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Style & Substance
Style & Substance is an American sitcom television series created by Peter Tolan, starring Jean Smart and Nancy McKeon that aired on CBS from January 5 to September 2, 1998.
Jean Smart is Chelsea Stevens, a Martha Stewart-like star of a how-to home show, and Nancy McKeon is her producer, Jane Sokol, a small-town girl new to New York City. Chelsea Stevens was an expert cook, decorator, and party planner who knew much more about thread-count than she did relationships. She was well-meaning at times, but her narcissism usually got in the way of actually understanding anyone else's problems. Stories generally centered on Chelsea's predilection for saying and doing outrageous things, and Jane's efforts to clean up the messes that resulted from Chelsea's antics.
In the early 1990s, following the publication of the magazine Martha Stewart Living and its spin-off TV show, the businesswomen rose to prominence, gradually becoming a household name. Television writer Peter Tolan was asked to model a character after her, although he was adamant that the result wasn't a parody or personal attack; Stewart had merely served as the initial inspiration. Jean Smart first received a script in the mid-1990s, but she opted to star in the short-lived CBS sitcom High Society instead.
Eventually, Kathleen Turner took the role of Chelsea Stevens, and a pilot was shot for ABC in 1996. Robby Benson directed the episode, which costarred Lisa Rieffel, Anthony Mangano, Melinda McGraw, and Andrew Bilgore. Michael Eisner, then the head of The Walt Disney Company, personally phoned Turner to tell her that he loved the show, and it was promised a slot on the fall schedule, but the network reneged. Heartbroken, Turner speculated that this was because Disney planned to go into business with Martha Stewart, but Tolan later remarked that it was dropped due to a poor reaction with test audiences. Although Disney rejected it for the recently acquired ABC network, they continued to produce under the Touchstone Television banner. Turner bowed out as the show was redeveloped for CBS, leaving producers desperate to fill the role, so they approached various other stars such as Julie Andrews.
After the cancellation of High Society, Smart shifted her focus to live theatre and was disinterested in returning to episodic television. She turned down two more requests to play Chelsea, so the producers decided to get creative. After receiving a bouquet of flowers every day for over a week, a box containing thousands of dollars' worth of Disney merchandise arrived on her doorstep, along with a letter addressed to her 8-year-old son. The boy was urged to persuade his mother to read the revised script, and he was bribed with the promise of endless toys and the ability to skip the lines at Disneyland if she agreed to star in the show. Tenacious persistence paid off, and Smart finally accepted the part. "I never turned it down because I didn't like it," she remarked.
CBS president Les Moonves suggested Nancy McKeon for the role of Jane, and she was overly enthusiastic about the material. McKeon had recently starred in Can't Hurry Love, which aired on CBS's Monday night schedule along with High Society, and she and Smart appeared together for the network's promotional publicity stunt with Elizabeth Taylor. Once the two ladies had been cast in this series, a genuine friendship blossomed. The supporting cast members were added, and they soldiered into production.
Stewart's show was also produced by CBS, and she became furious with Moonves not only over this sitcom but also The Simple Life, which starred Judith Light as a similar character. The writers attempted to alleviate the situation by devising an ongoing on-screen rivalry between Chelsea and Martha, with the hopes that Stewart would be amused and eventually agree to guest-star. Although there was a vague awareness of Stewart's disdain, it was mostly shielded from the cast and crew.
There was a joyous atmosphere on the set, and McKeon later remarked that she had some of the best times of her life working on the show. However, as production was underway, Joseph Maher was diagnosed with a brain tumor and began losing his peripheral vision, which forced him to use a cane. Then at the Christmas party, one of the writers prophetically joked that since the production had been going so smoothly, "We're screwed!"
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Style & Substance
Style & Substance is an American sitcom television series created by Peter Tolan, starring Jean Smart and Nancy McKeon that aired on CBS from January 5 to September 2, 1998.
Jean Smart is Chelsea Stevens, a Martha Stewart-like star of a how-to home show, and Nancy McKeon is her producer, Jane Sokol, a small-town girl new to New York City. Chelsea Stevens was an expert cook, decorator, and party planner who knew much more about thread-count than she did relationships. She was well-meaning at times, but her narcissism usually got in the way of actually understanding anyone else's problems. Stories generally centered on Chelsea's predilection for saying and doing outrageous things, and Jane's efforts to clean up the messes that resulted from Chelsea's antics.
In the early 1990s, following the publication of the magazine Martha Stewart Living and its spin-off TV show, the businesswomen rose to prominence, gradually becoming a household name. Television writer Peter Tolan was asked to model a character after her, although he was adamant that the result wasn't a parody or personal attack; Stewart had merely served as the initial inspiration. Jean Smart first received a script in the mid-1990s, but she opted to star in the short-lived CBS sitcom High Society instead.
Eventually, Kathleen Turner took the role of Chelsea Stevens, and a pilot was shot for ABC in 1996. Robby Benson directed the episode, which costarred Lisa Rieffel, Anthony Mangano, Melinda McGraw, and Andrew Bilgore. Michael Eisner, then the head of The Walt Disney Company, personally phoned Turner to tell her that he loved the show, and it was promised a slot on the fall schedule, but the network reneged. Heartbroken, Turner speculated that this was because Disney planned to go into business with Martha Stewart, but Tolan later remarked that it was dropped due to a poor reaction with test audiences. Although Disney rejected it for the recently acquired ABC network, they continued to produce under the Touchstone Television banner. Turner bowed out as the show was redeveloped for CBS, leaving producers desperate to fill the role, so they approached various other stars such as Julie Andrews.
After the cancellation of High Society, Smart shifted her focus to live theatre and was disinterested in returning to episodic television. She turned down two more requests to play Chelsea, so the producers decided to get creative. After receiving a bouquet of flowers every day for over a week, a box containing thousands of dollars' worth of Disney merchandise arrived on her doorstep, along with a letter addressed to her 8-year-old son. The boy was urged to persuade his mother to read the revised script, and he was bribed with the promise of endless toys and the ability to skip the lines at Disneyland if she agreed to star in the show. Tenacious persistence paid off, and Smart finally accepted the part. "I never turned it down because I didn't like it," she remarked.
CBS president Les Moonves suggested Nancy McKeon for the role of Jane, and she was overly enthusiastic about the material. McKeon had recently starred in Can't Hurry Love, which aired on CBS's Monday night schedule along with High Society, and she and Smart appeared together for the network's promotional publicity stunt with Elizabeth Taylor. Once the two ladies had been cast in this series, a genuine friendship blossomed. The supporting cast members were added, and they soldiered into production.
Stewart's show was also produced by CBS, and she became furious with Moonves not only over this sitcom but also The Simple Life, which starred Judith Light as a similar character. The writers attempted to alleviate the situation by devising an ongoing on-screen rivalry between Chelsea and Martha, with the hopes that Stewart would be amused and eventually agree to guest-star. Although there was a vague awareness of Stewart's disdain, it was mostly shielded from the cast and crew.
There was a joyous atmosphere on the set, and McKeon later remarked that she had some of the best times of her life working on the show. However, as production was underway, Joseph Maher was diagnosed with a brain tumor and began losing his peripheral vision, which forced him to use a cane. Then at the Christmas party, one of the writers prophetically joked that since the production had been going so smoothly, "We're screwed!"