TV VIEWERS VOICE    

Our Viewers Voice Awards Banquet this year was supposed to be a celebration of a fantastic family show: “State of Grace.” Instead it turned out to be a very sad occasion, thanks to ABC Family canceling this well done series. “State of Grace” won the Viewers Voice Award for Favorite Half Hour Show, Favorite Supporting Actress and Actor and Favorite Child Performer. This is a show our members supported from the first day it aired and why not? It was everything a family could ask for in a half hour show and it received excellent ratings when FOX Family was behind it. Then ABC bought the network and gave the show no support and then claimed it didn’t have an audience. They moved it around from night to night and the viewers weren’t aware it was still on the air. They did very little to advertise “State of Grace” and their different time slots or for that matter to promote it at all.  

Our Awards Banquet started out with a cocktail hour before dinner and then the awards ceremony.  Our Viewers Voice board members arrived a little head of time so they could greet the guests as they entered the banquet room. The first celebrity to walk through the door was Bonnie Bailey-Reed who played Shirley on “State of Grace.” I talked to Bonnie for a few minutes and she told me how much she appreciated Viewers Voice and their efforts to save “State of Grace.” She was a very nice lady and showed real concern on the direction television programming was going.

The next guests to arrive were old friends of Viewers Voice, Fyvush Finkel (“Boston Public”) and his wife Tutie. As always they lit up the room when they entered. Fyvush has a way of making everyone feel like old friends. Fyvush was our guest speaker for the evening.  

More of the cast and crew of “State of Grace” also started filing in: Jason Blicker (Uncle Hescie), Viewers Voice Favorite Supporting Actor in a Primetime Series, the two young stars and Favorite Young Performers for Viewers Voice, Mae Whitman and Alia Shawkat and their mothers, “State of Grace” creators, Hollis Rich and Brenda Lilly, Bryan Neal (Walker), Patricia Forte (Cookie), Kingston DuCoeur (Greer), Adrian Neil (Nigel), Ann Major, costume designer, and Robin Lippin, the casting director.

A special lady attending as our guest was Lara McHanney, director of the Parents Television Council and two friends that a accompanied her. Viewers Voice doesn’t agree with some of the Television Councils views, but that doesn’t mean they’re not an excellent organization and we need all the help we can get to keep good television programming on the air. It was a real honor to have them attend our banquet.

A fun guest we had accept our invitation to attend and a Viewers Voice winner for Favorite Animal Performer was Breezy (Porthos) from “The Enterprise” and her trainers. Want to talk about an attention getter, Breezy is definitely that. Some of our “Enterprise” members were thrilled to death she could attend, including me. She had a chicken filet all her own and loved it.

Two guests we were all waiting anxiously for was Faye Grant (Tattie, from “State of Grace”), our winner for Favorite Supporting Actress in a Half-Hour Primetime Series and her husband, Stephen Collins (“7^th Heaven”). They got lost trying to find where we were

located, when they found us it made the banquet complete. You’re never going to find a nicer couple in the entertainment business. Although I have to admit the whole cast from “State of Grace” was fantastic. Hollis Rich and Brenda Lilly, the creators, are the sweetest people you’d ever want to meet. The ladies have class and talent for writing the best family programming beyond belief. Great ladies, you’d love them and they have genuine concern for the people who work for them.

After dinner our Awards program was presented, this is where I completely lost it. How can a show like “State of Grace” be canceled? I had a hard time keeping back the tears. Following is a part of Faye Grant’s very emotional acceptance speech:

Faye Grant (Tatie): “I wanted to thank the Viewers Voice members for acknowledging us and for supporting us. It’s really surprising how much support we’ve gotten since they announced that they’re not making any more of our episodes. I just want to thank you for being there, for being so strong for us.

This is a very poignant moment for me because I’ve been allowing myself to pretend like we’re just on hiatus (voice is crackling), until now.”

Faye went on to thank her fellow cast members, Ann Major, costume designer and Robin Lippman, casting director.

“I wanted to thank and mention Stan Rogow, who’s not here tonight, our executive producer, because he was able to inspire people and get people to do things more for less money on a daily basis, but also inspired them to do it and I really think that’s a sign of a great leader.

Finally I want to thank Brenda Lilly and Hollis Rich, who not only created the television show, they created an environment for an entire cast and crew that we couldn’t wait to get to work every day. We were almost joyfully giddy to be there because we know what we had; we knew what we had was so special. Brenda and Hollis had an office that was right near the stage. Most executive producers run away, they go some where they really are alone and they work and there kind of like on the top of the hill. Brenda and Hollis’s door was always open and they were always wonderfully accessible. In addition to creating a “State of Grace” the television show they created an environment which in this business is so rare and it was a state of grace for us to work in and I thank you so much.

I also want to thank my daughter Kate, who’s at a “Nutcracker” rehearsal, for sharing me, which was really hard for her and my husband Stephan for everything.”

In my next column look for the emotional speeches from Hollis Rich and Brenda Lilly, Mae Whitman, Alia Shawkat and Jason Blicker. Until then let your voice be heard.