Country stars Luke and Betsy Baxter had a string of hit duets which led them to headline in Las Vegas, but after Luke suddenly dropped dead, Betsy heard the voice of God, who told her to return home to Grundy, Tennessee. Best friend Donna was elated to see her, but sister Lily was less than thrilled, perceiving Betsy as a irresponsible mess. Reverend Rockwood was also somewhat unsympathetic, although he liked having her heavenly voice in the choir. Before long, Betsy started seeing Herschel, her black guardian angel, who intermittently popped up to guide her in the right direction. She took a job waitressing at Spec's Diner, but after it was repossessed by the bank, she and passerby Joey bought it and went into business together. Angeline was Donna's teenage daughter, Charlotte was Lily's youngster, Bo was the local cop whom Betsy had a history with, and Mrs. Pepperwood was a spinster busybody. That gets the plot and primary characters out of the way...
Dolly Parton was very busy in 1994 with the release of her best-selling autobiography, a live album, and a line of makeup and wigs. The show got a lot of press and was supposed to debut in early 1995, but it suffered a series of production problems and has never officially seen the light of day. Which is a shame, because it's really not bad. To stick near her Tennessee home, Parton opted to shoot it at Nickelodeon Studios in Florida, and it was believed that this was gonna boost the studio into the big-time -- but it had exactly the opposite effect, pushing the studio into decline and eventual closure. Run-through rehearsals were blocked, shot, and sent on a satellite feed to Hollywood, where executives made their notes and faxed them back to the crew. This might've worked with 21st century video conference technology, but the lag in '90s communication was reportedly a nightmare for everyone involved, and resulted in a revolving-door of writers, producers, and actors.
Copies of the show began being passed around on VHS among Dolly's fans in the late 1990s, but I was never able to get my hands on them (there appear to be both rehearsals and the final cuts in circulation). Eventually, most episodes found their way to Facebook (only to vanish again), although only one episode was from the final taping with the audience, the rest were rehearsals, and the multi-generation video quality was pretty terrible.
Watching it, it was very evident that there were production issues. Guardian angel Herschel must've been added in the second show (which was missing), restaurateur Spec was the central focus of one episode and he was gone the next week, and other characters seemed to enter the ensemble only to be dropped or pushed into the background. It was definitely inconsistent... and predictably, there were WAY too many jokes about Parton's bust.
That said, it wasn't so bad that it should be locked away forever. Parton was her charming, quick-witted self, Connie Schulman was a hoot as her hick bestie, Boyd Gaines had some hilarious moments as the Reverend, loved to hate Connie Ray as her condescending sister, and Parton had great chemistry with John Caponera, her character's eventual business partner. Sure, it was a mixed bag, but there were certainly some funny moments (plus several musical numbers), and it was elevated by the cast.
Here's hoping that the final cuts all make their way online someday, either officially or unofficially. I understand why the powers that be lost faith in it, but it still should have burned off on TV over the summer of '95, cuz it's not so bad that it deserved to be lost media. There were WAY worse sitcoms that year (If Not For You, Simon, and the Get Smart revival all jump to mind), and honestly, it's less of a trainwreck than Dolly's now-most-recent film, Mountain Magic Christmas.
