Cosmo Sense Was Not So Common

Helen Gurley Brown. Writer. Early advocate of the liberated single woman. Editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan.

Sure Cosmo is her legacy, but her book, Sex and the Single Girl, really put her on the map. It finished #9 on the annual best seller list for non-fiction works in 1962.

Did S&tSG make a lasting impression? You bet. Just watch any ep of "Sex and the City." But we all know the real test is simple. How many TV series ep titles refer specifically to Brown's work?

• Sex and the Single Cop (''Lobo,'' 2/17/1981)


• Sex and the Single Father (''Dream On,'' 7/22/1990)


• Sex and the Single Girls (''What I Like About You,'' 2/4/2005)


• Sex and the Single Mother (''Judging Amy,'' 12/16/2003)


• Sex and the Single Parent (''Archie Bunker's Place,'' 2/21/1982)


• Sex and the Single Spy (''Jack of All Trades,'' 1/29/2000)


• Sex and the Single Surgeon (''House Calls'')


• Sex and the Single Woman (''Designing Women,'' 10/2/1992)

Forty-five years later and still making an impression.