Living Single - General Discussion

[KWalkerInc]

It looks like MTV 2 has removed the show from the schedule in favor of movies.  I liked to have it on late at night, even though I have seen the episodes a million times.  TV One, which airs it from 5 to 7 AM weekdays, has also scheduled Friday night marathons for at least the next two weeks.  They are listed as 5 PM to 11 PM Pacific time.

[KWalkerInc]

I do really like Synclaire, but I can't stand the part in "Moi the Jury" where she gets so excited after learning that Harold (the caller to the Actors Helping Actors hotline) had died gruesomely in a fall from a window-washing job but was really happy and repeating something she had said just before he died that she is all turned on and wants to have sex with Overton.  He says he's not in the mood because of the death, but she coaxes him because she shaved her legs, I think.  I change the channel for a couple minutes whenever that part comes on because it's rather gross.  I managed to time it perfectly the other night to flip back for the ending about Regine.

MTV 2 has brought the show back after a few weeks off and it seems to be back in its regular 2 to 4 AM slot most of the time, with several weekday afternoon marathons this week.  Of course, they like changing things frequently.

[KWalkerInc]

I wonder if it's Comcast with local ad breaks or MTV 2 (seems like the latter, based on the particular ads) that is responsible for running commercial breaks that are so long they just cut off half of whatever scene that is supposed to air when they come back.  It's one thing to carefully edit out scenes or dialogue, but they just jump back in mid-sentence.  Thanks for bothering to come back before Max said "I love you" in the wedding episode, I guess.

[KWalkerInc]

MTV2, which usually just has the show overnight (sometimes into the next morning/afternoon) twice a week now, has scheduled a marathon from 11 AM Pacific on Friday, March 27 to 10 AM the next day.  That should be fun, though I already have the whole series on the DVR anyway (TV One episodes are better because they don't run long or have the first half of scenes cut off for commercials).  Of course, if I really wanted to meet my goal of just delusionally pretending it's the '90s, I could watch the show uncut on the DVDs, or at least watch the homemade DVDs I made before those were available (on these there are commercials, but actually FROM the '90s or at least early 2000s).

Also, a belated happy 50th birthday to Queen Latifah!

[KWalkerInc]

Sorry for posting so many times in a row, but here is an article (which links to a longer article) about an interview in which T.C. Carson talks about his firing from the show:

https://www.primetimer.com/item/Living-Singles-T-C-Carson-reveals-he-was-fired-from-the-show-P8SaL7

There is an inaccuracy--of course he appeared in the first two episodes of season five after he was let go, not just the finale.  At the time, I remember they tried to placate the fans by saying that he would be available on a recurring basis, though a usually nice woman who was the FOX liaison to the set who used to post on their message boards sort of spilled the beans that this wasn't really the case (or at least tried to break it gently that there probably wouldn't be more episodes in the season, so he would only be back for the end).  They probably had to keep the reason for his departure a secret so that Tripp wouldn't have been even more disliked than he was.  I know I wasn't too bothered by him until later viewings, thinking at the time that he wasn't really Kyle's replacement, they just needed another roommate because Synclaire got married.

I don't really agree with T.C. about Overton and Kyle being "buffoonish."  They held their own perfectly well against the ladies for the most part.  Overton was pretty dumb in the pilot and episode five (because they filmed it second), but then evolved beyond that.

Edited April 4, 2020 by KWalkerInc
Typo.

[KWalkerInc]

Tonight Kim Fields was interviewed on Entertainment Tonight about a short film she directed that will air on BET Her this weekend.  Nischelle Turner mentioned that Kim first directed on Living Single, and asked if there was any chance that the cast would get together.  (I don't think she necessarily meant a reboot, but maybe one of those Zoom reunions that a lot of shows have done.)  Kim said that the six actors are all on a text chain and commented that this should be the reboot because the things they say there are so funny.  I thought it was cool to hear that they are all in touch.

[KWalkerInc]

I noticed that TV One has skipped the fourth season finale (Overton and Synclaire's wedding) several times in a row.  Is there something from this episode that is considered inappropriate now?  I definitely can't think of anything, and I've seen it dozens of times.  TV One doesn't air the show at a time when I can watch anyway, but I just find this weird.  Maybe they are just really eager to move on to season 5 for some reason.  (I do like some episodes from that season, but there are two or three that were kind of subpar.)

[KWalkerInc]

Tonight I watched "The Handyman Can," which has always been one of my least favorite non season 5 episodes because I don't care for all the "dead cat" jokes.  I know Khadijah is a dog person, but she is rather obnoxious with her comments about getting the earring from the cat's body, "open or closed shoe box," etc.  It seems that many shows that treat pet dogs with respect think cats are disposable (such as The Simpsons).  The episode probably bothers me even more now because given his behavior when he goes to the vet, I'm sure the cat I have now would be "banned from the kennel" like Mittens, the cat Synclaire was watching.  They tried to portray the cat as horrible to make his demise less awful, but now I have more sympathy, that maybe Mittens was nicer (though probably not great) around his owner and would lose it around outsiders.  At least after the cat was killed, they stopped playing the yowling cat sound effects that were freaking out my cat while I watched!  And it was nice that Overton and Synclaire cared about the cat, but Khadijah and Regine were annoying.  I would have expected it more from Max, but she was busy fretting about her chocolate allergy that was probably magically cured after this episode.

I'm happy that TV One has recently listed the fourth season finale, so they must have gotten over whatever weird problem they had with it.  Who knows, maybe they had shown it and just had screwed-up listings.

[KWalkerInc]

Entertainment Tonight did a "Leading Ladies of the '90s" segment each day for a week awhile ago, featuring people like Tisha Campbell and Jane Seymour.  For Presidents Day when they didn't want to bother with a new episode, they reran these segments, but threw a previous unaired segment on Kim Coles in there like some kind of afterthought!  Oh well, at least that got me to watch their otherwise retread episode.  I hadn't realized Kim had divorced for a second time until she made a reference to it in this story.  She was asked about a reboot and said she would want to do it if "contacted or contracted," which is the phrase she also used during the 25th anniversary thing on TV One several years ago, when she said no one had done either.  She was rather vague but said they should do it while they all look good.

I also saw a segment with Kim Fields being asked about a reboot by Wendy Williams.  She said that everyone is likely too busy--and in particular that Yvette Lee Bowser is too busy to write it.  She added that they appreciate people's interest, but wouldn't want to screw everything up.  After seeing the way a number of reboots have turned out, this is probably for the best (even though the original finale wasn't exactly perfect, particularly with Kim F. being unavailable).

ETA:  Whenever I see the listing here for "The Crew," which is a new Kevin James sitcom about NASCAR, I get confused for a second and think that people are posting about that airline sitcom that aired after Living Single for a little while.  I only saw any of it when--after an LS episode I had taped--Regine had a crossover appearance flying somewhere.  She got into an argument with a flight attendant, who decided she liked her attitude and moved her up to first class!

Edited February 23, 2021 by KWalkerInc
Added note about "The Crew."

[KWalkerInc]

I was watching "The Clown That Roared" recently, and there's something I find interesting/confusing about the subplot.  Regine wins a baking contest with her "Raisin Smooches," but Khadijah accuses her of stealing her "Mom-Mom's" recipe.  I assume they're talking about a grandmother because of when Regine gets angry and sarcastically comments on also stealing her shawl and heart medication; but when Khadijah's grandmother (mom's mother) appeared in season 2, she is always called Nana.  She is also called Nana in later episodes--including the very next one, where Regine and Max get into an all-out brawl in the flashback and enrage Khadijah by breaking a glass giraffe that Nana gave her.  When Khadijah and Synclaire talk about their grandma through their fathers, they always call her "Granny James."  Of course Khadijah could have had more than one nickname for her grandma, and I'm guessing she was talking about Nana (who was mentioned as a great cook/baker in her appearance); it's just weird that she says "Mom-Mom" over and over again in this episode and never calls either grandma that in any other episode.

I love that Overton thinks Khadijah is lying when she gives her biased version of the Raisin Smooches story because he couldn't believe that Max ever showed up with her own food.

[KWalkerInc]

Today Tito Jackson appeared on Kelly Clarkson's talk show, to sit in with her band and promote a new album (which features a bunch of collaborations).  I'm sure he's very talented, but hearing that he had a solo album just made me think of in the season 2 Halloween episode when Regine goes against Khadijah's wishes by coming up to Scooter's apartment when Khadijah is picking up a toy parrot for his costume, and then starts going through his music collection.  She's shocked to discover "Tito Jackson Unplugged."  I just did a search, and I guess he didn't have any solo albums when LS was on, but started a solo career in 2003.  I guess he showed Regine!

ETA:  TV One is showing a 24-hour Living Single marathon beginning at 3 AM Pacific Thanksgiving!  It starts from the beginning and goes through season 2, episode 22 ("Another Saturday Night").

Edited November 13, 2021 by KWalkerInc
Mention of marathon.

[Fool to cry]

 

 

 

[KWalkerInc]

I'm glad this show is still on three different channels, even if they don't always show it when I can watch, because my DVR is determined to mess with me by repeatedly deleting random episodes even though there should be space.  Even when nothing has been added and other things have been deleted to ensure there is room, it deletes more.  And one of my DVDs for season 5 also recently broke, as the holder was impossible to remove it from and disaster ensued.  Fortunately the replacement I bought came in a different type of case, which looks like it will be less of a pain! 

In the meantime, I watched an old DVD I'd made from the airings on FOX (which is kind of fun to see the "old" commercials) for a couple episodes to see them without cuts.  In "He's the One," I'm not sure I bought the plot about Max not buying Overton and Synclaire a wedding gift.  They tried to sell it by pointing out how cheap she is (which she already showed in season 4 when she gave everyone $5 fast food gift certificates for Christmas), that she once wrapped up the girls' toaster (with a Pop Tart still in it) and tried to give it as a gift.  That was funny, but in "Do You Take This Man's Wallet?" she did bring a gift to Darryl's aborted wedding.  Khadijah brought imported salt and pepper shakers, and Max brought domestic salt and pepper shakers.  So if she would bother with a gift for someone she didn't know well and mostly just made weight jokes about, I think it's going a bit far to say she wouldn't give her good friends anything.  They could have just had them complain that the gift was crappy and cheap, especially because she took a ham from the reception (John Henton's delivery on that line was really funny).

[KWalkerInc]

I caught the end of "The Hand That Robs the Cradle" last night on MTV2.  I'm used to the syndicated versions of season 1 episodes, as I didn't record any of those directly off FOX and didn't see the full-length ones again until the DVDs.  However, even compared to syndicated versions, this airing was completely chopped to pieces!  After Max agrees to bring Brendan to the Flavor party, they jump to the next scene, cutting out Khadijah saying that he could park his Big Wheel in her spot.  Then they cut off most of Khadijah and Regine's final discussion about how the party turned  out with Regine being forced to stick to Khadijah's tight budget to jump to Max and Brendan's arrival.  They even cut out the scene that convinced Kyle that he needed help with his vision--gushing over a woman across the room that was his "future wife," only to have Overton get him to put on his glasses and see that it was Max.  (Kyle ends up with contacts, but they also cut the tag scene where he's trying to find one on the floor and Overton somehow levitates to avoid it.)  Most cable airings cut out the tag scenes now whether they are important or not, but I think the cuts to this episode were a bit much--especially when you could sometimes get full episodes in the late-night airings a year or so ago.  If they need that many more commercials that badly, why don't they just play all the content on fast-forward so that they could then put in four times as many ads?!  That seems to be how much they care.

I had to delete most LS episodes from the DVR to free up a bunch of space; but even after that, it deleted the season 4 finale (my favorite, as I've mentioned) for no apparent reason.  I had to re-record it, hopefully not as chopped as the one from last night.  I'll probably try to buy the complete series digitally at some point to go along with the DVDs.

[KWalkerInc]

There is going to be an all-day marathon beginning on Cleo (sister channel of TV One) in a few minutes.  It airs from 3 AM Pacific to 1 AM the next day (not quite 24 hours because they have to have their infomercials).  Because VH1 is also airing some episodes at times, I think that makes five channels that are airing it at one time or another.  I never would have expected that when the show first started in syndication and I was only getting it on the low-budget WB channel in the next county that I once accused of being "an outhouse with an antenna on top" after they made my recording efforts difficult by airing the same two or three episodes about five times in a row and tried to impose their own ban on the episode where Max's friend Shayla was engaged to a woman.  I feel foolish that I was so desperate to get all the episodes because I thought I'd never see them again otherwise!

ETA: I guess Cleo really wants to make sure everyone knows what channel they are, since they have their name in bright yellow toward the middle of the screen (sometimes covering the names of writers or producers early in an episode)!  I think a clear logo would suffice.  I watched a few throughout the day.  When they got back around to the pilot, I laughed hard at the part where Brad says he went to the Cordon Bleu and Synclaire says, "Oh, you're a chef.  Would you like some cheese?" and offers some Cheese Whiz.  I don't know why I found it so much funnier this time.  Cleo followed the example of sibling TV One by not always showing the episode that is listed, but it was okay because it let me catch most of "A Kiss Before Lying."  I love all the lies they make up while helping Max, and when Synclaire gets too into it and blurts, "Show them the pictures!" about Max and Kyle's fake trip to Paris.  Also, when Overton says that Jesse Jackson will officiate the nuptials and Synclaire makes a cut gesture and he's like, "We're not lying anymore?"

Edited July 5, 2022 by KWalkerInc
More blithering.

[KWalkerInc]

Queen Latifah and Kim Coles greeted each other with a hug on the red carpet of the Grio Awards, and Entertainment Tonight interviewed them both, of course asking the reboot question.  Kim was more receptive than she usually has been about this, saying that they all look good and still like each other, so why not?  (She also told the reporter about their text chain.)  They didn't show whatever question Latifah was asked about it, just had her complimenting both Kims and Erika before changing the subject to The Equalizer.  It's not like she was the one who was always pushing for a reboot and saying "It's gonna happen."  Oh, wait...  Then they showed Patti LaBelle, Latifah, Jennifer Hudson, Yolanda Adams and Fantasia singing but then had an interview clip of Ms. Patti (who played her mom on Star!) saying that Latifah wasn't receptive to doing the performance (that she said, "I don't sing," which is weird) and had to have her arm twisted.  I wonder who Latifah pissed off at ET to get this edit!  She's the star of one of the higher-rated CBS shows, so that would usually mean non-stop kissing up from the show.

ETA: What annoyed me when they mentioned Living Single was that the cast photo they showed had Mel Jackson and not T.C.  Come on!  Take the extra 20 seconds to pull up a cast photo from one of the first four seasons.  Mel Jackson seems to have disappeared after his ill-fated multi-episode arc when The Parkers ended.

Edited October 25, 2022 by KWalkerInc
Complaint about cast photo on ET.

[KWalkerInc]

This show is usually very good about continuity, but there is a thing about "If the Crew Fits" (which just aired on TV One) that bugs me.  Regine had become a vegetarian earlier in the season, and was referred to as being one in many subsequent episodes.  But in this episode, when Darryl talks about wanting to go around in an RV fly fishing after retiring, Regine starts talking about wanting fish prepared in a sauce in France.  Then Darryl's friend Tanya gets offended and thinks Regine didn't like the fish sticks they ate for dinner, and Regine insists she liked them.  If they wanted to have another reason for conflict between Regine and Tanya, they could have had Regine not be able to eat parts of the dinner because she's a vegetarian.  I don't know if they didn't know Regine being a vegetarian was going to be for the long haul, or if they just forgot.

[andidante]

I hated that we didn't get to see Regine get married. That wedding would have been epic! Not sure why Kim Fields was hardly in the last season, but I did miss her. 

[KWalkerInc]

A couple of years later, she said that she left because she was trying to work on some problems in her first marriage.  During the fifth season, I would post with just a few other people on the LS message boards on the FOX site, and a lady from the network who worked on the set would share info about the show and episodes.  She probably wasn't allowed to say anything to protect Kim's privacy, but I wish she could have just said Kim wouldn't be in the finale for personal reasons (and then told people to mind their business if they asked why).  It was very distracting the first time the episode aired that she wasn't there and I kept expecting her to pop up.  I don't know if she could have returned if the show had been picked up for the rest of the season, but it would have been nice to see Regine's wedding.  I also think Max having the baby would have been entertaining, with Erika's skill at physical comedy.  I also wonder if Max would have been even harsher to Kyle than usual during labor, or would they have thrown a curveball and had her be strangely nice.  (Probably the first one.)

ETA: TV One is showing another marathon on Thanksgiving, from 3 AM Pacific to midnight the following night.  They are probably the best channel for the syndicated episodes, as you never know what you'll get from the Viacom channels.  They occasionally have mostly uncut ones, but more often are chopped to pieces.  The only thing with TV One is they don't always show the episodes in the order they're listed on the guide.  In fact, on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, I think they're showing the three Christmas episodes from 9 to 10:30 AM as part of a holiday marathon of various shows, but they list the one from season one and the episodes right before the ones from seasons 3 and 4 (which wouldn't make sense).

Edited November 12, 2022 by KWalkerInc
Added note about TV One.

[KWalkerInc]

Yesterday was the 30th anniversary of the show's pilot airing!  It seems like I was just watching the 25th anniversary marathon that TV One had (complete with their reunion with four of the actors).  I'm glad that VH-1 has put the show on in the late night time slot.  It's probably a demotion from when it was on in afternoons, but it's right in my wheelhouse this way.

Here are a couple of articles that TODAY.com did to commemorate the anniversary:

Erika Alexander talks about the scene where Kyle serenaded Max in "Singing the Blues."

Yvette Lee Bowser discusses the show's casting process.

I always thought it was hilarious how the other characters were reacting to Max's behavior as Kyle sung, so it's interesting that Erika felt they weren't acting in that scene and that she was embarrassed.

[luckyroll3]

13 hours ago, KWalkerInc said:

Yesterday was the 30th anniversary of the show's pilot airing!  It seems like I was just watching the 25th anniversary marathon that TV One had (complete with their reunion with four of the actors).  I'm glad that VH-1 has put the show on in the late night time slot.  It's probably a demotion from when it was on in afternoons, but it's right in my wheelhouse this way.

I think Hulu is also showing all the episodes. I saw a banner on there for the 30th anniversary and thought they were doing a reunion. But no, they were just promoting that you can watch the epis.

[KWalkerInc]

I wasn't paying complete attention, but it looked like VH-1 showed the same episode, "Ride the Maverick," twice in a row.  They had it listed that way, but I thought it was just a misprint.  They aren't skipping any episodes from what I can tell, so I don't know what the point was.

I had "Wake Up to the Break-Up" on in the background a few days ago.  One part that amuses me is when Kyle has finally had enough and breaks up with Max in the hallway.  Just after this, you can hear a strong reaction from the studio audience, with cheering and barking (!).  But after that, just as the scene is fading out, you can hear one distraught person cry out, "OH NO!"  I guess they were really invested in Kyle and Max and didn't see the break-up coming, in spite of all the signs through Max's behavior.  The "oh no" always cracks me up, so I'm glad it hasn't ended up getting cut when they chop up the episodes.

[KWalkerInc]

I've seen "The Shake-Up" (season 2 finale) a couple of times on VH-1 or MTV2 recently, and they have a newer syndication cut that bothers me.  After Max yells at Kyle for cancelling their dinner at her place and orders him to show up (and has left), Kyle starts strutting to the door insisting she can't push him around.  Then everyone looks at him skeptically, so he stops at the door and admits, "I'm going."  They always cut that last part out now and fade to commercial while he's walking to the door.  It's like two seconds so it's not like it would have messed up  their precious commercials, and they ruined the whole joke!

Tonight I watched a couple hours on TV One (which has fewer cuts I think but often shows the episodes in a different order than what is listed).  I had to watch the wedding episode again.  This is weird, but one part always reminds me of when I wrote recaps for a now long-defunct episode guide site.  My favorite sentence ever was after Kyle has told Max about his job offer on the balcony and it doesn't go well.  The paragraph ended with "Max dejectedly plays with the ice cream scoop," so it makes me happy when that isn't cut from the scene.  There were a couple of references in the two-parter that started season five that I could do without now though as long as they're chopping things up.  One is R.Kelly, especially with Tripp mentioning him having a shower phone.  I don't need to think about what he was up to.

[KWalkerInc]

Happy birthday to Erika Alexander (54) and T.C. Carson (65!).  It makes me feel less old to remember that Kyle Barker the character is only 58, as the episode about his 30th birthday was in the fall of 1995.

ETA: VH-1 is totally screwy.  When they schedule a movie that drifts into the time that LS is normally on, they just skip the episodes that would have been on in that time and move on...but for some reason, they're about to show the episode with Khadijah's dad for the second straight night/morning.  Then they skip to the fifth episode of season 5, which is my least favorite (Max tries to hit on her old law school prof but learns he slept with Khadijah long ago).  I was getting upset about the wedding episode not being on, even though I already watched it twice this week on other channels.

I watched a bunch of late season 1/early season 2 episodes on TV One tonight, and they were mostly the ones listed (two were flipped).  The choreography of the basketball scenes in "I Love This Game" is pretty good until it gets to the part where Khadijah keeps blocking Denise Hatcher's shots.  Of course it's bound to be clunky when they have to pretend that Latifah (though a respectable player in high school) could stop Hall of Famer (and much taller) Cheryl Miller for several straight plays, especially when Khadijah was exhausted by that point!

When Khadijah presents her ad campaign to Regine's boss in "Bristle While You Work" and Mary calls it a snoozer, it reminds me of when I actually heard an ad with a slogan very similar to the one Khadijah did ("Like you, our clothes come in all shapes and sizes").  I laughed and wondered if they haven't seen this episode or if they did and decided to "borrow" the slogan anyway.

Edited November 22, 2023 by KWalkerInc
Added a lot more.

[KWalkerInc]

Tonight on TV One I watched the series finale, which was immediately followed by the pilot.  That's always a funny juxtaposition, to jump back to that episode with the characters just being introduced (and more over the top in many cases) and the different (Family Matters) living room set.  When I was watching the end of the finale where there is a knock and Khadijah answers it to see Scooter, I remembered that when it first aired, I thought it was going to be Regine at the door.  I don't think the audience knew she wouldn't be appearing, so I thought she'd drop in for that scene.  It was nice that Scooter surprised Khadijah and they highlighted her increased spontaneity, but it would have been funny for Regine to drop in (maybe after being gone on a trip with Dexter) and ask if she'd missed anything.  I think finding out that Max was pregnant with a baby fathered by a sperm donor who turned out to be Kyle and they were now back together would have been the only way Regine could have topped her reaction in the wedding episode to finding out that Kyle and Max had in fact been sneaking around and "everybody knew but you!"

[KWalkerInc]

Living Single is #71 on Variety's list of 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

Most of the list didn't seem to go over very well in the comments (big surprise there), but I'm very surprised and pleased to see this show receive recognition for a change.

[EtheltoTillie]

This show is on Max now. I hadn’t watched it in ages, but I caught Erika Alexander in American Fiction yesterday, so I decided to watch a couple of episodes. Those hairstyles!  

On 2/10/2018 at 11:29 AM, ribboninthesky1 said:

Synclaire could be annoying no doubt, but I liked her. I know the characters constantly roasting each other appealed to most, but I appreciated that Synclaire was a genuinely kind person. I liked her and Overton as a couple as well.  

Yes I like Synclaire. She’s the Betty White of Golden Girls character here. 

[KWalkerInc]

The series finale was just on VH-1 (which has annoyed me by changing the schedule so that the show is rarely on late at night), and I had a meaningless observation that somehow hadn't come to me in the 26 years since the episode first aired.  I wondered how Kyle could handle being around Walter (Max's destructive dog) when he had supposedly had allergies back when he and Overton had Sanford in season 1.  I know that he said Overton would pay for his medicine, but when the dog disappeared after the season, I guessed that it was because of the allergies (though it wasn't explained at all, which is annoying), that they gave him to Overton's parents or something.  Of course, even years later on Half & Half when Kyle and Max guest-starred and were engaged with a child, they were only living next door to each other in S.F., so Kyle probably had to get his own apartment (or Roni had to get a different one and give that one back to Kyle) after he moved back from London before the baby was born.  We don't know because they had to cancel the show for a stupid show that lasted two episodes instead of ordering a few more.  (Between that and the show that got filmed some and was cancelled without airing, giving the timeslot back to LS in the fall, they were just determined to replace it with garbage!)

I really like the way they decorated the rooftop set for the scene where Kyle and Max get back together, with the Christmas lights and the snow on the ground and falling.  They did a really nice job.

[KWalkerInc]

There was a mini LS reunion on the NAACP Image Awards as presenter/nominee (for American Fiction) Erika Alexander appeared onstage with host/nominee (for The Equalizer) Queen Latifah.  She surprised Latifah with an early birthday cake and then the crowd serenaded her with Stevie Wonder's "Happy Birthday."  Latifah was clearly moved and they both complimented each other quite a bit.

[KWalkerInc]

I appreciate that TV One has been a good syndication home for the show for over 15 years (with only a brief time when they weren't showing it), but they're getting on my nerves a little.  First they have dumped it from the longtime morning airings in favor of their murder shows (I know they're popular, but does everyone watch them at the crack of dawn?).  This has caused VH-1 to decide to pick up the slack by moving LS from afternoon to morning, leaving me with few times where I can see it (I can watch my purchased episodes, but I liked just background viewing late at night too).  But anyway, TV One only airs the show in marathons on Tuesday nights or some weekends.  Tonight they were airing mid to late season 4 episodes, but suddenly skip the last four of the season to go to season 5.  Because that's what everyone really wants, to get to season 5 as quickly as possible!  Some episodes are good, but this is weird, unless they're just really big Tripp fans at the channel.

[KWalkerInc]

It looks like TV One went back to regular morning airings of LS pretty quickly, like after maybe two or three weeks?  They still have plenty of airings of the murder shows, but realized 7 AM Pacific might be a little too early.

When I heard the song "Endless Love" the other day (the Mariah/Luther cover, but made me think of the original), it reminded me of when it was played over the end credits after Kyle and Max broke up the first time.  I remember that it made me sad (though it was always obvious they would break up from the way Max had been behaving about the relationship), but I wasn't sure if they wanted us to be sad or if they were making fun of the couple through some of the clips they chose and were saying the relationship was done for good.  Of course, that didn't last long because Max had regrets (about the bracelet) in the next episode,  but I didn't know that at the time.

[KWalkerInc]

A couple of weeks ago, there was one night where LS was on VH-1 at 1 or 1:30 AM for a run of a few episodes, and Jamie Foxx's sitcom was starting at 3.  I'm not positive, but I thought that I then checked the guide and it was supposed to be that way for the foreseeable future.  However, the next day, they were flip-flopped back to Jamie Foxx in the earlier slot and LS not until three, and that's how they've left it.  So what was the point of switching them for a day?  That was weird. 

The other day I heard "Tell Me Something Good," which reminded me of when Kyle and Max got caught accidentally singing it at the same time after their drunken rendezvous, drawing their friends' suspicions.  That song was later used for "sexy scenes" for the parents on That 70's Show, and when Stan cheated on Karen on Will & Grace, but Kyle and Max were first!

[KWalkerInc]

I saw the wedding episode yet again tonight on VH-1, and there was another annoying Viacom syndication cut (not one they have on TV One).  They come back from commercial and begin a scene with Kyle coming downstairs and greeting Max in the hallway after their previous argument.  They cut Regine telling Khadijah that she is going to pray for God to give her a man.  (Then she passes Max in the hall and tells her to put lotion on her legs before the wedding.)  But then just before the wedding starts when Desmond Howard asks her out, Regine looks skyward and says, "Thank you!  You're good, and you're fast!" even though it makes no sense when the other scene was cut.  Of course Desmond only ends up giving her his "stank autograph" anyway.

I'm kind of torn about season 5.  At the time I would have been devastated for the show to end after four seasons (especially for the aforementioned crap FOX wanted to replace it with), so I was grateful for more episodes.  There are certainly things I like about that season, but with Kyle getting dropped until the finale and Regine not being around for the last few shows, I sometimes think it would have been better to just have the fourth season finale be an hourlong episode (devoted to the wedding, etc. the whole time, not an episode about Khadijah's dad and then the wedding one with the network trying to pass it off as an hourlong season finale) and wrap everything up properly.  Sometimes when the wedding episode airs as part of a marathon, I then just watch the first scene of season 5 with Kyle and Max, then turn it off, depending on my mood.  But LS getting more episodes was certainly better than Scott Baio getting to have a show.  🤢

[andidante]

2 hours ago, KWalkerInc said:

I saw the wedding episode yet again tonight on VH-1, and there was another annoying Viacom syndication cut (not one they have on TV One).  They come back from commercial and begin a scene with Kyle coming downstairs and greeting Max in the hallway after their previous argument.  They cut Regine telling Khadijah that she is going to pray for God to give her a man.  (Then she passes Max in the hall and tells her to put lotion on her legs before the wedding.)  But then just before the wedding starts when Desmond Howard asks her out, Regine looks skyward and says, "Thank you!  You're good, and you're fast!" even though it makes no sense when the other scene was cut.  Of course Desmond only ends up giving her his "stank autograph" anyway.

I'm kind of torn about season 5.  At the time I would have been devastated for the show to end after four seasons (especially for the aforementioned crap FOX wanted to replace it with), so I was grateful for more episodes.  There are certainly things I like about that season, but with Kyle getting dropped until the finale and Regine not being around for the last few shows, I sometimes think it would have been better to just have the fourth season finale be an hourlong episode (devoted to the wedding, etc. the whole time, not an episode about Khadijah's dad and then the wedding one with the network trying to pass it off as an hourlong season finale) and wrap everything up properly.  Sometimes when the wedding episode airs as part of a marathon, I then just watch the first scene of season 5 with Kyle and Max, then turn it off, depending on my mood.  But LS getting more episodes was certainly better than Scott Baio getting to have a show.  🤢

It always bothered me that Regine didn't get her dream wedding and that they got rid of Kyle! Those were my favorite two characters on the show.

[KWalkerInc]

LS was of course never an "Emmy darling," only scoring two nominations in its run (both for lighting direction).  So it was surprising that there were a couple of references in tonight's Emmy broadcast.  First the theme song was played as a segue while a winner and the people who had presented walked offstage.  (I was excited for a second thinking someone from the cast was going to present, as they sometimes played theme songs that were associated with a particular presenter.)  Then when they had ladies who had played famous TV lawyers present an award, the camera panned across a collage on the wall of other popular TV lawyers, and Max was included!  These things were probably the most exciting part of the broadcast for me, as I'd watched only a small percentage of the nominated shows and wasn't even familiar with some.