The Moesha Universe

It is never uncommon for sitcoms to be a part of a bigger shared universe. One of the largest and most confusing TV universes is the ABC/Disney Channel Universe. Seriously, can you name all of the shows that are apparently connected and explain to me how they're connected? Please? And perhaps the most nonsensical universe is the Dan Schneider Universe, which consists of live-action shows from Schneider's Bakery and Nickelodeon in general. 

But neither of these sitcom universes are as interesting to me as what was subtly established on United Paramount Network, or UPN for short. It never would have happened without a sitcom called Moesha. Not only was Moesha the second of many Black sitcoms to premiere on UPN (thank you, CBS, for rejecting it), but it would also kick off a shared universe that, to this day, a lot of fans of the shows do not realize exists. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I present to you The Moesha Universe, also known by some as The Mara Brock Akil Universe. That is not to say that every show that screenwriter and producer Mara Brock Akil was involved in is connected. Nor is it to say that she did every show that is a part of this universe. The main shows confirmed are the UPN shows Moesha, The Parkers and Girlfriends, and the CW/BET series The Game.

The Spin-Offs

What seems to be a known fact by now is that The Parkers is a direct spin-off of Moesha, and The Game is a direct spin-off of Girlfriends. Moesha and Girlfriends are no different from a lot of other sitcoms, as they each have a very specific episode that is meant to be a backdoor pilot for a potential spin-off. 

Moesha and The Parkers

Kim Parker was one of the main characters on Moesha. She attended Crenshaw High School with her best friends Moesha Mitchell, Niecy Jackson and Hakeem Campbell. And her mother Nikki Parker was a recurring character on the fourth season. In an episode of Moesha called "It Takes Two" (Season 4 Episode 18), Kim and Hakeem attend a college fair at Santa Monica College, where Kim plans to enroll. When browsing, Kim runs into Nikki who had recently gotten her high school diploma. Nikki decides to enroll in Santa Monica College, too, much to Kim's initial embarrassment. During this episode, they meet Tyrell Radcliffe (aka T), Stevie Van Lowe and Professor Stanley Oglevee.

Kim and Nikki left Moesha after Season 4, and were joined by T, Stevie, and Professor Olgelvee on the Moesha spin-off The Parkers. T and Stevie would be recurring characters in Season 1 before joining the main cast in Season 2. Andell Wilkerson, who left Moesha after Season 5, also joined The Parkers in the main cast beginning in Season 2. Hakeem and Niecy made occasional appearances on the show as well. Niecy appeared on "Kimberlale" (Season 1 Episode 7), Hakeem appeared on "Three's a Shag" (Season 1 Episode 6) and "Road Trip" (Season 4 Episode 9), and both characters appeared on "Scary Kim" (Season 2 Episode 7). The latter episode also featured an appearance by my least favorite Moesha character... Moesha. And Moesha's father Frank Mitchell appeared in the episode "A Simple Plan" (Season 1 Episode 17).

Girlfriends and The Game

On an episode of Girlfriends aptly titled "The Game" (Season 6 Episode 18), we are immediately introduced to Joan Clayton's cousin, Melanie Barnette. She is a medical school student who decides to give up an offer of admission to John Hopkins University School of Medicine to follow the career of her boyfriend, football player Derwin Davis, much to the disappointment of Joan, as well as Melanie's parents. Throughout this episode we are introduced to sports agent Tasha Mack, her son Malik Wright (managed by Tasha), troubled married couple Kelly and Jason Pitts, their daughter Brittany and Derwin's publicist Dionne Taylor. 

All characters introduced in that episode of Girlfriends would later star on the spin-off, The Game. Melanie, Derwin, Tasha, Malik, Kelly and Jason would be the main characters, while Brittany and Dionne would be recurring characters. Melanie and Derwin briefly made a guest appearance on an episode of Girlfriends titled "It's Been Determined" (Season 7 Episode 22). Interestingly, no character from Girlfriends ever made an appearance on The Game.

How are the four shows connected together?

There have been two crossover moments between Moesha and Girlfriends, ultimately connecting all four shows.

Girlfriends and Moesha

On an episode of Girlfriends called "Old Dog" (Season 1 Episode 15), Joan and her best male "friend" William Dent are in a restaurant having a conversation. They meet the sassy Niecy from Moesha who (besides looking to be one of youngest customers) was eavesdropping on their interesting conversation, and asks for their bottles of ketchup and mustard. 

Moesha and Girlfriends

On an episode of Moesha named "That's My Mama" (Season 6 Episode 15), the newest main character Dorian Mitchell (Moesha and Myles' half brother) visits his biological mother Barbara Lee to get to know her. While doing so, he is introduced to Barbara's younger children, and her sister-in-law. The sister-in-law, in question, is Maya Wilkes from Girlfriends. This is when we find out that she is Dorian's aunt by marriage. However, Maya is not aware of this. This is because Barbara kept Dorian a secret from her family. Maya's husband Darnell and their son Jabari are automatically tied to Dorian by marriage, as well. And they were briefly mentioned on the episode.

Outside the Big Four

It would be less of a headache to just say that Moesha, The Parkers, Girlfriends and The Game are the only shows in the universe, due to the fact that some of the characters are related. But it's more complicated when you include shows that you wouldn't expect to be associated with Moesha. Yeah, that's right. The non-Moesha-Universe shows had crossovers with other shows, which had crossovers with other shows, which had crossovers with other shows, which had crossovers with other shows - two hours later - and so on. So to make my life easier, I will only focus on UPN shows that had crossover episodes with the Moesha Universe shows and vice-versa. Believe it or not, there are only two UPN shows connected with the main universe.

Moesha and Clueless

• Clueless - "Scream Again Murray, Scream Again!" Part Two (Season 3 Episode 5)
• While there were no on-screen appearances from any Moesha characters in this episode, Amber Mariens calls out Moesha's name. However, Amber says, "What? It could be a crossover episode," which could have been just a silly non-canon joke. Whether or not this means that Moesha was meant to be a show within Clueless, the reference was deliberately made to promote the upcoming horror film I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, which starred Brandy Norwood (who played Moesha on... well, Moesha lol). So take that reference as you will.
• Clueless - "Prom Misses, Prom Misses" (Season 3 Episode 20)
• Niecy and Hakeem guest star in this episode, dedicated to the week of prom. 
• Niecy is Sean Holiday's prom date, and prior to the prom, she along with Hakeem are visiting Bronson Alcott High School, so that Niecy could use the campus's high-tech photo lab for a portfolio she is working on. Judging by what's on the portfolio, I'd say it's not a school project.
• While Niecy is working on her portfolio and getting to know Sean's friend Murray Duvall, Hakeem sticks around and auditions for a chance to be a possible prom date for either Dionne Davenport or Cher Horowitz. Unfortunately, Dionne picks someone else and Cher picks no one, deciding to not go to the prom.

The Parkers and The Hughleys

• The Parkers - "Who's Your Mama?" (Season 2 Episode 15)
• Business owner Darryl Hughley from The Hughleys shows up in the opening scene of this episode. He owns all the vending machines in Santa Monica College, the main setting for The Parkers. His reason for stopping by the campus is because he needs to speak to recurring character Joe Woody about the lack of money in the vending machines. Unfortunately for Darryl, Joe can't help him due to simply not caring what goes on in the campus. But Joe quickly gets his comeuppance. 
• After seeing how Nikki gets candy from one of the vending machines (in this case: Milk Duds by mistake), Darryl eventually realizes that she has been stealing from the machines. When caught by Darryl, Nikki makes a run for it.
• The Hughleys - "Forty Acres and a Fool" (Season 3 Episode 15)
• Against his own will, Darryl's biological father comes back into his life and meets with Darryl's mother. While Darryl is spying on his parents at a restaurant with his wife Yvonne, Nikki shows up and asks Yvonne if he could borrow him for a couple of minutes to make someone jealous (probably her crush Professor Oglevee, for all we know). 
• Shockingly, Darryl and Yvonne agree to this, and it's clear that Darryl and Nikki don't recognize each other... YET. It's not until they dance very badly while trying to overhear the conversation between Darryl's parents, that he begins to smell Milk Duds on Nikki's shirt, asking "Don't I know you from somewhere?" But Nikki is so oblivious that she might have forgotten about that, as she thinks Darryl is hitting on her. When Nikki holds him too close, Darryl forces himself off of her and she says, "I don't need you anyway. I got a man." No you don't Nikki; not yet, anyway. And she walks off telling Yvonne that Darryl has "mama issues," with which Yvonne agrees.

These amazingly fascinating crossovers confirm that Clueless (the TV show, not the movie) and The Hughleys exist in the exact same universe as Moesha, The Parkers, Girlfriends and The Game. I am sincerely thankful that I kept these crossovers strictly UPN-based, otherwise I would have lost my mind. But if you want to find out about the other shows that Clueless and The Hughleys are connected with beyond the Moesha Universe, y'all can have it. I wish you all the best of luck; you're going to need it. For others that are not willing to give themselves a headache, all you need to know is that The Moesha Universe is most definitely connected to the ABC/Disney Channel Universe, mainly because Clueless and The Hughleys were originally ABC shows before moving to UPN.

And those are all of the UPN shows that exist within the Moesha Universe. 

Single Black Doppelgänger 

If you have made it this far, and have seen most if not all of these shows, you're probably asking yourself, "How can any of these shows be in the same universe, when some characters are played by the same actor?" To some people, this is an issue that makes little sense at all. But I promise you, this is nowhere near confusing, unlike Dan Schneider's obsession with f*** and having his characters exist in a world where they also exist on TV shows within said world. But both the Moesha Universe and Dan Schneider Universe share the same reason for their... choices: doppelgängers!

Doppelgängers are people who look almost or exactly identical, regardless if they are genetically related or not. I'm a doppelgänger, you're a doppelgänger and Moesha is a doppelgänger. Yes, actress Brandy Norwood has played three characters from this universe: Moesha Mitchell on Moesha, herself on the Moesha episode "Moesha Meets Brandy" (Season 4 Episode 1), and Jason Pitts' future second wife Chardonnay on The Game. Since Brandy Norwood was a main actress on Moesha and one of the main cast members on The Game, her multiple roles are the most noticeable, at least in my mind. 

But she's not the only cast member to play more than one character in the Moesha Universe. Her brother Ray J had a guest role on the first three seasons of Moesha as Charles, before returning to the sitcom full-time as Moesha's half-brother Dorian Mitchell. And Mo'nique played Nikki Parker on Moesha, The Parkers and The Hughleys, before guest starring as herself on The Game TWICE (Season 2 Episode 1, and Season 4 Episode 9).

The same thing can apply to many actors who played different minor characters throughout the Moesha Universe's run, including Gabrielle Union, Loretta Devine, J. August Richards, Ja'net DuBois and Kellie Shanygne Williams, to name a few. And yes, that includes Clueless and The Hughleys.

In Conclusion

So to summarize this blog entry, Moesha, The Parkers, Girlfriends and The Game are the main shows that all exist within the same universe. And two other UPN shows that are connected via crossovers are Clueless and The Hughleys.

What I like to know is, why did the Moesha Universe have to get all soap-opera-ish as time went on? I want to laugh, not cry!

And how come Niecy and Hakeem never had a TV show together or individually (especially while Lamont Bentley (who played Hakeem) was still alive), or joined the cast of The Parkers? Unpopular opinion: I have always favored Kim, Niecy and Hakeem over their best friend Moesha. So I may be a little biased. Pray for me, please.

All of these shows are admittedly very stand-alone that it's easy to miss crossover episodes. The most obvious stand-alone show would be The Game, despite a cameo from Maya's mother from Girlfriends (Season 4 Episode 9). Ask anyone if they knew that Maya had a brother who was married to Dorian's mother, Niecy went to the Bronson Alcott High School prom and inserted herself in an A and B conversation between Joan and William, the Santa Monica College vending machines are owned by Darryl Hughley, or Melanie is Joan's cousin. Chances are that people will say, "No," to all of these facts.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this piece on how Moesha, The Parkers, Girlfriends and The Game connect, along with Clueless and The Hughleys. I know for a lot of people, the Moesha Universe is something that they never knew existed. And that could be because UPN was nowhere near as massive as ABC, CBS or NBC, but that's another story for another day. It was fun watching the shows again after so many years, especially Clueless as that show NEVER airs in the United States anymore (both Clueless and Moesha were two of many acquired shows to air on TeenNick, back when the network was called The N). 

Feel free to trivia your friends with this cheat sheet, and I'll catch you guys later.

Also: JUSTICE FOR NIECY AND HAKEEM!