Living Single
A Kiss Before Lying
TV Flash files “A Kiss Before Lying” as hour 4 of 118 in the TV Flash guide — Living Single (1993–1998) on Fox, season 1, episode 4, aired 1993-09-12, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E04: listed hour 4 of 118 in the Living Single guide, hour 4 of 27 in season 1. It aired 1993-09-12 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Whose Date Is It Anyway?” (S01E03). Next is “In the Black Is Beautiful” (S01E05).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Max receives several phone messages from her ex-boyfriend Greg, who had unceremoniously dumped her a year earlier. Max ignores Khadijah's advice and agrees to have dinner with Greg and his fiancée. She arranges for the meal to be held at the girls' apartment. Regine suggests that Max bring a date, but Khadijah believes that Max should be happy with who she is. When Greg arrives with his beautiful fiancée, Susan, a desperate Max begs Kyle to pose as her boyfriend. He accepts the role all too eagerly. Everyone begins inventing tales about the couple's courtship and Max's phenomenal professional success. Max can no longer stand the lying, and admits that it was all an act. Greg follows her to the kitchen, and she explains that she has realized the source of her bitterness; she knew that she and Greg weren't right for each other, but wishes that he had said good-bye. She kisses him and struts out of the kitchen, leaving Greg begging for more. Meanwhile, Overton struggles to correct the brownstone's water pressure problem.Tag:Khadijah destroys phone message from Regine's ex-beau.
Viewer FAQ
Where does A Kiss Before Lying sit in the Living Single guide?
S01E04 is listed hour 4 of 118 — hour 4 of 27 in season 1, season 1 episode 4.
When did Living Single S01E04 air?
A Kiss Before Lying aired 1993-09-12 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Is this "the Black Friends"?
That comparison is the discourse, not the origin story. Bowser's brownstone ensemble premiered in 1993 and treated Black professional friendship as default sitcom physics.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Four women, a Brooklyn brownstone, and sitcom chemistry that never needed a Central Perk comparison to land. Queen Latifah’s magazine hustle, Kim Coles’s comic spark, and an ensemble that treated Black urban friendship as default, not special episode. The friend-com with better clothes, sharper mouths, and a legacy still arguing in group chats.
Flash: four women, a Brooklyn brownstone, and a group chat that still thinks *Friends* stole the furniture. Yvette Lee Bowser's Fox sitcom (1993–1998) put Queen Latifah's magazine hustle at the center of a Black professional twenty-something ensemble and treated urban friendship as default, not a special episode. Someone's publicist will call the comparison a compliment. **It is the discourse, not the origin story.** Bowser's room premiered in 1993. The other couch can wait in the lobby.
Filed against
- Queen Latifah as Khadijah James
Queen Latifah played Khadijah James on Living Single, the 1990s Brooklyn brownstone friend-com of four women and sitcom chemistry that never needed a Central Perk comparison to land. Magazine hustle, Kim Coles’s comic spark, an ensemble…
- Kim Coles as Synclaire James
Kim Coles's Synclaire James sparked Living Single from a Brooklyn brownstone — four women, sitcom chemistry that never needed a Central Perk comparison, Queen Latifah's magazine hustle, Black urban friendship as default. TV Flash files…
- Erika Alexander as Maxine Shaw
Erika Alexander made Maxine Shaw Living Single's sharpest brief — Brooklyn brownstone, four women, Black urban friendship as default, not a special episode. Queen Latifah's magazine hustle had a lawyer who would not soften the joke. TV…
- Kim Fields as Regine Hunter
Kim Fields grew up on camera as Tootie Ramsey on The Facts of Life — roller skates, Eastland wing, very special episodes as a feature — then walked into Living Single’s Brooklyn brownstone as grown sitcom chemistry. Girls-lead multi-cam,…
- John Henton as Overton Wakefield Jones
John Henton’s Overton Wakefield Jones gave Living Single its super’s heart — four women, a Brooklyn brownstone, Queen Latifah’s magazine hustle, Kim Coles’s comic spark, an ensemble that treated Black urban friendship as default.…
- T.C. Carson as Kyle Barker
T.C. Carson charmed Living Single as Kyle Barker — four women, a Brooklyn brownstone, sitcom chemistry that never needed a Central Perk comparison to land. Black urban friendship as default, not special episode. TV Flash files him as…