In the 1990’s television reached a golden age with such hit classics like Seinfeld, FRIENDS, Cheers, Frasier, etc. Yet, many other sitcoms, dramas, and comedies are left in a shadow of these shows. One in particular is the FOX sitcom, Living Single.
Living Single ran from 1993 to 1998 and had 118 episodes spread over 5 seasons. It starred Queen Latifah, Kim Coles, Erika Alexander, Kim Fields, T.C. Carson, and John Henton. This show became well-known as one of the greatest shows to star an all African-American cast at that time.
The show was about the lives of four women dealing with life, work, and the pursuit of matrimony. Living Single ended in 1998, the same year another sitcom was starting that would break the boundaries of relationships and sex on television.
HBO's Sex and the City ran from 1998 to 2004 and had 94 episodes spread over 6 seasons. It starred Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Davis, Kim Cattrall and Cynthia Nixon. It was about four women dealing with life, work, and the pursuit of matrimony... sound familiar
Both
shows are strangely similar in that they center around four women and that the
driving factors are exactly the same. Even the development of the characters is
the same. It begs a question; could they be the same show?
One of the main things that keeps Sex and the City separate from Living Single is the fact that it is adapted from a book. The book, Sex and the City is a series of columns by Candace Bushnell which were originally in The New York Observer. Although, as in most cases, the book is very different from the show.
In the book, Sex and the City the characters are very different in both development and characteristics. Yet, on the show it comes full circle to the So how did the show manage to copy Living Single?
For starters, the main characters equal out. On Living Single the main character, Khadijah is the editor-in-chief of her own magazine who loves a guy that she has a difficult time being with, Terrance. In Sex and the City, Carrie's job is to write aa column about relationships and has a hard time being with Mr. Big.
By the end of the series, both characters end up with the man they have had a tumultuous history with. Both also have three best friends that they talk with about their problems. They even have similar personalities.
On Living Single, Khadijah's friend Maxine "Max" Shaw is a lawyer that is also quite judgmental; this is the same personality as well as thee same job of Miranda Hobbes from Sex and the City. Both women end up getting pregnant with a kid for a guy they either couldn't stand or broke up with. In the end, they marry that guy and have a great family.
Synclaire James, Khadijah's cousin, is a bubbly up beat woman who is extremely naive and believes in true love. On Sex and the City, Charlotte York - Goldenblatt is a bubbly naive woman who believes in true love, but Charlotte is an art dealer instead of a secretary like Synclaire.
Finally comes Regina "Regine" Hunter. She is a fashion savvy woman who loves to date as well as have sex. Regine is likened to Samantha Jones who equally likes having sex and has many dates. Throughout the shows both women end up settling into monogamous relationships.
Seeing as how the women are similar now it comes down to the men. Khadijah's boyfriend, Terrance, starts out as her childhood best friend, but they move beyond that; even when he goes on a 6-month tour with a band. His Sex and the City counterpart is Mr. Big. While Mr. Big is emotionally and in later seasons physically unavailable, Terrance isn't.
Kyle Barker is a stock broker that usually spars with Maxine but ends up dating her until he leaves for London at the end of the fourth season. When Maxine decides to become a mother, she gets a super donor but doesn't know it's from Kyle. While the show doesn't specify if they ended up together they appeared on the show Half & Half. Max and Kyle are married with one child.
Kyle and Maxine's happily ever after matches that of Miranda Hobbes and Steve Brady, Kyle's Sex and the City counterpart, Steve Brady. He is a bartender that Miranda falls in love with during season 2 of Sex and the City. It also happens that Miranda ends up pregnant by Steve despite him having one testicle, due to testicular cancer, and her having only one good ovary.
Last but not least comes Overton Jones; the handy man of the brownstone that Khadijah, Synclaire, Regine, and Kyle all live. he ends up with Synclaire and often gives all the characters some down home advice.
Sex and the City, the television show, is preceded by the book which primarily keeps it from being an exact copy of Living Single. All the characters from the book are the same as in the show, yet it went on to do a lot more than Living Single did.
It just seems too coincidental that these two shows would end up being so similar. Especially since the year that Living Single finished is the same year that Sex and the City began. Living Single was the blueprint to Sex and the City, but it seems as though it was just cleverly copied.
Sex and the City went on to do two more movies, and the series is in talks for a third film. Living Single now lives on through YouTube, and in 1990’s sitcom history as one of the greatest not so well-known sitcoms in history.
