Une maman formidable

I loved this series, starring Brett Butler as a strong, yet fallible, recovering alcoholic with three children and a history suitable for talk shows. Or I loved the first few seasons, anyway - my local station messed the show around so much that, when I finally got to see it again, the characters had changed, and most of the humour had gone. With the initial seasons of 'Grace Under Fire', I found it hard to believe the rumours about Butler's personal life intruding onto the set. In fact, I found it hard to believe that Grace Kelly (with a mother-in-law called 'Jean' Kelly - I loved those subtle references, and contradictions - how different could Grace have been from her film star namesake?) wasn't a real person. Everyone on the show in the early years were very believable and very, very funny, Butler and Dave Thomas (Russell, the pharmacist) especially. And far from being another cliched show about 'survivor'-type women, I admired the character of Grace in a way that I didn't with 'Roseanne', a show with a similar premise of a woman (and mother) battling against life. But, as with anything, I think Grace finally ran out of steam, and introducing an older, illegitimate son tipped the balance, in my opinion.