Good & Evil

Infobox Television
show_name = Good & Evil
genre = Situation comedy
creator = Susan Harris
writer =
director = Terry Hughes
starring = Teri Garr
Margaret Whitton
Marian Seldes
Lane Davies
Mark Blankfield
Lane Smith
Mary Gillis
Seth Green
Brooke Theiss
Marius Weyers
Sherman Howard
William Shockley
theme_music_composer =
opentheme =
endtheme =
composer =
country = USA
language = English
num_seasons = 1
num_episodes =
list_episodes =
executive_producer =
producer = Witt–Thomas–Harris Productions
camera =
runtime =
network = ABC
picture_format =
audio_format =
first_aired = September 25, 1991 - October 30, 1991
last_aired =
imdb_id = 0101110

"Good & Evil" is a situation comedy which was broadcast in the United States by ABC as part of its 1991 fall lineup.

"Good & Evil" starred Teri Garr as the "evil" sister, Denise Sandler, and Margaret Whitton as the "good" sister, Genny. Denise was out to steal both her mother Charlotte's (Marian Seldes) cosmetic empire and her sister's boyfriend, Dr. Eric Haan (Lane Davies). Other characters included George (Mark Blankfield), a blind psychiatrist in love with Genny, and Charlotte's feisty Southern boyfriend, Harlan Shell (Lane Smith), who was the current president of the cosmetics company. Denise's plans to seize the company from Harlan's control began with her invention of a facial creme in which she was sure would hit it big in the market (that is, if it didn't end up peeling off the faces of consumers). Eventually, she plotted murder against Harlan. Her fellow employees and allies at the company were Mary (Mary Gillis) and her dumb assistant Roger (Sherman Howard). Genny, meanwhile, had put her idealistic life back together after the death of her husband, and was about to marry Dr. Eric; however, she couldn't understand why her beautiful daughter Caroline (Brooke Theiss) had been mute since the time of her father's death. Things turned more bizarre when Denise's attempts to blackmail Genny's fiancee started a violent rivalry between the sisters; Genny confided in her shrink George for support, but then found herself fighting off his romantic advances.

In the premiere, Denise's husband Ronald (Marius Weyers), who had been presumed dead after a fall off Mount Everest four years earlier, was found to have remained frozen on the mountain and was thawed out by mountain climbers. Remarkably, Ronald remained physically unharmed but reassimilated back into society with revenge on his mind. He gave Denise and their teenage son David (Seth Green) a surprise homecoming, but it was quickly hinted that Denise, in fact, pushed Ronald off the cliff; in the following episodes, she had to keep Ronald's return a secret from everyone else and went to great lengths to get rid of him - in fact, she still wanted him dead. As Denise's evil plotting continued, David went on a search for the man he "knew" was his real father, lawyer Sonny (William Shockley). In the sixth episode, Denise successfully blackmailed Dr. Eric, exposing his closeted skeltons; in the aftermath, Eric's career was at stake and Genny dumped him before their wedding. Also, Caroline spoke for the first time since the loss of her father, and in the series; and as the half-hour came to a close, Denise was attempting to take Harlan's life. This cliffhanger would never be resolved for the viewing public to see, as "Good & Evil" was cancelled after that telecast.

Unaired Episodes

Prior to ABC's cancellation of the show, 11 full episodes of "Good & Evil" had been produced. In the last five of them that remain unaired, Denise murdered Harlan, launching a huge investigation that put everyone on edge. Imperious mother Charlotte came out of retirement and regained control of the company; despite this, Denise continued to fight for her own control.

imiliarties to "Soap" & Controversy

The series was created by Susan Harris, who in the 1970s had created the wildly-successful soap opera parody "Soap". However, "Good & Evil" shared none of "Soap"'s success. The ineptitude that blind George demonstrated in attempting to navigate his surroundings, frequently demolishing everything in sight with his red-tipped white cane, led to the picketing of ABC's offices by members of the National Federation of the Blind. ABC insisted that the program was not intended to be in any way realistic, but rather a "parody done to the extremes, and there is not a single character in the show intended to be believable." The program was cancelled after little more than a month on the air.

References

Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle, "The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows"