Life's Work

US

Comedy
English     6     1996     US

Overview

Life's Work is an American situation comedy series that aired from September 1996 to June 1997 on the ABC channel; the show stars Lisa Ann Walter as Lisa Ann Minardi Hunter, an assistant district attorney in Baltimore. Lisa Ann always wanted to practice law since she was young because she always argued with her parents. She also had a basketball coach husband named Kevin Hunter who served as the patriarch of the family. Together, they raised a 7-year-old daughter Tess and a toddler son named Griffin. During the entire run of the series, a simple electric guitar instrumental solo was used as the show's opening theme. Laugh tracks were used in all episodes in the sitcom as it was filmed "live before a studio audience." During the 1990s, it was common to give stand-up comedians their own sitcom on TV; even if their first one had flopped. Lisa Ann Walter was a stand-up comedian who played a mouthy feminist who could stand up to her mother in addition to her superiors at work. While Lisa Ann's character had plenty of zingers to her, there was still a sense of "been-there-done-that" with her character. In one of the episodes, Lisa Ann claimed to have a sexual affair with then-current American President Bill Clinton.

Similar

AfterMASH is an American situation comedy that aired on CBS from September 26, 1983, to December 11, 1984. A spin-off of the series M*A*S*H, the show takes place immediately following the end of the Korean War and chronicles the adventures of three characters from the original series: Colonel Potter, Klinger and Father Mulcahy. M*A*S*H supporting cast-member Kellye Nakahara joined them, albeit off-camera, as the voice of the hospital's public address system. Rosalind Chao rounded out the starring cast as Soon-Lee Klinger, a Korean refugee whom Klinger met, fell in love with and married in the M*A*S*H series finale "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen." AfterMASH premiered in the fall of 1983 in the same Monday night 9:00 P.M. EST. time slot as its predecessor M*A*S*H. It finished 10th out of all network shows for the 1983-1984 season according to Nielsen Media Research television ratings. For its second season CBS moved the show to Tuesday nights at 8:00 EST., opposite NBC's top ten hit The A-Team, and launched a marketing campaign featuring illustrations by Sanford Kossin of Max Klinger in a nurse's uniform, shaving off Mr. T's signature mohawk, theorizing that AfterMASH would take a large portion of The A-Team's audience. The theory, however, was proven wrong. In fact, the exact opposite occurred, as AfterMASH's ratings plummeted to near the bottom of the television rankings and the show was canceled nine episodes into its second season, while The A-Team continued until 1987, with 97 episodes.

More info
AfterMASH
1983