Grand

I didn't have a TV at the time, (Grad Student) but would offer to baby sit for my sister the nights it was on.Put the kids away, pop some corn and enjoy! I would love to see it on DVD. It's a shame you can't just call somewhere and request these great old shows. So many were great, but canceled too soon. Designing Women comes to mind as one of the few I'm aware of that came back due to public outcry. I especially loved the opening credits and the wonderful theme song. I've always wondered- Who wrote that song? It was terrific. It was right up there with Soap and Taxi for me. Bonnie Hunt sticks out in my mind, a great actress but never got the kind of roles she deserved. Totally wasted in "Cheaper by the Dozen". Same thing with Pamela Reed.

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!

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.