''Delta'' is an American

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

television series starring

Delta Burke Delta Ramona Leah Burke (born July 30, 1956) is an American actress, producer, and author. From 1986 to 1991, she starred as Suzanne Sugarbaker in the CBS sitcom ''Designing Women'', for which she was nominated for two Emmy Awards for Outstan ...

that aired on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

from September 15, 1992 to August 25, 1993. It was a new starring vehicle for Burke, as her return to television following her dismissal from the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

sitcom ''

Designing Women ''Designing Women'' is an American television sitcom created by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason that aired on CBS from September 29, 1986, to May 24, 1993, producing seven seasons and 163 episodes. It was a joint production of Bloodworth/Thomason M ...

'' in the spring of 1991.

Synopsis

Burke portrays Delta Bishop, a young woman with dreams of writing and singing country music. She became a hairstylist at Mona's House of Hair, married Charlie Bishop and thought she had found happiness. After eight years of marriage, she became restless: she was eager to follow in the footsteps of her childhood idol,

Patsy Cline Patsy is a given name often used as a diminutive of the feminine given name Patricia or sometimes the masculine name Patrick, or occasionally other names containing the syllable "Pat" (such as Cleopatra, Patience, Patrice, or Patricia). Among I ...

, and become a country music star. She quits her job, leaves her husband and friends behind, and travels to

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

. There, she finds an apartment over the garage of a home owned by her cousin, Lavonne Overton (Gigi Rice), and her husband, Buck (Bill Engvall). She also finds a job waiting tables at The Green Lantern, a local bar that hosts an amateur night which she believes that if she could sing her songs there, it could jumpstart her career. Burke, most popular for her role as Suzanne Sugarbaker on ''Designing Women'', reportedly utilized her own singing talents for the role of Bishop, and dyed her familiar

brunette Brown hair, also referred to as brunet (male) or brunette (female), is the second most common human hair color, after black hair. It varies from light brown to a medium dark hair. It is characterized by higher levels of the dark pigment eume ...

hair blonde to play the role. The theme song was "Climb That Mountain High" by

Reba McEntire Reba Nell McEntire (born March 28, 1955), or simply Reba, is an American country music singer and actress. Dubbed " the Queen of Country", she has sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Since the 1970s, McEntire has placed over 100 single ...

which was not a charted single; the tune was featured on Reba's 1990 MCA album ''

Rumor Has It Rumor Has It may refer to: Film and television * ''Rumor Has It'' (film), a 2005 romantic comedy film * ''Rumor Has It'' (game show), a 1993 game show on VH1 * ''Rumour Has It '', a 2016 series by Ndani TV Music * "Rumour Has It" (Donna S ...

''.

Cast

as Delta Bishop *

Earl Holliman Henry Earl Holliman (born September 11, 1928) is an American actor, animal-rights activist, and singer known for his many character roles in films, mostly Westerns and dramas, in the 1950s and 1960s. He won a Golden Globe Award for the film '' ...

as Darden Towe *

Gigi Rice Georgeanne Marie Rice is an American actress. Biography Rice graduated from The Ohio State University, with a bachelor of fine arts in musical theatre. Following her graduation, Rice served as an apprentice at Burt Reynolds's Maltz Jupiter Th ...

as Lavonne Overton *

Bill Engvall William Ray Engvall Jr. (born July 27, 1957) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and television host. Engvall has released a number of stand-up comedy albums through Warner Records and the defunct BNA Records. His most commercially successf ...

as Buck Overton *

Beth Grant Beth Grant (born September 18, 1949) is an American character actress. Between 2012 and 2017, she was a series regular on the television comedy '' The Mindy Project'' in the role of Beverly Janoszewski. She is also known for her role as Gracie ...

as Thelma Wainwright *

Nancy Giles Nancy Giles (born July 17, 1960) is an American actress and commentator, perhaps best known for her appearances in the series ''China Beach'' and on ''CBS News Sunday Morning''. Early life Nancy Giles was born in New York City, the daughter of ...

as Connie Morris * Joe Urla as Sandy Scott

Episodes

Broadcast history

The sitcom premiered September 15, 1992, to healthy ratings following ''

Roseanne ''Roseanne'' is an American sitcom television series created by Matt Williams and Roseanne Barr which aired on ABC from October 18, 1988, to May 20, 1997, and briefly revived from March 27, 2018, to May 22, 2018. The show stars Barr as Roseann ...

''. It then moved to Thursday nights opposite

FOX Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

's ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...

'', and ratings began to sink. It was pulled from the schedule in December 1992 and returned to ABC the following spring 1993 for six episodes before finally being canceled. In an attempt to infuse ratings, the show was moved back to Tuesdays after ''Roseanne'', and Burke brought her brunette hair back that spring (even refilming the opening credits to correspond with the change in hair color), in the sake of familiarity, but these changes proved to be too little, too late. It would rank 72nd for the season with an average 9.6 rating.

Award nominations

was nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries or Television Film at the 50th Golden Globe Awards in 1992.

References

External links

*
''Delta''
at

epguides.com epguides is a website dedicated to English language radio and television shows. Established in 1995 as The Episode Guides Page, it originally offered fan-compiled episode guides for hundreds of United States and United Kingdom series. In 1999, t ...

1992 American television series debuts 1993 American television series endings 1990s American musical comedy television series 1990s American sitcoms American Broadcasting Company original programming Television shows set in Tennessee Television series by Universal Television {{US-comedy-tv-prog-stub