Grace Under Fire

I'm the 2900th voter and I'm honestly surprised this is only rated as 6.3. It was a very good show for the first 2 years. Still OK after that. I'd say 7-8 would be fair. But it gets less funny and a bit stale near the end, probably because it was so famously plagued with behind the scenes drama related to Brett Butler's drug addiction and erratic and diva-like behaviour.

Grace Kelly (Brett Butler) is divorced from her abusive loser husband Jimmy (Geoff Pierson) and raising her three kids, Libby, Quentin, and Patrick, by herself in Missouri. She starts her job at the oil refinery working with lovable co-workers Dougie and Vic among others. Her neighbor friend Nadine (Julie White) sets her up with pharmacist Russell Norton (Dave Thomas). They become best friends connecting over their bad former marriages and lack of sexual chemistry. Nadine is happily married to Wade Swoboda (Casey Sander). There are Grace's sisters Faith and Evie, and her intrusive mother-in-law Jean Kelly. There is Russell's father Floyd (Tom Poston). Grace is a recovering alcoholic since giving birth to Quentin and had given up Matthew (Tom Everett Scott) for adoption.

This Chuck Lorre show is similar to Roseanne if Roseanne got beaten by her drunken husband and left him. I can do without the abuse background which is hard for any comedy. There is good irreverent sarcasm from Butler. Thomas is a veteran who delivers. The cast sometimes barely hold back laughing at their own jokes. Libby and Quentin #2 are great. They're allowed to be little angels and devils. It's a good white trash sitcom. However, Butler's personal addiction demons slowly destroyed the show.

The decline started in the third season and the slide picked up steam in the fourth until its end after a shortened fifth season. I'm not sure how much Emmet's Secret bothered the blue collar fans. A new Quentin #3 was needed to start season four. The new much-older Quentin is an annoying whiny delinquent teen. The fifth season sees the departure of Julie White and some wholesale changes. It's the beginning of the end as Butler fell apart behind the scenes.

It ran during a time when I wasn't watching much TV, but I really enjoyed it. I just caught a rerun on the Oxygen Network, and it was nice to see it again.

Brett Butler is one of the most talented actors ever. Her show was clever, smart, and free of the saccharine that plagues a lot of sitcoms. The supporting cast—Dave Thomas, Paul Dooley, Tom Poston and others—fleshed out a genuine portrait of America with believable, sympathetic characters. I'd love to see Ms. Butler do another TV show. I know I'd watch it.

I caught her once on "Celebrity Jeopardy," and she showed that she's as smart as she seems. I don't mean to ignore the rest of the cast, but hell, Butler is one of the greatest talents out there, and I miss her show.

Grace Under Fire was a great show that was very funny. The series was clever and witty and very humorous. But Butler's apparent (and might I add obvious) problems hurt the show. At the start, the show's quality didn't suffer, but the final season took a massive blow. Bretler's problems had finally really hurt the show in the ratings and caused it's cancellation. A shame.

"Grace Under Fire" was a great sitcom. It had unique characters and a wonderful story line. Brett Butler was able to use some of her own life experiences to make the show realistic, yet funny. She did an excellent job of portraying Grace Kelly. Brett is the only comedian that I think fitted the role of Grace perfectly. The other cast members of the show were just as perfect for their roles. This show had a lot of talented people on it, and I wish the show was still on. This is, and always will be my favorite sitcom.