Grand

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.

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.

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!"

"32,000" people inhabit Grand. This is the story of eight or nine of them."

"Grand" was my favorite show of 1990! It ran only 25 episodes (although there was a 26th episode filmed which never aired). Pamela Reed and Bonnie Hunt hit their peak in this quirky series! It was a psuedo-soap opera revolving around the lives of a piano manufacturer (Harris Weldon), his family (reformed pyromaniac son Norris, neurotic neice Carol Anne and her get-rich-quick-scheming husband, Tom), and his servants (butler Desmond and cleaning lady Janice Pasetti--a former homecoming queen raising a daughter in a travel tailer!). With a handful of other quirky characters (Janice's ex-husband Eddie and policeman Wayne Kazmusky, most notably), the show seemed destined to go down in the annals of TV history before "Twin Peaks" began airing opposite it. NBC didn't hold out much hope for the series from the begining, apparently, and the first season finale was a tour-de-force intended to end the show's brief run. It's unexpected ratings caused them to renew the show in the fall, but the soap opera format was dropped for much of the season. Sadly, just as the show returned to its soap opera format, it was cancelled, leaving Janice and Carol Anne trapped at the bottom of an abandoned well. The dream sequence Janice has while in the well was one of the classics of TV! I would have loved to see this one go on and on!

I absolutely agree with Riverstone. This was a wonderful show..one I too planned to follow with high hopes. I never knew why it was pulled and I didn't even remember it being reworked...I guess by that point I was so disgusted with the network that I gave up. It was a clever, witty show that could have made T.V. history. Fortunately, most of the actors did end up with successful careers, but this certainly would have been a feather in their caps had it been given a chance. Any chance that the few shows they filmed could be found on tape?

All I can remember about the theme was, "If you want to play it, play it Grand"...