The 5 Mrs. Buchanans is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS from September 24, 1994 to March 25, 1995. Set in the fictional town of Mercy, Indiana, the show centers on the small-town misadventures of four diverse women with one thing in common: their loathing for their monster of a mother-in-law.
Overview.
The unofficial leader of the group is Alexandria (Judith Ivey), a Jewish 1970s crusader from New York City, who settled down and had a son, Chris, soon after marrying future high school principal Roy Buchanan (John Getz). Everyone regularly convenes in their home and at the thrift store that she owns. Vivian (Harriet Sansom Harris) is trapped in a stagnant marriage to used car salesman Ed Buchanan (Richard Poe), which is exacerbated by their hellion twin sons, Lyndon and PJ. Delilah (Beth Broderick) is a sweet, ditsy former Texas stripper who fell in love with church preacher Rev. Charles Buchanan (Mark Moses). These ladies are pulled together for various family and social functions, and they've forged deep bonds despite their distinctively different personalities. New to the family is Bree (Charlotte Ross), a Californian and former Disneyland employee who had a whirlwind romance with Jesse Buchanan (Tommy Hinkley) during his vacation at the theme park. And always meddling in their lives is Mother Emma Buchanan (Eileen Heckart), a gravelly-voiced, stoic, passive-aggressive gargoyle of a woman who commands the ceaseless devotion and adoration of her four sons.
Episodes.
"The 5 Mrs. Buchanans" regularly aired on Saturday nights on CBS, though one episode of the series aired as part of CBS's Monday night comedy lineup, and another episode aired on a Wednesday.
Production.
The show was titled "The Four Mrs. Buchanans" in the original series pilot, referring to only the four daughters-in-law. The opening scene was completely revised and reshot and a pair of jokes about Delilah's skimpy dress were replaced with alternate one-liners about her heavy makeup when the pilot was broadcast as "The 5 Mrs. Buchanans".
With an initial series order of 13 episodes, shortly after its premiere CBS announced it had given the series a five-episode pick-up. However, only 17 episodes were aired and are known to have been produced.
Eileen Heckart stated in an interview at the time that CBS had picked up more episodes of the show with the intention of moving it from Saturday nights, where it was faltering, to Mondays following "Murphy Brown". The network ultimately changed its mind after ordering "Cybill" as a mid-season replacement, though the seventh episode of "The 5 Mrs. Buchanans" did air once in this timeslot as a "special preview" on October 31, 1994.
References.
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