Watching the demise of a good comedy
I remember thinking that 'Grace Under Fire' was a very funny show when I saw it on television years ago. Now, amazon prime has it for viewing free to Prime members, so I watched it again.Today, with streaming and seasons on DVD, it's easy to binge-watch a series (watch all the episodes in chronological order). I did this, and enjoyed 'Grace' almost as much the second-time around. However, there is a tragic subtext to the episodes now. I knew that Brett Butler had some addiction issues but now it is evident how powerfully those problems can change a person's life - no matter what they have, or are given, or do.
Brett Butler is very, very funny. Once the writing comes together and you have watched several episodes, you will want to stick it out for the season and move on to the next. Mid-series, the writing starts to falter, the plots struggle, and Brett's problems in her real life start to intrude. By the end of the series, which was canceled mid-season (season 5), you feel like you are watching a horse about to be put down or sent to the glue factory. She's still got the lines, still makes you smile (sometimes) but she's deteriorating as a performer. She's forcing lines that shouldn't be forced. She's making you think of Judy Garland.
Other actors are jumping ship. The writers are throwing together notecards with key events summarized in one line and thrown away in the dialogue. Brett even has a bad haircut! A cardinal sin for an actress - have I said enough? The only thing missing is weight gain. I would feel sorry for this talented comedienne if it weren't for the waste of her gifts. Such a waste.
Behind all this lurked the producers and writers who suffered while this very good series took a dramatic senseless dive. I have little sympathy for them. There were very big names attached to this project and they failed. Distracted, no doubt, by other shows they were producing that were easier to manage. But this: a perfect example of how anyone can make a show work if you throw enough money at it but real skill is needed when the signs are all there that this is not going to be a walk in the park.
All the actors were fine (even Brett, when she was functioning well). Dave Thomas will always be a gold-star actor in any ensemble, and the same can be said of Tom Poston. Even the saccharine Libby (the character who was Grace's daughter) delivered reliably good performances. What happened to the writers that they wove plot lines into tangled messes and ignored some very strong themes that could have strengthened the show? As the team and the production of 'Grace Under Fire' got increasingly sloppy, the worst happened: Brett Butler became even more the center of every story and every scene. Which, as a person in the throes of addiction, she may have wanted desperately. So she got that - much to the detriment of the series. It ended, mercifully, before she had total meltdown on camera, as producers and writers stood by and watched (expressionless, I would imagine).
I hope to see Brett in a series as funny as this started out to be - someday - with truly talented support behind her. Because she will need it!
score 10/10
mathmaniac 6 May 2018
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw4156061/14222
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