The Help was a short lived television sitcom created by Married... with Children co-creator, Ron Leavitt and featured MWC star David Faustino in a recurring role. A total of seven episodes aired on The WB between March and April 2004 before it was cancelled.
It was also Leavitt's final project before he passed away in 2008.
Plot[]
Maria, a 22 year old woman who is studying to become a beautician, is forced to move back home to care for her ailing mother. Following her mother's passing, she is forced to take over her mother's job, working as a maid for the wealthy Ridgeway family. She learns about the class struggle between the Ridgeway and the help, as well as the conflicts between the help.
The Ridgeways
- Arlene - The rich lady
- Veronica - The pop-star daughter
- Cassandra - The spoiled daughter
- Adam - The eldest son
- Douglas - The "baby"
- Grandpa Eddie - Arlene's father
The Help
- Maria - Family maid
- Ollie - Chauffer who is sleeping with Veronica and sells fake I.D.s on the side
- Molly - Dog walker who is mentally unstable and is sleeping with Adam
- Doris - Senior nanny
- Anna - Younger nanny from Russia who is the love interest of Douglas
- Dwayne - Personal trainer who is dim-witted and often refers to himself in the third person
- Maggie - Cook
- Bernice Hipple - Arlene's personal secretary who likely lost her job after drinking wine with the help (before revealing that she's a recovering alcoholic) and ended up sleeping with Adam.
Although most of the cast were relatively new, the show also featured several actors who were well known in the early to mid 1990s including David Faustino, Tori Spelling (Beverly Hills, 90210) as Molly, Antonio Sabato Jr. (Melrose Place, General Hospital) as Dwayne and Lisa Kennedy Montgomery (a.k.a. "Kennedy", MTV VJ) as Bernice Hipple. Mindy Cohn, who play Maggie, was also known for starring in the 1980s sitcom, The Facts of Life, which was referenced several times on MWC.
While the show did well in its Friday night timeslot, particularly among women in the 18-34 age demographic, critics found the show to be rather unfunny and underdeveloped, relying more on bad jokes, sexual innuendos and scantily clad women, leading to its rather quick cancellation.
Some reviews mentioned that the second episode, "Dwyane Gets a Cold", featured a rather tasteless joke aimed at the ABC sitcom 8 Simple Rules (which starred MWC actress Katey Sagal).[1][2] The joke involved Ollie shutting the door on an emotional Dwayne, who was being fired due to catching a cold, and then turns to the group and says, “I haven’t seen that much phony emotion since the promos for ‘8 Simple Rules.’ ”. The line may have been a reference to the promotion that the network used to pay tribute to 8 Simple Rules actor John Ritter who had died while filming the second season in September 2003, six months before The Help premiered.[3]
Some critics have also noted that the show suffered from having a large cast, making it hard to follow any of the characters in-depth, as well as failing to live up to its description about being a satire about the wealthy and the poor.
MWC Cast on the show[]
MWC star David Faustino had a recurring role as Adam Ridgeway, the eldest son who is a womanizing alcoholic and relies on his mother's wealth to get him out of trouble with the law. He often points and grunts to communicate while in a constant drunken stupor. He is shown to be in a sexual relationship with Molly and at least one other woman. He also has sex with a drunken Bernice at one point, which the help use to their advantage to get her fired, after she caught them partying in the house while the rest of the family was on vacation.
Frank Lloyd, who played Al's friend Norris and was also the stunt coordinator on MWC, played a robber in the pilot episode.
Geoff Pierson, who played Roland Squab and also starred in Unhappily Ever After, made an uncredited appearance as the owner of The Wet Thigh strip club in the sixth episode, "Doghouse".
Several MWC staff members also worked on the show including Gerry Cohen, Marcy Vosburgh, Stacie Lipp, Steven Ritt, Richard Improta, Michael Semon, Tammara Billik, Larry Harris, and Tony Yarlett.
References[]
- ↑ MAID FOR EACH OTHER ; GIVE ‘THE HELP’ A HAND. New York Post (March 5, 2004).
- ↑ The Help. Variety (February 29, 2004).
- ↑ 8 simple rules - Season 2 Premiere Promo - Unforseen Circumstances John Ritter