I Married Dora

At a time when the Iran-Contra affair and atrocities coming from the Salvadoran civil war were constant news came this comedy about a beloved maid who happened to be an illegal alien. Elizabeth Peña capitalized on the popularity of her previous character from "Down and Out in Beverly Hills" and "Dora" emerged as a wise, emotional, funny and HOT addition to the airwaves. The filming and overall pace was derivative of many commercials at the time (silent fade-to-black narration of the scene). Yet the humor was actually very funny for its time; laughing at topical events, white vs Latin culture, cut-throat 80's business and family dynamics in general. This is definitely an underrated and extremely short-lived series which deserves a lot more attention. Sadly, it could never be made in the current climate, so it's a time-capsule in itself.

Okay, I was only 7 when this show came out. But I remember watching it every Friday night. Juliette Lewis really stuck out to me and years later when I saw her in some movie I knew I had seen her before somewhere, but could not think of the name of the show she was in. Being that I was only 7, I didn't know what the plot of the show was, I just enjoyed watching it and listening to the Hispanic woman's accent. One of "Dora"'s trademarks in the show was that she had this junk drawer in the kitchen. The husband would get so frustrated when he would try to find something in the drawer and start yelling at her. She'd go over to the drawer, pull it out, shake her hip up against the drawer and wah-la... there was the item he'd been looking for. Of course, I thought this was just hilarious.

This week's NEW YORK MAGAZINE had a comment in the column by the television reviewer that reviewed (in a disparaging way) about this comedy that lasted only one season. The writer mentioned the conclusion of the series where they announced the series was canceled, But the reviewer also felt the show was deservedly forgotten.

Actually it was not a bad little comedy. But it suffered from a bad weekly spot. It was on Fridays, I believe. The plot line is based on the problems of avoiding Dora's deportation by any means necessary (which is like Lucille Ball's determination to get into show business by any means necessary on I LOVE LUCY). Dora's boss, a W.A.S.P., marries her, but her weekly attempts to please him and keep in the country always show that she is a little more with it due to street smarts.

There were other plot points that were never fully covered due to it's short run. The boss/husband was previously married (with children). His wife was on a plane that apparently was commandeered by terrorists four years before, and never heard from again - so there was a potential situation like Tennyson's ENOCH ARDEN of the missing person turning up again.

There was also a nice addition to the cast - Henry Jones, that dependable character actor. It was his first regular role on a comedy series since his two year stint on Cloris Leachman's PHYLLIS. Here he was a W.A.S.P. aristocrat, who constantly got to see that his fine contacts meant nothing. In one episode, Dora learns Jones knows Nancy Reagan (they are old friends). She convinces him to make a phone call asking the President (through Nancy) to kill some immigration problem. No problem to Henry, he insists. We watch him make a few calls, and he eventually does get Nancy. We hear a pleasant conversation (of course, only from Jones side) going on. After two minutes, a promise to see Nancy and Ronnie when they are back home, Henry hangs up. Dora is looking daggers at her, as he realizes he never got to ask Nancy for the favor!

Not a bad show really, which, with a better time slot, might have made it. But not one of the worst films - not by a long stretch.

This is a truly, truly worthless piece of junk starring daniel hugh kelly as a man who has to marry an illegal alien to keep her from being deported and all mayhem, this silly idiotic plot has no laughs, only a chuckle or two and the only reason this piece of trash is lower on my list of the very worst tv shows of all time is the finale itself, the finale is far more hilarious then ths piece of trashy junk, it's hard to believe that reeves entertainment the successor to the alan landsberg productions is the same company that did great stuff like bill, adam, gimme a break and kate and allie, reduced to garbage filth like this saddens me and the audience and daniel hugh kelly who was great in hardcastle and mccormick is wasted here, luckily brian keith was smart not to appear in this shlock, this is a real failure and a big disappointment for those involved and what are two days of our lives stars (peggy mcckay and allison sweeney) doing in this mess saddens me?

This is junk.

I still have a Betamax recording of "I Married Dora" from the night that Baby Jessica was rescued from that well. Right in the middle of the show they broke away to the rescue and I never did see the rest of that particular episode. Now while I can't recall chapter and verse of the series, I do remember that I did like the show enough to tune in every week. I liked it. Just a nice, quiet little show. If it were to show up on TV Land somehow, which I highly doubt, I'd gladly watch it again. And maybe this time I'll make it through that episode without Baby Jessica getting in on the act! I'll have to look through my collection, but I just might have the final episode as well. Not really the most ground breaking way for a show to end its run, but unique in its own way.