Half & Half

When I first starting watching this series,I thought that it was going to be another of those over the wall sitcoms where mostly the unexpected always occurs,but I dead wrong about this show in the least! First off,it is a mixture of Sister,Sister,mixed in with various point of other shows just for good measure. Here you have two girls who are half-sisters who for the first time develop a good friendship with each other,even though they come from two different families. Mona is the opposite of her sister DeeDee who is spoiled,rich and gets anything she wants while both girls have the same father(who is never around,but cheats anyway)while on the same frame have two different mothers from mixed marriages. First off,this is a great show with some heavy-hitters here for added support like actors Essence Atkins(of Sister,Sister,and The Smart Guy),Telma Hopkins(of Tony Orlando & Dawn, Gimme A Break!, and Family Matters)Obba Wutannde,and also Valerie Pettiford. I don't know about actress Rachel True,but she is a good actress,but looks like a hippie chic,part Spice Girl,and part Freddie Brooks from A Different World,and lets hope that they give her a makeover.........please????

NOTE: The series premiered in September of 2002,and to make a long story short,the network UPN cancelled it in December of 2002,a day prior to New Year's Eve due to some very low ratings. Hopefully,this series will show up somewhere along the lines on a different timeslot since it wasn't a bad series anyway.

This is the story of two half-sisters establishing a friendship for the first time in their lives. Mona, the older sister, grew up resenting DeeDee because their father had left her mother, remarried, become wealthy and raised DeeDee in a much more affluent lifestyle than Mona's. It really surprised me, watching the first few episodes then, when none of the characters turned out to be what I expected. The virtuous, hardworking Mona turned out to be judgmental and aloof, while the spoiled DeeDee was sweetly eager-to-please and savvy. The cast is excellent (both mothers are hilarious) and I like the developing friendship so far. It's not important, but I also love the opening theme. My only complaint is that the ratio of genuine laughs is fairly low; that's usually easier to fix than other potential problems.

Half & Half has definitely improved over the first season. It's a worthy show that never fails to bring out the funny. Rachel True is an excellent actress and next to Valarie Pettiford is one of my favorites on the show. I for one happen to like her 'eclectic' look. Remember the phrase...'We are not a monolith'. In other words, not every black person thinks and acts the same. If we all did that, life would be boring and I suppose some of you wouldn't have anything to b!tch about! I'm very happy it's made it to a second season. They did have a potential 'jump the shark' moment introducing a pregnancy but so far it's been handled very well.

I look forward to many more laughs from the entire cast, who clearly have great chemistry together.

Like every TV series it takes a year or two for a show to hit it's stride like Girlfriends did. I admit that in the beginning this series was a little choppy but, anytime you get to see Rachel True and Essence Atkins on TV it is a treat. I think they play Rachel a little too clownish and her Frankenstein boots every episode are too much. Hopefully this show will get another year to mature because it has a good premise, it just needs a little time to mature.

When will american sitcoms finally get decent writers or invest a little more talent into their productions? I caught this show purely by accident and thought that the set up was a good one for a comedy and liked both Rachel True and Essence Atkins in it as the two half sisters. What I didn't find as appealing is the fact there are so many opportunities for real comedy here and both girls are so available and open for it, and yet where are the writers? Constantly the laughs are not there because they're not writing them in! It is the most confounding thing and the most irritating to to watch a comedy that has the potential to go places, only to see them go nowhere. Must we wait 10 years each time for the next Cosby Show, Cheers or Friends? Are there really that few writers out there that can actually put pen to paper and make something funny come out of it? I hope for the sake of the show and the cast (who deserve better material) that the producers come to their senses and start whipping the storylines into something a little more witty.