Half & Half - General Discussion

[KWalkerInc]

This sitcom, airing from 2002 to 2006 on UPN, focuses on two half-sisters (Rachel True, Essence Atkins) getting to know each other better as they reside in the same San Francisco apartment building.

[Keywestclubkid]

Yay I love this show ... it def should not have been canceled seeing how it was there 2nd highest rated show on the network ....

Edited November 11, 2020 by Keywestclubkid

[KWalkerInc]

And if it had gone to the CW, I finally could have watched it on a reliable channel that wasn't seemingly run out of an outhouse somewhere!  Our UPN affiliate would regularly have technical problems and go off the air for no reason, so the episode where American Idol alum Tamyra Gray played a singer at Delicious who thought Mona was romantically interested in her only aired here once out of the three times UPN showed it.  (At least I hope that it was technical difficulties.  When the people at the UPN station were a WB affiliate--before losing their license--they not only couldn't have cared less if they showed the same syndicated episode of Living Single four times in five days, but refused to show an episode where Max's college roommate was marrying a woman.  They showed it once because I complained.  But I think the other shows were off too when H&H didn't air.)

Speaking of Living Single, it was a little weird that Mona and Spencer would talk about watching it in college, but then Kyle and Max appeared as real people.  They probably just hadn't thought a crossover would happen.  I copied that episode onto a DVD before the player broke, so it's pretty much the only episode I have access to aside from a couple that might be on VHS.  It looks like I have a Christmas episode and one other one.

In the episode where future Idol contestant Ace Young played a baseball pitcher/singer that Mona and Dee Dee were fighting over professionally, I'm guessing he was supposed to be based on then-Oakland star Barry Zito, who later recorded music and was on The Masked Singer (I don't watch, but saw a clip).  Spencer said that Ace beat the A's in one game, so I guess he was supposed to be with the Giants if he was local.  And in their universe, it sounded like they had maybe won the World Series with Ace, and I was very bitter/skeptical at the time, so I joked about not being able to accept such a stretch of reality!

[Keywestclubkid]

On 11/12/2020 at 5:24 AM, KWalkerInc said:

And if it had gone to the CW, I finally could have watched it on a reliable channel that wasn't seemingly run out of an outhouse somewhere!  Our UPN affiliate would regularly have technical problems and go off the air for no reason, so the episode where American Idol alum Tamyra Gray played a singer at Delicious who thought Mona was romantically interested in her only aired here once out of the three times UPN showed it.  (At least I hope that it was technical difficulties.  When the people at the UPN station were a WB affiliate--before losing their license--they not only couldn't have cared less if they showed the same syndicated episode of Living Single four times in five days, but refused to show an episode where Max's college roommate was marrying a woman.  They showed it once because I complained.  But I think the other shows were off too when H&H didn't air.)

Speaking of Living Single, it was a little weird that Mona and Spencer would talk about watching it in college, but then Kyle and Max appeared as real people.  They probably just hadn't thought a crossover would happen.  I copied that episode onto a DVD before the player broke, so it's pretty much the only episode I have access to aside from a couple that might be on VHS.  It looks like I have a Christmas episode and one other one.

In the episode where future Idol contestant Ace Young played a baseball pitcher/singer that Mona and Dee Dee were fighting over professionally, I'm guessing he was supposed to be based on then-Oakland star Barry Zito, who later recorded music and was on The Masked Singer (I don't watch, but saw a clip).  Spencer said that Ace beat the A's in one game, so I guess he was supposed to be with the Giants if he was local.  And in their universe, it sounded like they had maybe won the World Series with Ace, and I was very bitter/skeptical at the time, so I joked about not being able to accept such a stretch of reality!

Thank god they have it on Netflix now... 

[luckyroll3]

This was another show I only caught a few times when it was on, but caught recently on Netflix.  It was so great and I'm pissed they got cancelled and ended on a cliffhanger.  And I needed more of the moms.  I loved every single time they battled by song.  

[Meedis]

Yay!   Glad to see this thread pop up.    It is nice to see Half & Half finally getting some recognition though low-key I feel like Netflix hasn't pushed it as much for an option to watch as the other UPN releases that have shown up on Netflix.   In fact I had to manually search for it to add it to my list, unlike One on One which was released around the same time and was prominently featured.     But that's a minor nitpick.

I cycled through the series already and purposely rewatched an earlier episode so it would still be on my list.   In addition to the principal stars, I thought the secondary actors were very well used.   In particular I enjoyed Suzy Nakamura's portrayal of Tina the sarcastic waitress, then later owner of the noodle bar the main principals frequented at.     She was hilarious in all ten of her guest appearances on the show.    One of my favorite scenes featuring Tina was when she berated poor Mona by repeatedly saying "He WANTS to date your MOTHER!"    Another one was when she handed Lil Dee Dee some ice cream as consolation prize for getting her ass beat by Spencer's crazy girlfriend of the episode, none other than the infamous Taraji P Henson.   She played that role around the same time as Hustle & Flow and before she got her big break out role on 2008's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Edited November 25, 2020 by Meedis

[KWalkerInc]

Tonight when some odd combinations of songs came up on my workout playlist (random play), I suddenly thought of the episode when Mona and Spencer were planning a road trip (which they ended up cancelling because they knew something would happen between them and weren't ready, when the writers were still thinking of putting them together).  Mona wants to provide the music and Spencer says, "Not one of your crazy mixtapes with Clay Aiken and 50 Cent."  I was always making workout tapes, and I remember that just to be funny, I took that as a challenge and made a tape that did that.  My friend was aghast, but the two songs weren't even on the same side.

[Meedis]

So sad to hear that Estelle Harris passed away.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/03/obituaries/estelle-harris-dead.html

She's more famously known as George Costanza's mother on Seinfeld among her many roles.    But she also played Mona's Grandma Sophie on Half & Half for one episode and served as a plot point when Mona met her boyfriend Nick's parents.  R.I.P.

[Meedis]

Omgosh I found a web archive of the old Television Without Pity board featuring Half & Half.   It cut out about half of the original thread I believe when TWoP had some glitch that happened way back then where a lot of data was lost.   It's so nice reliving the memories up into the bitter end when it was cancelled.   Omgosh...can't believe how into the show I was from reading my messages (even coming up with episode ideas).    Someone had too much time on his hands...LOL.

[KWalkerInc]

CLEO, the sister station of TV One, has added H&H to its lineup.  Episodes air weekdays from 4 to 6 AM Pacific, with the same episodes rerun from 2 to 4 PM Pacific later in the day.

[Keywestclubkid]

45 minutes ago, KWalkerInc said:

CLEO, the sister station of TV One, has added H&H to its lineup.  Episodes air weekdays from 4 to 6 AM Pacific, with the same episodes rerun from 2 to 4 PM Pacific later in the day.

Just caught the “beard” episode lol 

[Meedis]

On 10/17/2022 at 5:10 PM, KWalkerInc said:

CLEO, the sister station of TV One, has added H&H to its lineup.  Episodes air weekdays from 4 to 6 AM Pacific, with the same episodes rerun from 2 to 4 PM Pacific later in the day.

I was visiting my sister this weekend and we stumbled on Cleo.  They happened to have a marathon of Half & Half episodes.  It was so nice reliving the memories and I cracked my sister up with remembering all the various plot points from each episode.   Good times.    Would be so nice if the cast got back together for a reunion episode to see how everyone turned out.    Oh well.