Tia Mowry explains the unlikely story behind how she and Tamera Mowry-Housley got their show ‘Sister, Sister’— and almost lost it

Tia Mowry reveals the true history behind her hit sitcom, “Sister, Sister,” which first debuted on ABC on April 1, 1993.

Tia Mowry and her twin sister Tamera Mowry-Housley ascended to stardom after their hit television show “Sister, Sister” premiered in the mid-90s, making them household names among tweens and teens. However, the iconic Black girlhood sitcom almost never happened.

In a recent Instagram post, the 46-year-old actress opened up about the unlikely origins of the hit series, which debuted its first episode on April 1, 1993. 

“A lot of people think our journey to ‘Sister, Sister’ was easy… but trust me, it was far from it,” she wrote in the caption of the post containing 13 slides breaking down the show’s beginnings. 

According to her, it all began on the set of another iconic classic sitcom, “Full House.” Their younger brother, Taj Mowry, who caught the acting bug in the family first, had been cast on “Full House” as Teddy. Their mother, having to balance being on set with Taj and still watching her twin daughters, would bring Mowry and her sister to set. She and her sister would sit in the audience while they filmed, or sometimes lend a hand by babysitting the series’ stars and fellow famous twins, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.

“The crew would have us play with Mary-Kate and Ashley between takes,” she added. “Everyone thought it was the cutest thing. Twin girls watching over twin girls.”

At the time, Mowry and her sister were pursuing music in a girl group called Voices that danced for MC Hammer when she said a woman named Suzanne de Passe, who discovered the Jackson 5, “changed everything.”

Eventually, de Passe introduced them to Karen Bass, who went on to develop the series based on the twin sisters’ actual life with a “The Parent Trap”-inspired twist involving them being separated at birth. Despite the strong premise, the series failed to be picked up for the fall lineup.

“We were devastated. We sat in a dark closet, crying, and praying, asking, ‘Why would God bring us to LA just to Fail? We gave up Voices for this. Was it all a mistake?’” Tia wrote.

The very next day, they received slightly better news: ABC was picking up the show as a potential midseason replacement if another show didn’t perform as well. However, when the show aired as “a filler,” “Sister, Sister” became an instant hit, landing in the top 10 with families nationwide. Even still, ABC dropped the show anyway. When they asked why, they were told the network was moving away from family shows at the time. Proving to be the little show that could, Warner Bros. scooped it up and gave it a home with a 100-episode guarantee.

“Sister, Sister” ran for 119 episodes across six seasons and saw the girls’ characters come of age from young teens grappling with the pressures of high school to college students navigating life and love. 

In the caption, the actress added, “As kids, we faced a lot of heartache and uncertainty. But every challenge taught me something. It shaped my faith, my resilience, and prepared me for everything that came after. I wouldn’t change a thing.“