Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: Erika Alexander & Kim Coles On 'ReLiving Single' Podcast, 'Living Color,' ‘Friends,' TC Carson +More

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INTERVIEW: Erika Alexander & Kim Coles On 'ReLiving Single' Podcast, 'Living Color,' ‘Friends,' TC Carson +More · The Breakfast Club

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Wake that ass up in the morning.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: The Breakfast Club.
• 0:04
  Speaker 3: Yes, it's the world's most dangerous morning show to Breakfast Club.
• 0:07
  Speaker 3: Charlamagnea God, just hilarious. DJ Nvy is out, but Lauren
• 0:10
  Speaker 3: Lerosa is in and we have some super super special guests. Man,
• 0:13
  Speaker 3: some legends are in the building, Erica Alexander and Kim Caley.
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: They have launched the Reliving Single podcast. New episodes come
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: out every Wednesday, starting on May seventh on YouTube.
• 0:29
  Speaker 4: Absolutely.
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: What inspired the creation of the Reliving Single podcast?
• 0:34
  Speaker 5: You start, well, you know, looking at my Gucci, it's
• 0:37
  Speaker 5: about that time.
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: Why not.
• 0:39
  Speaker 5: It's been thirty years, actually thirty years two years ago.
• 0:42
  Speaker 5: Actually it's thirty two years that we had the anniversary
• 0:47
  Speaker 5: of our show. The problem was it was during the
• 0:50
  Speaker 5: strike and no one was allowed to say anything about
• 0:54
  Speaker 5: anything that was on a studio and or network type
• 0:57
  Speaker 5: of thing. So then nothing happened. And for a very
• 1:00
  Speaker 5: long time I was asked about reboot and I always said,
• 1:03
  Speaker 5: I always said yeah, I said.
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: Consistently because I didn't want to go.
• 1:09
  Speaker 5: I'm very identified with that character Maxie Shaw, attorney at law,
• 1:12
  Speaker 5: and I love her. But perhaps, and I always say
• 1:15
  Speaker 5: this very honestly, if I had a big film career
• 1:17
  Speaker 5: or something that would offset it that would be nice.
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: So it wasn't just a matter of me saying no.
• 1:21
  Speaker 5: I would be stepping into something that I didn't think
• 1:23
  Speaker 5: I could shake as easily as you know other people.
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: And so this.
• 1:29
  Speaker 5: Opportunity came and was approached by Eric Eddings at a heartbeat,
• 1:34
  Speaker 5: and he said, do you want to do this? I said, now,
• 1:36
  Speaker 5: not really, I don't want to do it. But he
• 1:37
  Speaker 5: kept asking, and I thought, well, makes the thirtieth anniversary.
• 1:40
  Speaker 5: People really love it, they're doing things.
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: All the time. Why not?
• 1:43
  Speaker 5: And it's an opportunity because of you. Charlemagne learned very
• 1:47
  Speaker 5: well with Color Farm, and you've given us opportunities with
• 1:49
  Speaker 5: Finding Tamika and also with Kevin with Sorry, with the reprecations,
• 1:54
  Speaker 5: the big payback that you can go deep in podcasts
• 1:58
  Speaker 5: where you can't do that even in documentary, and with
• 2:01
  Speaker 5: the episode after episode we'd be able to talk. And
• 2:03
  Speaker 5: then they approached Kim and I.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: Said, yes, I'm waiting. I actually think that you know
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: this is this is shallow. I know, I think we
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: all still look good. Let's do the reboot while we listen.
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: Everybody's busy and everybody has their own other thing that
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: they're doing, and so this was an easy way to
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: give the fans and the friends of the show a
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: taste of what they want. For sure, everyone will come
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: on the show, and I can't I don't know if
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: I can give away that someone has already come and
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: taped an episode. Smooches death can And so it's a
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: chance to go deep. Like you said, we're going to
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: talk about the behind the scenes and the things. And
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: actually we've known each other for that long. Revelations have
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: come out, like things have come out like I didn't
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: know that about you, Erica.
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: I didn't know that about this that was going on.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: Behind the scenes.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: And so the audience will be let in on something
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: very powerful that could not even happen on a reboot.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: So you're welcome.
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: So many white shows do it, scrubs, I can't remember that.
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: Brothers Donald and and this is.
• 2:57
  Speaker 5: Us, Yes, this is us, the Office, the first rewatch shows.
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, yeah, we.
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: Are probably hosted by the actual cast members that I
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: can think of. I could be wrong, but I can
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: think of I feel so.
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: So it feels like the right time and we're having
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: a good time doing it.
• 3:12
  Speaker 6: Have you guys ever thought about if you did do
• 3:14
  Speaker 6: a reboot where the character's lives would be, now, Like,
• 3:16
  Speaker 6: what would the storylines be?
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: I have and I don't know if I'm right, you know,
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: like you know, there there was talk on the on
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: Living Single that Sinclair and Overton would have twins and
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: their names would be sin Cloverton and Overclaire. We have
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: twins grown up there, you know, loving so all the things, all.
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: The things that Maxine would be governor, yeah, you know,
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: probably ruling like she has always been.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 3:45
  Speaker 5: Obviously she has to be tied up with TC's Kyle
• 3:48
  Speaker 5: Barker and they had a child on Half and Half.
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: I don't know if that child still exists. I don't know.
• 3:55
  Speaker 5: I mean, you know that's a good question. She might
• 3:57
  Speaker 5: be in a in a bar somewhere. I mean, it's sorry,
• 3:59
  Speaker 5: in the Mexican jail somewhere, doing her damage. You know,
• 4:02
  Speaker 5: maybe she was burnt out by life.
• 4:04
  Speaker 4: Who knows.
• 4:04
  Speaker 5: I mean, you go that fast pace, you don't always win,
• 4:07
  Speaker 5: and a lot of lawyers burn out.
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: That could be so good because I mean, even even Cadi,
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: what she would have to make changes, There's no such
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: thing as the printage.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: She would be a medium mogul supposed But here that's
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: the other thing too. I remember, you know, the fans
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: always say, where's a reboot? Reboot, and one time I
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: saw somebody say, no, I don't want to see where
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: they've gone, because in my mind they live in a
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: perfect space and a perfect place. And so anything that
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: we do, there will be somebody who disagrees with it.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: Well, why is she in a jail?
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: Why is she you know, whatever it is like, there
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: will be no it lives in a perfect space where
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: it is right now.
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: So maybe let it be definitely a jail storyline.
• 4:43
  Speaker 5: We wouldn't want that situation, you know what I'm saying,
• 4:49
  Speaker 5: meaning she was having too much fun? I mean why
• 4:52
  Speaker 5: you know, you're saying something very real or in fact
• 4:54
  Speaker 5: meets fiction. That's where we are coming and talking about
• 4:57
  Speaker 5: something that's very fact. You know, Maxine Yaw is a
• 5:00
  Speaker 5: fictional character. Eric Alexander's a fact. Eric Alexander in thirty
• 5:04
  Speaker 5: years of living has changed, you know, and we had
• 5:06
  Speaker 5: good days, bad days, We have you know, ups and downs,
• 5:10
  Speaker 5: and so I'm hoping those characters would have the same
• 5:12
  Speaker 5: things that we had.
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: What moments on set of living single helped shape who
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: you all are off camera, not just as actresses with
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: his women that had to navigate fame and friendship and
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: career pressure.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: M what moments shaped who?
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: What moments helped shape who you are off cam?
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: I think we got along really well, very quickly. I
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: felt the energy from the first table read, and so
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: there was an energy and a respect and a friendship
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: and a sisterhood and a brotherhood that developed so quickly
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: that that permeated everything else that we did. Like we
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: would go and hang out together. Karica and TC have
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: the same exact birthday the same day. John Hinton's birthday
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: is two weeks later, so we would go out and like,
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: what do y'all want to do for your birthday?
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: Salsa dancing, Let's go.
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: So we became family really quickly, and so I think
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: that that helped infuse the energy on the set and
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: in our characters.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: We really were friends, and we really are still friends.
• 6:08
  Speaker 5: But then we're also you know, movers and shakers. If
• 6:11
  Speaker 5: you're twenty three years old and I'm faking like I'm
• 6:14
  Speaker 5: a lawyer, I have a high school degree, and I
• 6:17
  Speaker 5: think it made me want to level up. I mean,
• 6:21
  Speaker 5: in my reading and how I, you know, approach life.
• 6:24
  Speaker 5: I mean, she was a killer, she was a real winner.
• 6:27
  Speaker 5: So I'd like to say that that shaped me a lot.
• 6:29
  Speaker 5: I think it was already there, but I really liked
• 6:31
  Speaker 5: how she was. She had integrity. I don't know that's
• 6:35
  Speaker 5: a really good question.
• 6:37
  Speaker 4: He really is.
• 6:38
  Speaker 5: But I think that a lot of things that have
• 6:40
  Speaker 5: happened after the show have been very, very consistent with
• 6:45
  Speaker 5: what our characters might have done. Well.
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: I try to think about that question and unpacking on
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: the reliving single.
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: Okay, we don't think about it. That question smitted this question.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: You are the fans and the friends of the show
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: can sending their questions.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: And so we call it true blue. Did it blue?
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so we will make sure that one so you
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: heard it here first, and then we'll unpack it further.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: He's giving us.
• 7:12
  Speaker 6: Homework, Erica or miss Alexander. What do you want me
• 7:18
  Speaker 6: to call your Okay, Erica the great Eric.
• 7:22
  Speaker 7: Got you the great period.
• 7:24
  Speaker 6: I was reading this article on msn and MSNBC's website
• 7:28
  Speaker 6: and the writer was talking about how you're she discovered
• 7:32
  Speaker 6: she was late. She had discovered living single for the
• 7:33
  Speaker 6: first time a year ago, and like deep dived and
• 7:36
  Speaker 6: like went and read conversations around it, and she was
• 7:38
  Speaker 6: trying to figure out why you.
• 7:39
  Speaker 7: Didn't want it, Emmy for your performance.
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: Oh that's good.
• 7:42
  Speaker 6: And I when I read it, I'm like, first of all,
• 7:44
  Speaker 6: late to the party, but welcome. But I thought about it,
• 7:47
  Speaker 6: and I was like, I mean, like, what's that feeling
• 7:50
  Speaker 6: like for you? Because yeah, like you said, you were
• 7:53
  Speaker 6: how old portraying the character twenty three portraying we would
• 7:58
  Speaker 6: have never known you sold it. You did it like
• 8:00
  Speaker 6: the storylines that y'all dive into, you know what I mean? Like,
• 8:02
  Speaker 6: did you ever feel like there were things that should
• 8:04
  Speaker 6: have happened.
• 8:04
  Speaker 7: For you in that role?
• 8:06
  Speaker 5: For many people, I'm unfortunately in a club that no
• 8:11
  Speaker 5: one wants to belong to. And especially if you think that,
• 8:14
  Speaker 5: and you know, I'll take the compliment, say thank you
• 8:17
  Speaker 5: very much. But I was right alongside people like Cely
• 8:19
  Speaker 5: Tyson and all these other people would never want anything
• 8:23
  Speaker 5: for the work that they had done. And Cecily Tyson
• 8:26
  Speaker 5: has since gotten an oscar and she got it before
• 8:29
  Speaker 5: she passed, and those types of things. But no, I
• 8:32
  Speaker 5: think blackness, racism, all the disparities and equities were there,
• 8:38
  Speaker 5: especially in the what is the early nineties, And I
• 8:41
  Speaker 5: say the blacker, the berry, the sweet of the juice,
• 8:44
  Speaker 5: the tighter the noose.
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: They don't let you go for so far. And that's real.
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: So it's tough.
• 8:49
  Speaker 5: That's real, and so I'm very gratified, but it's nothing
• 8:54
  Speaker 5: you can do about it. There's people like Abbott, Elementary
• 8:57
  Speaker 5: and all the other people, and they've come and doing
• 8:59
  Speaker 5: very well. But you know, being a dark skin actress
• 9:02
  Speaker 5: and also being funny and maybe not being the ideal
• 9:05
  Speaker 5: of what they thought funny. Girls looked like they know
• 9:08
  Speaker 5: what to do with me. And I got offered nothing
• 9:10
  Speaker 5: after I finished that show.
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: Absolutely nothing.
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: No, as long as I'm alive, I will never understand
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: that because I feel like we grew up as far
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: as TV is concerned. In the peak, you know, black excellence,
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: experience of television. Cosby Show was the number one show
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: in the country. Different World was the number two show
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: in the country. What more to black people have in
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: proof when.
• 9:32
  Speaker 5: They got that Felicier for Shad never nominated for Felicia
• 9:36
  Speaker 5: Rashad eight years? I mean, yeah, there's no explanation except for,
• 9:43
  Speaker 5: you know, the gender and race disparities that have plagued
• 9:46
  Speaker 5: America for all this time, and it's not unique among
• 9:49
  Speaker 5: you know, just political people, creatives always y'all dealing with
• 9:52
  Speaker 5: it now, y'all in the So that's what that's that's
• 9:55
  Speaker 5: our race, Harriet Tubman did hers, that's ours.
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: How they work on all livings. Change change a change
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: your view of black sisterhood? And did it shift the
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: way you approached friendships in you your real life?
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: Not for me, because I have incredible female relationships, incredible
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: if at my high school we just celebrated our forty
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: fifth anniversary last week, I couldn't come because I was
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: headed here.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: For y'all, and so I've already had next week. You
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: got me here now.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: I'll see all tighten it up, so I'm real cute
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: by then. But the point is I always had really
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: good friendships and and and actually it felt normal to
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: me to be around women that I respected. Were all different,
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: but I respected and loved and so I had that
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: and I had that strength. So it just felt like
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: that felt like home. I don't know if that's the
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: right answer. What was the questions.
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: You're talking about the family?
• 10:58
  Speaker 5: Sorry for the women friendships, you know, I was an
• 11:00
  Speaker 5: all girls high school Philadelphia High School for Girls got
• 11:03
  Speaker 5: to give a shout out.
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: And I wasn't good with girlfriends.
• 11:09
  Speaker 5: I always loved boys. I always love men. I'm a
• 11:11
  Speaker 5: guys girl, I always have. I grew up in Arizona.
• 11:15
  Speaker 5: I'm a tomboy. I always thought of men way no, no, no, no,
• 11:17
  Speaker 5: It's not that.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: It wasn't that I'm used to having good girlfriends.
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: I understand.
• 11:22
  Speaker 5: But for all that I went to an all girls
• 11:23
  Speaker 5: high school, I didn't necessarily think that I practiced much
• 11:26
  Speaker 5: because that was my preference. It kind of still is.
• 11:29
  Speaker 5: I just think that there was a lot of freedom
• 11:31
  Speaker 5: I thought that men had. They took me, took me
• 11:34
  Speaker 5: for I don't say one of the guys, but once
• 11:36
  Speaker 5: you show you could stand up with them, I got
• 11:39
  Speaker 5: a lot of truth about who I was next to them,
• 11:42
  Speaker 5: and I thought sometime I was pulling my punches with women,
• 11:45
  Speaker 5: like oh, don't say that, you're gonna make her feel
• 11:46
  Speaker 5: like I'd have time for that. Yes, I completely resonate
• 11:50
  Speaker 5: with you. That's how I grew up the same way.
• 11:52
  Speaker 5: I had maybe what three homegirls, but I had like
• 11:56
  Speaker 5: ten eleven.
• 11:57
  Speaker 7: I always went where the guys went.
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: I'm hanging on the court.
• 12:00
  Speaker 5: That's how I became so quick on my feet with
• 12:02
  Speaker 5: being exactly having jokes, throwing them back, the throwing them
• 12:05
  Speaker 5: at me. I didn't feel guys didn't get offended when
• 12:08
  Speaker 5: I'm joking with them. You know, girls they a little
• 12:10
  Speaker 5: bit more, you know, and I'm saying, they like, I'm
• 12:12
  Speaker 5: not one. No, it was like, you know, kind of
• 12:18
  Speaker 5: you know, you like protected in that space too. I
• 12:20
  Speaker 5: feel very protected and respected. They do respect that, you like,
• 12:24
  Speaker 5: Oh yeah, that's how girl. You know.
• 12:26
  Speaker 7: So I've been like that as well.
• 12:27
  Speaker 5: What I wanted to ask was, do either of you
• 12:30
  Speaker 5: think that Friends the show Friends truly owe some of
• 12:33
  Speaker 5: its success to the groundwork laid by Living Single.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: One hundred thousand percent. One hundred thousand percent.
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: Moving on next question, and I always you know, this
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: is a little fact that most people don't know, is
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: that the president of the network of their network, NBC
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: at the time, had been asked if there was any
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: show that you wish you could have purchased for this,
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: you know, upcoming season season. He said, I wish I
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: bought Living Single, and then a year later there was Friends,
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: and so it absolutely tracks and yeah, a great show,
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: and wish them all well but it absolutely was influenced.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: We influenced them.
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: And it was also tough because you know, we were
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: both Warner Brothers production. We were on this little ranch lot,
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: you know, off to the side, and they.
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: Were on the big lot.
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: We have a cafeteria and you have little try you know,
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: bicycles to get from hither hither and then and and
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: the salary.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: Was huge, very different.
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: What the access they had to marketing, the access they
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: had to all the money and all the things was
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: very different than.
• 13:35
  Speaker 5: What we Yeah, we had craft service table run by
• 13:37
  Speaker 5: this old, beautiful, old white dude named Pops and he's
• 13:41
  Speaker 5: putting things out like rich crackers and pickled eggs.
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: We're like, we're gonna fart all day. But it did
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: get better. We had to ask for that though, and
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: had to.
• 13:55
  Speaker 5: I had just come from The Cosby Show, the biggest
• 13:57
  Speaker 5: show in the world. I wasn't expecting it to have
• 13:59
  Speaker 5: that kind of you know, leverage. But you did know
• 14:02
  Speaker 5: when you thought you were being treated less than. And
• 14:05
  Speaker 5: they didn't have to because, like a lot of productions,
• 14:09
  Speaker 5: if you put very little into black people, we give
• 14:12
  Speaker 5: you more. Black show Biz gives you more. And when
• 14:15
  Speaker 5: they see that the investments not necessarily there, and that's
• 14:18
  Speaker 5: what you really miss out on.
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: The Living Single. Even did it get pitched the NBC
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: because it would make so much sense, Like you said,
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: you were on the Cosby Show. The success of the
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: Kybee showing different world NBC should have stood for nothing
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: but colors after that's what success.
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: And that's not what didn't happen.
• 14:34
  Speaker 5: Actually, the good thing about it, if you if you watch,
• 14:36
  Speaker 5: if you listen to the show and watch it, Kim
• 14:39
  Speaker 5: has the origin story.
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: Kim is the origin story.
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: The show was created around Queen Latifa and me. A
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: lot of people don't know that. They called me into
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: immediate Warner Brothers and we want to do a show
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: and a lot of people don't know this either.
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: The idea for the show. The impetus was, you remember
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: the movie Jungle Fever.
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: There's a scene that they called the War Council and
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: its a group of women sitting around talking about men
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: and relationships and you know what they're dealing with. And
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: they said to me, and I'm assuming they said to
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: Latifa two in a separate meeting, we want to do
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: a show.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: That's about this.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: And I said, if the show is about bashing men.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: I'm not interested and not that that scene in Jungle
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: Fever was only about bashing men, but they were handling
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: a particular topic and they were like, oh, okay, because
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: I love men, and so if we can talk about
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: the relationships and you know, the growth and you know,
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: being driven and what do you want? I was like,
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: I'm in. And they were having the same meetings with Latifa.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: The two of us will put together and then we
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: together agreed that that Lee Bowsership be the one to
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: create the show. So to be there at the beginning
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: and to be involved in creating Sinclair and involved in
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: knowing what the relationships were going to be to start with,
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: and then to hear it and watch it unfold was exciting. Yeah,
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: they'll say the best and and you know, privilege And.
• 15:52
  Speaker 5: We got to give her props because both she and
• 15:55
  Speaker 5: Latifa asked for a black show runner. There are very
• 15:58
  Speaker 5: few black in especially in Hollywood. The writers, let alone
• 16:01
  Speaker 5: the showrunner. Vet Lee Bowser happened to be on different
• 16:03
  Speaker 5: world doing her things. She was on hanging with mister Cooper.
• 16:06
  Speaker 5: She had the background, but they weren't necessarily going to
• 16:08
  Speaker 5: just give that to her.
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: So you guys.
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: Asking and somebody female.
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: That was a yeah, that was like a yeah.
• 16:15
  Speaker 7: They just they just gave into that because during that time, I.
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: Think and if you you know, you get two people
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: that you've created a deal around and we both go, yeah,
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: she's the one.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: They go, okay, well let's give her a shot.
• 16:27
  Speaker 6: Wow.
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: And also that we both were at the same agency,
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: so our agency helped and and and Evett was also
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: at the same agency.
• 16:34
  Speaker 5: It's called a Hollywood package. And so was Kim Fields
• 16:37
  Speaker 5: in that agency, and so was John Hinton. The only
• 16:40
  Speaker 5: two people not in that agency were me in TC.
• 16:43
  Speaker 6: So did you guys talk because a lot of times
• 16:45
  Speaker 6: now on TV, people are like, we sha conversations behind
• 16:48
  Speaker 6: the scenes, rally together and then go to the forefront
• 16:50
  Speaker 6: and act for We went, did y'all did you wan
• 16:51
  Speaker 6: queen and t for y'all?
• 16:52
  Speaker 7: Agents get to do that?
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: We did?
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: We did so that list and us we each met
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: with her separately and we both together said, oh, she's
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: the one, let's go with her. And then you know,
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: the agents do their do their movements.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: You know that that we.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: Do know about and that we don't know about. But yeah,
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: there was like, for example, the name of the show
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: was not originally Living Single. It was My girls and
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: I tell a story on the podcast of we were
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: like they wanted to change the name to Living Single,
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: and we thought it was horrible.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: Who says that? Nobody talks that way? Yeah, what's up,
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: I'm Living Single.
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: It's like, so I have a memory, and I don't know,
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: Dana would have to correct me. If we got into a.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: Little golf cart and went from the plantation lot where.
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: Over to the big lot and got invited into the
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: office of the president of the network, like, you know,
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: president of production company right like.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: We would like to protest.
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: And I was like, all right, well, thank you very
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: much forgiving you and I think, thank you for your
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: feedback right now. And it's like, oh, that's a terrible name.
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: Now it's the best name. What else would the show
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: be called?
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: Basic?
• 18:10
  Speaker 6: Right now?
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: We got back on the golf cart the ll.
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: You know, I can't wait to hear the episode with
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: TC costs And because he's spoken about, you know, being
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: fired from Living Single after you know, uh, for their treatment,
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: for that treatment compared to Friends, So how did the
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: cast is a whole field When he got fired, there
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: was grief, a lot of grief, anybody fight for him.
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: Well, then we all fought for him, but it was
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: done before. Here's what the timing of it is. He
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: was let go just before the you know they call
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: the announcements for the shows, the upfront. We all come
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: to New York. There's a big announcement. You were on
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: stage with Fox and all the other Fox shows. I
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: didn't find out until in the hotel room, you know,
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: the day before. Oh, by the way, TC won't be there.
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: He's been let go. So it's like, so we're talking
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: to Evette, We're talking to people and going what's going on?
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: And it was my understanding is that it was already done,
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: so you fight for him. But if if I don't
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: know what else I could have done, if the decision
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: had already been made, I wanted not.
• 19:09
  Speaker 4: To come to work.
• 19:10
  Speaker 5: I wanted to it was I thought that once we
• 19:14
  Speaker 5: got on set that we would talk about it and
• 19:16
  Speaker 5: maybe just say we're not gonna work.
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: That's like hardcore. But it didn't go down that way.
• 19:21
  Speaker 5: And in fact, two years before I tried to leave
• 19:24
  Speaker 5: myself and got threatened to be sued. So I already
• 19:28
  Speaker 5: stepped up and I knew where I could go.
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: I was like, I wasn't Lord. See, I don't want
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: to start. I wasn't. I wasn't happy.
• 19:43
  Speaker 5: And the thing was, I didn't think that I was
• 19:45
  Speaker 5: being used well and it's it's a longer story than that,
• 19:49
  Speaker 5: and I don't want to It needs more context for
• 19:52
  Speaker 5: Vetley Bowser's saying, because Vettie Bowser had a lot to
• 19:55
  Speaker 5: do with six different characters, and there were lots of
• 19:57
  Speaker 5: things going on. But also I want to say something
• 20:00
  Speaker 5: that emotionally, a month before I got that show, originally
• 20:05
  Speaker 5: the pilot, my father had passed.
• 20:07
  Speaker 4: I had had a lot of things that I deal
• 20:09
  Speaker 4: with mentally.
• 20:11
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and we didn't know that Erica, I never talked
• 20:15
  Speaker 5: about that mess.
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: But the whole.
• 20:17
  Speaker 7: Time you were there, you never talked about your father passed.
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: A No, because I don't complain. I don't talk. I
• 20:21
  Speaker 4: do my work. Like you can.
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: Knew that her father passed away at some point because
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: we talked, but I don't think I knew that that
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: had happened a month before. And to know that this
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: is one of the revelations that happened on this podcast,
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: it's like therapy.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: You're welcome. I didn't know.
• 20:35
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and No, but there was a lot of things
• 20:37
  Speaker 5: going on that you know you want to you think
• 20:38
  Speaker 5: you want to talk about differently, maybe with your character.
• 20:42
  Speaker 5: And maybe the reception wasn't where I thought it was.
• 20:46
  Speaker 5: But I just said I gotta go because I'm like
• 20:48
  Speaker 5: i'd been in theater and been doing other things, and
• 20:50
  Speaker 5: I said, I can go back to New York. I
• 20:52
  Speaker 5: don't need this. And it didn't work out the way
• 20:55
  Speaker 5: I got. I got threatened to be sued and all that.
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: There's another reason you probably didn't tell everybody what you
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: was actually dealing with, because they'll do stuff like that,
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: I will.
• 21:05
  Speaker 4: Sue you exactly.
• 21:06
  Speaker 5: And I didn't have the most powerful agent. I didn't
• 21:10
  Speaker 5: have that. I'd always gone on sets alone, you know,
• 21:13
  Speaker 5: so I was there alone, and that just trying to
• 21:16
  Speaker 5: think it through. And I thought, at the very least
• 21:18
  Speaker 5: I could just go back to what I was doing now,
• 21:21
  Speaker 5: back to TC, because that's what I think that he
• 21:23
  Speaker 5: didn't have. That we didn't have the armor, and.
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: We also were darker.
• 21:28
  Speaker 5: And I have to say, there's something to that feeling
• 21:31
  Speaker 5: like you're unprotected, and when you get back and there
• 21:35
  Speaker 5: is no plan and you don't necessarily you know, friends
• 21:37
  Speaker 5: had gotten together and they all got together to talk
• 21:39
  Speaker 5: about their salary. They stopped going in and they got
• 21:42
  Speaker 5: their salaries corrected tremendously.
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: It wasn't that feeling.
• 21:46
  Speaker 5: Although we were all rebels and very supportive in our
• 21:49
  Speaker 5: own way, I don't think we knew what to do.
• 21:51
  Speaker 5: And it hurts my heart because TC deserved more support
• 21:55
  Speaker 5: and there was nothing I could do. And I even said, look,
• 21:58
  Speaker 5: fire me one who would like to to go, and
• 22:02
  Speaker 5: it wasn't. It wasn't something that could happen, and it
• 22:06
  Speaker 5: was wrong to do. It was wrong to do.
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: That was he mad at y'all because he spoke up
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: for the treatment that you know, the unfair treatment of
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: y'all's receiving. And you would think that would be a
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: collective thing, like you know, none of y'all got my back.
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: So if this is happening behind the scenes, and if
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: you don't know, okay, we know that we were.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: Getting not getting the right treatment.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: If his if the decision to you, it's not like
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: we were brought into the meeting by the way, we're
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: gonna let TC go.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: It's not I didn't know that.
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: Latifa didn't know that. We didn't know that in advance.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: I didn't it was unexpected. And you wait until we
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: arrive in New York to go by the way, TC
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: won't be there because of this. Dana and I get
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: on the phone and go, what the hell's going on?
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: We get on the phone with Evet, and Evet it
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: is like, that's it, that's it. I didn't know there
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: was something else that I could do in order to
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: bring him back. If it's been if you're being told
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: that it's done, that's it.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: Deal with it, and we don't.
• 22:58
  Speaker 7: Go to work.
• 22:59
  Speaker 4: That's because we were young. Of course, there's something we
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: could have done.
• 23:01
  Speaker 5: If we all ban together and said we're not going in,
• 23:04
  Speaker 5: we could have made something happen. He could have called
• 23:06
  Speaker 5: the INAACP. We could have done these things. But these
• 23:08
  Speaker 5: are things that we didn't think about. You know, you
• 23:10
  Speaker 5: didn't know how much leverage you'd have after that. I'm
• 23:13
  Speaker 5: telling you that I know, I thought. I know, I
• 23:16
  Speaker 5: sat down with Evet. I know I had these conversations,
• 23:19
  Speaker 5: and I don't think he knew that. And it took years,
• 23:21
  Speaker 5: and we had a conversation where he said, why didn't
• 23:23
  Speaker 5: y'all stick up for me?
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: I said, that's not true, that's not true, that's not true.
• 23:27
  Speaker 5: At all, And I hate that you went all these
• 23:28
  Speaker 5: years thinking that didn't happen. But it's also his story
• 23:32
  Speaker 5: to tell, and there's some parts and pieces that he
• 23:35
  Speaker 5: thinks win a certain way, and there's certainly I feel
• 23:39
  Speaker 5: very much my outspokenness might have put him in a
• 23:43
  Speaker 5: position too. He thinks his outspokenness, But I was very outspoken.
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: I was writing letters to.
• 23:47
  Speaker 5: The network and doing coups and walking out, you know,
• 23:50
  Speaker 5: And I don't think that that was necessarily always taken
• 23:53
  Speaker 5: well by people who want to control you, and they
• 23:57
  Speaker 5: broke apart to people and him.
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: And it's also there's another story to tell, you know,
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: there's our story, there's history, and then there's the story
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: on their side. Maybe this is a conversation that you know.
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: I don't know if he Vet has ever talked about
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: it publicly. I don't know if Warner Brothers ever would
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: or if theyre ever cared to so so I feel.
• 24:14
  Speaker 4: Like all those people are gone now from Warner Brothers
• 24:16
  Speaker 4: that we.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: Knew, but we we're bearing the burden of why didn't
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: we do something different and not not getting a chance
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: to get another view from what was what was happening.
• 24:25
  Speaker 5: They were saying it was a money issue. It's not
• 24:27
  Speaker 5: a money issue. That's what that's paid enough for it
• 24:29
  Speaker 5: to be a money issue. Wasn't a budgetary issue. Wasn't
• 24:31
  Speaker 5: because we bought on a new cast member and we
• 24:33
  Speaker 5: bought on they Dallas, and so that's not true.
• 24:36
  Speaker 4: I don't know what's true. All I know is that
• 24:38
  Speaker 4: he was gone. It was right.
• 24:39
  Speaker 5: And let's go on record to say he's a magnificent actor,
• 24:43
  Speaker 5: always on time, always knew his lines. It did not
• 24:45
  Speaker 5: make sense, and there you're living in a world that
• 24:48
  Speaker 5: doesn't always make sense and certainly is.
• 24:50
  Speaker 7: Not fair on the pack.
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: If I had Instagram, would you have gone live and
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: just aired out the whole cast and.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: We had nothing back?
• 24:57
  Speaker 6: Then?
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: We had nothing back? Of course we would have.
• 24:59
  Speaker 4: I would have. I'm telling you what I did that.
• 25:02
  Speaker 4: I did that great, yes, you know.
• 25:13
  Speaker 5: And I didn't think that my badge was gonna work
• 25:15
  Speaker 5: the next day because I came in and I came
• 25:21
  Speaker 5: in here speaking of everybody. Anybody speak back, and I knew, I, uh.
• 25:25
  Speaker 4: Huh, whatever, No, you know. You you said give me because.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: I was so mad, like what happened on me?
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: And you called me whack. It was a lot going
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: on it's growing.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: It's not a conversation you could have had privately with
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: them to fix with me.
• 25:44
  Speaker 4: Conversation before after that. So yeah, I wasn't wrong.
• 25:48
  Speaker 5: It was wrong the way I did it.
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: Did the negotiation work for you? That period?
• 25:58
  Speaker 7: Family?
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: The family?
• 26:00
  Speaker 7: We are here and we are family.
• 26:02
  Speaker 4: Family. Yeah, this conflict.
• 26:04
  Speaker 5: You don't go through this life with everything personal collaboration,
• 26:06
  Speaker 5: conflict and you know, confusion.
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: Yeah, leads the confession. We got that period conversion. They
• 26:14
  Speaker 4: gotta go do, Sherry.
• 26:19
  Speaker 6: I know you're gonna answer this, but I hope you're
• 26:22
  Speaker 6: gonna get into the beauty center and the weight los
• 26:24
  Speaker 6: stuff that Queena Tiava talks about that they threw on you.
• 26:26
  Speaker 7: Guys. Make sure you're getting in the podcast. Please. I
• 26:28
  Speaker 7: would love to hear the.
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: Conception and they said they're gonna have me on there.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: Absolutely please, she.
• 26:34
  Speaker 7: Said have me to or she's gonna go back live again.
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: You're welcome, Thank you.
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: That would be our the legends, Erica, Alexander and Kim Coles.
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: Make sure you check out the Reliving Single podcast, new
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: episodes every Wednesday starting this Wednesday, May seventh, on YouTube.
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: And Yes, I am going to talk to Erica about
• 26:50
  Speaker 3: getting the audio on the black effect. Goddammit.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you have to protest to.
• 26:59
  Speaker 4: The club.
• 27:02
  Speaker 7: Wake that answer up in the morning.
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: The Breakfast Club MHM.