Grace Under Fire is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from September 29, 1993, to February 17, 1998. The show starred Brett Butler as a single mother learning how to cope with raising her three children alone after finally divorcing her abusive husband. The series was created by Chuck Lorre and produced by Carsey-Werner Productions.
Premise
Grace Under Fire, produced by Carsey-Werner, was part of a wave of shows in the late 1980s and 1990s that were built around a comedian (and in some cases, closely based on his or her comedy routine). Many of Carsey-Werner's shows were based on nontraditional, non-nuclear families.
Grace Under Fire followed a similar formula, set in the small fictitious town of Victory, Missouri; Butler starred as Grace Kelly, a divorced single mother and recovering alcoholic. The show begins after the main character divorces her abusive alcoholic husband of eight years in an attempt to start life anew and prevent her children from making the same mistakes she did. The show revolved around Grace; her children, mischievous Quentin (Noah Segan, pilot; Jon Paul Steuer, seasons 1–3; Sam Horrigan, seasons 4–5), happy-go-lucky Libby (Kaitlin Cullum), and infant Patrick (Dylan and Cole Sprouse); her happily married best friends and neighbors, Nadine and Wade Swoboda (Julie White and Casey Sander); and the town's bachelor pharmacist, Russell Norton (Dave Thomas).
In the first three seasons Grace's chosen line of work, post-divorce was operating pipelines at the local oil refinery, where she had a second family of fellow crew workers. Among them were Dougie Boudreau (Walter Olkewicz), Vic (Dave Florek), and Carl (Louis Mandylor). Their boss was Bill Davis (Charles Hallahan). Both Bill and Carl were dropped after the first season; while Carl had not had a permanent on-screen replacement, the crew's new boss was John Shirley (Paul Dooley) starting in the second season.
Russell's friendship with Grace, and their on-and-off dating rituals, became a running theme in the series. Throughout their friendship, they often dated other people; for a time in 1994, Grace dated Ryan Sparks (William Fichtner), a quirky chemist who worked in the oil refinery's labs. In season three, Grace entered into a relationship with suave plant executive Rick Bradshaw (Alan Autry). As with Ryan, the affair between Grace and Rick occurred despite their radically different places in the company ladder. They broke up at the end of season three, although Rick returned in season four to see if their romance could be rekindled.
In season four, Grace began taking college classes at night, paid for by her workplace. When the plant decided to stop funding her education about halfway through the season, Grace decided to quit the oil refinery and return to school full-time, as she only needed a few months of concentrated classes to graduate. The remainder of season four featured Grace as a full-time student, and towards the end of the season, she did, in fact, graduate. In the season finale, Grace took an entry-level position with an ad agency.
At the beginning of the fifth season, Grace decided that the commute and long working hours at the ad agency were forcing her to spend almost all of her time away from her family. She quit the agency job, and began working in the administrative/business end of a construction company owned by D.C. (Don "D.C." Curry). Also in that season, Russell found some romantic interest in Dottie (Lauren Tom), a gossiping hairstylist who was also friends with Grace. Nadine after having given birth to her and Wade's long-awaited child, abruptly decided to leave Wade and move to Colorado. It was explained that her character and her child had left, while Wade stayed behind. Actress Julie White had left the show between seasons four and five, and did not reprise her role in a guest capacity.