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The Mommies ran from September 1993 until April 1995 on NBC.

The Mommies began as the most white-bread of tv comedies, two cheerful suburban moms cracking jokes about periods, pregnancies, dumb husbands, and kids. The 2 were almost interchangeable. Marilyn ( Marilyn Kentz), was the brunette, married to accountant Jack ( David Dukes) and mom to dense teenager Adam ( Shiloh Strong) and perky seven-year old Kasey ( Ashley Peldon). Caryl ( Caryl Kristensen) was the blonde, who was pregnant, married to easygoing computer technician Paul ( Robin Thomas), and mom to little Blake and Danny ( Ryan Merriman , Sam Gifaldi).

Although The Mommies did not draw much of an audience, NBC continued to tinker with it , adding bits of spice as time went along. Barb ( Julia Duffy) joined the cast after a few months as a too-perfect neighbor, making The Mommies a little less so by comparrison ( she was married to Ken-as in Ken and Barbie. Ken was played by Julia Duffy's newhart Co-Star Peter Scolari.). The role of Paul was recast with actor Lane Davies who had more of an edge and was more sarcastic, and stay-at-home dad Tom ( Jere Burns) moved into the neighborhood. Then in January 1995, Marilyn and Jack got divorced, leaving one mommie free to play the dating field. At the same time the name of the show was shortened to Mommies.

Based ( at least originally) on the stand-up comedy act of the 2 stars, Marily Kentz and Caryl Kristensen.

An Article from USA TODAY
Published on October 8, 1993

Suburban 'Mommies' at home with humor

By Jefferson Graham
USA TODAY

HOLLYWOOD-A year ago , Marilyn Kentz and Caryl Kristensen were suburban homemakers in Petaluma, Calif., outside San Francisco.

Now the tables have turned.

Their two families have moved to Los Angeles, where their husbands have quit their jobs and are taking care of the home and kids , while the wives go off to work every morning at Paramount Studios.

The moms are stars of NBC's The Mommies ( 8 p.m. ET/PT Saturdays), offering two funny suburban women expounding on life, love and motherhood. In other words, not just one Roseanne , but two.

" We hope to do for white bread cul-de-sacs what Roseanne's done for trailer parks," says Kristensen, 32.

The two women were neighbors in Petaluma who met in 1983 at a dinner party. They began to take acting classes together, but quickly switched to improv, because they found their teacher to be stuffy.

Then after attending a " Humor in the Workplace" seminar, they decided to move into that field, only to realize that they knew little about the traditional workplace-their arena was diapers and carpools.

" It wasn't corporate America who needed what we were saying," says Kentz, 46. " It was moms."

So they put on a humor show at the Petaluma Women's Club, and to their surprise , they were a hit. They started playing other northern California towns, dropping fliers at beauty shops, and day-care centers, selling out wherever they went.

" We had no idea how desperate women were to get out of their houses and laugh about their lives," Kentz says.

The turning point was summer 1992, when they appeared at the Montreal Comedy Festival, a venue that has become the Cannes of comedy with agents, studios and network exects searching for the next Jerry Seinfeld and Tim Allen.

The morning after The Mommies' appearance , they had sitcom offers from NBC, CBS and ABC. They signed with NBC, and then made a deal to have Paramount produce their show , in conjunction with former Golden Girls producers Kathy Speer and Terry Grossman, who are wife and husband and parents too.

On the show Marilyn and Caryl play Marilyn and Caryl ( just like Allen's Tim, Seinfeld's Jerry and Arnold's Roseanne), two neighbors who sit around the coffee table a lot talking about rasing kids and their hubbies.

So now, instead of washing dishes, they're spending their evenings memorizing lines , instead of packing the kids into the mini-van, they're riding in the back seats of limos.

" This really is unbelievable," Kentz says. " We're just two housewives from Petaluma. Can you believe it?"

Here is David Dukes' Obituary from CNN

Actor David Dukes dies at age 55

October 10, 2000

TACOMA, Washington (CNN) -- Veteran actor David Dukes died Monday. The 55-year-old actor never regained consciousness after collapsing, according to Helen Glaum, hospital supervisor at St. Claire Hospital in Tacoma.

It was not immediately known what caused Dukes to collapse. Glaum said resuscitation measures failed.

Dukes was in Tacoma filming Stephen King's "Rose Red," a mini-series scheduled to air on the ABC television network. ABC and the Walt Disney Co. spent $500,000 to remodel Thornewood Castle for the miniseries, scheduled to be aired in the spring of 2002.

His TV credits include the miniseries "The Winds of War," in which he played low-level career diplomat Leslie Slote in 1983, and "War and Remembrance" in 1989.

He was better known to younger viewers as Mr. McPhee on the WB TV show "Dawson's Creek." Other TV credits include appearances on the "The Practice" and "Law & Order."

He was nominated for an Emmy award for best supporting actor in a miniseries or special for his role in "The Josephine Baker Story" on HBO in 1991.

He also played a role in the critically acclaimed 1998 movie "Gods and Monsters" about horror director James Whale.

For more on The Mommies go to http://www.themommies.com/

For a Page dedicated to David Dukes go to http://www.carolmuskedukes.com/daviddukes.htm