High Society
1995 brought us an onslaught of short-lived sitcoms, most of which were accused of being "Friends" clones, as that series had become an instant hit the previous season. But there were three bawdy sitcoms which really pushed the envelope: "Cybill," "High Society" and "The Naked Truth." Two of the three series were accused of being American clones of British hit "Absolutely Fabulous," and on the surface, it certainly appeared that "High Society" was in fact a doppelganger....
Socialite Dorothy "Dott" Emerson runs a successful publishing company, and her star writer is also her best friend, romance novelist Eleanor Walker. Ellie and Dott met in college... where they had also known frumpy Val Brumberg (Faith Prince). In the first episode of the series, homemaker Val arrives on Dott's doorstep, says she's pregnant, just left her husband and has nowhere to stay. Dott graciously opens up her home to Val despite protests from Ellie, who complains that the witch is going to cramp her style. Thus begins an ongoing verbal battle between Val and Ellie that would last for Val's entire run of the show.
Additional cast included Jayne Meadows as Dott's mother, Alice. Now on her seventh marriage to a Persian oil man (though still getting some action on the side), Alice loves to trade insulting quips with Dott, but it's Ellie whom incurs the full range of her verbal venom. At work, Dott and Ellie have to contend with Dott's gay, Italian-immigrant secretary, Stephano (Luigi Amodeo), a guy who has to spend every moment being fabulous. Also frequently sticking his nose into Dott and Ellie's affairs is Peter (the ubiquitous David Rasche, "Sledge Hammer"), Dott's skirt-chasing business partner. And at home is Young Republican Brenden (Dan O'Donahue), Dott's 17 year old son, whose pants Ellie is often preoccupied with getting into.
Looking at the layout, yes, High Society bore a striking similarity to Absolutely Fabulous. They had the career woman (Eddie/Dott), the pill-popping, alcoholic, big-haired blonde (Patsy/Ellie), the levelheaded kid (Saffron/Brendan), the crazy mother (Mother/Alice) and the weird assistant (Bubble/Stephano). Those similarities, however, didn't go below the surface. Ab Fab was continuously mean-spirited whereas Society was just campy, fluffy fun. Eddie was completely self-involved and incapable of caring for anyone else; Dott was ran a successful business and began the series by opening her home to an old college friend (who was more than a bit of an annoyance). Saffron constantly tried to force her ideals on Eddie; Brendan didn't condone Dott's behavior, but he didn't belittle her for it either. Patsy was an old slag, constantly the butt of everyone's jokes; Ellie went out of her way to get the last laugh. Bubble was completely inept and totally insane; Stephano was thoroughly pretentious but utterly indispensable to Dott. Eddie's unnamed Mother was borderline insane; Dott's mother was continuously spouting off pithy one-liners. Also worth noting that Dott and Ellie shared equal screen time, whilst Patsy usually took a backseat to Eddie's stories.
The show debuted on October 30, 1995, replacing romantic 5-week-wonder "If Not For You" with Hank Azaria and Elizabeth McGovern. "High Society" garnered generally positive reviews, so much that TV Guide critic Jeff Jarvis complained that other critics had "kill[ed] it with kindness." Most of the critics who looked upon it unfavorably simply couldn't get past the fact that it bore a resemblance to "AbFab." "Absolutely Fraudulent," the popular website Mr. Showbiz declared. However, unlike "If Not for You," "High Society" managed to hold onto a substantial chunk of "Murphy Brown"'s viewers, making it a legitimate hit. But trouble was brewing....
One has to bear in mind that it would be more than a year before TV ratings were imposed upon the networks, which made shows like "High Society" prime targets for organizations hellbent on cleaning up TV. Even "Dukes of Hazzard" star John Schneider made a comment during an interview on TNN that "shows like High Society are just trash." (Ironically, Schneider went on to make several appearances on "Veronica's Closet.") With its unruly characters, CBS was worried that the show was pushing the envelope too much.
Meanwhile, Roseanne Barr had been so impressed with "Absolutely Fabulous" that she had acquired the rights to make an American version for ABC. Before "High Society" had even debuted, there were rumblings that Roseanne was pissed off about it -- and as the weeks progressed, she kept telling the media that she was going to sue, though ultimately nothing ever came of it. Barr later commented that the show was canceled before she had the chance to take legal action.
Now, clearly trouble had been brewing behind-the-scenes from the beginning. The original pilot was never broadcast, and the Val character was a last-minute addition... who only managed to last on the show five weeks before an abrupt off-screen departure (though it was a little confusing since most of the early episodes were broadcast out of order -- Val was gone one week and back the next!). Without Val there as the comic foil and voice of reason (/middle America), the next few episodes began looking more and more like "Absolutely Fabulous," with Dott and Ellie going to Hollywood and sneaking away for plastic surgery. However, by the 11th episode, "Touching Up Your Roots," there was clearly a lot of network meddling going on. The episode featured the reunion of Ellie's parents (Doris Robert and Paul Dooley) with their estranged daughter, complete with sappy "awwwwwww" audience reactions. It's not a bad episode, but the entire story feels forced.
The next week, Ellie discovered rival romance novelist (and "no talent bitch") Nancy Garver-Hill was actually Chuck Rooney (Tom Arnold), the guy she's been sleeping with. (As an aside, one has to wonder if Arnold simply took the gig to piss off his ex-wife.) During this episode, star Smart butted heads with the network censors. "They said, 'You've already said 'bitch' nine times. You can't say it a tenth,'" Smart recalled. "Don't they get that the more times you say it, the more ludicrous, over-the-top, and funnier it becomes!" Smart wouldn't back down, and it's a battle she ultimately won.
For the finale, "The Family Jewels," CBS imposed a plot, a guest-star and more meaningful moments. "Taylor-Made Monday" is how the network boasted their February 26, 1996 Monday night block of comedies, which all guest-starred Elizabeth Taylor, who was promoting her latest fragrance, "Black Pearls." The story began on "The Nanny," where Fran found herself responsible for losing Taylor's string of black pearls. While searching for the missing jewels, Taylor then encountered (Smart's future "Style & Substance" costar) Nancy McKeon and Mariska Hargitay on "Can't Hurry Love," then ran to the media to tell the tale of the missing pearls on "Murphy Brown." The story was concluded on "High Society" with Taylor finally getting the jewels back. Though Taylor did ultimately get her pearls back at the end of "High Society," she didn't actually appear on-screen; instead viewers saw a gloved hand and heard her voice-over... the same voice-over from the "Black Diamonds" commercials. It's not implausible that Taylor was unable to appear because she was taping one of the other shows on the same night... but one would think that they could have simply shot the scene without an audience if scheduling was a concern. Taylor had been the butt of a few jokes on "High Society" earlier in the season. In one episode, Dott said Ellie had "that Liz Taylor running low on sleeping pills look" in her eyes. In another, Dott claimed she planned to accessorize with "the black pearls I got at Liz Taylor's yard sale." Whether or not these gags were the reason Taylor didn't appear is uncertain, but considering they had openly mocked her new fragrance, it seems a bit too coincidental to be coincidence.
There was talk of producing further episodes, but the network wanted to tone down the show. "Slipping back into a slower pace with 'meaningful moments' is gonna make us end up neither fish nor fowl," Smart commented. Ultimately the network and producers couldn't find a middle-ground. It didn't help matters that the network regime was changing: CBS president Peter Tortorici was out and Les Moonves was in. As a result, both of the new hit Monday night CBS comedies got the axe, "High Society" and the Nancy McKeon vehicle "Can't Hurry Love." Ironically, Smart and McKeon would team up for the Monday night CBS comedy "Style & Substance" three years later.
It should be noted that the other similarly-themed shows, "Cybill" and "The Naked Truth," both returned for two more seasons. ABC bounced "The Naked Truth" and it found a new home on NBC, where it was retooled, toned-down, episodes were broadcast out of order, and the show finally concluded with its star adrift in a hot-air-balloon in one of the worst finales ever.... a finale that the network didn't even bother airing. The progression of "Cybill" wasn't nearly as embarrassing, but it too became watered down and star Cybill Shepard found herself at odds with writers, producers and the network, leading to the show's abrupt cancellation following a cliffhanger season finale. Taking all of that into consideration, perhaps the cancellation of "High Society" was for the best.
As of 2013, the series has not been officially made available on DVD, but copies can frequently be found onYouTube, i-offer and the like... unfortunately, the quality's not the best. The show was produced by Warner Bros., so here's hoping it will someday get an official release by the Warner Archive, which seems to be releasing a lot of TV, movies, and oddities lately.
EPISODE GUIDE
1. Family Val's
Dott invites Val to stay with her, much to Ellie's chagrin
NOTE: *There's some bad continuity after Ellie says, "I can't believe you've been seeing her..." In one spot the angle changes and Dott and Ellie are in completely different positions. Presumably there was dialogue cut. Soon after, Ellie's hands suffer a similar switch as she munches on a mini-muffin.
2. Sleeping with the Enemy
In an attempt to get rid of Val, Ellie tries to reunite her with estranged husband Mitchell, but soon comes to realize that Val might be better off without him.
NOTE: *Ellie pitches a new novel called "Hung Jury" about a character named Lucinda. Lucinda is also the name of her character from "High Sierra Streetwalker," portrayed by Donna Mills in "We Ought to Be in Pictures."
3. Whose Son Is It, Anyway?
Dott fears Brendan has developed a maternal bond with Val. Meanwhile, Ellie and Stephano each throw themselves at Ellie's buff new bodyguard.
NOTE: *The script for this episode contains an additional opening teaser, as well as an explanation of what Brendan wanted to talk to Dott about.
*Ellie mentions that Tippi von Schlager's implants shifted during a photo shoot for Town and Country magazine. In a later episode, the photos were printed in Dazzle Magazine.
4. The Naked and the Deadline
When Ellie develops writers block, Dott goes to great lengths to get her unstuck.
5. Dolce & G'Bye Now
After being humiliated by Ellie, Stephano quits and Dott reluctantly hires Val as his replacement, which sends Ellie into a frenzied fit.
NOTE: During this episode, Dott says she's planning on wearing "the black pearls I got at Liz Taylor's yard sale."
6. Tomb with a View
When Alice's neighbor dies, Ellie tries to impress the snooty building committee in order to secure a lush apartment.
NOTE: This episode begins with Dott and Ellie looking at the aforementioned photos of Tippi Von Schlager.
7. Finnigan's Rainbow
Dott falls in love with a motivational speaker (Barry Bostwick).
NOTE: The photo of Dott and Ellie on the cover of the tabloid is a promotional shot taken during "Family Val's." Neither of them wore those clothes to the "cult meeting" in this episode.
8. We Ought to Be in Pictures
When production begins on a film based on one of her novels, Ellie is horrified to discover she's forfeited all creative control.
NOTE: Alvin Spalding is a not-so-subtle stab at producer Aaron Spelling.
9. Nip and Tuck
Alice convinces Dott and Ellie to get facelifts before an upcoming photo shoot.
10. Alice Doesn't Pump Here Anymore
After sustaining a heart attack, Alice finds herself being smothered by Dott.
11. Touching Up Your Roots
Ellie's parents (Doris Roberts and Paul Dooley) visit with a shocking confession.
12. I Found My Thrill on Nancy Garver-Hill
Ellie discovers a rival romance novelist is actually the guy she's been sleeping with (Tom Arnold).
NOTE: Star Jean Smart went to battle with the network during this episode (and won) over the overuse of the word "bitch."
13. The Family Jewels
Ellie decides she wants to have a baby.
NOTE: Elizabeth Taylor's brief dialogue is lifted from her "Black Pearls" TV commercial campaign.
LINKS:
L.A. Times Jean Smart interview