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The 80s and the 90s were a peak time for black film and television programs. I grew up with The Cosby Show, A Different World, Martin, 227, and In Living Color. As a young adult I was given Living Single, Fresh Prince, and Girlfriends. In fact the show Friends was a gentrified inspired by Living Single.
Despite the popularity of these shows, people were hard pressed to find their reruns on streaming services until now. Netflix, which had been previously dragged for not having any black 90s sitcoms available on its service, acquired rights to several of them and will be rolling them out over the fall. My young adult self is excited as six of the seven shows I was unable to watch because I was serving in the military overseas. I’ll get to watch all of the seasons and I am stoked.
Cast members of One on One, Half and Half, The Parkers, Sister Sister, Moesha, The Game, and Girlfriends were celebrating their syndicated shows being picked up by Netflix on Twitter on Friday. Strong Black Lead Twitter account posted the roll out dates and black twitter went bonkers.
Time to pop bottles🍾🍾
The following classic shows are coming to @Netflix (US)Moesha – Aug 1
The Game S1-3 – Aug 15
Sister Sister – Sept 1
Girlfriends – Sept 11
The Parkers – Oct 1
Half & Half – Oct 15
One on One – Oct 15To celebrate, here's a message from your faves: pic.twitter.com/zohNPEo0rz
— Strong Black Lead (@strongblacklead) July 29, 2020
Girlfriends was my coming of age show. I loved the depiction of sisterhood between Lynn (Persia White), Joan (Tracee Ellis Ross), Toni (Jill Marie Jones), and Maya (Golden Brooks). All of the women were different in their own right. It was like the black Sex and the City before the book or the show even came out. Lynn was the bohemian, carefree, vegan, and sexually adventurous friend, who had five degrees but couldn’t decide what she wanted to be when she grew up. Since she came from a rich family, she really didn’t have to choose. Joan was the mother hen, she was fiercely loyal and took care of her friends. Maya was the sassy author and housewife who emotionally cheated on her husband. Toni was the pretty friend who was a bit of a snob and ended up marrying a Jewish doctor and quickly getting divorced. Girlfriends presented us with universal black women from all walks of life with which we could all identify in ourselves or our friends.
I also excited for the return of Moesha which will bring back Brandy, the all around b-girl everyone wanted as a little sister. I didn’t get a chance to get into the show when it aired but I will be devouring each episode as soon as they are available.
I am definitely excited about these additions on Netflix, especially in the climate we are in as it pertains to Black lives specifically in America. I am sure having these shows as a time capsule into 90s African-American culture will be a welcome escape to a time when life felt less fraught. I for one will definitely be tuning in.
photos credit: LFI/Photoshoot Urad via Avalon.red and Getty
I watched nearly all of these shows and loved them. Definitely will be re-watching some them, especially Sister Sister. I wish they included Living Single and Kenan and Kel. Don’t judge me about Kenan and Kel! They were awesome! Lol
Living Single was the best.
I hope the shows will be available on German Netflix as well. I couldn’t get enough of Girlfriends back in the day and Joan/Tracee Ellis Ross was my style icon. If I remember correctly she had a certain red handbag/clutch that I wanted so much 😀
I too hope they are available on Netflix South Africa .I didn’t get to finish Girlfriends.
To add, I hope it will be on Netflix Nigeria.
Friends was absolutely a gentrified version of living single! Living single is also much better to boot.
Girlfriends came after Sex and the City and was on basic cable so not nearly as much sex, but still showcased a variety of black women experiences and identities.
I also really liked Half and Half, a show of two half sisters (one wealthy, one more working class) and navigating their relationship as adults. This one resonated with me, particularly the sibling/parent dynamic.
Can’t wait to watch!
YES! I got into an argument with someone over Living Single versus Friends. Living Single was SO much better!
Girlfriends and Half and Half! I loved those shows! They were before I fully had internet (I still had dial up for a ridiculously long period of time), so they were complete mysteries to me in terms of who the actors were and stuff. Now I can research people!
Oh God, I loved Moesha when I was growing up – this is so exciting! Off to renew my Netflix subscription right away!
I hope that they are coming to Netflix Canada. I loved Girlfriends and would welcome the opportunity to watch it again. I can’t take watching anything dark and depressing right now and I’ve binge watched everything else.
Sister sister is it for me… I would wait around the mall hoping to find me twin. My dad would be like you don’t have one..I’d be BUT I DO!
Also I wrote a paper for my modern African studies class on culture thriving and living single/friends got three pages
We grew up watching Living Single, Martin, In Living Color, and more. Fox was where it was at in the 90s. Living Single was my favorite and I always remember Queen Latifa wearing the key necklace in memory of her brother who died in a motorcycle accident. I watched some of The Game years ago but it’s worth checking out from beginning to end. I’m very excited!
To be able to binge these wonderful shows off of ONE PLATFORM is an ABSOLUTE 🎁
Yaaaas! I loved Moesha and Sister Sister.
I absolutely loved Sister Sister when I was little! How exciting.
I never saw Moesha but perhaps I should check it out. Brandy will forever be my favorite Cinderella.
Moe to the… E to the. We need more Brandy.
Living Single is still the best, but I think Hulu has it and Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper (another gem). But Sister Sister! Jackee!!
Its glaring that these werent streaming before as they were popular enough to justify them streaming before now.
whats on tv and in movies in your formative years is very influential. Even before i was old enough to keep up with the story lines as a very young kid my mom had murder she wrote, golden girls, designing women, & Murphy brown on TV the background growing up; and even though i was too young for the shows the message i still got was, look at all of these women, some older too, doing all of these different things with their lives outside the home-there are lots of ways to be a woman.
I feel bad for women who were at influential ages when two and a half men and cbs crime shows were on-
A Different World was my obsession as a teen. I loved all of them, but Lisa Bonet will always be the coolest person alive to me. 227 and Living Single were also faves of mine. And to this day I’m obsessed with the Wayan Brothers because of In Living Color. Will someone please rerun that show?!
I’m so excited for all of these shows. I’m also currently binging Living Single on Hulu!
I watched Girlfriends almost every afternoon 2004-2006 (I was living on my own for the first time and finally had cable!!). I have been so excited ever since Tracee Ellis Ross started teasing the possibility of Netflix Girlfriends on social media. I can’t wait to catch up on all the seasons I missed (it was a pretty long-running show!). Highly recommended!!
Hope to catch girlfriends on nextflix Kenya
I loved Sister, Sister! I can’t remember which channel showed it in Argentina, though.