Style & Substance is an American sitcom television series created by Peter Tolan, starring Jean Smart and Nancy McKeon that aired on CBS from January 5 to September 2, 1998.
Premise
Jean Smart is Chelsea Stevens, a Martha Stewart-like star of a how-to home show, and Nancy McKeon is her producer, Jane Sokol, a small-town girl new to New York City. Chelsea Stevens was an expert cook, decorator, and party planner who knew much more about thread-count than she did relationships. She was well-meaning at times, but her narcissism usually got in the way of actually understanding anyone else's problems. Stories generally centered on Chelsea's predilection for saying and doing outrageous things, and Jane's efforts to clean up the messes that resulted from Chelsea's antics.
Cast and characters
Jean Smart as Chelsea Stevens: An egomaniac who built a media empire devoted to cooking and decorating, Chelsea found an escape from an unhappy childhood through collecting miniatures and modeling herself after television's "Yankee Gourmet," Gloria Utley (Jean Stapleton). She finds the need to control everything and is so self-centered that she's generally oblivious to the needs and feelings of everyone around her. These are precisely the reasons why her marriage to Grant Stevens ended. Nancy McKeon as Jane Sokol: A level-headed but somewhat timid Omaha native, Jane was born into a close-knit family. She relocated to New York after taking a job with Feber Communications, which bought out Chelsea's company. Although she's frequently exasperated by Chelsea's audacious antics, she quickly establishes herself as the diva's much-needed best friend and confidant. Joseph Maher as Hadley John: Hailing from the United Kingdom, Mr. John is an interior designer and openly gay man who continuously regales his coworkers with intimate personal stories about his longtime life-partner, Guy. He exudes a dignified sophistication, although he's absolutely spineless when confronted, and has never revealed his sexual orientation to his elderly parents. Linda Kash as Trudy Weissman: A Jewish New Yorker who's unafraid to say exactly what's on her mind, Trudy is a food stylist who has a knack for making items such as oil, paint, and lard look delicious. She's been unlucky in love and tends to prattle on about it endlessly. Heath Hyche as Terry: Raised on a farm, Terry is dimwitted and childlike. Chelsea gave him a job as her personal assistant as a favor to his aunt. Although he's utterly inept and frequently has Chelsea at her wit's end, he has such a puppy-dog-like adoration for her that she doesn't have the heart to let him go. Alan Autry as Earl: Self-described as Chelsea's gardener/handyman/spiritual advisor, Earl has the outward appearance of a lumberjack and the vocal inflection of Elvis Presley. He tends to breeze into a room, state his piece, and then dart out the door to continue his chores. Earl moved North from Memphis with wife Carol Ann, who broke his heart when she left him for a drywaller. Vyto Ruginis as Bobby: Chelsea's lawyer is a shameless womanizer and unabashed sleazeball who's petty and vindictive, which makes him extremely proficient in his profession.
Production
In the early 1990s, following the publication of the magazine Martha Stewart Living and its spin-off TV show, the businesswomen rose to prominence, gradually becoming a household name. Television writer Peter Tolan was asked to model a character after her, although he was adamant that the result wasn't a parody or personal attack; Stewart had merely served as the initial inspiration. Jean Smart first received a script in the mid-1990s, but she opted to star in the short-lived CBS sitcom High Society instead.
Eventually, Kathleen Turner took the role of Chelsea Stevens, and a pilot was shot for ABC in 1996. Robby Benson directed the episode, which costarred Lisa Rieffel, Anthony Mangano, Melinda McGraw, and Andrew Bilgore. Michael Eisner, then the head of The Walt Disney Company, personally phoned Turner to tell her that he loved the show, and it was promised a slot on the fall schedule, but the network reneged. Heartbroken, Turner speculated that this was because Disney planned to go into business with Martha Stewart, but Tolan later remarked that it was dropped due to a poor reaction with test audiences. Although Disney rejected it for the recently-acquired ABC network, they continued to produce under the Touchstone Television banner. Turner bowed out as the show was redeveloped for CBS, leaving producers desperate to fill the role, so they approached various other stars such as Julie Andrews.