The sexual tension of Queen Latifah and Kim Fields on Living Single

I'm rewatching the series on Hulu and, aside from aging beautifully (Maxine is one of my favorite sitcom characters of all time), it's a lot clearer to me the weirdly palpable tension between Latifah and Tootie. Even more obvious in the latter seasons.

3i thought Kim Fields was married?

John Henton (Overton) caused me lots of sexual tension.

They were the Jo and Blair

Was this the black Friends? Well I never in all my life thought it could be like this.

Latifah is living in the glass closet.

I was read Kim Fields book, and she admits to professional jealous of Queen Latifah during the run of the series. Kim writes after "Facts" she had to fight to even get an audition, as she was typecast

(note: she only got "Living Single" because the creator/Executive Producer was a Facts of Life fan and insisted on Fields being cast. So it was a lucky break on Kim's part)

So here is Kim, struggling to even get an audition for work during the summer hiatus. And here is Queen Latifah, with a stack of scripts in her trailer, sifting through which audition she should go to and which role she should accept.

Tootie wasn't in the last episodes because she couldn't take the tension.

Kim and John Henton dated for a while.

This wasn't the black Friends. Friends was the white Living Single. Latifah said that Warren Littlefield saw the success of the show among the urban market and wanted a similar show for NBC. NBC got the acclaim.

Loved that show, especially Max. That had a couple of Facts of Life/Eastland jokes by Regine that were cute. I also love how Kim’s real mother gets cast as her mother a lot of times.

I really loved this show at the time. I tried to watch it recently, but Synclair and Overton make me so sick to my stomach I had to turn it off. Both of them were so borderline slow (especially Synclair) that I actually feared for their safety.

Didn't get Kim get a special "and kim fields as" in this series. I'm sure its hard for trained actresses to put up with hollywood's obsession with hiphop stars.

Latifah doesn't participate in any of the reunion shows, which is a shame.

Rosie O'Donnell stunk up the show with her hammy acting.

I don't think it's sexual tension that you see between them OP

As R10 & others have laid out, they were rivals at best.

Queen L. was known to be into women at the time & Kim Fields (& her celeb momma) are religious right wackos.

She has muted herself with TFOL being on Logo (as has Lisa W.) but there is/was a poetry reading on YT where she slammed "alternative lifestyles" (meaning LGBTs). She has also done interviews & even hosted the 700 Club during a special week to focus on young people (which also had gay rights "danger alerts" news stories) so that should tell you what she thinks of us.

I'll see if the poetry stunt is still on there right quick & post it for ya.

Here it is. She also curses in it (God doesn't like that & therefore it's a sin). Hypocrite.

Her swipe at us is at 2:13 where she also slams political correctness.

I remember her doing a longer rant so there might be another video of her doing this type of thing.

This one seems new to me.

This was published this summer, FYI.

Thought some of y'all might want this as a reference.

U N I T why are you licking my pussy?

When Kim Fields was on The Real Housewives of Atlanta, the show featured her husband and, I think, their children. Kim was really boring, making a big deal about not wanting to be away from her children during one of the RHOA trips. She brought a book (to read) for one of their "parties" that took place on a boat. She also had a boring idea for a party where the ladies were supposed to attend without makeup. During one episode, another one of the "Housewives" (Kenya, I think) said something about Kim's husband being gay. I'm not sure whether this is true or not.

Kim was better than RHOA. If she was able to collect a paycheck and save the acting for a real gig, then good on her.

Thank you for the poster above who clarified that Friends was the white version of this, not the other way around. Max and Kyle were very funny and their banter had me laughing more than anything on Friends. Ooh Monica is OCD. So hilarious.

FRIENDS actually stole its premise from THESE FRIENDS OF MINE (aka ELLEN). The latter even made jokes about it during its second season.

I'd rather watch Martin.

Living Single was stupid.... and Max is the one that came off as a lesbian.

I never bought that she was a lawyer. She came off as a truck driver.

Friends was a copy of a British show that was very successful. They retooled it much like they did with The Office, for American sensibilities. Living Single, I enjoyed very much, Friends, not at all, and probably never even watched a full episode! Overton and Synclair were great--& worked well to contrast the other characters. Really great show, and produced by Kelsey Grammer!

Fascinated by the economics of projects like these. What happens when a moderately successful sitcom ends? You hope the actors banked enough of there performance fees to keep them going until another project comes along. I wonder how many end up coaching other actors and things like that. I would hate to have had my biggest success in my twenties. That must be so hard.

That wasn't sexual tension - it was about who was gonna be first in the craft services line during breaks.

I can't believe Living Single only had 5 seasons, it was syndicated so much after it went off the air it seems like it had more seasons than that.

r30 there was an episode where Max's roommate from college (played by Karen Malina White also from the Cosby Show) confessed that she was in love with Max. That was probably the first time I saw gay storyline on TV involving black people.

I was also had a crush on Ivan played by Bumper Robinson. He was so cute and very funny.

The episode with Jennifer Lewis was probably my favorite

I was just watching this show this morning and I thought I was the only one who noticed that, OP. Queen has lesbionic chemistry with any woman she appears on screen with.

“Kim writes after "Facts" she had to fight to even get an audition “

Hollywood is not known for its level playing Fields, Kim.

Trust me, I can plow some Fields.

R30 I have watched several episodes lately, and agree Max has a certain lesbian air about her. I daresay more so than Queen Latifah.

Here are the opening credits for "Living Single." First credit: "Starring Queen Latifah." Final credit: "and Kim Fields Freeman as 'Regine.'"

Never noticed sexual tension between Latifah & Fields. This was Kim Fields' best role.

"Living Single" first aired in 1993 (Fox); "Friends" in 1994 (NBC).

I had limited access to TV in that era. But I would say "Living Single" was better than "Friends."

"Living Single" came first & "Living Single" was better. Therefore, "Friends" is the white "Living Single." ("Living Single" was not the black "Friends.")

Kim really was boring and sanctimonious on Real Housewives of Atlanta. There was a poolside scene where two or three of the women were talking about Kim's husband allegedly being gay (Kim was not in the scene).

I wonder why this show didn't sell abroad. "Fresh Prince" obviously did. Even shows like "Hangin' With Mr Cooper" did. Strange.

Agree Max pinged to high heaven.

Living Single was tv gold and very successful but Friends ripped it off and got the clout. This is very well known. Maxine is iconic.

Erika Alexander pinged too.

As someone who liked Friends, I'll say Living Single was better. For one thing, it didn't last one million years. Why do all american sitcoms need to last 10 years or more?

At least they pulled the plug on that. The first decade or so of [italic]The Simpsons[/italic] blows every other TV show in history out of the water, but what came after that is a disgrace. And it is only going to get worse with Disney in the mix now.

old thing in dat nasty blonde wig, skin all bleached...nasty omg

It was funny that when Kim Fields had to pay off a tax lien and ended up doing that season of RHOA, with her terrible hair, those softer-side-of-Sears outfits and her basically alternating between being volubly scandalized or blubbering the entire time she filmed, she was giving me big Mrs.Garrett energy.

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