Dharma & Greg
| Dharma & Greg | |
|---|---|
| File:Dharma & Greg.jpg | |
| Created by | Dottie Dartland Chuck Lorre |
| Starring | Jenna Elfman Thomas Gibson Susan Sullivan Mitch Ryan Mimi Kennedy Alan Rachins Shae D'Lyn Joel Murray |
| Country of origin | USA |
| No. of episodes | 119 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 22 minutes (per episode) |
| Original release | |
| Network | ABC |
| Release | September 24 1997 – April 30 2002 |
Dharma & Greg was an American television situation comedy broadcast between 1997 and 2002 on ABC.
The premise of the show was a relationship between two characters regarded as cultural opposites. Dharma (Jenna Elfman) was raised by hippie parents, a practitioner of yoga and an adherent of Eastern spiritualities. Greg (Thomas Gibson) was an attorney from an upper class, old money family of Republicans. They married each other on their first date.
The show focused on the characters' marriage and the compromise of their different values. However, both Dharma and Greg were more moderate than their parents, often caricatures, in personality and viewpoints. Most of the episodes take place in or around San Francisco, as that is where the main characters live (Dharma's parents live in Marin County).
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.
Main characters
Dharma
Dharma Freedom Montgomery, née Finkelstein (Jenna Elfman) is 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 appropriately named after the concept of dharma in Indian philosophy.
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." Although, when she almost cheats on Greg, the series takes a much more dramatic turn.
Greg
The lawyer Gregory "Greg" Clifford Montgomery (Thomas Gibson) is 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 in New Hampshire.
Kitty
Katherine "Kitty" Montgomery (Susan Sullivan) is Greg's snobbish mother. She highly disapproves of Dharma and is often successful in making her feel guilty. She is generally represented as a manipulative, controlling woman, and the other characters tend to consult her when they wish to do something evil.
Edward
Edward Montgomery (Mitch Ryan) is Greg's father. His philosophy for dealing with women involves remaining as uninvolved as possible. Head of Montgomery Industries (though he only keeps going to work 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.
Abby
Abigail "Abby" Kathleen O'Neil (Mimi Kennedy) is 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.
Larry
Myron Lawrence "Larry" Finkelstein (Alan Rachins) is 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. However, it would explain his poor short term memory.
Jane
Jane Deaux (briefly Jane Cavanaugh) (Shae D'Lyn) is 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.
Pete
Peter "Pete" James Cavanaugh (Joel Murray) is 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. 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.' (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 secretary who was fired and then re-hired by Greg. She is snide, rude, and a bad secretary in general. (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)
- 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
DVD Releases
United States Releases
| DVD Name | Release Date | Ep # | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season One | June 13 2006 | 23 | Audio commentary for "Pilot" and "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Father" by Jenna Elfman, Mimi Kennedy and Alan Rachins, When Worlds Collide: The Dharma & Greg Story, Vanity Cards, Reaching Your Inner Dharma |
| Season Two | TBA 2006 | 24 | |
| Season Three | TBA 2007 | 24 | |
| Season Four | TBA 2007 | 24 | |
| Season Five | TBA 2008 | 24 |
Trivia
 | This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. |
- The yin and yang symbol is used as the show's emblem.
- Dharma and Greg live in a different apartment in the earlier episodes. They moved in the episode "It Takes a Village."
- The show was frequently satirized on the "Family Guy," in which it was described as, "Wow, what a crazy pair: a free spirit and a puppet." Also, in the episode "Family Guy Viewer Mail 1", when Stewie and Brian use the laugh track box, Stewie says they used up the battery on Dharma & Greg.
- In The Simpsons episode "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge", Captain McCallister refuses to fight with Homer, with the excuse, "I've got a TiVo full of unwatched Dharrrrr-ma & Greg!"
- In episode 6 of Clone High JFK wants to watch Will & Grace at one point but wants to switch to Dharma & Greg later.
- Both Jenna Elfman and Thomas Gibson had their respective shows Courting Alex and Criminal Minds back to back on Wednesdays on CBS during March 2006.
- One episode features Bob Dylan as himself, in which Dharma is trying to join his band as a drummer.
- The show was thought to be picked up before it ended in 2002 by another network, however, plans fell through and the show ended.
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.
Syndication
- Bulgaria - bTV and Fox Life
- Japan - NHK, Fox Japan, Fox Life
- United Kingdom - Living TV/Paramount Comedy 1
- Denmark - TV2
- United States - FX Networks, WE: Women's Entertainment and many local TV stations around the USA.
Episode Guide
External links
