Thirty-one years ago, Living Single, one of the most influential shows of the ’90s aired for the first time on August 22, 1993. To celebrate the sitcom’s legacy, we’re delving into how the show’s title and theme song came about.

A successful TV show is built like a machine where every little part plays a key component in making it run smoothly. One of the most overlooked aspects of most of the legendary shows we loved watching growing up were the theme songs and Living Single‘s theme song almost never came to pass.

Living Single was a sitcom created by Yvette Lee Bowser (she also created Half & Half). The show, which centered around the lives of six friends who shared personal and professional experiences while living in a Brooklyn brownstone, aired on Fox network from August 22, 1993, to January 1, 1998. The cast included Queen Latifah, Kim Coles, Erika Alexander, Kim Coles, T.C. Carson and John Henton. With such a great group of actors and a plot that was as relatable as it was funny, Living Single was bound to take off.

During an interview with The Breakfast Club in 2018, Erika Alexander, who played attorney Maxine Shaw on the show revealed that Living Single wasn’t the original name. One of the working titles that was considered early in the developmental stages of the show was Friends. Living Single and Friends were both produced by Warner Brothers but the latter was reportedly given a larger amount of financial investment.

“The original name for Living Single was My Girls, but it didn’t test well so they came up with some other names. Living Single and Friends were some of the names presented. Obviously, they chose one and the other went to another show, also produced by Warner Bros,” Alexander explained.

If you want to hear what the theme song would’ve sounded like (and see how some fans feel about it) if the show had ended up being called My Girls, check it out below.

Fans have always seemed to be split on the topic. Some rejoice that the original version was scrapped. Others note that the track was a bop to them and expressed how they could see the song working out. Then there are people who acknowledged the correlation between the almost title of the show and the women singing “My girls” at the end of the pilot episode.

the living single intro feels so new york chic…perfectly encapsulates the feeling of being young, Black, and single in a fast pace city…they made the right call

— Is my show on? (@ismyshowon) December 28, 2022

Aye but that’s a bop though https://t.co/mHcnPfmNke

— #1 Howard Dj All Time. (@DjChubbESwagg) December 28, 2022

I could see it still going tho… pic.twitter.com/CRKC0vkLNF

— KAMELA (@_melayela_) December 28, 2022

I’m so glad they made the right call and changed the intro song. I can see why they had the My girls at the end of the pilot when they were dancing in the bathroom . But again THANK GOD, they made the right choice and chose the RIGHT theme song, it totally reflects Living Single pic.twitter.com/0HOY3S9mm1

— Tola’s Tableau 😉 (@TolasTableau) December 30, 2022

Here’s the famous theme song they ended up going with.

The post ‘Living Single’ Turns 31: The Story Behind The Influential ’90s Show’s Name & Theme Song appeared first on MadameNoire.