Stand By Your Man (TV Series)

Infobox Television
show_name = Stand By Your Man


caption =
format = Comedy,
runtime = 30 minutes per episode
creator =
starring = Melissa Gilbert Brinkman
Rosie O'Donnell
Sam McMurray
Rick Hall
Miriam Flynn
Rusty Schwimmer
Don Gibb
Ellen Ratners
country = USA
network = FOX
first_aired = April 5, 1992
last_aired = May 17, 1992
num_seasons = 1
num_episodes = 8
list_episodes =
imdb_id =
tv_com_id =|

"Stand By Your Man" was an American sitcom that aired on FOX briefly in the spring of 1992. The series was created by Nancy Steen and Neil Thompson, who also wrote some of the episodes. It is notable for being Melissa Gilbert's return to series television after the conclusion of "Little House on the Prairie" nine years earlier, and the first (shared) sitcom starring role for Rosie O'Donnell, who was then on the verge of breaking into super fame. The show only ran 8 episodes, the amount that Fox had ordered for a spring tryout run, on Sunday nights between April 5 and May 17, 1992.

ynopsis

The show's premise, as narrated in the opening credits by Fox network's chief announcer Joe Cipriano in a deadpan comical fashion, was that two sisters, sensible, down-to-earth Rochelle (Gilbert) and loud, crass, pushy Lorraine (O'Donnell) agreed to live together for emotional and moral support while their husbands were doing time in prison for robbery. It was hard to tell these two were even sisters, much less related. Rochelle was an elegant, cultured woman who had married wealthy Roger Dunphy (Sam McMurray), who was supposedly a successful manufacturer of sunroom and patio furniture. She thought her life of luxury was near perfect until her husband was discovered to have committed a series of major bank robberies with her brother-in-law. (Roger had in fact owed much of his wealth, and the money he spoiled Rochelle with, to robbing banks.) Lorraine, on the other hand, had limited aspirations in life, and no class whatsoever. She had married blue-collar slob Artie Popowski (Rick Hall) in a shot-gun ceremony in Vegas, and together they shared marital bliss in the trailer park. However, once Roger and Artie were convicted of the crime and carted away from their wives, Lorraine had no choice but to move into Rochelle's palatial home in the suburbs of Franklin Heights, New Jersey; surprisingly, this wasn't so much to the consternation of Rochelle.

The sisters tried to become closer as they learned to adapt to each other's differing lifestyles, and went on crazy adventures ribbed with humor that bordered between classic Vaudeville and the toilet. Since most of Roger's wealth was re-claimed by their respective banks upon his and Artie's sentencing, Rochelle and Lorraine were suddenly faced with financial problems. The former was reluctant to find a job, after living off Roger for so long; the latter worked at Bargain Circus, a retail store, helping the two get by. Gloria (Rusty Schwimmer) and Sophie (Ellen Ratners) were Lorraine's co-workers at the store, while Adrienne Stone (Miriam Flynn) was the status-conscious next door neighbor who resented everything having to do with the sisters' living arrangement. Adrienne was convinced that Lorraine was helping to bring down the value of the neighborhood, never missed an opportunity to make the imprisoned husbands a subject of conversation, and on top of all that, had something hypocritical to hide. She was having an affair with Lorraine's illiterate biker friend Scab (Don Gibb), a member of the "bad element" Lorraine was dragging into the community. This was openly revealed to everyone before the end of the series' short run.

In every episode, Rochelle and Lorraine also visited their husbands in jail. Much of the key conflict between the sisters occurred here; Rochelle could not be apart from Roger for too long, since they were still madly in love; Lorraine, who still stood by Artie, vented much of her anger towards both her sister and especially to Roger, since she blamed him for getting naive Artie involved in his schemes and in jail.

cheduling

"Stand By Your Man" was Fox's attempt to finally add power to the latter half of their Sunday night lineup, building upon the success of the shows that aired earlier that night ("Married...With Children", "The Simpsons", "Get A Life", et al). At this time, Fox still scheduled Sunday programming as late as the 10/9c hour, and hoped that the broad, somewhat raunchy nature of "Stand By Your Man" would draw an audience at that hour and finally give the network their "next big "Married..." (many critics claimed the show outdid the older series with the style of its writing). For the show's original episode run, and for two weeks beyond, it aired at 10/9c on Sundays; after it was not renewed for a second season, "Stand By Your Man" moved into the 10:30/9:30c slot on the same evening, in mid-June: after two more months of summer reruns, the show had its last network airing on August 9, 1992.

Trivia

*"Stand By Your Man" was based upon the British series "Birds of a Feather", which was very successful in the UK (not to mention, still in production at the time) and was responsible for winning Fox over into picking up its American counterpart for their lineup.
*While this series failed to garner audience interest, Rosie O'Donnell considered that a non-issue; it was that same year in which her breakthrough movie role in "A League Of Their Own" solidified her place in Hollywood, with many more high-profile film roles to follow.
*The show's title was obviously taken from the popular Tammy Wynette song of the same name; the song itself, or a variation of it was not used in the series, however.
*Melissa Gilbert was using both her maiden and married names professionally at this time, and in this series, in the midst of her marriage to comedian Bo Brinkman (they would eventually divorce in 1995).