Girlfriends

Episodes

Broadcast history

The series debuted on UPN on Monday September 11, 2000. After airing for several years on the network at 9:00/8:00c on Mondays, The CW moved Girlfriends to Sundays at 8:00/7:00c. After this, the ratings plummeted. On October 9, 2006, Girlfriends, along with The CW's other black-aimed programs, moved back to Mondays. At this point, Girlfriends returned to its original time slot.

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 eight 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 CW had offered the actors only half of their usual episodic salary to take part, and the actors collectively turned the offer down.

Characters

Main

Joan Carol Clayton, Esq: (Tracee Ellis Ross) is considered the unofficial "den mother" of the group, as she frequently looks out for her friends, even at the expense of dealing with her own problems, which are plentiful throughout the series. Originally from Fresno, Joan owns a home in the Wilton Historic District. Joan met Toni when they were children and then met Lynn in college, and Maya is her assistant at the law firm. She has always had relationship issues and gave up her law career to pursue her dreams. She and Toni clash several times throughout the series, resulting to the end of their 23-year-old friendship. Major incidents involved Joan inadvertently revealing Toni's cheating to Greg, and Joan's jealousy of Toni's marriage to Todd, but their friendship officially ends by the end of Season 6 when Joan fails to appear for Toni's custody hearing. For much of Season 7, Joan mourned the loss of her friendship with Toni, eventually opting to resent and belittle her in front of the group. At the end of Season 7, she became engaged to Aaron Waters, whom she met while rehabilitating homes in New Orleans damaged by Hurricane Katrina; she moved into his home in West Adams while Aaron was deployed to Iraq and rented her house to Lynn.

Maya Denise Wilkes (née Wood): (Golden Brooks) is a former assistant to Joan and a housewife/author. Maya grew up in Compton and is married to her high school sweetheart, Darnell. They have one child, Jabari. Maya is the youngest and sassiest of the group, and is often at odds with Toni over her ego-driven lifestyle. She is a devoted wife and mother, and is frequently depicted with stronger religious and moral convictions. Maya is the most "working-class" member of the group, especially in earlier seasons. In the first few seasons Maya was more obviously "from the hood", with the associated stereotyped speech and mannerisms. However, as she becomes more successful in her career and interacts more extensively with the legal and publishing industries, she exhibits fewer stereotypes; while still obviously from a different social background as the rest of the group, she is no longer as caricatured. In the early seasons, Maya's marriage to Darnell imploded after she had an emotional affair with an acquaintance. Later, after she launches a career as a self-help author, they reunite. In Season 8, the couple endured a miscarriage and later explored the possibility of adopting a baby girl. Over the course of the series, Maya lived in South Central, Leimert Park, and finally bought her dream house with Darnell in Lancaster. At the end of Season 7, Maya and Darnell sell their home in Lancaster and move to West Adams.

Lynn Ann Searcy: (Persia White) was Joan and Toni's mixed-race roommate at UCLA and lived with Joan for eight years until the series begins. Lynn holds five post-graduate degrees. Born in Virginia to a black father and a bipolar white mother from a wealthy family, Lynn was adopted by a white family in Seattle (her father affectionately calls her "Noodle" due to hair texture). She did not embrace her black heritage until college. When Joan decides it is time for Lynn to move out of her home, Lynn reluctantly becomes more independent by taking on several, mostly menial jobs. She previously lived with Toni, William, Maya, and Sivad (temporarily); and shared a garage with then-boyfriend Vosco before moving into her own apartment (after becoming a property manager at the complex where Maya lived). She produces a documentary on the HIV/AIDS pandemic, focusing on African-American women. While Lynn is depicted as the most sexually adventurous one of the group (with frequent mentions of one-night stands, group sex, sex toys, and her infamous "Lynn Spin"), she also dates frequently. She is most attracted to artistic and spiritual men, and over the course of the series has relationships with a Jamaican immigrant, a poet, a pastor, and a musician named Finn (the recording artist Tricky). She was also briefly married to William. Her romantic involvement with Lenny (who was so similar to Lynn that the others labeled him as her "brother") was the catalyst for her to search for her biological father. After dating Finn, she discovers that music is her passion, and starts a band called Indigo Skye. Lynn is often considered the bohemian of the group, with her carefree nature and down-to-earth personality, and is a vegan. By Season 8, she had signed with "Dirty Girl" Records.

Recurring

Jabari Darnell Wilkes: (Seasons 1–6 played by: Tanner Scott Richards, Season 7–8 played by: Kendré Berry) is Maya and Darnell's son. He was born when Maya was 16 years old. He was depicted to be a sweet, innocent child but once he entered his teenage years he seemed to be a little more dimwitted and rebellious.

Jeanette Wood: (played by Charmin Lee) is Maya's no-nonsense mother who won't hesitate to put a switch to her adult daughter. She babysat Jabari while he was younger, and also rented out her garage for Lynn and her then-boyfriend Vosco to live in after Joan kicked her out of her house. She initially took an instant dislike to Joan's "sadiddy" behavior towards Maya's style (also labeling Joan as "classist" and "egregious" as Maya does), but eventually grew to accept her. She and Maya also clash when she decides to sell her house to move to San Bernardino with her boyfriend Earl (Harry Lennix), whom Maya doesn't like. Jeanette was seen throughout Seasons 1–7.

Veretta Childs: (played by Jenifer Lewis) is Toni's loud and outspoken mother from Fresno whose high-spirited behavior and garish outfits often embarrass Toni. She suffered from alcoholism during Toni's formative years, which put a strain on their relationship. Veretta eventually sobered up. However, she briefly relapsed during Toni and Todd's engagement party - this was partially due to her guilt over her daughters Toni and Sherri not getting along. While she and Toni often clash, she supports her daughter. Veretta appears throughout Seasons 2-6.

Ronnie: (played by Lamont Johnson) is Maya's cousin and hair stylist. In the series he helped sell her semi-biographical book. He owns two beauty salons called Situations and Situations Deux. He is last seen at the ending of season 7 as Aaron proposed to Joan.

Peaches: (played by Shawn Harrison) Ronnie's boyfriend who is a hairstylist at Situations and had a short stint as Joan's assistant and temporary confidante after Maya goes to work as William's secretary after William becomes Senior Partner. Peaches is last seen at the ending of season 7 as Aaron proposes to Joan. Peaches also made a cameo in a second-season episode of Eve.

Sherri Childs: (played by Yvette Nicole Brown) Toni's oldest sister whom she does not get along with due to Toni leaving the family due to their mother's alcoholism to go to school. They reconcile their relationship in the episode where Toni marries Todd. She, alongside Lynn, Maya and Melanie (Toni's other sister) were a part of her ceremony as her bridesmaids. She appears in two episodes in season 3.

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 dad's (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.

Soundtrack

Track listing

Erykah Badu – "Vibrate On" (4:14)

Jill Scott – "Golden" (3:52)

Angie Stone – "Wish I Didn't Miss You" (4:32)

Corinne Bailey Rae – "Put Your Records On" (3:35)

Algebra – "I Know" (3:57)

Amy Winehouse – "Stronger Than Me" (3:42)

Estelle – "All Comes Back to You" (3:22)

Chrisette Michele – "Girl Respect Yourself" (3:44)

Chaka Khan featuring Mary J. Blige – "Disrespectful" (4:46)

India.Arie – "I Am Not My Hair" (3:48)

Dre – "Soulmate" (4:22)

Persia White – "Choices" (2:47)

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.