Living Single
In the Black Is Beautiful
TV Flash files “In the Black Is Beautiful” as hour 5 of 118 in the TV Flash guide — Living Single (1993–1998) on Fox, season 1, episode 5, aired 1993-09-19, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E05: listed hour 5 of 118 in the Living Single guide, hour 5 of 27 in season 1. It aired 1993-09-19 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “A Kiss Before Lying” (S01E04). Next is “Great Expectations” (S01E06).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
The printer refuses to produce the latest issue of Flavor unless Khadijah can make a $2000 payment. Max offers her the money, but she flatly refuses. Regine tries to raise money by throwing a lingerie party (featuring male model Overton), but Khadijah tells everyone to mind their own business. After Synclaire tells her that the printer has threatened to see to it that Flavor is never published again, Khadijah accepts Max's check. She becomes so obsessed with paying off her debt that she begins selling appliances and turns into a tyrant at the office. When Max assures her that she doesn't care about getting the money back, Khadijah takes offense. She decides to get the money by selling ad space to a sleazy malt liquor company. Khadijah relents after Synclaire accuses her of being a sell-out. She accepts Max's loan in exchange for a two percent share in Flavor. Meanwhile, the guys quarrel when Kyle fails to reimburse Overton for their bowling night.Tag:Girls try to make milkshakes without a blender.Music:"Touch Me in the Morning" (Diana Ross), sung by Kim Fields.
Viewer FAQ
Where does In the Black Is Beautiful sit in the Living Single guide?
S01E05 is listed hour 5 of 118 — hour 5 of 27 in season 1, season 1 episode 5.
When did Living Single S01E05 air?
In the Black Is Beautiful aired 1993-09-19 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…