Delta | |
---|---|
Created by | Miriam Trogdon |
Directed by | Andy Cadiff James Widdoes |
Starring |
Delta Burke Bill Engvall Beth Grant Earl Holliman Gigi Rice Nancy Giles |
Opening theme | "Climb That Mountain High" by Reba McEntire |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 17 |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) |
Barry Kemp Delta Burke |
Producer(s) | Jay Kleckner Lisa Albert |
Location(s) |
Universal Studios Universal City, California |
Running time | 22 minutes |
Production company(s) | Perseverance Inc. Bungalow 78 Productions Universal Television |
Distributor | NBCUniversal Television Distribution |
Release | |
Original network | ABC |
Original release | September 15, 1992 – August 25, 1993 |
Delta is an American sitcom starring Delta Burke that aired on ABC from September 15, 1992 to August 25, 1993. The series was a new starring vehicle for Burke, as her return to television following her dismissal from the CBS sitcom Designing Women in the spring of 1991.
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, Delta became restless: she was eager to follow in the footsteps of her childhood idol, Patsy Cline, and become a country music star. She quits her job, leaves her husband and friends behind and travels to Nashville, Tennessee. In Nashville, Delta 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 Delta believes that if she could sing her songs there, it could jumpstart her career.
Burke, most popular for her role as Suzanne Sugarbaker in Designing Women, reportedly utilized her own singing talents for the role of Bishop, and dyed her familiar brunette hair blonde to play the role. The theme song for the show was "Climb That Mountain High" by Reba McEntire which was not a charted single; the tune was featured on Reba's 1990 MCA album Rumor Has It.
The series premiered September 15, 1992, to healthy ratings following Roseanne. The series then moved to Thursday nights opposite FOX's The Simpsons, and ratings began to sink. The show 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, Burke brought her brunette hair back that spring (even re-filming the show's opening title sequence to correspond with the change in hair color), in the sake of familiarity, but it did little to save the series.