Thea (TV series)

Thea
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Bernie Kukoff
Written by	Bill Bryan; Lenore G. Bunt; Dan Cohen; Elias Davis; Tom Devanney; Michelle Jones; Bernie Kukoff; David Kukoff; David Pollack; F.J. Pratt; Donald Seigel; Terri Schaffer Hicks; Chris Sheridan; Latrice Williams
Directed by	John Bowab; Linda Day; Paul Kreppel; Jay Sandrich; Tony Singletary; Chuck Vinson
Starring	Thea Vidale; Adam Jeffries; Brandy Norwood; Jason Weaver; Brenden Jefferson; Cleavant Derricks; Yvette Wilson
Theme music composer	Freddie Washington; Benjamin Wright
Composer	Kurt Farquhar
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	19
Production
Executive producers	Bernie Kukoff; Andrew Susskind
Producers	Tom Devanney; Mary Ellen Jones
Running time	22–24 minutes
Production companies	Castle Rock Entertainment ; Columbia Pictures Television
Distributor	Sony Pictures Television
Release
Original network	ABC
Original release	September 8, 1993 –; February 16, 1994

Thea is an American sitcom that premiered September 8, 1993, on ABC, and last aired on February 16, 1994, for a total of 19 episodes. Starring comedian Thea Vidale, the series marked the first time an African American female comedian was the star of a series named after her.^[1]

Synopsis

Thea Vidale starred as Thea Turrell, a widowed mother of four who worked in a Houston, Texas, supermarket by day and ran a single-chair beauty salon on the corner of her porch in the evenings.

Although the show initially attracted high ratings, viewership declined steadily over the course of the season, and the series was canceled after 19 episodes, having ended the season in 43rd place.

Cast

Main

Thea Vidale — Thea Armstrong-Turrell, the show's title role; the no-nonsense widow and matriarch of four children
Adam Jeffries — Jarvis Turrell, Jr., Thea's deadpan 16-year-old son
Brandy Norwood — Danesha Turrell, Thea's bashful 15-year-old daughter
Jason Weaver — Jerome Turrell, Thea's cunning 14-year-old son
Brenden Jefferson — James Turrell, Thea's seven-year-old son
Yvette Wilson — Lynette Armstrong-Russell, Thea's younger sister
Cleavant Derricks — Charles Russell, Thea's brother-in-law

Recurring

Kenny Ford, Jr. — Leonard Thurman, Danesha's boyfriend
Miguel A. Nunez Jr. — Rickey, Thea's supervisor at Bagley's
Arvie Lowe, Jr. — Otis, one of Jerome's friends
Wesley Jonathan - Riddick, one of Jerome's friends

Guest

Blake Clark — Roy Bennett, Thea's boss at Mickey's Barbecue
Dennis Burkley — Walt Henderson, regular customer at Mickey's
Scotch Byerley — Claude Cooper, regular at Mickey's

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
1	"Pilot"	Jay Sandrich	Bernie Kukoff	September 8, 1993
Thea has a hectic routine: working at the supermarket checkout by day, dressing hair by night, and supervising her four demanding children. Jarvis gives his mother $25 which he earned delivering sandwiches during his school lunch hour, but she insists that he keep the money and eat his own lunch in the cafeteria. Danesha returns from taking James clothes-shopping, and James blabs that he had to keep trying on ill-fitting clothes while she talked on the phone to her new boyfriend Leonard, whom she's meeting at the library later. Thea insists that Leonard pick Danesha up at home so she can inspect him. Meanwhile, Jerome is supposedly at a friend's house doing a geography assignment, but Thea finds his geography book and knows that he has been at the video arcade instead, and grounds him before she leaves to attend a memorial service. It's the night of a big video-game competition, and Jerome sneaks out despite Jarvis' attempts to keep him at home, then must face Thea's wrath.
2	"Jerome Makes the Grade"	Jay Sandrich	Tom Devanney	September 10, 1993
Jerome is failing English because of his desperate attempts to make the school basketball team. When Thea forces him to finish his book report on "To Kill a Mockingbird", he doesn't make the team but gets a B on his report. Meanwhile, Danesha attempts to submit a video to America's Funniest Home Videos.
3	"Dirty Laundry"	TBA	TBA	September 15, 1993
The washing machine breaks down, which means endless trips to the laundromat. Meanwhile, Danesha's boyfriend is in hot water after he kisses another girl, and Thea puts him through the wringer before he can come clean with Danesha.
4	"How I Got Over"	Jay Sandrich	Michelle Jones	September 29, 1993
Thea gets a chance to train for manager, but Jerome plans a boxing-match party while Thea is at her night-school class.
5	"To Tell the Truth"	Jay Sandrich	Don Siegel	October 6, 1993
Jarvis lets his younger brother drive and they get into an accident, but the boys don't tell their mother who was behind the wheel. To punish them, Thea cooks up a scheme with Lynette, who pretends to have lost her wedding ring in her trash, now at the bottom of a very fragrant dumpster.
6	"Artie's Party"	Chuck Vinson	Bill Bryan & Tom Devanney	October 13, 1993
Conflict brews when Arthur invites Jarvis to his bachelor party but Thea thinks he's too young to attend.
7	"Here Comes Mr. Gordon"	TBA	TBA	October 15, 1993
Thea acquires an unwanted admirer.
8	"Birthday Girl"	TBA	TBA	November 3, 1993
On her birthday, Thea's treasured gift of tickets to a Motown reunion concert go unused when her boss calls her in to work a replacement shift.
9	"Danesha Loooves Leonard"	TBA	TBA	November 17, 1993
When Danesha's romance with Leonard disrupts the household, Jarvis and Jerome hatch a plan to split them up.
10	"Mama, I'm Full"	TBA	TBA	November 24, 1993
Thea must work at the market on Thanksgiving, so she entrusts Danesha with the cooking of the family feast.
11	"Good Stock"	TBA	TBA	December 1, 1993
Jerome finds he has a knack with stocks, which leads Thea to lend him a real-investment stake.
12	"A Christmas Story"	TBA	TBA	December 15, 1993
Jarvis procrastinates putting up the Christmas lights because he's afraid of heights.
13	"Danesha Project"	TBA	TBA	December 22, 1993
Danesha teams up with Cliff Croverd, the most popular guy in school, for a social-studies project on single parents.
14	"Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow"	TBA	TBA	January 5, 1994
Thea finds herself in a hairy situation when she can't afford mandated improvements to her in-home salon and an inspector wants to close it down.
15	"Who's Zoomin' Who"	TBA	TBA	January 12, 1994
Marcella uses Jerome to make her boyfriend Dwayne jealous, while Jerome uses the relationship to meet his own needs. Meanwhile, Thea decides to fix her own plumbing after Charles can't make time to do it for her.
16	"Of Fish and Men"	TBA	TBA	January 19, 1994
Danesha is paired with a basketball star for a school project, but he tries to pass all the work off on her.
17	"Call Me Thea"	TBA	TBA	February 2, 1994
Thea takes a day off, leaving the kids to do the household chores. She visits her favorite barbecue joint, Mickey's, but Mickey has died and new owner Roy's cooking doesn't come close, so Thea joins the restaurant as the head chef.
18	"T.C.B."	TBA	TBA	February 9, 1994
Barbecue-sauce chef Thea is offered a restaurant partnership.
19	"The Pie Queen and the Loan Duck"	TBA	TBA	February 16, 1994
Jarvis needs space and privacy to study for his college SATs. Meanwhile, Thea is outraged when she learns that Mitch Mallard, the banker who holds the mortgage on the diner, eats there for free.

Syndication

Reruns of the show aired on BET from 1994 to 1998 and returned to the same channel on Mother's Day in 2008 but stopped airing a few months later.

Ratings

Episode 1: 13.6/22, 20.7 million, #11
Episode 2: 10.4/20, 15.9 million, #29
Episode 3: 15.0/24, 23.4 million, #10
Episode 4: 10.1/17, 14.9 million, #52
Episode 5: 10.5/17, 15.4 million, #52
Episode 6: 10.3/16, 15.4 million, #53
Episode 7: 11.2/18, 17.0 million, #40
Episode 8: 10.0/16, 14.6 million, #57
Episode 9: 9.7/15, 15.1 million, #55
Episode 10: 9.3/16, 14.8 million, #56
Episode 11: 13.6/21, 22.2 million, #23
Episode 12: 9.6/16, 14.9 million, #54
Episode 13: 8.5/14, 14.2 million, #61
Episode 14: 11.4/17, 17.6 million, #45
Episode 15: 10.2/16, 15.0 million, #58
Episode 16: 11.5/17, 17.3 million, #47
Episode 17: 10.1/16, 15.6 million, #59
Episode 18: 10.7/16, 16.8 million, #48
Episode 19: 9.2/14, #46 ^[2]

Award nominations

Year	Award	Category	Recipient	Result
1994	Young Artist Awards	Outstanding Youth Ensemble in a Television Series	Brandy Norwood, Jason Weaver, Brenden Jefferson and Adam Jeffries	Nominated

References

^ Littleton, Darryl (2006). Black Comedians on Black Comedy: How African-Americans Taught Us to Laugh. Hal Leonard Corporation. pp. 252. ISBN 1-55783-680-9.
^ http://americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1994/BC-1994-02-28.pdf

External links

[1] Littleton, Darryl (2006). Black Comedians on Black Comedy: How African-Americans Taught Us to Laugh. Hal Leonard Corporation. pp. 252. ISBN 1-55783-680-9.

[2] ttp://americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1994/BC-1994-02-28.pdf

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