Grand revolved around three interrelated families from different social classes – the wealthy Weldons, the impoverished Pasettis, and the middle class Smithsons – who lived in the fictional rural town of Grand, Pennsylvania. The show was a satire that featured story arcs which carried through several episodes, and mocked soap opera conventions in the vein of Soap.
Series overview
Pamela Reed starred as Janice Pasetti, a former homecoming queen living in a trailer with her daughter Edda (Sara Rue), while working as a housekeeper for the Weldons, the wealthiest family in town. Harris Weldon (John Randolph) is the family's patriarch and owner of Grand Piano Works, a piano factory starting to fall on hard times due to foreign keyboard imports. Also living in the Weldon mansion were Harris' dimwitted son, Norris (Joel Murray) and his acerbic butler, Desmond (John Neville), whom Harris kept despite his acid tongue as he had once been responsible for saving his life.
Janice also worked for Harris' niece Carol Ann Smithson (Bonnie Hunt), who lived a middle class life with her ambitious husband Tom (Michael McKean), who always attempting to get an executive position at the factory. Janice also spent her time fending off the advances of Wayne Kazmurski (Andrew Lauer), a motorcycle cop.
Grand ran for two shortened seasons in 1990, with thirteen episodes from January to April, and twelve more from October to December, with one left unaired. The first season follows Harris' attempts to secure a date to a ceremony honoring him at Carnegie Hall, Tom's attempts to hide from Carol Ann his teenaged son from a previous marriage, and Harris allowing Desmond to believe that he was actually Norris' father, although Harris knew it was not true. By the time production began on the first season finale, NBC had still not committed to another season. Believing the show would be cancelled, the finale was entitled "Blow Off," an apparent stab at NBC's indecision regarding the show. The episode concluded with the town of Grand being devastated by a tornado and the disappearance of the entire cast, save for Wayne.
However, the show's ratings, finishing 15th among mid-season shows, proved high enough for NBC to renew the show and given the prized Thursday 9:30p.m. slot. But by the time executives made their decision, at least two cast members (Michael McKean and Andrew Lauer) and several members of the production had already committed to other projects. This took the show in a dramatically different direction, with the first episode dealing with what became of Janice's trailer rather than answering questions about the characters who had disappeared. The second episode wrote out Michael McKean's character offscreen, making him an illegal alien who had stolen $50,000 from a Texas Savings and Loan and used the tornado as a means to disappear when the FBI began to close in on him. Andrew Lauer's characters, along with all recurring cast members and their storylines (with the exception of Pamela's ex-husband Eddie, played by Ed Marinaro) were dropped with no explanation.
The pseudo-soap opera format was then abandoned, followed by standard, stand-alone situation comedy episodes, and ratings steadily declined. The soap opera aspect was revived in the final four episodes, but instead of relatable storylines about class relations, the arcs were more outrageous and improbable, involving witchcraft, gangsters, a possible corporate takeover of the piano factory and Carol Ann's decision to adopt a teenager who was raised by wolves. The show was then cancelled, with its final episode left unaired.
The first season of Law & Order premiered on NBC on September 13, 1990, and concluded on June 9, 1991. The season consists of 22 episodes. It was the only season to feature George Dzundza as Max Greevey. It was the first season to include a longer opening sequence and theme. And it was also the first season to include Chris Noth as Junior Detective Mike Logan, Dann Florek as Captain Donald Cragen, Michael Moriarty as Executive Assistant District Attorney Ben Stone, Richard Brooks as Assistant District Attorney Paul Robinette and Steven Hill as District Attorney Adam Schiff.
Brooklyn Bridge is an American sitcom television series which aired on CBS between September 20, 1991, to August 6, 1993. It is about a Jewish American family living in Brooklyn in the middle 1950s. The premise was partially based on the childhood of executive producer and creator Gary David Goldberg.
Going Places is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from September 21, 1990, to March 8, 1991. The series stars Alan Ruck, Jerry Levine, Heather Locklear, and Hallie Todd as four young Hollywood writers renting a house together. It aired as part of the TGIF block. The series was created and executive produced by Robert Griffard and Howard Adler, and developed and executive produced by Thomas L. Miller and Robert L. Boyett for Miller-Boyett Productions, in association with Lorimar Television.
Carol & Company is an American comedy anthology television series starring Carol Burnett, Jeremy Piven, Meagen Fay, Terry Kiser, Anita Barone, Richard Kind and Peter Krause that aired for two seasons on NBC from March 31, 1990, to July 20, 1991.
True Colors is an American sitcom television series that aired on Fox from September 2, 1990, to April 12, 1992, for a total of 45 episodes. The series was created by Michael J. Weithorn, and featured an interracial marriage and a subsequent blended family.
Davis Rules is an American sitcom broadcast on ABC in 1991 and on CBS in 1992. The series was produced by Carsey-Werner Productions.
The fourth season of the family sitcom Full House originally aired on ABC from September 21, 1990 to May 3, 1991. The entire season was directed by Joel Zwick.
The first season of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, an American sitcom, was aired originally on US television between September 10, 1990 and May 6, 1991, with a total of 25 episodes. The season focused its episodes to the arrival of Will Smith to the lives of his wealthy relatives at their Bel Air, Los Angeles mansion, and his adaptation to living with them and his cousins, alongside his impact on their lives with various issues. Throughout its original broadcast dates, the season averaged around 20.1 million viewers per episode.
Season three of Quantum Leap ran on NBC from September 28, 1990 to May 22, 1991. The series follows the exploits of Dr. Sam Beckett and his Project Quantum Leap (PQL), through which he involuntarily leaps through spacetime, temporarily taking over a host in order to correct historical mistakes. Season three consists of 22 episodes.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
