Girlfriends (American TV series)

Girlfriends
GenreSitcom
Comedy drama
Created byMara Brock Akil
Starring
Opening theme"Girlfriends" performed by Angie Stone
Ending theme"Girlfriends" (instrumental)
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons8
No. of episodes172 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
Producers
  • Kevin Marburger
  • Mary Fukuto-Salzman
  • Michele Marburger
Camera setupMulti-camera
Running time22 minutes
Production companies
Original release
NetworkUPN
ReleaseSeptember 11, 2000 (2000-09-11) –
May 8, 2006 (2006-05-08)
NetworkThe CW
ReleaseOctober 1, 2006 (2006-10-01) –
February 11, 2008 (2008-02-11)
Related
Moesha
The Game

Girlfriends is an American sitcom television series created by Mara Brock Akil that premiered on September 11, 2000, on UPN and aired on UPN's successor network, The CW, before being canceled in 2008. The final episode aired on February 11, 2008.

Episodes

SeasonEpisodesOriginally airedRankAverage viewership
(in millions)
First airedLast airedNetwork
122September 11, 2000 (2000-09-11)May 14, 2001 (2001-05-14)UPNNo. 1364.0
222September 10, 2001 (2001-09-10)May 20, 2002 (2002-05-20)No. 1294.2
325September 23, 2002 (2002-09-23)May 19, 2003 (2003-05-19)No. 1334.0
424September 15, 2003 (2003-09-15)May 24, 2004 (2004-05-24)No. 1283.6
522September 20, 2004 (2004-09-20)May 23, 2005 (2005-05-23)No. 1293.4
622September 19, 2005 (2005-09-19)May 8, 2006 (2006-05-08)No. 1353.4
722October 1, 2006 (2006-10-01)May 7, 2007 (2007-05-07)The CWNo. 1382.5
813October 1, 2007 (2007-10-01)February 11, 2008 (2008-02-11)No. 1502.1

Broadcast history

The series debuted on UPN on Monday September 11, 2000. After airing for several years on the network at 9/8C on Mondays, The CW moved Girlfriends to Sundays at 8/7C. After this, the ratings plummeted. On October 9, 2006, Girlfriends, along with The CW's other African-American programs, moved back to Mondays. At this point, Girlfriends returned to its original time slot.

While UPN was still airing new episodes of Girlfriends, the network also began airing reruns five days per week. When the show moved to The CW network after UPN merged with The WB network, MyNetwork TV (which was created to take over UPN's former affiliate stations) picked up the rights to air reruns of Girlfriends, although they eventually discontinued running them. WE tv, a network primarily focused on women's programming, later acquired exclusive rights to air the limited-release episodes on Sundays and exercised an option to not allow broadcast television networks re-broadcast rights to these reruns.

Due to the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, the last episodes produced aired on February 11, 2008. The CW had announced plans to move the series to Sunday nights. However, it was later announced on February 13, 2008 that the series was cancelled after 8 seasons and a proper series finale would not be produced. A representative from The CW stated that the network was going to cancel the series due to low ratings and that it would have been too expensive to re-enter production.

A retrospective episode was in development to conclude the series but was later scrapped. The network had offered the actors only half of their usual episodic salary to take part, and the actors collectively turned the offer down.

Characters

Main

Recurring

Guest appearances

Awards and nominations

The cast of Girlfriends honoring the show creator with her 2013 Essence "Visionary" award. Left to right: Mara Brock Akil, Persia White, Golden Brooks, Tracee Ellis Ross, Jill Marie Jones.
Year Award Category Recipient
2005 BET Comedy Award Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series Mara Brock Akil, Mark Alton Brown, Veronica Chambers, Tim Edwards, Karin Gist, Dee LaDuke, Regina Y. Hicks, Kevin Marburger, Michele Marburger, Prentice Penny, and Shauna Robinson
BET Comedy Award Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Tracee Ellis Ross (nominated)
2005 NAACP Image Awards Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Reginald C. Hayes
2006
2007 Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Reginald C. Hayes
Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series Tracee Ellis Ross
2009 Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series Tracee Ellis Ross

Spin-off

"The Game", a 2006 episode of Girlfriends, features guest star Tia Mowry as Joan's cousin Melanie Barnett, an aspiring medical student who wants to give up her future to follow her professional athlete boyfriend to San Diego. That episode was the launching pad for The Game, a spin-off series, which was canceled by The CW television network. In April 2010, BET announced that it would pick up the series, which aired new episodes until the August 5, 2015 series finale. When the fourth season of The Game premiered in 2011 it received 7.7 million viewers, which at the time of its airing, made the show the most watched sitcom premiere in cable television history. In November 2021, a revival spin-off of the series was picked up and released to Paramount+, serving as a direct sequel from the original series and was promoted as a refreshed series (rebooted and marketed as season 1) while also subsequently continuing the overall total seasons (chronicled as season 10). The new inception continues where it left off from the 2015 finale a few years later switching gears set in the new location of Las Vegas with the new protagonists of reprised characters, chronicling Tasha Mack and her struggles of being a woman of color sports agent; while her son Malik Wright learns to make important decisions in his sports career while quietly battling mental health issues and Brittany Pitts who is navigating her adult life taking on serious financial hardships and responsibilities becoming independent away from her Pro-Football dads' (Jason Pitts) image and inheritance. The revived series also introduces new characters to the storyline. The reboot has also garnered favorable and positive reviews from media outlets.

Home media

DVD Name Release Date No. Additional Features
The First Season February 27, 2007 22
  • N/A
The Second Season October 9, 2007 22
  • We All Fall Down: A Closer Look at "Trick or Truth?"
  • Creating the Show
  • Getting the Girls Together
  • Episode Guide
The Third Season February 12, 2008 25
  • It's What You Wear That Counts
  • Here Comes the Bride: An Invitation Inside "The Wedding"
The Fourth Season July 29, 2008 24
  • N/A
The Fifth Season October 28, 2008 22
  • N/A
The Sixth Season February 24, 2009 22
The Seventh Season October 13, 2009 22 Mara Brock Akil Comments on:
  • I Want My Baby Back
  • Hot For Preacher
  • Time To Man Up
  • Willie Or Won't He III: This Time It's Personal
  • What Had Happened Was...
The Eighth and Final Season January 19, 2010 13
  • Bonus Episode from The Game: "Away Game"

Soundtrack

Girlfriends: The Soundtrack
Soundtrack album by Various artists
ReleasedMay 26, 2008
GenreR&B
Length48:09
LabelKoch Records
ProducerLarry Robinson

Track listing

  1. Erykah Badu – "Vibrate On" (4:14)
  2. Jill Scott – "Golden" (3:52)
  3. Angie Stone – "Wish I Didn't Miss You" (4:32)
  4. Corinne Bailey Rae – "Put Your Records On" (3:35)
  5. Algebra – "I Know" (3:57)
  6. Amy Winehouse – "Stronger Than Me" (3:42)
  7. Estelle – "All Comes Back to You" (3:22)
  8. Chrisette Michele – "Girl Respect Yourself" (3:44)
  9. Chaka Khan featuring Mary J. Blige – "Disrespectful" (4:46)
  10. India.Arie – "I Am Not My Hair" (3:48)
  11. Dre – "Soulmate" (4:22)
  12. Persia White – "Choices" (2:47)
  13. Lira – "Feel Good" (5:15)

Streaming

The series is available to stream on The CW's free digital-only network, CW Seed. The entire series began streaming on Netflix on September 11, 2020 to commemorate the show's 20th anniversary.

References

  1. ^ "How did your favorite show rate?". USA Today. May 28, 2002.
  2. ^ "I.T.R.S. Ranking Report". ABC Television Network. June 2, 2004. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007.
  3. ^ "2004-05 primetime series wrap". The Hollywood Reporter. May 27, 2005. Archived from the original on April 23, 2008.
  4. ^ "2005-06 primetime series wrap". The Hollywood Reporter. May 26, 2006. Archived from the original on October 29, 2007.
  5. ^ "2006-07 primetime wrap". The Hollywood Reporter. May 25, 2007. Archived from the original on January 29, 2010.
  6. ^ "2007-2008 TV season". ABC Medianet. February 10, 2008. Archived from the original on May 2, 2008.
  7. ^ Braxton, Greg (September 30, 2006). "'Girlfriends' feels left out of the clique". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 27, 2009.
  8. ^ "The CW Network Announces Midseason Schedule". CW Blog. January 7, 2008. Archived from the original on January 12, 2008. Retrieved March 27, 2009.
  9. ^ "Girlfriends: Cancelled, Proper Series Finale Too Expensive". TV Series Finale. February 14, 2008. Archived from the original on October 7, 2008. Retrieved March 29, 2009.
  10. ^ "Girlfriends: Will the CW Series Finale Retrospective Happen?". TV Series Finale. April 30, 2008. Archived from the original on December 2, 2008. Retrieved March 27, 2009.
  11. ^ Terrace, Vincent (October 15, 2018). Television Series of the 2000s: Essential Facts and Quirky Details. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9781538103807. Girlfriends (2000). Joan Clayton—North 700 Block (historic Wilton District) in Los Angeles.
  12. ^ Stated in the episode Willie or Won't He II: The Last Chapter?
  13. ^ a b "BET Comedy Awards (List of Award Winners and Nominees)".
  14. ^ a b Yahr, Emily (July 28, 2015). "'The Game' is over and everybody won: How BET's comedy helped make history". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved December 31, 2020.
  15. ^ "'The Game': Watch the First Teaser for Paramount Plus' Revival Series". Entertainment Tonight. October 5, 2021. Retrieved January 10, 2022 – via etonline.com.
  16. ^ Rosario, Alexandra Del (August 31, 2021). "'The Game' Showrunner Devon Greggory Says Dramedy Needed "An Opportunity To Reboot Itself"; Paramount+ Sets Premiere Date – TCA". Deadline. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
  17. ^ "Stream It Or Skip It: 'The Game' On Paramount+, A Vegas-Based Continuation Of The Hit BET Football Dramedy". Decider. November 11, 2021. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
  18. ^ Yvonne, Stacey (November 10, 2021). "'The Game' Is Bigger and Better Than Ever". Black Girl Nerds. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
  19. ^ "Girlfriends on CW Seed". CW Seed. Retrieved May 10, 2024.
  20. ^ "Girlfriends | Netflix". Netflix. Retrieved September 21, 2020.

General sources

External links

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