The fact that she got the "and" credit in the opening of "Living Single" proves that Kim Fields was the show's biggest name at the time, at least in terms of television. When the show came to an end after five years, Henton was proud and pleased . Williams: Queen Latifahs a very strong woman, and so, when I looked back and Im like, Oh okay, so Young MC really didnt have much of a chance because hes not anythingIm 65, hes not anything close to 65. And then we had some writers from Cleveland so they would add stuff to the script. So I would hope that people would take a sense of pride in who they are, and the culture and the people that they come from. . Unfortunately, not even the stars of the show know what the issue with Living Single was before they stopped filming. I think thats the thing that people see in the show. Votes: 246,498 | Gross: $53.88M. Thousands of new high quality images are added every day. Kim Fields, Now Earlier this month Fields, 44, announced that she was pregnant. Lets just say, never say never, but right now I dont see it., To Alexanders point about a new generation, everyone I spoke to is continuing to push Hollywood forward and make space for other creators of colorespecially black actors, writers, and filmmakersin ways both big and small. Carson performed on stage in musicals like The Wiz and Dreamgirls. After that, she was all-in on acting, steadily working on television throughout the '90s, 2000s, and 2010s. But Maxine Shaw taught me how to act for a live audience with cameras recording, which is actually a skill set. She didnt put the name of the show, we didnt even know the name of the show. Lee Bowser: I developed a rapport with one of the development executives at Warner Bros., a guy named David Janollari, whos still a dear friend. Not be tight and not be pious about what were doingjust really have fun, and project that, and to be our truest selves, she continued. Kim Coles, and Erika Alexander. Make sure the source is set correctly and that CORS support is enabled. We were friends and we were basically those people with each other. Thankfully, the extensive plastic surgery has restored most of his facial features and structure. And so to get an opportunity to be instrumental in crafting somebody that has turned out to be iconic for my culture was really wonderful for me. And I would spend so much time, like really a lot of time, picking out the right pocket square, the right shirt, the right suit, the right pinstripe, the right shoes, right everything. Inside John Overton Hentons Life & Romance With Kim Fields. So, that was the best thing that we kind of brought to it, just the fact that theyre from Cleveland and I got a chance to represent my hometown. So it really helped to push the boundaries of the walls of his character. Carson. I just didnt want to miss anyone, and I wanted to also learn more about [the pre-reading] process, because I had not had the opportunity to be that intimately involved in the process. And so I learned from [when I was] a young child how to pick out ties, and shirts, and suits. And like I said, she's young enough to receive all the icon awards as all the years go by. I had a totally different person in my head, I had a totally different visual in my head, because I didnt really know that Erika was that funny, even though she had done The Cosby Show. None of it is by accident. He also expressed regret about the accident, viewing his decision to drive himself as stupid. My whole life story just laid bare for the audience to pick apart and hopefully be amused. John Henton, Overton in the show, booked the role of Milsap Morris in The Hughleys which aired from 1998 to 2002. Shaun Baker, who played Russell, did just fine though. I would show up to rehearsal tomorrow. John Henton will never forget where it all startedon the road. She became even more of a household name in 2002 after her iconic performance in Chicago, for which she earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. We collect and tell stories of people from all around the world. Williams: Even back then, I loved the fact that the romance between me and Queen [Latifahs character, Khadijah] started from a friendship first. The series followed the lives of six friends living in a Brooklyn brownstone and featured Queen Latifah,. because I knew they were gonna put [Coles] in a sundress, they were gonna put [Latifah] in shorts and, you know, the Hawaiian shirt, that sorta thing, [Alexander] could easily rock a bikini, and I was like, [Sings] Aaaand what about Kimmy? 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The budding romance between her and Overton is as charming as it is innocent, feeling more like young puppy love than the sexually-charged energy between characters like Kyle and Max. Alexander: Im a product of very strong women and men. And those conversations resulted in a better show and a show that had more richness and dimension to it than just the writers could provide. Naturally, the actors knew their roles were just thatcharactersbut that didnt stop them from getting attached to the storylines (or each other). T.C. Carson. Lee Bowser: Erika came in as part of the casting process and just blew us away. Its about chemistry and its about luck. "[The highlights have been] working with people like Kim Coles, Kim Fields, Erika [Alexander] and doingThe Equalizer right now," the actress shared with ET. An hour-long special that reunited the show's cast members (Kim Coles, Kim Fields, Terrence 'T.C.' Carson, Erika Alexander and John Henton) as they share their memories of the show, and provide behind the scenes tidbits. We all still like each other and, hello, why not? Expect the unexpected from us. Before starting a fresh binge, see where the cast of Living Single has been since its 1998 finale. They asked me, Well what do you think of Queen Latifah? While on "Living Single," he was also a recurring cast member on "NYPD Blue" through 2002. The interviews have been lightly edited for length and clarity. He sustained life-changing injuries, unfortunately. It featured six African-American comedians and the story centered around four single ladies living in New York City. Kim Coles is a member of the following lists: 1962 births, American film actors and American television actors. The compromise will be that she lives across the street. And she made me cry! Along with fellow Fox series "Martin," it was among the first network sitcoms to focus primarily on agroup of Black professional twentysomething friends without some forced gimmick to tie the whole thing together. I went up to Yvette and I asked her, I said, Where are the guys from? We were all invested in the people we were doing, and so we werent just saying lines. However, she got back into the swing of it after "Living Single" ended, appearing in films pretty frequently between 1998 and today including 2017's acclaimed "Get Out." So we knew we had something special, but just to be, just constantly still on TV for 25 years? Alexander: Believe it or not, that hairstyle informed the character a lot, because it had movement, it had shape, and its certainly pulling fromwho?Whoopi Goldberg. Shes not feminine in the soft, pink, lace kind of a way. Fans immensely loved his character, and he earned an Image Award . As for the Icon herself, Queen Latifah noted her time on Living Singleas one of the highlights of her long-standing career. It came down to [two auditions] and Living Single was in second position. This video is unavailable because we were unable to load a message from our sponsors. The show received stellar ratings, and TV Guide selected Henton's character as one of the "break out" characters of the 1993-fall season. First of all, can we talk about how great everyone looks some 25 years later? While "Living Single" was very much an ensemble show, if there had to be a character who qualified as its main lead, it was Khadijah. 2. Carson. I said, Just like that?! People just broke out laughing. 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That was one of the things Queen Latifah said: Can you grow a beard? Each of the characters are parts of me and my girlfriendstheyre all amalgamations. I started work at [the age of] five, knocking on peoples doors, asking to take out trash, sweep the porch. and more from FamousFix.com, Kimberly Coles, Kim LaShaunda Coles, Kim Coles. Scooter and Khadijah nursed a longtime friendship turned relationship, even amid professional duties that kept them away from one another. Coleswas especially pleased to honor her friend and former co-star,Queen Latifah, who received theTelevision Icon Award for her decades-long work on the small screen. And I think if thats black love, then yeah. WWETV interviews with Hip Hop & celebrity news from USA, Canada, & UK. The casts rapport was dynamic, but Living Single also presented audiences with six distinct personalitiesto love, root for, disagree with, roll their eyes at, and laugh alongside. How to Watch King Charles' Coronation Live in the U.S. And Im like, Im for that, but Im not gonna diss men. It was a very well-written episode. Its very rewarding, in particular, working with Justin Simien on Dear White People. The actress recently returned to television in CBS reboot of The Equalizer (not to be confused with Antoine Fuquas two cinematic adaptations with Denzel Washington) which she also produces - a position she also took for Lifetimes Salt-N-Pepa biopic, which aired in January 2021. On the show, Hentons character was madly in love with the good-natured receptionist Synclaire James played by Kim Coles, who would later become his wife on the program. It's just one of many reasons why the fifth season is not fondly remembered by fans, as it clearly smacked of some creative and personnel-related turmoil going on behind the scenes. Before the Friends came along, there was Living Single. Its like, you had a good run and then they play the reruns for a while, and then you go away, you know, and you go away for a while. Maxine was a high-powered lawyer who had no qualms about sharing her resources with her girls, but even she sometimes fell victim to the unstable returns of corporate life. John Henton and Kim Coles in Living Single. In the early-2000s, he was cast in another memorable role on Nash Bridges as Inspector Antwon Babcock. It was well-written. Its neat, its not hanging all over the place, its neat, its not, so why not have it? And then I found out Queen Latifah was in itQueen Latifah had, like, the No. If you've been waiting for updates on a possible reunion of theLiving Singlecast, get in line! photos, and I was like Oh my god, I love her. They really cared about each other and they cared about the work, and sometimes they cared about both a little too much, in that sometimes they would take something that would happen to the character very personally, Lee Bowser said. And I was like, Well, why? And I can only speak for myself. Im a Girls High graduate, and obviously a lot of my mentors, whether I met them or not, including Hillary Clinton, were the type of people I was naturally attracted to. "I was nominated for an Oscar, Bringing Down the Housewas the number one movie in the country, grossed over, like, $100 million like, everything changed. T.C. We just never really wanted to do it. In 2015, Fields joined the cast of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, although her gig only lasted one season. That was a lot of fun! Comedian Kim Coles played various small roles on the legendary sketch comedy series In Living Color and appeared on an episode of Martin Lawrences hit sitcom Martin, as Shenenehs friend Bonquisha, before playing Queen Latifahs onscreen cousin, Synclaire James in the Living Single cast. And my favorite thing in the whole wide world, one of my favorite things is in the last few years, Ive met three little girls named Synclaire. They had been anticipating [it] the whole time. You are an inspiration to me, would love to meet you one day! Im from Arizona, so I came in looking like I just hitchhiked there. Kim Coles is in line at the bank after her legendary run on FOX's Living Single when an old white man comes walking by. I'm actually not surprised. Coles: To work with Kim Fields, who was a LEGENDshe was the only little black girl that we had on TV, you knowit was awesome. Kim Coles has been in 2 on-screen matchups, including John Henton in Living Single (1993) and Queen Latifah in Living Single (1993). Not too many fans knew that the two were a couple in real life for a time. And he said, Yeah, its a great idea, but you really need a showrunner, so I was like [sighs], Oh, my gosh, okay. The other big name was KimFields, already a television veteran at 24 years old, as she had previously been a main cast member for all nine seasons of "The Facts of Life." Much of the backbone of "Living Single" was fictional magazine "Flavor," which employed multiple characters on the show both main and recurring. & 2023 CBS Studios Inc. and CBS Interactive Inc., Paramount companies. That we are strong, we are determined, we have tenacity, but we are vulnerable as well.. It was there from inception. Theres just so much flavor and culture and, quite frankly, we were somewhat limited by our multi-cam format, but I think we captured it as well as [we] could have given the nature of our show and our limited budget. We didnt have the Friends budget, she continued. Queen Latifah, Erika Alexander, Kim Fields, Kim Coles, John Henton, and Mel Jackson in Living Single (1993) The success of Living Single may have been unanticipated, but it was no accident. So when I got a chance to put all that into Kyle Barker, oh my god, it was a complete joy. Since playing Max on Living Single (her most famous TV role outside of playing Pam Tucker on the finale two seasons of The Cosby Show), Erika Alexander has gone on to lead a very eclectic career, appearing in some of the most popular hit movies and TV shows in recent memory. But it was those coats, capesit was things that, there was flourish. And T.C., I didn't know well but I had seen his movie, Livin Large. A main "Living Single" cast member but only in the fifth and final season of the show Mel Jackson played musician Ira Lee "Tripp" Williams. For me, it began with the realization that if this industry was really only going to cater to and embrace white people, and white men in particular, and have them in positions of power behind the scenes, Lee Bowser said when we spoke earlier this summer, I wasn't gonna be here for long. I think in all those friends, we saw things that we dont normally see, and thats what I was really proud of being a part of. What you saw on-screen was what was also the vibe behind the scenes. Fields: That chemistry is beyond real. Carson: As an African-American man in this country and an actor, we get asked to do a lot of things that arent really necessarily positive. He has not done much acting since, outside of appearances on The Parkers and on Disney Channels Hannah Montana as a Randy Jackson doppelgnger, but, according to the Tahoe Daily Tribune, he managed to coast through quarantine pretty well. So we had a lot of storylines about Cleveland, about the Browns, Ohio State, you know, things that were happening in the city. The actress went on to make appearances on shows like Frasier, Six Feet Under, and My Wife and Kids, and she had a recurring role on The Geena Davis Show in 2000 as Judy Owens. But Living Singles cast and crew alike were up for the challenge, and found an unexpected family in the process. In an interview, Henton recalls his publicist providing plastic surgeons with pictures of himself before they could operate. Kim Coles still does stand-up (often co-headlining with her Living Single husband, John Henton) and offers lessons in public speaking and narrative development. Now, you know, later on in my career, I was playing dudes with guns and killers and this and that, but it was great not to start that way and I think it set the tone so that I just didnt stay in that lane. I turned those lemons into lemonade. Carson, Kyle Barker: I had auditioned for Living Single when I was still living in Chicago and sent an audition tape in, and they had basically said no at first. I feel that sometimes people believe that in order to get ahead, you have to adopt another cultures aesthetic, you have to adopt another cultures way of being, and I dont think you do. Photo illustration by Slate. And she put in these new things she had created, literally just created, called Nu-Locs. this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines. "It's not there yet . Their neighbor, the fierce lawyer Maxine Shaw (Erika Alexander), dropped in on the women often, along with two men who shared an apartment upstairs: the suave, Afrocentric stockbroker Kyle Barker (Terrence T.C. Carson) and the kind-hearted handyman Overton Jones (John Henton). The actor continued to score small roles in television up through 2015. Credit: Everett Collection; David Livingston/Getty Images, Credit: Everett Collection; Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images, Credit: Everett Collection; Michael Schwartz/WireImage, Credit: Everett Collection; Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images, Credit: Everett Collection; Bobby Bank/WireImage, Credit: Everett Collection; Paras Griffin/WireImage, Credit: Everett Collection; Mike Coppola/Getty Images, Credit: Everett Collection; Moses Robinson/Getty Images. Five years of doing something is a long time. Yvette tells people the characters are all based on her, and I think that we all brought ourselves to it. And purples my favorite color. And, according to her former record producer Dante Ross, she still makes music, but whether or not it will see the light of day is uncertain. It was pretty busy because I just recently, like two years earlier, I just got an agent, so this is like my second pilot season. Carson was definitely smooth back in the day on the show and continues that streak in his cat daddy years as a sought-after voice actor and jazz vocalist. Hughleys hit The Hughleys, which ran on ABC for its first two seasons before moving to UPN (before it merged with The WB to become The CW) for its final two years. and she said, No, but I had an auntie in the States and she would put the show on VCR tapes and she would name the tapeand this is gonna make me cryWomen You Will Love. We didnt even know the name of the show! By using our Services, you agree to our use of cookies. And they went out into an all-white New York. But even the whole kente cloth thingbeing wrapped in his stupid blanket. Please fill in your e-mail so we can share with you our top stories! But what have they all been up to in the years since the series ended? LIVING SINGLE, Erika Alexander, Queen Latifah, Kim Fields, Kim Coles, 1993-1998, (c) Warner Brothers, John Henton (Overton "Obie" Wakefield Jones), Cress Williams (Terrence "Scooter" Williams). Kim Fields did her best to stay out of the drama during Season 8 of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, . The sitcom chronicled the adventures of four single ladies living in New York City, capturing viewers with its on-point comedy and catchy opening credits song. We grew up together and towards each other, so it all worked out. So I really was trying to put as many versions of us as I could into the show in ways that made sense, that felt organic, Lee Bowser said. T.C. With Kim Coles, Erika Alexander, Terrence 'T.C.' Carson, John Henton. The Hughleys was Hentons biggest claim to fame after Living Single went off the air. On the Living Single set, T.C. was still new to the game, he had just done a movie. But I didnt think at the time, Oh snap, this is gonna be iconic. Look for his name in just about any article related to Batman. I remember one day saying to her, I wanna be a queen, and she was like, You ARE one. I remember her distinctly letting me come into her trailer to watch a movie and, you know, just being treated really well. [Ceci] really let me be involved because she said, Youre gonna be the bride, and she let me choose, with her help of course, the bridesmaids dresses because, again, youve got three other body types. Its so funny how I see people in the mirrorI never looked. So I am a lover of people, I amIm not as naive as Synclaire was, I dont necessarily love animals, but my point of view is one of joy and love and laughter and positivity. 1 album in the country, and I was listening to her album as Im going to audition for her show, so it was kind of surreal. We were good stewards of the opportunity that was put in front of us and we didnt really think about how big a hit it was at the time, Lee Bowser said. Because I was done with [The] Facts of Life, I was done with college and looking at what my next project would be, and I wanted to do a series, a rom-com. So we really hadnt seen [stories about young black people in the city], and I know that they obviously existed in the real world., Living Singles main characters may have lived under the same roof (barring Maxine), but they came from a vast range of socioeconomic and geographic backgrounds. John Henton, who played Overton Wakefield Jones on the show, even survived a near-fatal car crash. The Equalizerstar credited her role as Matron "Mama" Morton in 2002'sChicagofor being "the shift" that aligned the stars for her rapidly rising star. including Kim, Kim Coles, Erika Alexander, John Henton, and T.C. Shes sharp, shes clean. Carson, Erika Alexander, Kim Fields, 1993-98, (c)Warner Bros. Television courtesy Everett Collection Warner Bros . Really enjoyed you on Wendy Williams show last night! Erika Alexander was recently spotted in the sitcom within a sitcom on Issa Raes Insecure show, and shes also been doing her thing on TV and film over the years, including a hilarious spot as a cop in Get Out..