Nollywood finds new ways to lack imagination every single day. Who really needed a black version of Steel Magnolias? Talk of a modern-day White Men Can’t Jump is something nobody asked for. And when folks start touching cult favorites like The Craft you have to wonder if filmmakers have gone mad.
Last year’s reboots of Fuller House followed by Gilmore Girls were both sad examples of the television reboot gone wrong. Sometimes leaving well enough alone is the better option. But if we had to suffer through the remakes of those classic shows to see what they’d offer, I’m here for a Living Single remake — only if Queen Latifah is involved. On the January 12th episode of Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live she revealed that talk was happening for a Living Single revival. In Hollywood-speak that means nothing is official, it may never happen, people are just throwing around ideas. It’s exciting nonetheless.
“Funny you should ask,” Latifah said when asked about the 90s classic show. “We’re actually working on it. It’s not there yet, but hopefully we can get it happening.”
Living Single (1993) was the blueprint for shows like Sex and the City and Girlfriends that followed years later. Four women in their 20s (or 30s?) living in a brownstone in Brooklyn pursuing various careers had a many of black millenials moving to Brooklyn to chase their dreams. It was funny, smart and ahead of its time in showing black women’s diversity.
Queen Latifah starred as Khadijah James who founded the fictional magazine Flavor. Erika Alexander played Maxine Shaw, the feisty yet brilliant attorney. Kim Fields played the maneater Regine Hunter. Kim Coles was the aloof and quirky Sinclaire James. A lawyer, a writer, a sexually liberated woman — if that doesn’t sound like a SATC blueprint I don’t know what is. Black women always the originators.
I won’t put too much stock in a reboot because of how disastrously they’ve gone before. Classics are classics for a reason, and don’t always need to be remade for a new generation. The ladies would be in their 40s now, obviously not still roommates. Not sure if I’m interested in seeing what they’re up to these days as super successful women, possibly with husbands and kids. Then again, it’s an intriguing thought.
Maybe that’s why remakes are so popular. The nostalgia makes you tingle even if you know it’s likely going to be a catastrophic mess. If Queen is involved I’ll give it chance. But I’d also settle for having the whole series on Netflix.
