I highly recommend viewing this show for anyone who is able to find the reruns, bootlegs, and so forth. It was one of that last shows on television that I could actually stand to watch, and did so enthusiastically, thanks to a fantastic cast and writing that never tried to grab attention with extreme, unbelievable sensationalism (as most American TV shows do).
This was the story of the Delucca family, an Italian American family living in New Jersey. My favorites, Paul Sorvino and Ellen Burstyn headed up the cast as the parents of the DeLucca family, Frank and Dolly. They were a genuinely sweet pair, and really a pleasant performance to see. Initially, the show started out with Frank DeLucca working as a toll booth collector, then moved on to the DeLucca parents opening a successful restaurant in the city, then changed once more to Dolly winning the election as a city commissioner. Their grown children were Lydia (Heather Paige Kent) and Paulie (Kevin Dillon), though Lydia was initially the primary star of the show in that sort of 20-someting-narrative-of-my-kooky-family kind of way who got divorced and moved back home. Eventually however, the stories began to embrace all characters in more of an equal spot. Add to the mix, one cool Debi Mazar, playing the witty family friend, Jackie. And of course, more people moved into the show as it went along. It looked like the people on the show had a lot of fun working together, and that chemistry was really brought out on the show.
The stories were often funny and involved enough subplots to keep these moving along most of the time. The writers were even brave enough to address controversial, political issues once in a great while. Despite being a great show, those idiots at CBS could never help but to put them in poor time slots like Friday and Saturday nights, which isn't such a hot place to be if you're trying to find a niche at least among older audiences (especially late 20 and 30 old females) and you're still a relatively new show. Damn you CBS!
This was the story of the Delucca family, an Italian American family living in New Jersey. My favorites, Paul Sorvino and Ellen Burstyn headed up the cast as the parents of the DeLucca family, Frank and Dolly. They were a genuinely sweet pair, and really a pleasant performance to see. Initially, the show started out with Frank DeLucca working as a toll booth collector, then moved on to the DeLucca parents opening a successful restaurant in the city, then changed once more to Dolly winning the election as a city commissioner. Their grown children were Lydia (Heather Paige Kent) and Paulie (Kevin Dillon), though Lydia was initially the primary star of the show in that sort of 20-someting-narrative-of-my-kooky-family kind of way who got divorced and moved back home. Eventually however, the stories began to embrace all characters in more of an equal spot. Add to the mix, one cool Debi Mazar, playing the witty family friend, Jackie. And of course, more people moved into the show as it went along. It looked like the people on the show had a lot of fun working together, and that chemistry was really brought out on the show.
The stories were often funny and involved enough subplots to keep these moving along most of the time. The writers were even brave enough to address controversial, political issues once in a great while. Despite being a great show, those idiots at CBS could never help but to put them in poor time slots like Friday and Saturday nights, which isn't such a hot place to be if you're trying to find a niche at least among older audiences (especially late 20 and 30 old females) and you're still a relatively new show. Damn you CBS!