‘Living Single’ Trends on Twitter After David Schwimmer Proposes ‘Friends’ Reboot
Written by SOURCE on January 29, 2020
David Schwimmer recently proposed an all-black version of his blockbuster NBC sitcom Friends, which sounds like a cool idea at first — until you remember Friends is basically the all-white reboot of the Fox sitcom Living Single.
“Maybe there should be an all-black Friends or an all-Asian Friends,” Schwimmer told The Guardian in an interview, in response to criticism about the show’s all-white cast. “But I was well aware of the lack of diversity and I campaigned for years to have Ross date women of color. One of the first girlfriends I had on the show was an Asian American woman, and later I dated African American women. That was a very conscious push on my part.”
Twitter users quickly reminded Schwimmer that Living Single came out in 1993, while Friends came out in 1994. Many fans believe that Friends was a rip-off of the Queen Latifah-starring show.
A few people shared video of Queen Latifah, who talked about how Living Single inspired Friends on The Late Late Show with James Corden.
Erika Alexander, who played Maxine Shaw, an attorney on Living Single, reminded Schwimmer of the show she starred on with Kim Coles, Terrence C. Carson, John Henton and Kim Fields. “Hey David Schwimmer, r u seriously telling me you’ve never heard of Living Single? We invented the template! [You’re] welcome bro,” she tweeted in response to the Friends star’s interview.
@DavidSchwimmer 4 yr edutainment. Help me school him @IAMQUEENLATIFAH @kimcoles @KimVFields #TCCarson #JohnHenton @warnerbrostv #elvisdidntinventrocknroll https://t.co/MRJQBnULlU
— Erika Alexander (@EAlexTheGreat) January 28, 2020
But regarding a reboot of Living Single, Kim Fields, who played Regine Hunter in the show, told Tamron Hall in an interview that the cast has talked about the idea. “We have talked about it a little bit, the six of us and Yvette,” Fields said. “A lot of it deals with our schedule, because, praise God, everyone is working, everybody is busy, everybody’s got stuff to do.”
“When Yvette asked, I said I would definitely be interested in seeing what that conversation is and being able to do it,” she said, speaking of Yvette Lee Bowser, the show’s creator. “But here’s the thing, with reboots you got to be careful because these characters are beloved and those storylines really meant something and they still resonate now. So don’t mess around, you got to get it right.”
If you want to watch Living Single, you can catch all five seasons on Hulu.
