MAGGIE WINTERS
September 30, 1998 - February 3, 1999
16 episodes
CBS
Starring: Faith Ford, Alex Kapp Horner, Jenny Robertson, Brian Haley, with Clea Lewis and Shirley Knight
Created by: Kari Lizer
Plot: Maggie Winters (Ford) moves back to her small Indiana hometown to live with her mother (Knight) following a divorce. She reunites with her best friends from high school, Lisa and Robin (Horner & Robertson) as well as a rival, Rachel (Lewis) who still lives in the town. Rounding out the main cast is another friend, Tom (Haley).
Faith Ford is a really fun personality and that shined through in an otherwise run of the mill sitcom. She made it a better sitcom that it had any business being. It wasn't a fantastic pilot, but it was a likable enough one that did a good job of establishing Faith Ford's character as well as the relationships of those around her and their connection to her. Even when things were getting sort of dumb (like the friends singing "Total Eclipse of the Heart"), Ford kept it grounded in a place where she at least seemed believable and the other friends rose to her level eventually (Clea Lewis, fresh off of Ellen at the time, also had some funny moments).
I also think this pilot did a good job with the arc of the episode. It spent enough time with Maggie being frustrated with her surroundings and dismissive of the small town but redeemed her with enough time to spare. It felt paced well enough to not feel like either part of the episode was forced. So even though the jokes were sort of lame and the pilot was pretty standard fare, it didn't run into two problems so many sitcom pilots have. It didn't have a pacing issue and it didn't have a chemistry issue with the ensemble. Unless it's a groundbreaking sitcom, which this obviously was not, you can't really ask for much more.
Faith Ford was no stranger to the CBS audience when Maggie Winters premiered in Fall 1998. She had just finished a ten season run as Corky Sherwood on Murphy Brown, a role that earned her five Emmy nominations. When Murphy came to an end, CBS quickly kept Ford in the family with her own sitcom. Ford was also an executive producer and the show took over the 8:30pm slot on Wednesdays (after The Nanny) that Murphy Brown occupied for much of its final season. CBS had a hard time with Wednesdays though. They always had a successful comedy presence on Mondays but Wednesday shows were a tougher sell with The Nanny never quite the same when it moved to the night and Murphy Brown taking a dive in the ratings when it moved from its longtime Monday home.
Reviews were mixed for Maggie Winters but many agreed the show had promise. Variety said Ford rose above derivative material "thanks to her confidence and inherent likability" while the New York Times called the show "pleasantly watchable but uninspired." The timeslot probably hurt Maggie more than anything. If CBS had given it a Monday slot, it may have lasted more than a season but The Nanny was fading fast. The two sitcoms soldiered on until early February when Maggie was cancelled and Nanny was put on hiatus. Ford turned up in the second and third season of The Norm Show on ABC before getting her second major sitcom role with Hope & Faith that was slightly more successful.
Tomorrow: Very Very Cooking!
Next Wednesday: A One Season Wonder look at Vengeance Unlimited!
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