Raising Miranda aired from November until December 1988 on CBS.
Yet another of the myriad single-parent comedies so prevalent on tv in the 1980's, but one with a singularly unfunny premise. Raising Miranda was the story of construction contractor, Donald Marshack ( James Naughton), raising his 15-year-old daughter, Miranda ( Royana Black), in Racine, Wisconsin, after his wife Bonnie had deserted them to "find herself."
Helping Donald adjust to his new role as both mother and father were his best friends Joan and Bob Hoodenpyle ( Miriam Flynn, Steve Vinovich). Other cast members included: Marcine ( Amy Lynne), Miranda's lifelong best friend and pal; Jack( Michael Manasseri), the new transfer student at her high school and Russell( Bryan Cranston), Donald's flakey brother-in-law who lived in a van permanently parked in the Marshack driveway.
A Review From The New York Times
TV Weekend; Life Without Mother, Played for Laughs, on CBS
By JOHN J. O'CONNOR
Published: November 4, 1988
LEAD: What does a husband do when his wife decides to run off and find herself, leaving him with a 15-year-old daughter? With luck, he'll find himself a weekly sitcom. ''Raising Miranda,'' created by Jane Anderson for Grant Tinker's GTG Entertainment, is having its premiere on CBS at 8:30 tomorrow evening.
What does a husband do when his wife decides to run off and find herself, leaving him with a 15-year-old daughter? With luck, he'll find himself a weekly sitcom. ''Raising Miranda,'' created by Jane Anderson for Grant Tinker's GTG Entertainment, is having its premiere on CBS at 8:30 tomorrow evening.
Donald Marshack (James Naughton) runs a small construction business in Racine, Wis. The guys at work immediately know something has gone wrong with his flaky wife when they notice his sandwich - no sprouts. Without warning, Mrs. Marshack left for Phoenix that Saturday evening. It is now Monday morning, ''Black Monday'' for Donald and his daughter, Miranda (Royana Black).
The news is already all over town, and Donald and Miranda are facing a barrage of almost gleefully sympathetic friends. Concerned neighbors start knocking at the door with casseroles, half of which seem to consist of green peas, the rest of brown onions.
As luck would have it, the wife's aging hippie brother, Russell (Bryan Cranston), has decided to return that same weekend from his commune in Montana. Discovering what has happened, Russell murmurs, ''Ooh, bummer.'' Explaining that his latest girlfriend ditched him for ''some burnout,'' Russell announces plans to go into the business of installing illegal cable-television hookups.
Meanwhile, at school, Miranda has discovered that her best friend, Marcine (Amy Lynne), has told everybody about Mom's departure. Marcine believes, with some justification, that if gossip is going to be circulated anyway, it may as well be accurate. Miranda is not exactly grateful. Then a new student in town named Jack (Michael Manasseri) wants Miranda to be his tutor in science. Jack thinks Ayn Rand's ''Fountainhead'' is a great book.
And there you have the basic mix, produced and written by Ms. Anderson and Martha Williamson. John Whitesell directed. Beneath the standard sitcom jokes, ''Raising Miranda'' takes some promising turns. Father and daughter are hurt and confused. Mom is irresponsible, dubbed a quitter, but they have to admit her good points.
''She was the one who got me to play the flute,'' Miranda recalls with a smile, adding: ''I think she loved us, but she always had this look in her eyes as if she wasn't quite sure what she was doing here.''
It's not difficult to figure out why the astute Mr. Tinker and Michael Kozoll, his executive consultant, might see some potential in this sad-funny series. The attractive cast is a considerable asset. And there is a reasonable quota of laughs. Rushing over from her home with still another casserole, Marcine assures Miranda: ''You don't have to eat it; it's funeral food.'' There's a disarming edge to ''Raising Miranda.'' Young and Persistent
A Review from USA TODAY
TV PREVIEW/BY MONICA COLLINS
'Raising' Lowly comedy
A Miranda warning: You have the right to better TV.
This comedy provides more reasons to cry than to laugh.
To even label it a "comedy" is misleading. The jokes are not funny. The premise is utterly tragic. And this first episode is titled "Black Monday," which strikes an appropriate chord.
The series produced by GTG ( Grant Tinker's second co-venture with Gannett Co. Inc. this season), opens as a father and teen daughter pick up the pieces on a Monday morning after his wife/her mother has left home on Saturday.
Dad ( James Naughton) is trying to make daughter lunch. Daughter ( Royana Black) is running around attempting to sort the laundry. Both are in a high-pitched emotional state.
To further complicate things, mom's whacked-out brother Russell ( Bryan Cranston) has suddenly put in an appearance. And he's a burn -out case who wanders in and out of the kitchen as if trying to figure out what planet he's inhabiting.
Then the next-door neighbors, the Hoodenpyles ( Steve Vinovich and Miriam Flynn) drop by dripping with condensation and bearing a fresh baked coffee cake.
When both dad and daughter get to work and school, they find that they are the gossip du jour. Miranda's classmates treat her like she has a terminal disease. Dad's colleagues are curious; one is downright weepy about his plight.
The bright light of Miranda is Miranda, tragic Miranda, the neo-Dickensian waif who now must hold the household together. Royana Black has a sprightly sitcom spirit. But she is called on here to play low drama. Maybe if Raising Miranda were funny, she would have a chance to shine.
But Black, in this first episode, is overwhelmed by the craziness around her.
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