Grace Under Fire (1993–1998)

Grace is a recovering alcoholic, now divorced from an abusive marriage, struggling to bring up 2.4 children on her own.

Creator:

Chuck Lorre

Stars:

Brett Butler, Casey Sander, Kaitlin Cullum

Nominated for 3 Golden Globes. Another 7 wins & 11 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Brett Butler	...	Grace Kelly (112 episodes, 1993-1998)
Casey Sander	...	Wade Swoboda (112 episodes, 1993-1998)
Kaitlin Cullum	...	Libby Kelly (112 episodes, 1993-1998)
Dylan Sprouse	...	Patrick Kelly (112 episodes, 1993-1998)
Cole Sprouse	...	Patrick Kelly (112 episodes, 1993-1998)
Dave Thomas	...	Russell Norton (111 episodes, 1993-1998)
Julie White	...	Nadine Swoboda (97 episodes, 1993-1997)
Jon Paul Steuer	...	Quentin Kelly #1 (73 episodes, 1993-1996)
Peggy Rea	...	Jean Kelly (50 episodes, 1993-1998)
Walter Olkewicz	...	Dougie Boudreau (48 episodes, 1993-1996)

Storyline

After divorcing her abusive, alcoholic husband and recovering from her own alcoholism, Grace tries to rebuild her life and protect her children from making the same mistakes. Against this serious backdrop, this show is actually a comedy, finding humor in the relationships between Grace and her co-workers at the oil refinery, her neighbors Wade and Nadine, and Russel Norton, the bachelor pharmacist.

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Plot Keywords:

oil refinery | pharmacist | divorcee | multiple actors for one character | sitcom | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 September 1993 (USA)

Also Known As:

Grace

Filming Locations:

Elgin, Illinois, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Carsey-Werner Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Cans of President's Choice Cola can be seen being used by the fictional family of Grace Kelly. This brand of Cola is produced for Loblaw's food stores (mostly its subsidiary stores Real Canadian Superstore, Real Canadian Wholesale club and Extra foods) throughout Canada. Even tho President's Choice is sold and manufactured in Canada, they also have agreements to sell the "private label" brand in other supermarket chains. Two of those chains were Jewel Supermarkets (Chicago area grocery that is independent from Loblaw's - Grace Kelly's fictional St Louis area home, is in reality, located in a Chicago suburb. A show producer must have had a connection to Chicago, in some way, and was probably familiar with the President's Choice private label brand.) National Supermarkets, which was based in St Louis and was owned by Loblaw's, was the other chain that carried President's Choice. Grace Under Fire was filmed in L.A. but the show's location was in the St Louis area, which viewers can assume was where the fictional Grace Kelly

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Quotes

[Sitting at Grace's kitchen table, discussing Jimmy's first month living in the garage]
Grace Kelly: He's two days late with the rent.
Jean Kelly: What?
Grace Kelly: I told him '$550, in cash, on the 1st of every month, under the ta... ble'
[hesitating - reaches underneath table]
Grace Kelly: .
Jean Kelly: It's times like these that make it hard to defend him.
Grace Kelly: Next month I'm gonna tell him 'On the house', to see if he puts the money on the roof.

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Connections

Featured in The 52nd Annual Golden Globe Awards (1995)

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Soundtracks

"Lady Madonna"
(uncredited)
Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
Performed by Aretha Franklin

User Reviews

Good stuff.

I'd just like to combat the last viewer comment I saw up here, which was slightly sexist and rather negative about the show. 'Grace Under Fire' did slip in its later seasons, but originally it was a clever, well-written show with a tight, vibrant cast and some great lines. I'm glad to see it airing in syndication now.