Cast members Nancy McKeon and Jean Smart have expressed their belief that Martha Stewart was responsible for the show's cancellation.
Kathleen Turner portrayed Chelsea Stevens in a 1996 pilot for ABC. The network passed, and she dropped out of the production when the show was redeveloped for CBS.
Joseph Maher (Mr. John) was diagnosed with a brain tumor partway into the show's production. His peripheral vision began deteriorating, so in later episodes, he's seen using a cane. The show was pulled less than a month after it premiered, but it returned to the schedule in July, just days after his death.
Jean Smart was first approached to portray Chelsea several years earlier, but she instead chose to star in High Society (1995). After that show's cancellation, she was uninterested in doing another series and rejected two more requests to take the role. Disney executives persisted, sent flowers every day for a week, and ultimately, a huge box filled with thousands of dollars worth of toys and a letter addressed to her 8-year-old son. The letter asked the boy to urge his mother to reread the script, offering the lad endless toys and the ability to skip the lines at Disneyland if she took the part. It was such a bizarre tactic that Smart met with the producers and soon accepted the role.
Nancy McKeon and Jean Smart each had shows that aired on CBS Monday nights in 1995. McKeon starred in Can't Hurry Love (1995), and Smart in High Society (1995) (which aired in the same timeslot where this series was initially scheduled). The two became acquainted while doing promotion for "Taylor Made Monday," a multi-show crossover publicity stunt featuring Elizabeth Taylor.