Grand was the story of three interconnected families. It was more of a satire of soap operas than it was a traditional situation comedy; the program often mocked the conventions of soap opera. The series followed three interrelated families, from different social classes, in rural Pennsylvania - the wealthy Weldons, the impoverished Pasettis, and the middle class Smithsons. The Weldons were the wealthiest family in the small town of Grand, Pennsylvania; they owned the largest industry, a piano factory which was starting to fall on hard times due to the declining sales of its pianos, a situation that patriarch Harris Weldon blamed on Asian imports. In Weldon's household were his dimwitted son, Norris and the acerbic butler, Desmond, whom Weldon kept despite his acid tongue as he had once been responsible for saving Weldon's life. Weldon's housekeeper Janice Pasetti barely scraped by on what Weldon paid her; she lived in a mobile home with her daughter, Edda. In between these two extremes were Weldon's niece Carol Ann Smithson and her husband Tom, who was constantly hoping to improve his finances by returning to a position, preferably an executive one, at his wife's uncle's factory. Grand followed soap opera convention by featuring numerous story arcs which carried through several episodes, most notably Harris' attempts in the first season to secure a date to take to a ceremony honoring him at Carnegie Hall, Janice's struggle to come to terms with her divorce while fending off the amorous attentions of police officer Wayne Kazmurski, Tom's attempts to first hide from Carol Ann the fact that he had a teenaged son from a previous marriage and then his attempts to integrate the son into their lives, and Harris allowing Desmond to believe that he was actually Norris's father, although Harris knew it was not true. The pseudo-soap-opera format was abandoned after the second episode of Season 2, but resumed in the series' final four episodes. A 26th episode was filmed but never aired. This program was less successful than the somewhat similar Soap, which had also featured an acid-tongued butler and mocked many of the same soap opera conventions. Grand ran for two shortened seasons in 1990, with thirteen episodes from January to April and twelve more from October to December 1990, prior to its cancellation.
Cast
Main
John Randolph as Harris Weldon
Pamela Reed as Janice Pasetti
Bonnie Hunt as Carol Ann Smithson
Michael McKean as Tom Smithson
John Neville as Desmond
Joel Murray as Norris Weldon
Sara Rue as Edda Pasetti''
Andrew Lauer as Wayne Kazmurski
Recurring
Ed Marinaro as Eddie Pasetti
P.J. Ochlan as Dustin Gladowski
Jackey Vinson as Dylan Smithson
Mark Moses as Richard Peyton
Shawn Phelan as Timmy
Eddie Jones as Dr. Frank
Carroll Baker as Viva
John Michael Bolger as Manny
Production notes
The series at one time was being considered as a one-hour comedy series given the size of its cast. By the time production began on the last episode of the first season, NBC had still not committed to a second season. But, being a production of the network's leading producers Carsey, Werner and Bill Cosby, the series was renewed and given the prized Thursday 9:30pm slot. Believing the show would be cancelled, the final episode of the season was entitled "Blow Off," an apparent stab at NBC's indecision regarding the show. The episode concluded with the town of Grand being devastated by a tornado and the disappearance of the entire cast, save for Wayne. However the show's ratings proved to be high enough for NBC to finally order a second half-season. Unfortunately by the time the network executives made a decision, at least two cast members and several members of the production staff had already committed to other projects. The second season wrote-out the character of Tom Smithson as an illegal alien who had stolen $50,000 from a Texas Savings and Loan and used the tornado as a means to disappear when the FBI began to close in on him. The character of Wayne Kazmurski and all the recurring characters and their story lines with the exception of Eddie Pasetti were dropped with no explanation. The reduction in cast and the sudden change in production staff and writers took the show in a dramatically different direction from Season 1. The first episode of the second season dealt with what became of Janice's trailer, rather than answering questions about the characters who had disappeared, and the second episode wrapped up Tom Smithson's storyline. The premise of the show then changed from that of a complex comedy of manners to a simple situation comedy, indistinguishable from other sit-coms of the day. The series format abandoned the soap-opera style and half of the second season were standard, stand-alone situation comedy episodes. The result was a major decline in the overall quality of the series. Ratings steadily declined throughout the second season. The final four episodes of Grand returned the show to its soap-opera format, however instead of featuring identifiable, believable story arcs about the foibles of three economic classes, the arcs were outrageous, improbable stories featuring witchcraft, gangsters, a possible corporate takeover of the piano works, and Carol Ann's decision to adopt a teenager who was raised by wolves. The series was cancelled after its 25th episode. A 26th episode was filmed, but has never aired. Because Grand began its first season as a mid-season replacement and ended its second season without airing its final episode, it stands as one of the rare instances of a two-season series having aired its entire run within a single calendar year.
