Girlfriends | |
---|---|
Genre |
Sitcom Comedy drama |
Created by | Mara Brock Akil |
Starring | |
Opening theme | "Girlfriends" performed by Angie Stone |
Ending theme | "Girlfriends" (instrumental) |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 8 |
No. of episodes | 172 ( list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producers |
|
Producers |
|
Camera setup | Multi-camera |
Running time | 22 minutes |
Production companies |
|
Original release | |
Network | UPN |
Release | September 11, 2000 May 8, 2006 | –
Network | The CW |
Release | October 1, 2006 February 11, 2008 | –
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.
Season | Episodes | Originally aired | Rank | Average viewership (in millions) | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
First aired | Last aired | Network | |||||
1 | 22 | September 11, 2000 | May 14, 2001 | UPN | No. 136 | 4.0[ citation needed] | |
2 | 22 | September 10, 2001 | May 20, 2002 | No. 129 | 4.2 [1] | ||
3 | 25 | September 23, 2002 | May 19, 2003 | No. 133 | 4.0[ citation needed] | ||
4 | 24 | September 15, 2003 | May 24, 2004 | No. 128 | 3.6 [2] | ||
5 | 22 | September 20, 2004 | May 23, 2005 | No. 129 | 3.4 [3] | ||
6 | 22 | September 19, 2005 | May 8, 2006 | No. 135 | 3.4 [4] | ||
7 | 22 | October 1, 2006 | May 7, 2007 | The CW | No. 138 | 2.5 [5] | |
8 | 13 | October 1, 2007 | February 11, 2008 | No. 150 | 2.1 [6] |
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. [7]
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. [8] 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. [9]
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. [10]
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 [13] |
BET Comedy Award | Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series | Tracee Ellis Ross (nominated) [13] | |
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 |
"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. [14] 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. [14] 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. [15] [16] The reboot has also garnered favorable and positive reviews from media outlets. [17] [18]
DVD Name | Release Date | No. | Additional Features |
---|---|---|---|
The First Season | February 27, 2007 | 22 |
|
The Second Season | October 9, 2007 | 22 |
|
The Third Season | February 12, 2008 | 25 |
|
The Fourth Season | July 29, 2008 | 24 |
|
The Fifth Season | October 28, 2008 | 22 |
|
The Sixth Season | February 24, 2009 | 22 |
|
The Seventh Season | October 13, 2009 | 22 |
Mara Brock Akil Comments on:
|
The Eighth and Final Season | January 19, 2010 | 13 |
|
Girlfriends: The Soundtrack | |
---|---|
Soundtrack album by Various artists | |
Released | May 26, 2008 |
Genre | R&B |
Length | 48:09 |
Label | Koch Records |
Producer | Larry Robinson |
The series is available to stream on The CW's free digital-only network, CW Seed. [19] The entire series began streaming on Netflix on September 11, 2020 to commemorate the show's 20th anniversary. [20]
Girlfriends (2000). Joan Clayton—North 700 Block (historic Wilton District) in Los Angeles.
Girlfriends | |
---|---|
Genre |
Sitcom Comedy drama |
Created by | Mara Brock Akil |
Starring | |
Opening theme | "Girlfriends" performed by Angie Stone |
Ending theme | "Girlfriends" (instrumental) |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 8 |
No. of episodes | 172 ( list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producers |
|
Producers |
|
Camera setup | Multi-camera |
Running time | 22 minutes |
Production companies |
|
Original release | |
Network | UPN |
Release | September 11, 2000 May 8, 2006 | –
Network | The CW |
Release | October 1, 2006 February 11, 2008 | –
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.
Season | Episodes | Originally aired | Rank | Average viewership (in millions) | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
First aired | Last aired | Network | |||||
1 | 22 | September 11, 2000 | May 14, 2001 | UPN | No. 136 | 4.0[ citation needed] | |
2 | 22 | September 10, 2001 | May 20, 2002 | No. 129 | 4.2 [1] | ||
3 | 25 | September 23, 2002 | May 19, 2003 | No. 133 | 4.0[ citation needed] | ||
4 | 24 | September 15, 2003 | May 24, 2004 | No. 128 | 3.6 [2] | ||
5 | 22 | September 20, 2004 | May 23, 2005 | No. 129 | 3.4 [3] | ||
6 | 22 | September 19, 2005 | May 8, 2006 | No. 135 | 3.4 [4] | ||
7 | 22 | October 1, 2006 | May 7, 2007 | The CW | No. 138 | 2.5 [5] | |
8 | 13 | October 1, 2007 | February 11, 2008 | No. 150 | 2.1 [6] |
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. [7]
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. [8] 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. [9]
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. [10]
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 [13] |
BET Comedy Award | Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series | Tracee Ellis Ross (nominated) [13] | |
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 |
"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. [14] 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. [14] 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. [15] [16] The reboot has also garnered favorable and positive reviews from media outlets. [17] [18]
DVD Name | Release Date | No. | Additional Features |
---|---|---|---|
The First Season | February 27, 2007 | 22 |
|
The Second Season | October 9, 2007 | 22 |
|
The Third Season | February 12, 2008 | 25 |
|
The Fourth Season | July 29, 2008 | 24 |
|
The Fifth Season | October 28, 2008 | 22 |
|
The Sixth Season | February 24, 2009 | 22 |
|
The Seventh Season | October 13, 2009 | 22 |
Mara Brock Akil Comments on:
|
The Eighth and Final Season | January 19, 2010 | 13 |
|
Girlfriends: The Soundtrack | |
---|---|
Soundtrack album by Various artists | |
Released | May 26, 2008 |
Genre | R&B |
Length | 48:09 |
Label | Koch Records |
Producer | Larry Robinson |
The series is available to stream on The CW's free digital-only network, CW Seed. [19] The entire series began streaming on Netflix on September 11, 2020 to commemorate the show's 20th anniversary. [20]
Girlfriends (2000). Joan Clayton—North 700 Block (historic Wilton District) in Los Angeles.