Dharma & Greg
| Dharma & Greg | |
|---|---|
| File:Dharma&Greg.jpg D&G title card | |
| Created by | Dottie Dartland Chuck Lorre |
| Starring | Jenna Elfman Thomas Gibson Susan Sullivan Mitch Ryan Mimi Kennedy Alan Rachins Shae D'Lyn Joel Murray |
| Opening theme | "Dharma & Greg" by Dennis C. Brown |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of episodes | 119 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | est. 22 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | ABC |
| Release | September 24, 1997 – April 30, 2002 |
Dharma & Greg is an American television situation comedy co-produced by Chuck Lorre Productions, More-Medavoy Productions and 4 to 6 Foot Productions in association with 20th Century Fox Television for ABC. It first aired from September 24, 1997 to April 30, 2002 and starred actress Jenna Elfman and Thomas Gibson as Dharma and Greg Montgomery, a couple who marry instantly on their first date despite being complete opposites. The series also starred television veteran actress and Falcon Crest alumna, Susan Sullivan as Greg's snobbish mother, Kitty. The show's theme song was written and performed by composer Dennis C. Brown.
Created and executive produced by Dottie Dartland and Chuck Lorre, the comedy incorporated in Dharma & Greg took much of its inspiration from so-called culture-clashy "fish out of water" situations.[1] The show earned Elfman a Golden Globe for Best Actress, out of a total of eight nominations, and moreover garnered six Emmy and Satellite Awards nominations respectively.[1] In 2004, the plot loosely inspired Jay Roach's comedy sequel Meet the Fockers, starring Ben Stiller and Robert de Niro.[2]
Cast
Jenna Elfman as Dharma Freedom Montgomery, née Finkelstein, Greg's wife and a flower child. She is extremely peppy and ditzy, but she also seems to be more compassionate and forgiving than most people. Dharma encourages Greg to seek happiness, rather than fret about practical issues like money. Due to being homeschooled by Abby and Larry, she has a limited understanding of Western culture and is very naïve when it comes to trusting strangers. She is named after the concept of dharma in Indian philosophy. Once, her father's friend, native american gave her name "daughter of crazy man".
According to Chuck Lorre's eleventh vanity card (see below), he and Dottie Dartland originally conceived Dharma & Greg as "a series revolving around a woman whose personality is not a neurotic product of societal and parental conditioning, but of her own free-flowing, compassionate mind."
Thomas Gibson as lawyer Gregory "Greg" Clifford Montgomery, Dharma's husband. He is an upright, uptight, decent, though sometimes surprisingly open-minded, man. Greg's life was hopelessly banal before he met Dharma and married her on their first date. Since then, he has played straight man to the antics of his eccentric wife. Though his and Dharma's relationship has been rocky at times, Greg has never been shown to regret their marriage. He is shown to be an alumnus of the famous Phillips Exeter Academy, Harvard University, and Stanford Law.
Susan Sullivan as Katherine "Kitty" Montgomery, Greg's snobbish mother. She highly disapproves of Dharma and is often successful in making her feel guilty. This often has the unintended result of making Dharma try to make it up to her in a "special" way, which everyone tries (unsuccessfully) to talk her out of and which then leads to Dharma having another fiasco to make up for.
Kitty is generally represented as a manipulative, controlling woman and the other characters tend to consult her when they wish to do something evil. As an elite socialite, Kitty was initially quite displeased to have Dharma and her parents join the family, since they aren't exactly the kind of family she can present to her country club friends. However, she comes to accept Dharma somewhat over the course of the show and has even gone to her for condolence on rare occasions. She has also tried, unsuccessfully, to make Dharma come around to her way of thinking, especially involving the "responsibilities" of being the wife of a Montgomery.
Mitch Ryan as Edward Montgomery, Greg's eccentric father. His philosophy for dealing with women involves remaining as uninvolved as possible. Head of Montgomery Industries (though he keeps going to work only because he can see little tugboats out the window) and at odds with Dharma's father, who calls him "Ed" and whom he calls "Finkelstein." Ed is often seen drinking martinis and Scotch.
Mimi Kennedy as Abigail "Abby" Kathleen O'Neil, Dharma's caring mother, who encourages her daughter and son-in-law to produce children; "Feel free to have sex anywhere." Although they have a grown daughter and later a son, she and Larry are not married. Unlike her "lifemate" Larry, she immediately accepted Greg, though she still constantly annoys and conflicts with his parents. She is a militant vegan, which is a never-ending source of trouble.
Alan Rachins as Myron Lawrence "Larry" Finkelstein, Dharma's father. He is a stereotypical sixties radical who frequently rants about various conspiracies. Despite this, he manages to get along with Edward, often when both are sick of dealing with Kitty. It is often alluded to that Larry is a chronic user of Marijuana, though never proven. In the pilot episode Abby explains his usual cluelessness with "he blew out his short term memory back in 1972".
Shae D'Lyn as Jane Deaux, Dharma's friend. She considers all men more or less evil; over the course of the show, her hair went from black, to red, to blonde. She and Dharma met when Dharma was calling strangers to meet new friends. D'Lyn left at the end of the fourth season, though she had one "guest appearance" in season five.
Joel Murray as Peter "Pete" James Cavanaugh, one of Greg's fellow lawyers and a graduate of the Bob Marley School of Law. He's a particularly bad, lazy lawyer and was married to Jane for a time. His entire life can be summed up by the interior of his apartment: a massage chair surrounded by empty take-out containers, next to this is a small refrigerator and a stack of porno tapes. A high-class entertainment center is in front of this. It is said he wears adult diapers to football games. Greg once said of his friend; "Pete went to Law School in Barbados, he failed the Bar seven times. The last time because he threw up on the exam."
Other characters
- Celia (Lillian Hurst) — Kitty and Edward's Hispanic maid. She is given constant support from Larry, who views her as "oppressed." When Kitty and Edward are out of town, Celia and her family move into the Montgomerys' mansion and invite their friends over, pretending it's their house. (appears in 16 episodes)
- Marci (Helen Greenberg) — one of Dharma's Co-Op friends; nausy-voiced receptionist, whose vocabulary primarily consists of the words "I'm sorry" (appears in 17 episodes; Greenberg also played a different character in the episode "Drop Dead Gorgeous")
- Susan (Susan Chuang) - another of Dharma's friend from the Co-Op, she is seen as Marci's counterpart. Susan also pulls a "Dharma & Greg" with a lawyer hired by Kitty in a community garden spat (Her wedding, along with Dharma's accident was the Season 4 finale). (appears in 17 episodes)
- Marlene (Yeardley Smith) — Greg's legal secretary who he fired and then re-hired. She is snide, rude, and a bad secretary in general, though a better "lawyer" than Pete. (appears in 13 episodes)
- George (Floyd Westerman) — an elderly American Indian, who came to live with Dharma and Greg in the episode "Indian Summer"; he died at the end of the episode, but his ghost sometimes appears to Dharma to offer her advice. (appears in 4 episodes)
- Charlie (Kevin Sorbo) — a university professor going through a divorce who falls in love with Dharma. His affections, particularly a love letter and offering to drive Dharma home on a rainy day, cause Dharma and Greg to briefly separate. (appears in 4 episodes)
- Young Greg (Mathew Weiss) - Greg as a young boy. Falls in love with Dharma instantaneously when the two swap glances for the first time while barely missing each other on the subway. (only appears in pilot)
- Young Dharma (Megan Butala) - Dharma as a young girl (appears in pilot). Megan is Jenna Elfman's niece (her brother's daughter), as told by Elfman herself in the audio commentary to the pilot episode from the DVD release.
- Stinky — Dharma's and Greg's dog; a long-haired mutt
- Nunzio (Bud 1997–1998, Butch 1998–1999, Twiggy 2000–2001)— Stinky's dog, a Welsh Corgi; a gift from Dharma on Stinky's Bar Mitzvah
Cancellation
After a moderate success of five seasons, the series was cancelled in 2002 along with Spin City and Once and Again due to low ratings during the 2001–2002 season and a change in target demographics.
Years after the show was over, both Jenna Elfman and Thomas Gibson would return to television with their respective shows Courting Alex, a short-lived comedy, and Criminal Minds, a crime drama, back to back on Wednesdays on CBS during March 2006.
DVD Releases
20 Century Fox has released the first season of Dharma & Greg on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time. It is unknown if the remaining 4 seasons will be released at some point.
| Cover Art | DVD Name | Ep # | Release Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| File:Dandgs1dvd.jpg | The Complete 1st Season | 23 | June 13, 2006 |
Vanity cards
At the end of each episode, a message appeared on the screen for a brief moment, so that it is readable only to those who record the program (using a VCR, for example) and pause it. These "vanity cards" were written by producer and show co-creator Chuck Lorre, and express his personal views on a variety of subjects. These vanity cards are also seen at the end of episodes of CBS' Two and a Half Men, also a Chuck Lorre production.
Syndication
| Country | Alternate title/Translation | TV Network(s) | Weekly Schedule |
|---|---|---|---|
 Argentina |
Cosmopolitan Channel | ||
 Australia |
Seven Network, W. Channel | ||
 Austria |
Dharma und Greg | ATV | |
 Bulgaria |
Дарма и Грег | bTV, Fox Life | |
 Denmark |
Et umage par ("An Odd Couple") | TV3 | |
 Estonia |
Kanal2 | ||
 Finland |
Dharma ja Greg | MTV3 | |
 France |
Dharma & Greg | Teva | |
 Germany |
Dharma und Greg | ProSieben, Comedy Central | Comedy Central: 2EPs M-F @ 16.30 |
 India |
Star World | ||
 Japan |
ダーマ&グレッグ (a.k.a. ふたりは最高! ダーマ&グレッグ ) | NHK, FOX, Fox Life | |
 Netherlands |
RTL 5 | M-F @ ~19:30 | |
 Norway |
TVNorge | ||
 Poland |
Dharma i Greg | TV 4 | |
 Spain |
Paramount Comedy | ||
 Turkey |
CNBC-e, Fox Life | ||
 United Kingdom |
ITV, Living TV, Paramount Comedy 1, Sky One | ||
 USA |
FX Networks and WE: Women's Entertainment |
See also
External links
- ^ a b "Dharma & Greg trivia". IMDb. Retrieved 2007-06-30. Cite error: The named reference "imdb" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ "Meet the Fockers". TV Guide. Retrieved 2007-06-30.