Moesha


Moesha is an American television sitcom that aired on UPN from January 23, 1996, to May 14, 2001. The series stars R&B singer Brandy Norwood as Moesha Denise Mitchell, a high school student living with her family in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. It was originally ordered as a pilot for CBS' 1995–1996 television season but was rejected by the network. It was then picked up by UPN, which aired it as a mid-season replacement. It went on to become the biggest success for the nascent network and one of the greatest hits over the course of the network's entire run. The series was a joint production of Regan Jon Productions, Saradipity Productions, and Jump at the Sun Productions in association with Big Ticket Television for UPN.

Overview

The show focused on the life of an upper-middle class African-American family through the eyes of a typical girl named Moesha. Her father Frank, a widower and Saturn car salesman, has married Dee, the vice principal at Moesha's high school, much to Moesha's disapproval. The series was created by Ralph Farquhar, along with the writing team of Sara V. Finney and Vida Spears. The settings for the show include the Mitchell household, the teen hangout, The Den, and in some cases, Crenshaw High School where Moesha, Kim, Niecy, and Hakeem attend. The sitcom was set in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Issues addressed

The show dealt with real teen social issues such as teen pregnancy, drug use, race relations, premarital sex, the death of a parent, and day-to-day issues teenagers faced at home and school. In one of the most controversial episodes, "Secrets and Lies", the Mitchell family learned from Aunt Hattie that Frank is the biological father of Dorian, whom the Mitchells and Dorian himself believed to be Frank's nephew. The shocking news of Frank's infidelity during his first marriage turned the family upside-down and resulted in Dorian's rebellion and Moesha's relocation from her home.

Episodes

Cast and characters

Main

Opening credits

There have been four versions of the opening credits theme song.
  1. Used for Season 1
  2. Used for Season 2 & 3
  3. Used for the last three seasons
Although the same recording of the theme song was used for the last three seasons, two different openings were used for each of the first three seasons.
  1. Season 1 showed Moesha dancing in front of a fountain, walking with friends, dancing in a driving car, and playing a game of chess...winning, while waving at a guy as he walks away.
  2. Season 2 & 3 had the same scenario as the first season but had some changes. Moesha was still dancing in front of the fountain but with a bass player behind her. Instead of being with just her friends, she was shown to be playing basketball and baseball with her friends and family, driving with her friends, strutting down a block with Kim and Niecy, teaching Kim how to rollerblade, and once again having a meal at the diner served by Andell with her family and is once again distracted by a cute guy walking by while Frank is trying to cover Moesha's eyes.
  3. Season 4 showed the cast around the neighborhood and shows Moesha, Kim, and Niecy dancing at the fountain while wearing red outfits.
  4. Season 5 showed the cast in a panoramic view as Norwood lip-syncs to the theme song on a background of clouds and a rising sun.
  5. Season 6 showed the cast as Norwood lip-syncs to the theme song. The same as Season 5 but with a twist. Since Yvette Wilson left to join the cast for The Parkers and Sheryl Lee Ralph's character became a recurring cast member in the show, Norwood is shown lip-syncing over where Yvette Wilson and Sheryl Lee Ralph once were in the Season 5 opening.

    Spin-off and Brock Akil universe

Given her popularity for four seasons on Moesha, Countess Vaughn left the show in 1999 for her own show, The Parkers, which premiered on August 30, 1999 on UPN. It centered on the adventures of Kim attending community college with her mother, played by comedian Mo'Nique. Leaving Moesha, Yvette Wilson joined the cast of The Parkers as Andell Wilkerson, Nikki's childhood best friend, in 2000.
Several Moesha cast members made crossover appearances on The Parkers. Lamont Bentley, being the most frequent, appearing in three episodes.
Though not direct spin-offs of Moesha, the shows Girlfriends and The Game were created by Moesha writer Mara Brock Akil and exist in the same universe as Moesha. The character Maya Wilkes from Girlfriends lives in Leimert Park like the characters of Moesha, and appeared in an episode babysitting for her sister-in-law Barbara Lee, who happened to be Dorian's birth mother. Niecy later appeared in an episode of Girlfriends.
The Game was spun off from Girlfriends with the loose thread of main character Melanie Barnett being a cousin of Girlfriends main character Joan Clayton. Though this was never mentioned again on The Game, the Melanie and Derwin characters re-appeared in the Girlfriends Season 7 finale episode for a cameo. On Moesha, Brandy played herself as a celebrity doppelganger to Moesha, and ironically Brandy joined the cast of The Game in its fifth season as Chardonnay Pitts, further complicating the notion of the shows existing in the same universe.

Cancellation

By the sixth season, ratings for Moesha had dropped and UPN opted not to renew or air the series for a seventh season. The series ended on an unresolved cliffhanger with Myles being kidnapped by a rival of Dorian, Moesha considering moving in with Hakeem, and an unknown positive pregnancy test being found in the trash at Moesha's dorm room. Entertainment Weekly put out a rumour that certain plots were to be resolved on The Parkers, but those plans never came through, and the storylines were ultimately never resolved.

Possible revival

On November 3, 2017, the cast reunited on The Real and have expressed interest in reviving the show. "Absolutely, we need a reboot to this show, because we ended on a cliff," Norwood pointed out. "Myles was kidnapped. We don’t know who was pregnant."

Syndication

The show aired in syndication on UPN, Fox, and The WB affiliates from 2000 to 2001, then on WGN America from 2005 to 2008. It began airing on The N in 2005, but ceased in 2009.
In the UK, Moesha aired on Channel 4 from 1996 until 1998, only showing the first three seasons. It also aired on Nickelodeon from
1996 to 2000 showing the first four seasons, Paramount Channel from 2000 to 2003 and Trouble from 2003 to 2006. From 1 November 2019, the programme started airing on Trace Vault following its rebrand from The Vault.
Since 2008, The show has been airing in international syndication in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Israel, Middle East, Russia, France, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, South Africa, Latin America, Brazil, and Australia. In Spain, it ran on Disney Channel from 2005 to 2011.
As of 2013, Moesha currently airs on Up TV, BET Her, and BET until mid 2016. On Up, it is edited for content to make it more "family-friendly" and is often edited for extreme time limitations on BET and BET Her. Since October 1, 2016 Fuse began airing reruns.
Since February 18, 2019, Bounce TV began airing reruns of the show.

DVD release

On September 27, 2011, CBS Home Entertainment released Moesha: The First Season on DVD in Region 1 via Amazon.com's CreateSpace program. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand release, available exclusively through Amazon.com. It is unknown if the remaining 5 seasons will be released.

Ratings

The following table summaries the U.S. television ratings for the series:
SeasonSeason premiereSeason finaleTV seasonRankingViewers
1stJanuary 23, 1996May 21, 19961996#1413.5
2ndAugust 27, 1996May 20, 19971996-1997#1343.5
3rdAugust 26, 1997May 19, 19981997–1998#1414.0
4thOctober 6, 1998May 25, 19991998–1999#1373.3
5thAugust 23, 1999May 22, 20001999–2000#1302.4
6thSeptember 4, 2000May 14, 20012000–2001#1303.3

Awards

YearAwardCategoryRecipient
1997NAACP Image AwardsOutstanding Youth Actor/ActressBrandy Norwood
1998NAACP Image AwardsOutstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy SeriesCountess Vaughn
2000SHINE AwardsComedy EpisodeFor episode "Let's Talk About Sex"