Television is always affected by whatever other shows have become hits. But not only that, actors who become favorites on a series often land new projects based on their previous popularity. This is kind of a mish-mash of that.
Diane English was the person behind this show, and her most successful series was the original lead in to this one on the CBS Schedule: "Murphy Brown." Jay Thomas, who was a semi-regular player on "Murphy" and on another popular sitcom, "Cheers," got promoted to the lead of this new series, where he plays Jack, a loud-mouthed crank of a columnist for a local paper who hangs out in this bar, just purchased by the Susan Dey character, Wally.
The template here is that aforementioned Boston watering hole, as the personalities of the patrons of The Blue Shamrock (that's the name of the bar) all come out in various episodes, and Jack and Wally start to have a kind of Sam and Diane "will they or won't they" relationship.
The patter, the rhythm of the dialog is what matters, and what gives the story life. This almost could have been set in the 1940s as one of those "screwball comedies" that were so popular at the time. The problem was Ms. Dey who had just wrapped up the series "L. A. Law," hadn't done any comedic acting in decades. Her chemistry with Jay was non-existent. So, she was removed from the show and added in was Annie Potts, of "Designing Women," here playing a chef named Dana who takes an immediate dislike to Jack, on their way to romance.
Essentially, "Love & War" had to become the rom-com it was with the connection of the lead players. Ms. Potts, who had been playing one of those sweet southern belles on "DW," shifted into a tough talking New Yorker for this role (not a problem, if you remembered her from "Ghostbusters"). The change worked and the series finally started to click.
New York played a part because it was still a "newspaper town" in the 90s, there were always characters that hung out and commented on the stuff they saw (the other patrons of the Blue Shamrock) and the possibility of love was out there. And, of course, there's always a need to have a drink for some reason, or no reason at all!
But here's the bottom line. As pleasant and as amusing as "Love & War" was, and it certainly fit those two adjectives most of the time, with a workable ensemble and some cute commentary, this show wasn't about to make anyone forget "Murphy Brown" or certainly not "Cheers" and that was the problem. "Love & War" had very little that distinguished itself as a show that was outstanding, or even that memorable, despite all of the efforts in making it work.
