Getting By
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| Getting By | |
|---|---|
| Format | Comedy |
| Starring | Telma Hopkins Cindy Williams Merlin Santana Deon Richmond Nicki Vannice Ashleigh Blair Sterling |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 31 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
Ken Cinnamon Karen Wengrod |
| Running time | 30 min. |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ABC, NBC |
| Original run | March 5, 1993 – June 18, 1994 |
| External links | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Getting By was a short-lived American sitcom produced by Thomas L. Miller and Robert L. Boyett, with the format created by William Bickley and Michael Warren. The show debuted on ABC in March 1993 on the TGIF block, but was canceled before the end of the season. NBC picked the show up in September 1993 and revived it; again, it was canceled by the end of that season.
[edit] Synopsis
The show was about two women, one white and one black, who inadvertently are sold the same house and decide to live there with both of their families. It starred Telma Hopkins as Dolores Dixon and Cindy Williams as Cathy Hale, two best friends and single mothers, who were also both employed as social workers for the Chicago Department of Welfare. The unique living situation went off without too much of a hitch, especially with the kids, although there were the normal pains, squabbles and adjustments expected with the territory. Dolores had two sons, teenage Marcus (Merlin Santana) and preteen Darren (Deon Richmond). Cathy had two daughters, teenage Julie (Nicki Vannice) and cute youngster Nikki (Ashleigh Blair Sterling). Many of the plots revolved around the kids learning to relate to each other and their numerous misadventures, and Dolores and Cathy's discovery that living together was putting a new face on their friendship. Dolores was sensible, headstrong, and very much down to earth, while Cathy seemed too preoccupied with perfection, and was afraid to take new risks. Eventually, Cathy became determined to shake off her "goody two shoes" image and sought the guidance of Dolores to bring her more in touch with the real world.
The first season's opening sequence was a single scene in which both mothers were handing their children their bagged lunches, as the kids raced around the kitchen before going off to school. The theme song was a gentle tune with a traditional Miller-Boyett "inspirational" sound, featuring male vocals. The credit font used in these episodes was the same italicized, orange font used in Family Matters. For Getting By's only full season on NBC, the opening changed to featuring cut-out animation of a house, with various windows and doorways that opened and closed when cast members and episode scenes were revealed. The multicolored graphics and font was now in a type similar to the font used on Step By Step. The theme music was also re-written with new lyrics set to a funky melody; however, the same male vocalist from season one's theme remained.
[edit] Development
Miller-Boyett Productions, along with their associates Bickley/Warren, were looking to develop a new sitcom for ABC in 1992 centered around a white family that adopted a black son, which looked to be an original, less heavy-handed 1990s spin on Diff'rent Strokes and Webster. The project was titled A New Day, and had Cindy Williams cast as the mother. Plans were moving forward on the series for a fall 1992 debut, until a change in direction occurred. Telma Hopkins, who had been co-starring for the past three years as Rachel Crawford on Family Matters, decided that year that she wanted to leave that series for her own venture, which her employers were more than willing to provide. In the process of coming up with a concept for Hopkins' series, producers in the end experimented with the idea of adding her into A New Day with Williams, to see how the casting would work. Both women clicked as equal leads, so the show's premiere was moved up by several months as Miller/Boyett and company tinkered with the format, resulting in the final product known as Getting By.
