25 shows that will make you happy to be single this summer

Being Mary Jane

As BET’s first hour long scripted drama, Being Mary Jane is one of the network’s greatest success stories. Starting as a movie (and ending as one later this year) this show features another single lady killing it at work, but with a tragic personal life.

Mary Jane is single, successful cable news anchor with enough designer shoes to put Carrie Bradshaw to shame. She has a beautiful home and a nice car, but she still fills like she’s missing something. Even as she thinks about filling out her family, she is still navigating being single and trying to advance her career into a seat on a popular morning show.

Sexy and smart, BMJ is a fun contribution to the “single ladies” cannon. Although it plays into the trope of women who are professionally flourishing, but who are sadly inept in their personal lives, Gabrielle Union is pretty much perfect, and I will elect her representative of the single ladies’ club any day.

She’s poised and graceful, and she is a beautiful realization of a modern woman: sex positive, forward thinking, and not afraid to admit she wants more out of her life. I love her perfectly imperfect life, and to cite a recent article, she’s starting a TV revolution. Featuring a close look at a black women’s life closely, thoughtfully, and without infiltration of the male gaze is something we need more of on TV.

I wish I could be as beautiful of a mess as Mary Jane is on her worst day. And I definitely wouldn’t mind borrowing from her impressive closet.

Where to watch: All four seasons are available on both BET.com and Hulu. However, the show is set to end in 2018 with a two-hour TV movie. Its’s a fitting bookend to a series that started as an experimental project and 90 minute movie for the network.