NBC's president said Living Single was the show he most wished he had. A year later, Friends premiered. Rello & Cunda break down the receipts.
This week on Circle The Block, hosts Rello The Saya and Cunda go digging into one of television's most debated origin stories: did Friends rip off Living Single?
The episode starts with the receipt that sets the whole conversation off. Yvette Lee Bowser's Living Single premiered on Fox on August 22, 1993 , six friends navigating life in New York City, and the first primetime network series created, run, and produced by an African-American woman. One year later, on September 22, 1994, NBC premiered Friends, six friends navigating life in New York City. And in between those two dates, NBC president Warren Littlefield publicly named Living Single as the one show on a rival network he most wished he had on his own schedule. The hosts pull up Littlefield's own words describing how Friends was developed as something that \"for some weird reason isn't on television,\" and let listeners sit with that contradiction.
From there, Rello and Cunda go character by character through both casts — Khadijah James and Monica Geller, Sinclair and Phoebe, Regine and Rachel, Maxine Shaw and Chandler, Kyle Barker and Ross, Overton and Joey — plus the family dynamics, the slow-burn romances, the college-roommate connections, and even the near-identical dancing opening credits. It's a side-by-side breakdown that gets harder to explain away with every comparison.
The conversation also digs into the business reality behind the two shows: the Friends cast's legendary 2% syndication equity deal that made Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston and Lisa Kudrow the highest-paid women in television at the time, the roughly $90 million each cast member earned in base salary, and the estimated $20 million per year in residuals they still collect decades later. Against that, Living Single's entire per-episode production budget was just over $1 million — cast, crew, cameras and all. As Rello puts it: a Ferrari engine going toe-to-toe with a Geo Prism.
Plus: why so many Black sitcoms of the '90s hit a ceiling at exactly five seasons, what Fox was really chasing while Living Single aired, and whether the powers that be ever gave the show a fair shot.
As always, the crew runs their odds, the 99th Academy Awards Best Picture race and a Harry & Meghan prop board, before Bishop Cunda delivers a verdict from the pulpit.
00:00 – Cold open: Warren Littlefield's own words
00:45 – Intro & a new twist on the welcome
02:05 – No hate, all love: setting the tone
02:48 – Missing Miss Angie
03:28 – Friends premieres September 22, 1994... sound familiar?
04:34 – The question of the day: did he rip them off?
04:41 – Circling the block on Warren Littlefield's interview about creating Friends
06:16 – The receipt: Littlefield named Living Single as the show he most wanted
08:11 – The Friends cast's legendary syndication chess move
09:30 – $90M each in base salary & $20M a year in residuals
12:19 – Odds: 99th Academy Awards Best Picture
14:43 – Yvette Lee Bowser and the creation of Living Single
15:16 – The first African-American woman to create, run & produce a primetime series
16:21 – Living Single's inspiration: her own life and friends in New York City
17:16 – Ten seasons vs. five: the ceiling for Black sitcoms in the '90s
18:40 – Fox was barely seven years old at the time
19:12 – A real David and Goliath moment
19:34 – Cast comparison begins: Khadijah James vs. Monica Geller
20:15 – Sinclair James vs. Phoebe Buffay
21:49 – Regine Hunter vs. Rachel Green
22:43 – Maxine Shaw vs. Chandler Bing
24:12 – Kyle Barker vs. Ross Geller
25:17 – Overton Wakefield Jones vs. Joey Tribbiani
26:57 – Even the opening credits: both casts dancing
28:30 – The family dynamics: Khadijah & Sinclair vs. Monica & Ross
29:35 – The slow-burn couples & the love-hate romances
31:33 – College roommates on both shows
32:17 – The engine difference: Friends' budget vs. Living Single's $1M per episode
34:40 – A Ferrari engine against a Geo Prism
34:50 – What NBC and Fox were each really chasing
35:20 – Was Fox using Living Single to fund the NFL rights chase?
36:07 – Odds: Harry & Meghan props
37:15 – Bishop Cunda's closing sermon: the verdict
39:28 – On people who've never seen Living Single
40:37 – Why putting Living Single against Friends made no sense
41:52 – Final words: did he do it?
42:27 – Outro
43:00 – Angie, get back on the court
44:00 – One more thing before we go
ABOUT CIRCLE THE BLOCK
Circle The Block is a culture and nostalgia podcast hosted by Rello The Saya and Cunda, where hip hop history, throwback pop culture, sports, and current entertainment news collide. New episodes weekly.