‘Moesha’: How Much Brandy Earned Per Episode on the Hit UPN Sitcom
UPN ushered in a string of Black-led sitcoms throughout the ‘90s, with Moesha being one of its most popular shows. The Brandy-led comedy followed the life of a teenage girl living in the Crenshaw district of LA. An already successful singer, the show made Brandy even more popular and one of the highest-paid stars on television at the time.
Brandy nearly ruined her chances to star in the show
While working on her sophomore album, Never Say Never, Brandy was approached by her momager Sonja Norwood with a stack of papers. But it wasn’t lyrics for a song. Instead, Norwood handed her a script for Moesha. Brandy was not excited. She’d had a negative experience working on Thea a few years prior and would have rather focused on her music career.
“She gave me a script that Ralph Farquhar and the other creators of Moesha gave to her,” Brandy told Essence Magazine in July 2019, “And I was like, ‘Mom, I’m not an actress.’”
But Brandy was handpicked for the role. In Brandy’s VH1 special of Driven, Farquhar admitted that Brandy bombed the table read. “She was so horrible, she was so bad. If the network had that reading, they would have pulled the plug,” Farquhar said.
Network executives weren’t present for the read, so Farquhar, along with other UPN executives, worked diligently with Brandy to get her prepared for the show before filming. They also put her with veteran actress Kim Fields to hone her acting skills.
At the show’s peak, Brandy earned more than $90,000 an episode
The show was a success from the start. By the fourth season, Moesha was preparing for college. According to the New York Post, Brandy wanted more creative control over the narrative and to become an EP, which the show’s creator, Vida Spears, was against. From there, tensions on set grew.
Brandy was frustrated with the direction of the show. She wanted to focus more on growing pains versus the comedy elements of the show, but Spears wanted the opposite. As the star of the show, Brandy also felt she deserved more.
Per the report, she was earning over $90,000 per episode, making her the highest paid on the call sheet at the time. With an EP credit, she was sure to get a raise. Spears was fired, and the show was taken over by its other EPs. Brandy eventually received an EP credit in later seasons.
Why was the show canceled?
The show ran for six seasons, and by the final season, there were few comedy elements. According to Shar Jackson, who played Moesha’s best friend Neicy Jackson on the show, fans began to refer to the show as a “dramedy.” The show’s viewership declined in ratings in its last season as Sheryl Lee Ralph took a more minimal role in the show, and new characters and dramatic storylines were added. A reboot has reportedly been in the works for some time.
