Girlfriends

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).

I cannot say enough good things about this show.

It is so funny, but so realistic at the same time. Not since Living Single has there been a show that captures the life of the Black middle class as well Girlfriends.

Some say this show is stereotypical, but to build likeable characters, sometimes you have to start with a framework everyone easily can understand. The story arc has taken these basic stereotypes and built full characters that diehard viewers have come to really love. We really did care when William quit his job at the firm, as we did when Joan was stuck trying to decide between her actor boyfriend and his agent.

Anyone open-minded person who appreciated Frasier would love this show.

I only hope that it a) enjoys a much longer life with the same or better quality of writing and b) old episodes are made available on DVD.

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.

Many of you are taking this show way too critically. Yes some of the characters on this show are stereotypical but it is an excellent show. It is funny and all of this happens in everyday life with both women and men and now that it is being reflected on TV this becomes an issue? Every single woman of color and maybe women in general can identify with each of these characters on one day or another. I would rather see professional women on TV that make me laugh than other shows where women are sleeping with each others man and disrespecting each other all the time, and I am not being stereotypical but that is television. Joan is an excellent character and though she is anal about everything she means well and so do all of the other women. I think everyone should watch it at least once.

This show is, in my opinion, a very funny well written well acted program. I find it to be sophisticated and not your typical "urban" comedy. The chemistry between the four actresses is wonderful and believable. I must admit that there is a familiar feeling to the format of the show but, so what there are many sitcoms that are "like" other sitcoms that doesn't necessarily mean they are bad. Girlfriends brings a fresh approach to a old format. I like the fact that all the characters are in different places in their lives and that they are different in their approach to life, I find most of the story lines to be very truthful and realistic. This show is worth your time!