''Muddling Through'' is an American television

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

that aired on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

from July 9, 1994, to September 7, 1994. The series starred Stephanie Hodge as an ex-convict trying to turn her life around.

History

Jennifer Aniston Jennifer Joanna Aniston (born February 11, 1969) is an American actress. She rose to international fame for her role as Rachel Green on the television sitcom ''Friends'' from 1994 to 2004, which earned her Primetime Emmy, Golden Globe, and Scr ...

(playing the daughter of Hodge's character) completed filming just before booking

Rachel Green Rachel Karen Green is a fictional character, one of the six main characters who appeared in the American sitcom ''Friends''. Portrayed by Jennifer Aniston, the character was created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, and appeared in all of ...

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

's fall sitcom ''

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane (producer), David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting List of Friends episodes, ten seasons. With an ensemble cast ...

''. ''Friends'' debuted just two weeks after ''Muddling Through'' aired its final episode, with one episode remaining unaired. According to NBC program executive Preston Beckman, Aniston had booked ''Friends'' as her second position and next role if ''Muddling Through'' failed, though Warner Bros. casting had positioned her as their top choice to play Rachel Green. NBC Entertainment head

Warren Littlefield Warren W. Littlefield (born May 11, 1952) is an American television executive. Born in Montclair, New Jersey, Littlefield attended Montclair High School and graduated from Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York, where he was awar ...

, who was under pressure by

Warner Bros. Television Warner Bros. Television Studios, operating under the name Warner Bros. Television (abbreviated as WBTV; formerly known as Warner Bros. Television Division), is an American television production and distribution studio and the flagship studio o ...

to have the network take on more financial liability to take ''Friends'', did so. NBC's programmers, including Beckman, then targeted the show's Saturday night timeslot (unusual for a summer entry at the time, and for the services of an actress whose trajectory was already on the rise) with replays of the network's popular '' Moment of Truth'' and

Danielle Steel Danielle Fernandes Dominique Schuelein-Steel (born August 14, 1947) is an American writer, best known for her romance novels. She is the bestselling living author and one of the best-selling fiction authors of all time, with over 800 milli ...

telefilm series (under an early version of the network's 90s summer marketing of programming repeats as being new to viewers if they had not seen their original broadcast) to starve the show's female demographic, in order to induce its eventual cancellation and allow Aniston to fully commit to ''Friends''. By its last three episodes, it was airing on Wednesdays and unable to overcome proven women-targeted shows on other networks, including repeats of ''

Unsolved Mysteries ''Unsolved Mysteries'' is an American mystery documentary television series, created by John Cosgrove and Terry Dunn Meurer. Documenting cold cases and paranormal phenomena, it began as a series of seven specials, presented by Raymond Burr, Kar ...

'' and the season premiere of ''

Beverly Hills 90210 ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' (often referred to as ''90210'') is an American teen drama television series created by Darren Star and produced by Aaron Spelling via his production company Spelling Television. The series ran for 10 seasons on Fo ...

'' on

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

, along with CBS's oncoming struggles with losing many of its prime affiliates due to the loss of

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

rights to Fox. Those affiliates had already begun to stop promoting CBS programming in the weeks before, including ''Muddling Through''.

Plot

Connie Drego is an ex-con, paroled after serving three years in prison for shooting her cheating husband, Sonny, in the buttocks. Connie returns home to work at Drego's Oasis, the family's diner/motel in rural

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. Other characters include Madeline, Connie's oldest daughter who is married to Duane Cooper, the cop who arrested Connie and whose testimony led to her conviction, and Kerri, Connie's youngest daughter.

Cast

Starring

* Stephanie Hodge as Connie Drego (10 episodes) *D. David Morin as Sonny Drego (10 episodes) *

as Madeline Drego Cooper (10 episodes) * Aimee Brooks as Kerri Drego (10 episodes) * Scott Waara as Duane Cooper (10 episodes)

Recurring

* Hal Landon Jr. as Gidney (7 episodes) * Hank Underwood as Lyle (7 episodes) * Forry Smith as Zane Whitman (2 episodes)

Guest starring

Sara Suzanne Brown Sara Suzanne Brown is an American actress who is best known for her appearances in softcore erotic films between 1991 and 1995. She made her film debut in a small role as a background dancer in '' The Last Boy Scout'' (1991). Among her films i ...

as Miss Lagermeister *

Blake Clark Blake Clark is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known as Chet Hunter on '' Boy Meets World'' and Harry Turner on '' Home Improvement''. Clark has voiced Slinky Dog in the ''Toy Story'' franchise starting with 2008's '' Toy Sto ...

as Ralph * Pamela Dunlap as Estelle *

Donald Gibb Donald Richard Gibb (born August 4, 1954) is an American actor, best known for his roles as the hulking, dimwitted fraternity brother Ogre in several installments of the '' Revenge of the Nerds'' film series, as Kumite fighter Ray Jackson in '' ...

as Bub *

Linda Hart Linda Hart (born July 5, 1950) is an American singer, musician, and actress, mainly appearing in musical theatre. Life and career Hart was born in Dallas, Texas, United States. As a child, Hart sang in her church choir; at age seven, she joine ...

as Fanny *

Andy Kindler Andy David Kindler (born October 16, 1956) is an American comedian and actor. He played the character "Andy", a fellow sportswriter and friend of sportswriter "Ray Barone" ( Ray Romano) on the TV show '' Everybody Loves Raymond'', was a regular ...

as Beer Distributor *

Don McManus Don McManus (sometimes credited as Don R. McManus) is an American actor. Born in San Diego, California, he is a graduate of Yale University. Career McManus's film credits include ''Vice'', ''Grand Piano'', '' Under the Silver Lake'', '' The Ma ...

as Nick *

Barbara Sharma Barbara Sharma (born Barbara Anna Sharma Schirmer; September 14, 1938) is an American actress and dancer of the night clubs, stage, television, and film. She began dancing at age 4 and professionally at age 9, dancing in nightclubs in Miami and Hav ...

as Mrs. Cooper * Lisa Sundstedt as Attractive Woman *

Richard Venture Richard Venture (born Richard Charles Venturella; November 12, 1923 – December 19, 2017) was an American actor. He performed in more than eighty films from 1964 to 2001. His television guest-credits include '' The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd ...

as Mr. Spivey

Series overview

Episodes

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 0108869, Muddling Through 1994 American television series debuts 1994 American television series endings 1990s American sitcoms American English-language television shows Television shows set in Michigan Television series by CBS Studios Television series by Sony Pictures Television CBS sitcoms