1 9 9 2 (USA)
Adapted from the hit British comedy series Birds Of A Feather, this programme revolved around sisters Rochelle (Melissa Gilbert) and Lorraine (Rosie O’Donnell).
Rochelle’s husband, Roger (Sam McMurray), had been an apparently successful builder of sunrooms and patio enclosures – but he had actually been making most of his money robbing banks and laundering money with the help of Lorraine’s husband, Artie (Rick Hall).
After their men were caught (robbing the Franklin Heights Bank) and sent to prison for eight years, cynical, earthy Lorraine sold her trailer at the Camelot Court Trailer Park and moved into naive Rochelle’s fancy mansion in Paramus, New Jersey.
Despite their money problems, Rochelle was loath to get a job. Lorraine, meanwhile, worked at a Bargain Circus discount store with Gloria (Rusty Schwimmer) and Sophie (Ellen Ratners).
The girls regularly visited their husbands in prison, primarily because Rochelle was still madly in love with Roger. Lorraine just thought he was a crook who got her gullible Artie involved in his criminal activities.
Adrienne Stone (Miriam Flynn) was Rochelle’s snooty sex-crazy next-door neighbour, a status-conscious matron who made constant references to the jailbirds and the deterioration of the neighbourhood – despite her indiscriminate affairs with men, including Scab (Don Gibb), Lorraine’s illiterate biker friend.
Rochelle Dunphy
Melissa Gilbert-Brinkman
Lorraine Popowski
Rosie O’Donnell
Artie Popowski
Rick Hall
Roger Dunphy
Sam McMurray
Adrienne Stone
Miriam Flynn
Scab
Don Gibb
Gloria
Rusty Schwimmer
Sophie
Ellen Ratners