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''Grace Under Fire'' is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from September 29, 1993 to February 17, 1998. The show starred Brett Butler, as a single mother learning how to cope with raising her three children alone after finally divorcing her abusive husband. The series was created by Chuck Lorre and produced by Carsey-Werner Productions. ''Grace Under Fire'' was the highest rated new comedy of the 1993–1994 season. == Premise of show == ''Grace Under Fire'', produced by Carsey-Werner International, was part of a wave of shows in the late 1980s and 1990s that were built around a comedian (and in some cases, closely based on his or her comedy routine). As for Carsey-Werner, many of their shows were based around non-traditional, non-nuclear families. In syndication "Lady Madonna" was not used as a theme song as the royalties to the Beatles song was too expensive. As a result, the theme song used is "A perfect World". ''Grace Under Fire'' followed a similar formula; set in a small Missouri town, Butler starred as Grace Kelly, a divorced single mother and recovering alcoholic. The show begins after the main character divorces her abusive alcoholic husband of eight years in an attempt to start life anew and prevent her children from making the same mistakes she did. The show revolved around Grace; her children, mischievous Quentin (Noah Segan, pilot; Jon Paul Steuer, seasons 1-3; Sam Horrigan, seasons 4-5), happy-go-lucky Libby (Kaitlin Cullum), and infant Patrick (Dylan and Cole Sprouse); her happily married best friends and neighbors, Nadine and Wade Swoboda (Julie White and Casey Sander); and the town's bachelor pharmacist, Russell Norton (Dave Thomas). All of them helped Grace keep whatever shreds of sanity she had left. In the first three seasons, the show had a very blue-collar appeal due to Grace's chosen line of work, post-divorce; she operated pipelines at the local oil refinery, and had a second family of fellow crew workers down at the plant. Among them were heavy-set Dougie Boardreau (Walter Olkewicz), friendly Vic (Dave Florek), and Carl (Louis Mandylor). Their gruff boss was Bill Davis (Charles Hallahan). Both Bill and Carl were dropped after the first season; while Carl hadn't a permanent on-screen replacement, the crew's new boss was John Shirley (Paul Dooley) starting in the second season. Russell's friendship with Grace, and their on-and-off dating rituals, became a running theme in the series. Throughout their friendship they often dated other people; for a time in 1994, Grace dated Ryan Sparks (William Fichtner), a quirky chemist who worked in the oil refinery's labs. In season three, Grace entered into a relationship with suave plant executive Rick Bradshaw (Alan Autry). As with Ryan, the affair between Grace and Rick occurred despite their radically different places in the company ladder. When the fourth season opened, Grace moved on from the oil refinery and took an entry-level position with an ad agency, working her way up to being a white-collar professional. That job only lasted a month, but she then took on similar business work for a construction company owned by D.C. (Don "D.C." Curry). In the final season, Russell found some romantic interest in Dottie (Lauren Tom), a gossiping makeup artist. Throughout the entire five-year run, Grace's ex-husband Jimmy Kelly (Geoff Pierson) showed up, sometimes causing problems and at others miraculously clean and sober, trying to win Grace back. A reconciliation never quite happened, but the two did settle on a good friendship for the sake of the kids. In the midst of Jimmy's attempts to get straight, his father Emmett (guest star Matt Clark) died (In the aftermath of his death it was revealed that he was gay.) and his mother Jean (Peggy Rea), Grace's mother-in-law, offered to move in and help Grace raise the kids (Rea had previously guest starred as Jean a few times since the series premiered). Russell eventually reconciled with his estranged dad, Floyd (Tom Poston), who ended up moving in with him and working with him in the pharmacy. As far as Grace's own kin and past life went, she had a regular source of support from her sister Faith (Valri Bromfield) in the first two seasons. Another development came when Grace was contacted by her first child, Matthew (guest star Tom Everett Scott), whom she gave up for adoption before meeting Jimmy. Matthew had questions about his ancestry and ended up meeting his biological father. In early 1998, Grace's old friend Bev Henderson (Julia Duffy) came back to town and ended up moving in with the Kellys. In the intervening years, Bev had become quite successful and wealthy. She briefly moved in with Grace to get in touch with her working-class roots. Grace and Bev's personal reunion was unexpectedly the last major storyline of the series. Although she was joining the cast full-time, Duffy only appeared in two network-aired episodes of ''Grace Under Fire'' before the series was suddenly canceled in mid-February. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Grace Under Fire」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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