Socialite Dott Emerson (Mary McDonnell) runs a successful publishing company, and her star author is best friend and romance novelist Ellie Walker (Jean Smart). The two are forced to contend with frumpy college gal pal Val (Faith Prince), as well as Dott's eccentric mother (Jayne Meadows), teenage Republic son Brendan (Dan O'Donahue) who is the object of Ellie's affections, pretentious gay secretary Stefano (Luigi Amodeo), and Peter (David Rasche), who co-owns the publishing company.

On the surface, the show was very loosely based on the British hit "Absolutely Fabulous," though the similarities are fairly superficial. The show's audience ratings were strong, but in an era just prior to TV ratings, the producers found themselves battling network censors who wanted to soften the characters (which is blatantly obvious in "Touching Up Your Roots" and "The Family Jewels") -- plus Roseanne Barr, who had obtained the rights to create an American version of AbFab, was threatening a lawsuit (did Tom Arnold guest star just to spite her?!) -- so rather than continuing past the initial 13 episode order, the producers and network mutually agreed to call it quits following the airing of an Elizabeth Taylor theme-night episode. None of the shows were rerun in the USA, and it has never been issued on DVD.

With the exception of the first episode, the commercials from the original CBS broadcasts are included after the end credits, plus there's a pdf of the script from "Whose Son Is It Anyway?" (which includes some deleted dialogue) and various promos for the show. Credit for most of these beautiful recordings goes to Steve Cho, with great thanks!

Shared for archival purposes, no infringement intended.

plus-circle Add Review

comment

Reviews (3)