Grand

Why hasn't anyone yet put this out? (NBC?) I loved it but missed the "final" episode, which was never shown again in my area (my VCR was broken at the time, but I figured, "Hey, I'll watch it in reruns"), and have been waiting lo this many years to see it. Surely it's worth it for NBC to pop it onto a DVD and put it out there.

There have been so few shows that merit keeping forever -- and now that I have children and want to introduce them to my favorites from the past, Nick shows only "Beaver" and ABC Family shows only "Fresh Prince," when what I really want to show them is "Grand" and "Dinosaurs" and "Max Headroom" and shows like that.

During the first season, the opening credits featured the cast lip synching the opening song. I thought it was a hilarious parody of MTV. The show never took itself too seriously, and that's what made it so refreshing. I don't ever expect to see anything like it again.

I believe that Ed Marinaro played Janice Pasetti's (ex-)husband. I forgot who played Norris Weldon's mother, Viveca, but she was really funny. You have to see it to appreciate it. I have to give a lot of credit to the writers of the show for making cutting social commentary so funny.

I saw every episode of the first season twice, but it just got weird during the second season. I only saw a couple of second season episodes. They had a different version opening song, but the cast stopped lip synching it. It was probably for the best that the show was canceled before it went on too long.

I love shows with great ensemble casts... NewsRadio was my favorite. Cheers and Just Shoot me are great too.

I was just reminded of this show for some reason, and I looked it up. I remember loving Michael McKean, Pamela Reed, and Joel Murray. I was shocked to see Bonnie Hunt and Sarah Rue in there! I guess I just hadn't made the connection between them then and now (now that I know who they are).

Great show, ruined before it's time. I'd love to see it on DVD. I was a youngun when I watched it, so I don't think I grasped that the Network cancelled it and then made a lame attempt to bring it back. I just thought the 2nd season was stupid for no reason.

In this case, the "company town" is a town built not around a coal mine or a lumber mill, but around a piano factory.

What do I mean by "soap operetta"? Well, just as an operetta is a comedy in somewhat scaled-down opera form, "Grand" was (far more than outright soap opera spoofs like "Soap" or "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman") a comedy in scaled-down soap opera form. Also, like a typical operetta, and unlike a typical soap opera spoof, the humor was gentle, witty, and largely suitable for a family audience.

I never even knew there WAS a second season of the show, or that the second season mostly threw out the "soap operetta" format, but what I saw of the series, I thoroughly enjoyed. The characters were the sort of people you actually would want to meet, something sadly lacking in an awful lot of television.

And the open used throughout the first season was certainly one of the best sitcom opens ever constructed.

Loved the show until they wiped out half the cast.

For some reason I can remember every word of the theme, and can sing the complete tune. If anyone wants the words they are:

"Let me ask a question. You can make a guess. Who holds the keys to your happiness? Is your life up to you, or does fate have it planned? Don't think too much; just do it, do it grand.

Some were born to make it, everything they touch turns gold. Others try to fake it, but their luck is always cold. See, we're all different drummers playing in the same big band. So if you're gonna play it, play it grand!"