Girlfriends

I love Girlfriends!! I hope it's around for a long time. It's good to see black women in good roles and not playing the "Shaniqua w/ blue hair & long fake nails" type. A good show for black women. A little like Sex & The City, but with a little more sassiness.

This show started out good, and has gotten better and more assured throughout its run. Comparisons to "Sex and the City" and "Living Single" are fair, but only tell half of the story. As the show has developed, it has made such comparisons necessarily reductive: "Girlfriends" combines the best of both of those predecessors and throws in other elements to make a series which is both thought-provoking and one of the most raucously funny projects on TV today. Its location in UPN's Monday night "ghetto" is both a blessing and a curse: it gives "Girlfriends" a firm foundation within the target African-American audience, but it limits the show's ability to reach out to other audiences. I wish more people would seek it out; I'm pretty sure they'd love it as much as I do. During the third season, scripts have continued to tackle serious subjects with greater and greater success, while keeping the laugh count as high as ever (much higher than 90% of comedies on the air). The performances remain strong as the characters are taken through much more than usual sitcom paces. This show actually has the nerve to tell real stories, rather than growing stale out of fear of change. The producers have managed to keep the viewers laughing while becoming the leading fictional forum for racial issues and simultaneously earning its feminist bona fides (including an A+ rating from NOW).

The sitcom is a dying art. There's hardly any narrative TV left in general, and there are way fewer quality comedies than dramas. Girlfriends deserves way more attention, and though it is good for their ratings to be herded in with the rest of the "urban" comedies on UPN, I think it's heads and shoulders above any of the other shows. In fact, and no offense to fans of other UPN fare, I think this show is surrounded on all sides by just plain awful programs - the writing on the other shows is a notch above Saved by the Bell. (maybe that's a *little* too harsh).

The dialogue and the acting on Girlfriends is sophisticated and natural at the same time. The five leads have great chemistry and timing. I think it's taken a few seasons (and the smart decision to get rid of Joan's lame voice-over fantasy bites) for the comedy to become less broad and for the characters to develop past "types", but that's always the case when you have to set up a sitcom world. Every sitcom I can think of starts out with stereotypes and builds character depth as the seasons goes on.

Even in my position as a white chick (maybe a little more attuned to African American culture than the average), I think I can say that most shows about middle-class black people are terrified of seeming "too black", they've got Cosbyitus. Girlfriends seems to be more on the inside-track.

Maybe the show isn't representative of every woman in the black community, or the black everywoman, but who says it has to? Sex in the City sure as hell wasn't representative of 30something white women in New York. We want a little escapism, and Girlfriends offers all the pretty people and the pretty houses and the pretty clothing (the BEST-DRESSED show on TV by far! Who is their stylist??), *and* the polished writing and performances.

Oh, yeah, and it's ***hella funny***.

okay. first of all let me tell you that i'm a 19-year old white female. i'm not usually into the so-called "made for african-american" tv shows and movies, with the exception of a couple...but i love this show!! up here in canada, we got a delay on the show (by a year or so), so i'm just seeing this for the first time. i didnt even know it was that old, and was disappointed that i missed so much. but i am impressed. i love the story lines, the actors, the reality with regards to the situations they get themselves into, and the way they deal with them. i have to say my fave is persia white as "lynn". she's great!!! her attitude rocks. i was a little upset to see that a lot of people didnt or dont enjoy the show, but its definitely not for everyone...all i wanted to say is that i think its great to watch if youre female, sick of having no men in your life, and you can make a night of watching it with your own "girlfriends"!!!

This show is really funny but sadly underrated. The lead actors are good though the changing supporting cast is not fantastic. I'll be very sad if this show gets cancelled because I stay up till late to watch it and its definitely worth it.

The show lasts about 20 minutes minus ad breaks and tackles some real-life issues like children, marriage, career aspirations, therapy. I wouldn't compare it to Sex and the City though that may have been how the concept for the show began.

I await its move from late night television show to prime time sitcom but doubt it will be happening too soon. All four female leads are quite beautiful...contrary to previous comments.