Grace Under Fire

infobox television
show_name = Grace Under Fire


caption = The Season 4 cast of "Grace Under Fire" (from left to right), Floyd, Nadine, Wade, Libby, Grace, Patrick, Quentin, Jean and Russell.
format = Sitcom
runtime = 30 minutes
(with commercials)
creator = Chuck Lorre
starring = Brett Butler
Dave Thomas
Julie White
Casey Sander
Jon Paul Steuer
Sam Horrigan
Kaitlin Cullum
Cole & Dylan Sprouse
Peggy Rea
country = USA
network = ABC
first_aired = September 29, 1993
last_aired = February 17, 1998
num_seasons = 5
num_episodes = 112
imdb_id = 0106017
tv_com_id = 299

"Grace Under Fire" is a television series which ran on ABC from 1993 to 1998. The show starred Brett Butler. It began on September 29, 1993. It was the highest rated new comedy of the 1993–1994 season.

Premise of show

"Grace Under Fire" was produced by Carsey-Werner International, a production company responsible for such hit shows as "The Cosby Show", "Roseanne", "Cybill", "3rd Rock from the Sun", and "That '70s Show". "Grace Under Fire" was part of a wave of shows in the late 1980s and 1990s that were built around a comedian (and in some cases, closely based on his or her comedy routine). ABC also ordered a show based around the standup comedy of Margaret Cho at around this time. As for Carsey-Werner, many of their shows were based around non-traditional, non-nuclear families. [ [http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/C/htmlC/carseymarcy/carseymarcy.htm Museum.tv] ]

"Grace Under Fire" followed a similar formula; Butler starred as Grace Kelly, a divorced single mother and recovering alcoholic. The show begins after the main character divorces her abusive alcoholic husband of eight years in an attempt to start life anew and prevent her children from making the same mistakes she did. The show revolved around Grace; her happily married best friends and neighbors, Nadine and Wade Swoboda (Julie White and Casey Sander), along with the town's bachelor pharmacist, Russell Norton (played by Dave Thomas of "SCTV" fame), helped Grace keep whatever shreds of sanity she had left.

In the first three seasons, the show had a very blue-collar appeal due to Grace's chosen line of work, post-divorce; she operated pipelines at the local oil refinery, and had a second family of fellow crew workers down at the plant. Among them were heavy-set Dougie Boardreau (Walter Olkewicz), friendly Vic (Dave Florek), and Carl (Louis Mandylor). Their gruff boss was Bill Davis (Charles Hallahan). Both Bill and Carl were dropped after the first season; while Carl hadn't a permanent on-screen replacement, the crew's new boss was John Shirley (Paul Dooley) starting in the second season. In season three, Grace entered a relationship with plant executive Rick Bradshaw (Alan Autry), despite their radically different places in the company ladder. As the fourth season opened, Grace moved on from the oil refinery and took an entry-level position with an ad agency, transitioning her way up to being a white-collar professional. That job only lasted a year, but she then took on similar business work for a construction company owned by D.C. (Don "D.C." Curry).

Grace Kelly is not the only character named after famous Kellys from the entertaining world. Grace has in-laws named Jean Kelly (homophone for Gene Kelly), Emmett Kelly, and DeForest Kelly. Throughout the entire five-year run, Grace's ex-husband Jimmy Kelly (Geoff Pierson, who even continued in this occasional role after he began starring on "Unhappily Ever After") showed up, sometimes causing problems and at others miraculously clean and sober, trying to win Grace back. A reconciliation never quite happened, but the two did settle on a good friendship for the sake of the kids. In the midst of Jimmy's attempts to get straight, his mother and Grace's mother-in-law, Jean (Peggy Rea) offered to move in and help Grace raise the kids beginning in the third season. While Grace was having a long-term affair with Rick, Jean found some new loving of her own in the neighborhood, being courted by none other than Russell's dad, Floyd Norton (Tom Poston). As far as Grace's own kin and past life went, she had a regular source of support from her sister Faith (Valri Bromfield) in the first two seasons. Another major development in season four brought Grace's first child from a man she never wed, son Matthew (Tom Everett Scott). He showed up on her doorstep wishing to know if Grace had been responsible for his screwed-up life. Deep down though, the only thing he wanted to do was get to know his mother. In the final episodes in early 1998, Grace's old best friend Bev (Julia Duffy) came back to town and ended up moving in with the Kellys. In the intervening years, Bev had become quite successful and wealthy. She returned to her old home town to get in touch with her working-class roots. The last major "Grace Under Fire" storyline centered around Grace and Bev's personal reunion.

Cast

* Brett Butler as Grace Kelly
* Dave Thomas as Russell Norton
* Julie White as Nadine Swoboda (1993–1997)
* Casey Sander as Wade Swoboda
* Jon Paul Steuer as Quentin Kelly (1993-1996)
* Sam Horrigan as Quentin Kelly (1996-1998)
* Kaitlin Cullum as Elizabeth Louise "Libby" Kelly
* Cole & Dylan Sprouse as Patrick Kelly
* Walter Olkewicz as Dougie Boardreau (1993-1996)
* Dave Florek as Vic (1993-1996)
* Louis Mandylor as Carl (1993-1994)
* Charles Hallahan as Bill Davis (1993-1994)
* Valri Bromfield as Faith Burdette (1993-1995)
* Paul Dooley as John Shirley (1994-1996)
* Peggy Rea as Jean Kelly (1995–1998)
* Tom Poston as Floyd Norton (1995–1998)
* Alan Autry as Rick Bradshaw (1995-1996)
* Don 'D.C.' Curry as D.C. (1997–1998)
* Lauren Tom as Dot (1997–1998)
* Julia Duffy as Bev Henderson (1998)

The role of Nadine was originally offered to Sheila McCarthy, who declined the role since she did not want to commute between her home in Toronto and the Los Angeles filming location.

Noah Segan appeared as Quentin Kelly in the pilot, but as he became unavailable when ABC picked up the series, Jon Paul Steuer moved into the role.

Ratings and recognition

The show was the highest rated new show in its first season. In the month before "Grace Under Fire" first aired, Showtime broadcast the Carsey Werner-produced "Brett Butler Special", a half-hour comedy performance by Butler.

"Grace Under Fire" was nominated for three Golden Globe awards: Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Series Comedy/Musical in 1995 and 1997 and Best TV Series Comedy/Musical in 1995.

Jean Stapleton was nominated for the 1995 Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy series Emmy Award for playing Aunt Vivian in the episode "The Road to Paris Texas." Diane Ladd was nominated for the same award the previous year for playing Louise Burdett in the episode entitled "Things Left Undone."

Controversy and cancellation

After the first season, the creative aspect of the show experienced a revolving door of producers and writers. These changes were a result of creative clashes between the production team and Butler. Butler constantly fought for (and eventually won) more creative control for her character and show. These arguments led to the removal of the show's Creator/Executive Producer, Chuck Lorre, from production work, although he stayed with the show as a "comedy consultant." As with "Roseanne" and "Cybill", the back-stage conflicts of "Grace Under Fire" were well publicized.

In the fourth and fifth seasons of the show, Butler was fighting a painkiller addiction, for which she eventually sought medical help. During Butler's addiction and subsequent treatment, clashes with other cast members occurred. Butler allegedly flashed her breasts at actor Jon Paul Steuer, who was 12 years old at the time and was playing the son of Butler's character. Sources have speculated that Steuer's exit from the show in 1996 was because his mother pulled him out after the incident with Butler. At the start of season four, Sam Horrigan became the third actor to play Quentin Kelly, and with him in the role, the character's age advanced to 16. Cast member Julie White left the show after Season 4, also citing Butler's behavior as the reason. [ [http://www.televisionheaven.co.uk/grace.htm Televison Heaven] ]

The show was cancelled in February 1998. The last episode aired on February 17, 1998. It can currently be seen on the Oxygen Network in the United States and TVtropolis in Canada.

International remakes

The show was remade in Russia as "Lyuba, Children and the Factory" in 2003.

A Polish adaptation titled "Hela w opałach" ("Hela Under Fire", "Hela" is short form from "Helen") is being broadcast by TVN from September 2006. The third season is scheduled to be aired in Autumn 2007. The title character's full name "Helena Trojańska" (played by Anna Guzik) may be translated as Helen of Troy. The series is praised the light and liberal approach in depicting lower class life, in opposition to its major competitors like Plebania (The Parish) broadcast by the public TVP. Piotr Gąsowski playing one of the main characters was nominated to a prestigious Telekamery 2007 Award.

References

External links

* [http://www.carseywerner.net/grace_eng.htm Carsey/Werner.net]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/g/graceunderfire_7772885.shtml BBC.co.uk]
* [http://helawopalach.onet.pl/ Polish version official website] ^(Polish)
* [http://www.jumptheshark.com/topic/grace-general-comments/809 Grace Under Fire in Jump The Shark]