TMC
02-24-2018, 08:02 PM
Here’s the link to anyone who can’t read in full in the thread (https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/fascinating-interview-with-erika-alexander-details-on-her-life-and-her-career.1456448/).
https://www.google.com/amp/s/themuse.jezebel.com/erika-alexander-on-the-legend-of-maxine-shaw-living-si-1823198303/amp
Erika Alexander has one of those signature laughs. It’s really more of a cackle. Over the phone, her effusiveness travels, just as her character Maxine Shaw’s did through five seasons of Living Single, the prototypical ’90s sitcom about four black women in Brooklyn. At one point a cultural force—the highest-rated television show among black audiences—the series has had a recent resurgence via streaming on Hulu, where its stories have aged gracefully.
Alexander has since reappeared on shows like Queen Sugar and Bosch, and memorably, a bit role in Get Out. She also makes a living as a writer. Five years ago, she wrote a spec scriptfor Mad Men and posted it on her blog, where she explained, in a post titled “Why I Wrote a Mad Men Episode With Negroes”: “I was born in the mountains of Arizona, but as a writer I don’t have a hard time imagining black and white on Madison Avenue.” Most recently, she wrote a sci-fi graphic novel titled Concrete Park. And on February 28, the first issue of her Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic book spinoff Giles, will be released as part of a four-issue miniseries, co-written with Buffy creator Joss Whedon.
In an interview earlier this week, she and I talked about her foray into comics. We praised Black Panther and went deep into the legend of Maxine and Living Single (and how T.C. Carson, as Kyle Barker, was like the Dean Martin to her Jerry Lewis). She also got passionate about her work as a surrogate for Hillary Clinton, being non-religious, and Brooklyn gentrification. Our lightly edited conversation below.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/themuse.jezebel.com/erika-alexander-on-the-legend-of-maxine-shaw-living-si-1823198303/amp
Erika Alexander has one of those signature laughs. It’s really more of a cackle. Over the phone, her effusiveness travels, just as her character Maxine Shaw’s did through five seasons of Living Single, the prototypical ’90s sitcom about four black women in Brooklyn. At one point a cultural force—the highest-rated television show among black audiences—the series has had a recent resurgence via streaming on Hulu, where its stories have aged gracefully.
Alexander has since reappeared on shows like Queen Sugar and Bosch, and memorably, a bit role in Get Out. She also makes a living as a writer. Five years ago, she wrote a spec scriptfor Mad Men and posted it on her blog, where she explained, in a post titled “Why I Wrote a Mad Men Episode With Negroes”: “I was born in the mountains of Arizona, but as a writer I don’t have a hard time imagining black and white on Madison Avenue.” Most recently, she wrote a sci-fi graphic novel titled Concrete Park. And on February 28, the first issue of her Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic book spinoff Giles, will be released as part of a four-issue miniseries, co-written with Buffy creator Joss Whedon.
In an interview earlier this week, she and I talked about her foray into comics. We praised Black Panther and went deep into the legend of Maxine and Living Single (and how T.C. Carson, as Kyle Barker, was like the Dean Martin to her Jerry Lewis). She also got passionate about her work as a surrogate for Hillary Clinton, being non-religious, and Brooklyn gentrification. Our lightly edited conversation below.