Bibliographic Information:
Creator: Mara Brock Akil
Network: The CW; UPN
Theme song: Girlfriends
First Episode Release date: September 11th 2000
Summary: The show follows the ups and downs of five friends: Joan Clayton played by Tracee Ellis Ross, Maya Wilkes played by Golden Brooks, Lynn Searcy played by Persia White, Toni Childs played by Jill Marie Jones, and William Dent played by Reginald C. Hayes. Joan is a successful lawyer, quirky and funny in personality, but often unlucky in love. William, Joan’s coworker and guy best friend, often tries to bring both comedy and reason into the mix. Toni Childs is a spoiled and narcissistic yet successful real estate agent who is “never going back to Fresno”. Lynn is a free spirit modern day hippie who never commits to anything; has a lot of degrees but never uses them. She is constantly bumming off the rest of the girlfriends, but never gets kicked out of the group. Maya, the sassy and smart mouthed receptionist of Joan, is a single mother who goes on to become a best-selling author. The show follows this group as friendships are tested, there are laughs, cries, happiness, and sadness. These girlfriends and William will be there through thick and thin ready to tackle the unpredictable circumstances of life together.
Critical Evaluation: This was my favorite show which came out when I was eleven. I didn’t really start getting into the show until I was eighteen. The characters are so relatable and well developed. My favorite was Joan who seemed to have it all: a great career, house, group of friends, but was unlucky in love. I loved how no character “had it all” Each character was struggling with issues that they needed to fix within themselves ;however, there weren’t any negative stereotypes associated with them such as having a whole bunch of kids, only wanting a man, being ghetto, uneducated. I loved how this was an actual accurate portrayal of working class African American women, who were classy, witty, smart, funny, and interesting. It was just very refreshing to see a group of African American women on TV doing something positive.
Reader’s annotation: N/a
Creator Information: Mara Brock Akil was raised in Kansas City Missouri ;however, Los Angles is her home. She began her writing career on the FOX show “South Central”. Her career expanded as she began writing for UPN writing for the series “Moesha” for four seasons. Mara won the 1999 Sexual Health in entertainment award for her Moesha episode about birth control.
She created her very first show “Girlfriends”. Girlfriends was a very successful show, and it even won the 2002 and 2003 NAACP Image awards nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series. Her inspiration for the various storylines actually came from her own group of friends. Mara was included in the “Top 25 Hottest Women in Urban entertainment.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0015327/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm
Genre: TV Sitcom
Curriculum Ties: N/a
Book Talk Ideas: N/a
Interest age: 13 and up
Challenge & Defense Preparation:
Challenge Issues: Mature Content; Sexual Content;
Reviews: http://www.tv.com/shows/girlfriends/reviews/
Mara Brock Akil interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo33jLUl1vM
Common Sense Media Review: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/girlfriends
Why Included: I absolutely loved this show. It gave me something to aspire to in terms of dreaming bigger and pursuing a career. I felt as if, if these women can be successful and do well in life then so could I. I would hope other teenage girls could look at this show and feel the same way. There is more to life than having a pretty face, long hair, and showing your body in hopes of attracting a man (which is the stereotype for women that society deems as acceptable). The show is proof of this.
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