Source: Michael Ochs Archives / Getty
Thirty years ago today (August 22), one of the most influential shows of the ’90s aired for the first time. To celebrate the sitcom’s legacy, click inside to read about how the show’s title and its theme song came about.
A successful TV show is built like a machine where every little part plays a key component in making it run smoothly. One of the most overlooked aspects of most of the legendary shows we loved watching growing up were the theme songs. Last September, we posted an article highlighting our favorite theme songs from Black sitcoms. Although all the theme songs on the list are memorable, one almost never came to pass.
Living Single was a sitcom created by Yvette Lee Bowser (she also created Half & Half). The show, which centered around the lives of six friends who shared personal and professional experiences while living in a Brooklyn brownstone, aired on Fox network from August 22, 1993, to January 1, 1998. The cast included Queen Latifah, Kim Coles, Erika Alexander, Kim Coles, T.C. Carson and John Henton. With such a great group of actors and a plot that was as relatable as it was funny, Living Single was bound to take off.
During an interview with The Breakfast Club in 2018, Erika Alexander, who played attorney Maxine Shaw on the show revealed that Living Single wasn’t the original name. One of the working titles that was considered early in the developmental stages of the show was Friends. Living Single and Friends were both produced by Warner Brothers but the latter was reportedly given a larger amount of financial investment.
“The original name for Living Single was My Girls, but it didn’t test well so they came up with some other names. Living Single and Friends were some of the names presented. Obviously, they chose one and the other went to another show, also produced by Warner Bros,” Alexander explained.
If you want to hear what the theme song would’ve sounded like (and see how some fans feel about it) if the show had ended up being called My Girls, check it out below.
Fans have always seemed to be split on the topic. Some rejoice that the original version was scrapped. Others note that the track was a bop to them and expressed how they could see the song working out. Then there are people who acknowledged the correlation between the almost title of the show and the women singing “My girls” at the end of the pilot episode.
Here’s the famous theme song they ended up going with.
Where do you stand on the subject? Do you like the original theme song or do you think the right decision was made to move on? Would Friends have been a better name for the show or was going with Living Single an easy call? Let us know in the comments! HAPPY 30TH ANNIVERSARY TO A LEGENDARY BLACK SITCOM!
