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
September 8, 1993 (1993-09-08) – February 16, 1994 (1994-02-16)
Thea is an American sitcom that premiered September 8, 1993, on ABC, and ended on February 16, 1994, for a total of 19 episodes. Starring stand-up comedian Thea Vidale, Thea series marked the first time an African American woman comedian was the star of a series named after her.[1]
Synopsis
Set in Houston, Texas, Thea Vidale stars as title character Thea Armstrong-Turrell, a widowed mother of four children who works as a supermarket cashier during the day and runs a single-chair beauty salon called Styles by Thea from her home at night.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
