The Single Guy

The Single Guy is an American sitcom television series that ran for two seasons on NBC, from September 21, 1995, to April 14, 1997. It starred Jonathan Silverman as struggling New York City writer Jonathan Eliot and followed several of his close friends (some of whom came and left as the show was re-tooled between seasons). The series also starred Joey Slotnick as Eliot's best friend Sam Sloan, Ming-Na Wen as Sam's wife Trudy and Ernest Borgnine as doorman Manny, throughout its entire run. The Single Guy was created by Brad Hall.

While the series was favored enough by NBC to earn a timeslot in its coveted "Must-See-TV" Thursday night line-up, it ultimately failed to generate enthusiasm with critics and viewers. It was largely written-off as a clone of the network's other "singles in the city" sitcoms that emerged in the mid-1990s, following the success of Seinfeld and Friends. The Single Guy emulated many of the same traits and tropes of those series, from the neurotic best friend who occasionally does reprehensible things, to its main character's rotating cast of flawed girlfriends. Jonathan and friends would also regularly hang out at a local coffee shop, The Bagel Cafe, which was seen by some viewers as too similar to Friends, of which David Schwimmer guest starred as his character Ross Geller.

Although the series earned high ratings, consistently attaining 4th or 5th place in the Nielsen ratings, NBC was disappointed in the show's critical failure. For its second season, the series underwent retooling. As a result, cast members Jessica Hecht and Mark Moses were let go and replaced with Olivia d'Abo and Shawn Michael Howard. Dan Cortese and Jensen Daggett were also cast in heavily recurring roles. The retooling did not work, forcing NBC to pull the series and move it to a different night in the Spring of 1997. No longer airing in between Friends and Seinfeld, ratings plummeted upon its move, with nearly two-thirds of its audience gone. Perhaps aware of its impending cancellation, the series ended its second and final season with Jonathan Eliot married in Las Vegas, thus ending his single status.

Ernest Borgnine later recalled working on the show fondly, but expressed his displeasure with the retooling and felt that it – along with behind-the-scenes dysfunction – led to its cancellation.^[43][44]