Friends vs. Living Single

Imagine yourself watching a show about 6 friends living together in New York in the 90s. The show is filled with many jokes, characters with different personalities, and relatable situations. While most people will think of the famous American comedy sitcom, Friends, others will probably think of the American sitcom, Living Single.

Living Single aired on FOX on August 22, 1993. The show was centered around 6 African Americans living together in the same apartment complex. Living Single became one of the top 5 black 90s sitcoms in America and it became a well known TV show in the black community. Friends was aired on NBC one year after Living Single. The show was centered around 6 Caucasian Americans living in an apartment complex together. When the show Friends aired, many people in the black community had mix feelings about it and believed that Friends was just a “white-washed” version of Living Single.

Growing up, I have known about Friends before I knew about Living Single. I saw many reruns of Friends on the channel Nickelodeon at nighttime. Even though I’ve never actually watched an episode of Friends, it was always on in the background while I slept. It wasn’t until later on in life that I found out about Living Single. I watched Living Single more than Friends because I felt like I can relate a lot more to the characters and their situations because they looked like me.

Many people in America, including some African Americans, don’t know that Friends is just a “white version” of Living Single or that Living Single even exists. Friends overshadows Living Single even till this day. Because of the lack of support and promoting from their producing company, Warner Brothers, the staff and cast of Living Single watched as Friends took the spotlight of being one of Americas best 90s sitcoms.

Jonathan Lethem, in his article “The Ecstasy of Influence,” talked about different classifications of remix. As many people may know, Friends was influenced and inspired by Living Single. Queen Latifah, a cast member of Living Single, even said herself that Friends was inspired by Living Single. She also said that the president of the channel, NBC, said that he would have picked Living Single to be on his channel if he could. Many people also believed that the creators of Friends were appropriating Living Single. While people may think that’s a bad thing, Jonathan Lethem argues that appropriation can be seen as a good thing. He claims that appropriation helps people to find their own creativity and come up with new ideas. Jonathan also talks about public commons. The idea of public commons is something that belong to anyone and everyone. The idea of shows and movies is something that anyone can have. So, the concept of the show Living Single can be use by anyone. This proves that remix helps people to create different materials that can later come to life.