August 22, 1993: "Living Single" Premieres

Left to right: T.C. Carson, Erika Alexander,

Kim Fields, Queen Latifah, Kim Coles, John Henton

August 22, 1993: The sitcom Living Single premieres on Fox. The focus is on three young black women who share an apartment in a brownstone in Brooklyn, a fourth who lives across the street and spends much of her time in the other three's place, and the two young men who live upstairs.

Queen Latifah, a rapper from New Jersey and a former high school basketball star under her birth name of Dana Owens, plays Khadijah James, owner and operator of Flavor, a magazine based on African-American life and culture. In every group, there's always a leader, and Khadijah frequently reminds the other characters, and the audience, that she is it. On at least one occasion, Khadijah referred to herself as "The Queen," and broke the fourth wall by looking into the camera and giving the audience a knowing smile.

Kim Coles plays Synclaire James, Khadijah's cousin and secretary, who grew up in Minnesota, and is sweet-natured but, to put it politely, immature. She aspires to be an actress.

Kim Fields plays a character very different from her previous role of Tootie Ramsey on The Facts of Life: Regine Hunter, Khadijah's childhood best friend from East Orange, New Jersey (Latifah's real-life hometown). Regine is a boutique buyer who is self-centered, vain, and a gold-digger, and she makes no apologies for any of these traits, even though Khadijah reminds her, "You ain't but one generation removed from the projects yo' damn self!"

Erika Alexander, formerly Pam Tucker on The Cosby Show, is Maxine Shaw, attorney-at-law. Yes, she's both aware and pleased that it rhymes. She was Khadijah's roommate at Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Like another legendary wacky neighbor on a Brooklyn-based sitcom, 1950s sewer worker Ed Norton on The Honeymooners, she barges in without knocking, mooches food and yet stays slim, and issues divisive opinions, but is also very good at her job -- which separates her from her New York contemporary, Cosmo Kramer on Seinfeld, who has all those other traits but no job. Unlike Norton, Max is female, black, smart, unmarried yet seems to have an active sex life, ambitious (Norton was quite happy as a humble sewer worker), and usually very well-dressed, except for those times when she gets depressed and lounges around in a sweatsuit.

Regine and Max constantly bicker. Regine complains about Max's mooching: "You are a virus with braids!" Max makes fun of Regine's lack of height and her vanity: "And you're a leprechaun with a weave!"

The show's creator, Yvette Lee Bowser, was the 1st black woman to develop a prime-time network TV series. Previously, she had written for The Cosby Show, its spinoff A Different World, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper and The Wayans Brothers. She admitted that the four women represented different sides of herself: "I've been as ditsy as Synclaire, as superficial as Regine, as bitter as Max, and as focused and driven as Khadijah."

And the guys upstairs: They are old friends who came from Cleveland to make their way in New York. Overton Wakefield Jones, played by John Henton, is the building's handyman, and, like Norton in the sewer, truly loves his blue-collar job. He also truly loves Synclaire, and she returns his affections.

Kyle Barker, played by T.C. Carson, on the other hand, is a stockbroker, and his wit, ego and ambition are all a match for Max. As a result, they develop a lust-hate relationship. Aside from this, he seems to be closest to Regine, who can match his vanity, but they are never more than friends. Overton, or "Obie," keeps Kyle grounded. Usually: Once, when Overton mentioned something "my great uncle Smokeye" once said, Kyle said, "Overton, can you de-countrify that for me?"

Overton and Synclaire get married at the end of Season 4, and her acting career gets going by the time the show ended after Season 5. Max and Kyle go on-again, off-again, and are back on at the end. Regine ends the show engaged to Dexter Knight (played by Don Franklin), a rich man who actually seems like he deserves his fortune. And Khadijah gets back together with a former boyfriend, music producer Terrence "Scooter" Williams (played by Cress Williams, later to play the superhero Black Lightning in the Arrowverse).

On a 2005 episode of Half & Half, another show created by Bowser, Erika Alexander and T.C. Carson made guest appearances as Max and Kyle, who reveal they are still together, and have a daughter named Kyla Barker.

Friends premiered on NBC a year  after Living Single. Not only has it been retroactively criticized for its lack of racial diversity -- the only nonwhite characters seemed to be brief girlfriends of Ross, one Asian and one black -- but it was called a "whitewashing" of Living Single.

That's ridiculous: The shows were almost nothing alike. Both were in New York, but not in the same Borough. Both had a boss-lady character, but Khadijah was neither a chef nor a neat freak like Monica. And while Monica and Ross were siblings, only once did we see a sibling of Khadijah's, a half-sister. Rachel was very fashion-conscious, but, otherwise, was very little like Regine. Joey was always eating without gaining an ounce, but, otherwise, was nothing like Max.

There were slight resemblances between the personalities of Synclaire and Phoebe, but Synclaire was already more successful as an actress by the end of 5 seasons of Living Single than Phoebe was as a singer by the end of 10 years of Friends. And there was no character anywhere near Chandler on Living Single.

No, the show that really seemed to copy Living Single was the 2000s UPN sitcom Girlfriends. Although set in Los Angeles, there were a lot of similarities. Joan was Khadijah, the boss of the group, the occasional fourth-wall breaker, and she even had the same actor playing her father: Former UCLA basketball star and Hill Street Blues cop Michael Warren. However, Joan had Max's profession: She was a lawyer.

Maya was the Synclaire equivalent, a secretary and younger than the others, although noticeably smarter and more grounded, not related to Joan, and married with a child when the show began. Toni was Regine, every bit as selfish and vain, but considerably more successful. (She was a real estate agent.) William, a co-worker of Joan's at the law firm, was their Kyle, but his Kansas City background allowed him to slightly make up for the fact that there wasn't an Overton analogue.

The remaining Girlfriend, Lynn, had some things in common with Max: She was Joan's college roommate, a moocher, and very sexually liberated, to the point where she had a fling with William (although it was brief, and they never hated each other like Max and Kyle). But she wasn't a professional, although she did become a documentary filmmaker by the time the show ended. She was closer to being a black version of Friends' Phoebe, although not quite as far-out.

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August 22, 1993 was a Sunday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Kansas City Royals, 7-0 at Yankee Stadium. Chris Haney pitched a 4-hit shutout, allowing 2 hits to Wade Boggs and 2 to Bernie Williams. George Brett, one of the great Yankee Killers of all time, had one last great game against them, going 3-for-5 with an RBI. José Lind went 3-for-4.

* The New York Mets lost to the Colorado Rockies, 4-3 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Boston Red Sox, 3-2 at Fenway Park. Rob Deer went 3-for-6 with a home run, but a groundout by Reggie Jefferson got the winning run home in the top of the 11th inning.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Baltimore Orioles, 11-4 at Camden Yards. Cal Ripken went 2-for-3 with an RBI.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Seattle Mariners, 12-7 at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre). Joe Carter, John Olerud and Devon White hit home runs for the Jays. Rickey Henderson went 0-for-1, but drew 3 walks and stole 2 bases. Paul Molitor went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. Ken Griffey Jr. hit a home run for the M's.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-2 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Oakland Athletics, 5-3 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Mark McGwire was injured and did not play.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 1-0 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Jack McDowell pitched an 8-hit shutout, gaining his 20th win of the season.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-0 at Busch Memorial Stadium.

* The Houston Astros beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-3 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the San Diego Padres, 10-5 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Tony Gwynn went 2-for-5 with an RBI.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the California Angels, 7-5 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).

* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Florida Marlins, 7-6 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Barry Bonds went 1-for-2 with an walk and an RBI.