know who she is? Yvette Lee Bowser said that she was the max character. She wanted to be the lawyer. And she had written her so strong that they wanted to get rid of her. But they sent her across the street. So that's how she saved her. So that's why Max lives across the street. Send her across the street like in a little golf cart like me and Latif do? No.

They put her across the street. They gave her a home across the street. Oh, they gave her across the street from the girl. She's too strong to be in the house with everybody, but you were always there with us, which is also part of the story, part of the joke. She salvaged it by giving her a place to be across the street, but it's just... too black too strong, but also too woman too strong. I got to say, just real quick, strong feminist voice, tough exterior, a lawyer.

And we hadn't seen someone like her either. We had not, who was strong in her sexuality, strong in her Blackness. Clear in, I mean, we've seen versions of it, no doubt. No doubt. And of course, Cecily Tyson and hair. Hello. But this mix of things in a sitcom, I think, feels very new.

It does. I think the most wonderful thing I thought, she didn't have to apologize for being or wanting sex. You know what I mean? And she also didn't have to apologize for the insults. She didn't come back and say, girl, you all right? You know how they did like...

You know I was just, you ain't going to get that. Max, she said it, she stood by it. But there was integrity inside of her that you felt was fair. Even when she was being, you know, rigid or kind of, you know, dismissive or insulting, you thought. that she was having a blast. She goes on her own journey with that. So that's what's up. And I really am very proud to have that as part of...

how people see me. It's been a heavy thing to carry. Why is it heavy? Let me just put it to you like this. You want to be grateful for every opportunity you get, but you also can become identified by a single character. People always ask me, is that you or are you her? And I say, well, do you understand? I don't know who Max is when I'm coming through the door. That's Eric Alexander.

Playing a character called Max that I just met a few days ago and got hired to do. So is Max me or am I her? I say, how about she's me? Until I learn more about her, then I become more like her. But then she becomes more like me. So we're inseparable, like every character.

Do people don't ask you whether you're Sinclair, like Sinclair? Oh, they do. That would scare me considering how. Because I am a person who lives from the space of childlike wonder, which is why I keep coming to, there are people who have said to me, oh my God, you're just like Sinclair. And I go,

I hope that's a good thing. I know that there are people who think that she's done it. It is a good thing. Just like they think that you were whatever you were. And you're richer and deeper than that. But the qualities that I am installed in Sinclair are from... foundational to me. So if you say that I'm just like Sinclair, it's a compliment. And there we are now. We've all been introduced inside of this show, inside of the first 15 minutes. And that sets the stage, that chemistry.

And the hopes in sort of just like throwing some salt over your shoulder and saying, let's see, let's go on this journey with these six characters, Yvette Lee Bowser and her.

writing crew in tow, and a supportive system. And that's the good news. And we're playing it all on the Family Matters set. which is frigging deaky. People tell me, did you know that was family matters? I was like, I wasn't thinking about it. I was just like, is this where the sofa is? Is that where the door is? Great, let me just do it. It's not until later that we look back and we go.

Wow, we were using someone else's set until the show got picked up and we got our favorite. Yeah, and normally they might have reshot the thing. Because a pilot is a demo. It is a test. But they did so well with the test that, bam. We got the show. Yeah, we kept that as our pilot number one, episode one. It's all, it starts then. We were on fire, weren't we? On fire, and it felt good right away. I felt it. It did. We can brag now. We can. We didn't know then.

I knew in my soul. You knew? Oh, I knew. Oh, I knew. Because as I've talked about before, I had come off of another show that did not have this chemistry. So if I got to a place where I felt, oh, collaboration, oh, these people all seem to really like each other, I was like, this has to work. Oh, God, this has to work. Yeah, so I've talked about it and I'll talk about it again. Because the contrast was incredible to experience. And there was a level of joy and respect.

And very quickly we learned to, I could throw the ball to you and I knew that you would throw it back to me and I could trust. What you were throwing my way, and you could trust that what I was throwing your way was going to be golden enough to catch and take to the next level. So it felt good right away. We were learning each other, but we had the strength, the freedom, and the bravery and courage to connect.

You have to want to connect to people. You have to open yourself up to it. And everybody was open to it. 100%. We closed up later. More about that. So we've met all the characters now. Everybody has been introduced. We're going to get to know them eventually. But the plot of this show...

Like we said, Regine was dating a married man. Yeah, she's not the perfect man. We find out he's married. He's perfect except just that little thing. Right. And we have to tell her. And he confirms it, though. He does. He confirms it to her that she's married, but she still dates him. Yeah, that happens. Pobrecito. Yeah, that's... By the way, we were number one in Latin homes. Pobrecito. Poor thing. He is married.

He tells her. She continues to date him. That's right. Right. And they're mad at her because, you know, come on, Regine. Like, you could do better than this. Yeah. Have I ever said her name right, by the way? I say Regine. You say Regine. What is her name? It's Regine, I think. But I love that you say Regine. I love that you give it a hard, like, Regine. I have never said that name right, not even in the show. Because what people may not remember, her name is actually Regina.

It's Regina. She changed it to Regine to be fancy. She's Regina from Newark. So I'm Regine. You're Regine. Regine. So the pilot is now proving... Yvette Lee's thesis. Right. Because even though she's going to go and date the married man and then come back with her tail between her legs, they've got an extraordinary relationship. They do. And they've got her back.

Right. And in the end, isn't that what, you know, true friendships are supposed to be about that in the end, you will come back home and we will be here to lick our wounds or to love each other or to, you know, encourage each other. That's what friends are for. Friends of four. So that's the end of it. Almost the end. Well, it's punctuated by Latifah's very famous line. What is it? What would the world be like?

Like without men, a bunch of fat, happy women and no crime. Bunch of fat, happy women, no crime. Bunch of fat, happy women and no crime. It's the truth. You know what? That sound like the Wakanda. Of vagina. But I would like to live in that world. Would you like to live in a world with no... Ever ready. With no men?

Oh, it's so much more fun. Fat and happy with no crime? Well, I'm already fat and happy. No offense. The no crime. Maybe we could have a hologram for men. I'm willing to test it. I... think that we need each other. So I think this is a great quote, a bunch of fat, happy women and no crime. So, okay, nice that there would be no crime. But I think that the divine feminine and the divine masculine belong together. We need them.

the vibrator because that's what most of these women have nowadays. Let's be honest. I get it. I'm not saying that it can't be done, but I think that if we can all get along, it would be great.

We'd be fighting over the one dude. Not me. I wouldn't fight over it. I'm not fighting over the one dude. I'm not fighting. I'm not fighting. I'm not fighting. I'm not fighting. I'm not fighting. I'm not fighting. I'm not fighting. I'm not fighting. You want to fight? I'm not fighting. I'm not fighting. I'm lying. I ought to. We got to finish off the episode.

Let's finish the episode. So what happens at the end? We sing a song. We sing the My Girls thing. We go into the bathroom and we sing and dance together. So this is where Yvette is sort of saying, hey, if you didn't know what this show was about... We're going to show that the girls always come together. Always. And they repair and they heal. Right. And this is one of their routines. My girls. My girls. My girls.

Talking about my girls. And I robot it. I robot it. That's all I remember. And we're singing and dancing and in love. And we go out. We go out. Well, you know what it says? What does it say? It says that men come and go.

But your friends are forever. Oh, true. And that this friendship is going to last, but we're going to need you to come on it with us. And that's, again, it's really the most wonderful thing. It is. And you know what's funny? What's funny? You said 30 years ago we did this, but for 30 years people have been betting.

on that friendship. So Yvette Lee Bowser put her magic in it. She had the good sense and the power, the DNA and the luck, stroke, to hire six actors that could embody a beautiful ensemble. and create the magic that became the legend. That's the pilot. That was us how many years ago? 1993? Almost two years ago. 32 years ago. Wow. It feels good to watch it. I can't believe I was... that young and that skinny and i thought i was fat then like i thought i was heavy like i had

been a bigger girl and I lost weight as I'd gotten into business and I was told that I needed to lose weight and I lost a bunch of weight. And I look at that and I go, oh my God, I was so chubby. And hello, I would... pay for that right now. I love myself as I am, but it's funny how body image and the eyebrows and the hair. Hindsight gives insight. Right. You ain't never lie. What?

hindsight and hind parts. Put that, come on, put that on a t-shirt. Right. But it felt good to watch the pilot. I think it still stands up. This is The Reverb, our time to reflect on the episode's themes and how they sound.

still echo throughout the culture. Today, we're talking about the impact of living single and why it's so iconic. Black showbiz gives you more. Black showbiz gives you more. That's a t-shirt. My ex-husband Tony Perrier says that all the time. Black. showbiz gives you more. And if you look at the 90s, coming off of the 80s and the strength of the Cosby Show would set a new level of excellence. Oh, 100%. For comedy. Not for Black people.

but for everyone, for the world. And that's what I love about... what happened afterwards. We weren't alone. We were in this world with Living Single, with Fresh Prince, Family Matters, Martin. New York Undercover. Yeah, it was just like the tsunami of... of power had been unleashed because it had been untapped. That's why the 90s are important because it was giving permission to say, not only can we do this, we do this and we set new records. And we do it well. We do it well.

What we were showing them is that this is how we're different and this is how we are the same. And I always tell the story of this little Jewish man that I met in a bank who squeezed my arm and said, I love you girls. You girls are beautiful. I'm from Brooklyn. into. I love you girls. I love the queen. I love all the girls. And here they were telling us what our audience looked like and sounded like. And it was actually much wider. He absolutely watched it. I walked into it and had my own.

experience with a Jewish community. I walked in not knowing it was actually, they were Hasidic Jewish people. And I came in and I said, oh, excuse me, because it was the wrong store. And they said, we know you. We know who you are. You're that bad girl. You're that bad girl? You're that bad girl. I love that. That's right. And they did know. And they were all men. And they laughed and they were delighted. But it was instant. It wasn't like, are you? It was like, we know you.

You never told me this story. I love it. Absolutely. You know, we would be driving in our cars and then people would speed up and you'd see like white families like nearly running off the road. People say that I'm Sinclair. They say I'm you. And you got blonde hair and...

blue eyes and you're me. And so it's important that we were, we belong to our community at large, our, you know, the Black community, and we belong to everyone who felt that they could resonate. Yes, we were embraced by them because that's what comedy does. It's the tie that binds. It's the hip-hop generation. One of the most consequential and phenomenal music eras was happening. Once again, fueled by Black people with our culture.

We've done this over and over again in American history, to be clear. The one thing about being enslaved is that they might have taken many of our freedoms, but they couldn't take our minds. They couldn't take our imagination. The RZA told me, he was like... Erica, the biggest nation is the imagination. Wow. And he's right. And if you look at jazz, if you look at rock and roll, ragtime, punk rock.

Every genre, country, that's Black people showing that you may not have given us as much access, but you cannot ever. take away the access we have to ourselves. But to have the distribution system suddenly say we're going to put on shows with black cast, that's huge. And create a window into the worlds and go in there and look. And we killed it. Every time. Killed it.

So there's a conversation inside of all that. And it was a beautiful blend. No one was like anyone else. We were all very, very different. And I think we each... Each of the characters and each of us represented a different aspect of culture and the culture that was happening at the time. And it just worked. Yeah. It worked. And started to dominate in family-led sitcoms. You can't say enough about different worlds.

Cosby Show, Hang Mr. Cooper, all those types of things. And we built the Fox Network. Oh, 100%. We built it. We built this city. We built it. And it was amazing. 100%. And we should feel proud of that legacy. And in fact, I like to say that every time we come on the lot, they should show us our spots. This should be a permanent plaque. And give us a cafeteria meal when we come in.

People be like, why she asked for a cafeteria meal? She was asking for more of her residuals. Don't worry, y'all. You mean like a little happy meal? Yeah. Well, and you know this, and this happens to you. Don't you ride onto the lot and security guards give you the love? They do. Warner Brothers, because we Warner Brothers, Fox show, but Warner Brothers, yeah, they give us the love. They're like, come on, over here.

Right there. There's your spot. I get the best spots all the time because of that. Thank you. That's legacy. People want to know what it is. You get a better parking spot. That's all I need. Even when you ain't working on the lot. That's real. I'm just here to visit. And we influenced some of the biggest shows of all time, dare we say. Friends.

We're just going to lay that right there. Right there. Enjoy. And let people know it. People do. It's obvious. Yeah. Fantastic show. Yeah. And enjoy it, but it's real. did very, very well. But the legend is that the president of... NBC at the time was asked, if there's any show you wish that you had gotten this season, what was it? And he said, living single. And then a year or so later, friends popped up. so we can have a whole conversation around that yeah and that we were on the same

With the same production company. We were on the ranch lot. They were on the big lot. Yeah. It was very different, wasn't it? Yeah. We're going to have more tales than that. Ooh, yes. I know people would like to talk about that. I think because it comes from feeling like, again. If you create the culture, you may not get all the acknowledgement and the support. But I have to say, from our fans, from our friends and family, number one.

They know and they have lifted us, and I will always, honestly. I mean, it's real, right? 100%. And thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Which camera is mine? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. No, thank you. So we're going to do this, right? We're going to do this. We're going to do more of this. Watch reliving show. Unofficially. Unofficially. Unofficial. Unofficial. Because we don't want to get sued. No. But we were there so we could talk about it.

We were there. Girl, please. Okay, watch this. Please. Boo. Okay, so let's do this. So y'all better go and watch the show and then be ready to come here and re-watch it with us. Right. We're going to be here. Heartbeat. Heartbeat! Come on now. Come on, let's do it. I'm going to tell you this right now. This might come home with me because it's real pretty. They're going to make us one. I hope so. We have a logo and everything. So come on now, Kevin.

Come on, Kev. Come on, Kev. And a little gin. Don't be so... Uncle Nearest. How about some whiskey? I can't drink and work. Okay. Because I say what I really feel. We going to do that one day. We got to do our chemistry read. Okay, okay, okay. So I have chosen a script for us to do. I've been thinking about this whole episode, what we should do for chemistry. Remember, the chemistry read is for the vibe, to see if the vibes watchers. Right.

have it. I think we proved it, but let's show. What'd you pick? I picked Billy Dee Williams and Diana Ross in Mahogany. Erica and I will read. that script together to see if we still got the magic. Now, what's interesting about you picking that is because on set, we used to do mahogany all the time. We used to do all the time. You spent an inordinate amount of time in the warehouse, on the dusty warehouse, waiting. And so we would play.

games all the time. And we played like we were children. And one of the things we did was the mahogany scene. So, ladies and gentlemen, Erica Alexander and Kim Coles will do a scene from Mahogany. I will be playing the Diana Ross role. also known as Mahogany the Model. Wait, I mean, I want to be Mahogany the Model. We should do it both ways. You set me up. No, you got Billy Dee with his sexy self. All right, I'm going to be sexy. He was sexy. Okay, go. I'm a widow from the south side.

Who said that? Maybe we don't have chemistry. My old man left me with six kids and he hasn't been home for weeks and they all got the fluke. What you gonna do about that? I can't see who said that. Please let the lady who said that step forward, please. Mr. Walker, when you're elected, what are you gonna do to help me? Do you wanna help me to help you with your landlord, lady? Hell no!

I want you to help me get my old man back. Well, madam, if you really want to get your old man back, are you willing to stand by him while the going gets rough? Yes! Madam. Would you be willing to put your imagination to work on behalf of the cause he's fighting for? Yes! Madam, would you love and cherish him for the rest of your life? Hell yes! Get me my old man!

Then, madam, if you're willing to do all that, I guarantee you that I'll get your old man back. Well, mister, you got my vote. And then we kiss. And then they do the crane shot. And see there's only 20 people surrounding them. Do you know where you're going to? Do you like the things that life is showing you? Where are you going to?

Do you know? I cry every time I hear that song. Me too. I'm about to cry now. Do you get what you're hoping for? Was I good as Billie? You were great as Billie. You were pretty good as Diana. Diana, yes! You were great as Diana. You always are. Yes! Ladies and gentlemen, do they feel the chemistry? We got it. We got it. We got it. We never lost it. Cradle to grave, baby. See you next week. See you next week.

Reliving Single is hosted by Erica Alexander and me, Kim Coles. Reliving Single is a production of Heartbeat in association with Color Farm Media. Executive produced by Kevin Hart, Jeff Klanigan, Eric Eddings, Leslie Guam, Erica Alexander, and Ben Arnon. This show is produced by Kim Coles. Amber Watson is our senior producer. Our associate producer is Kenny Jackson. Our video editor is Shannon Joy Rogers.

Our sound engineers are Eric Hicks and Cedric Wilson. Production supervision by Razak Boykin. Additional production support from Alex Atkins and Zee Taylor. And a special thanks to Dr. E.J. Johnson. Every great business starts as a dream, but turning that dream into reality, that's where Shopify comes in. Shopify is proud to power many sources of UK e-commerce from brands like Mattel and Gymshark to new entrepreneurs.

Worried about building a website? Shopify's ready-to-use templates help bring your brand to life. Need a hand with content? Shopify's AI tools generate product descriptions, headlines, and even enhance your images. Struggling to get noticed? Shopify's marketing tools let you launch email and social campaigns with ease. And if you ever get stuck, Shopify's award-winning 24-7 support is always there to help. Turn those what-ifs into why-nots. Turn those dreams into...

And give them the best shot at success with Shopify. Sign up for your £1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.co.uk. Go to shopify.co.uk. Every great business starts as a dream, but turning that dream into reality, that's where Shopify comes in. Shopify is proud to power many sources of UK e-commerce from brands like Mattel and Gymshark to new entrepreneurs.

Worried about building a website? Shopify's ready-to-use templates help bring your brand to life. Need a hand with content? Shopify's AI tools generate product descriptions, headlines and even enhance your images. Struggling to get noticed? Turn those what-ifs into why-nots. Turn those dreams into... And give them the best shot at success with Shopify. Sign up for your £1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.co.uk. Go to shopify.co.uk.