Ned & Stacey
Encyclopedia
Ned & Stacey is a US
television
sitcom
that aired on the FOX
network from 1995 to 1997. It starred Thomas Haden Church
and Debra Messing
. The major thread of the series was that the two were brought together in a marriage of convenience
—Ned Dorsey (Church) needed to be married to get a promotion
at work, while Stacey Colbert (Messing) desperately needed a place to live and Ned had a very good apartment
.
Ned and Stacey often socialized with Stacey's sister, Amanda (Nadia Dajani
) and her husband, Eric (Greg Germann
). Other recurring characters included Stacey's parents and Ned's boss.
Ned: Why Stacey?
Stacey: Why Ned?
Ned: It was business.
Stacey: Strictly business.
Ned: Here's the deal - to get a promotion, I needed a wife.
Stacey: To get a life, I needed his apartment.
Ned: So what the hell, we up and got married.
Stacey: The only thing we have in common? We irritate each other.
Ned: Right! Enjoy the show.
executive, he marries Stacey in order to get a promotion. On the surface Ned is a self-absorbed egomaniac who uses anything and anyone to get ahead. However, Ned also showed compassion and empathy for his friends, especially Stacey.
Eventually, Ned falls in love with Stacey, but the series was cancelled before this was further developed.
According to Stacey, Ned achieved a rapid rise to the top by breaking in and writing complimentary reports on his performance at work. He is normally well-dressed and has an almost obsessive love for the TV series Mr. Belvedere
. Ned also loves loganberries
.
), a beautiful, red-haired journalist
with a degree from Brandeis
, is living at home. To get away from her parents, she "marries" her brother-in-law's best friend—the cynical, cantankerous Ned. She covets his apartment with a view of Central Park. He needs to appear settled and stable (i.e. married) to get a promotion. Eventually, Stacey falls in love with Ned; but the series was cancelled before this was further developed.
Stacey constantly struggles to land a decent job in journalism, freelancing before landing a job writing for a freebie airline journal.
Stacey's parents are Ellen (Dori Brenner) and Saul (Harry Goz
). She has one sister, Amanda. She is variously referred to (including by herself) as Stacey Colbert and Stacey Dorsey.
) is openly critical of the fake marriage, in general, and Ned, in particular, especially as her husband is Ned's best friend. During Season 1, Amanda was working as a high-end real estate
agent. After a property investment with Ned goes wrong, she finds herself running a muffin store, "Amanda's Amuffins," during Season 2. She has one son, named Howard.
To contrast with Stacey, Amanda is strong, well organized, and cynical in face of her sister's idealism. She is not afraid to speak her mind, to spout sarcastic or even rude remarks or to act aggressive, especially since she has a rather short temper.
She loves her husband, Eric, and often pushes him around, but most often she does this to make him stand up for himself or act on otherwise lost opportunities.
) is Stacey's brother-in-law, Amanda's husband, and Ned's best friend. He is an accountant at Ned's advertising firm. Called Rico by Ned, he is slightly nerdy in a good natured way; and his straight down-the-middle persona was often used to counter Ned's over-the-top antics.
Eric is sometimes jealous of Ned's close relationship with their shared parents-in-law. Whereas Ned was an instant hit, Eric has been unable to connect with them, even though he is the father of their only grandchild, Howard.
Eric is a mellow person, who is always being used by Ned in his personal schemes. He doesn't mind it since he idolizes his friend. He seldom stands up for himself; and, most often his wife, Amanda, has to step in when things threaten to get out of hand.
TV Guide Network began airing reruns of the show September 12, 2011. Oxygen also airs the show every now and then, usually on Thursday mornings at 6am EST.
released the first season of Ned and Stacey on DVD in Region 1. Due to poor sales, it is currently unknown whether they will ever release the second and final season.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
sitcom
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
that aired on the FOX
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
network from 1995 to 1997. It starred Thomas Haden Church
Thomas Haden Church
Thomas Haden Church is an American actor. After co-starring in the 1990s sitcom Wings, Church became well known for his film roles, including his Academy Award-nominated performance in Sideways and his role as the Sandman in Spider-Man 3.-Early life:Church, the fourth of six children, was born...
and Debra Messing
Debra Messing
Debra Lynn Messing is an American actress, voice artist, and comedienne. She is perhaps best known for her role as Grace Adler in the NBC sitcom Will & Grace and as Molly Kagan in the mini-series The Starter Wife....
. The major thread of the series was that the two were brought together in a marriage of convenience
Marriage of convenience
A marriage of convenience is a marriage contracted for reasons other than the reasons of relationship, family, or love. Instead, such a marriage is orchestrated for personal gain or some other sort of strategic purpose, such as political marriage. The phrase is a calque of - a marriage of...
—Ned Dorsey (Church) needed to be married to get a promotion
Promotion (rank)
A promotion is the advancement of an employee's rank or position in an organizational hierarchy system. Promotion may be an employee's reward for good performance i.e. positive appraisal...
at work, while Stacey Colbert (Messing) desperately needed a place to live and Ned had a very good apartment
Apartment
An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...
.
Ned and Stacey often socialized with Stacey's sister, Amanda (Nadia Dajani
Nadia Dajani
Nadia Dajani is an American actress of Irish and Palestinian descent.-Acting career:For two seasons , she starred as Amanda Moyer in the Fox television sitcom, Ned & Stacey. She starred in numerous television pilots...
) and her husband, Eric (Greg Germann
Greg Germann
Gregory Andrew "Greg" Germann is an American actor. He played the roles of Richard Fish in the television series Ally McBeal, businessman Mattson from Child's Play 2 and the vet Laurence from Quarantine...
). Other recurring characters included Stacey's parents and Ned's boss.
Main cast
- Ned Dorsey, played by Thomas Haden ChurchThomas Haden ChurchThomas Haden Church is an American actor. After co-starring in the 1990s sitcom Wings, Church became well known for his film roles, including his Academy Award-nominated performance in Sideways and his role as the Sandman in Spider-Man 3.-Early life:Church, the fourth of six children, was born...
- Stacey Colbert, played by Debra MessingDebra MessingDebra Lynn Messing is an American actress, voice artist, and comedienne. She is perhaps best known for her role as Grace Adler in the NBC sitcom Will & Grace and as Molly Kagan in the mini-series The Starter Wife....
- Eric "Rico" Moyer, played by Greg GermannGreg GermannGregory Andrew "Greg" Germann is an American actor. He played the roles of Richard Fish in the television series Ally McBeal, businessman Mattson from Child's Play 2 and the vet Laurence from Quarantine...
- Amanda Colbert, played by Nadia DajaniNadia DajaniNadia Dajani is an American actress of Irish and Palestinian descent.-Acting career:For two seasons , she starred as Amanda Moyer in the Fox television sitcom, Ned & Stacey. She starred in numerous television pilots...
Intro dialogue
(Spoken during the opening theme)Ned: Why Stacey?
Stacey: Why Ned?
Ned: It was business.
Stacey: Strictly business.
Ned: Here's the deal - to get a promotion, I needed a wife.
Stacey: To get a life, I needed his apartment.
Ned: So what the hell, we up and got married.
Stacey: The only thing we have in common? We irritate each other.
Ned: Right! Enjoy the show.
Ned Dorsey
An obsessive-compulsive advertisingAdvertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
executive, he marries Stacey in order to get a promotion. On the surface Ned is a self-absorbed egomaniac who uses anything and anyone to get ahead. However, Ned also showed compassion and empathy for his friends, especially Stacey.
Eventually, Ned falls in love with Stacey, but the series was cancelled before this was further developed.
According to Stacey, Ned achieved a rapid rise to the top by breaking in and writing complimentary reports on his performance at work. He is normally well-dressed and has an almost obsessive love for the TV series Mr. Belvedere
Mr. Belvedere
Mr. Belvedere is an American sitcom that originally aired on ABC from March 15, 1985, until July 8, 1990. The series was based on the Lynn Aloysius Belvedere character created by Gwen Davenport for her 1947 novel Belvedere, which was later adapted into the 1948 film Sitting Pretty...
. Ned also loves loganberries
Loganberry
The loganberry is an hexaploid hybrid produced from crossing an octaploid blackberry and a diploid red raspberry. The plant and the fruit resemble the blackberry more than the raspberry, but the fruit colour is a dark red, rather than black...
.
Stacey Colbert Dorsey
In the pilot, Stacey (Debra MessingDebra Messing
Debra Lynn Messing is an American actress, voice artist, and comedienne. She is perhaps best known for her role as Grace Adler in the NBC sitcom Will & Grace and as Molly Kagan in the mini-series The Starter Wife....
), a beautiful, red-haired journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
with a degree from Brandeis
Brandeis University
Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...
, is living at home. To get away from her parents, she "marries" her brother-in-law's best friend—the cynical, cantankerous Ned. She covets his apartment with a view of Central Park. He needs to appear settled and stable (i.e. married) to get a promotion. Eventually, Stacey falls in love with Ned; but the series was cancelled before this was further developed.
Stacey constantly struggles to land a decent job in journalism, freelancing before landing a job writing for a freebie airline journal.
Stacey's parents are Ellen (Dori Brenner) and Saul (Harry Goz
Harry Goz
Harry Goz was an American musical theater actor and voice actor.He debuted in the 1964 Broadway production of Bajour, co-starring Chita Rivera and Nancy Dussault. Goz played Tevye in the Broadway musical Fiddler on the Roof from 1966 to 1968, both as understudy and lead actor...
). She has one sister, Amanda. She is variously referred to (including by herself) as Stacey Colbert and Stacey Dorsey.
Amanda Colbert Moyer
Stacey's sister, Amanda (Nadia DajaniNadia Dajani
Nadia Dajani is an American actress of Irish and Palestinian descent.-Acting career:For two seasons , she starred as Amanda Moyer in the Fox television sitcom, Ned & Stacey. She starred in numerous television pilots...
) is openly critical of the fake marriage, in general, and Ned, in particular, especially as her husband is Ned's best friend. During Season 1, Amanda was working as a high-end real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
agent. After a property investment with Ned goes wrong, she finds herself running a muffin store, "Amanda's Amuffins," during Season 2. She has one son, named Howard.
To contrast with Stacey, Amanda is strong, well organized, and cynical in face of her sister's idealism. She is not afraid to speak her mind, to spout sarcastic or even rude remarks or to act aggressive, especially since she has a rather short temper.
She loves her husband, Eric, and often pushes him around, but most often she does this to make him stand up for himself or act on otherwise lost opportunities.
Eric Moyer
Eric (Greg GermannGreg Germann
Gregory Andrew "Greg" Germann is an American actor. He played the roles of Richard Fish in the television series Ally McBeal, businessman Mattson from Child's Play 2 and the vet Laurence from Quarantine...
) is Stacey's brother-in-law, Amanda's husband, and Ned's best friend. He is an accountant at Ned's advertising firm. Called Rico by Ned, he is slightly nerdy in a good natured way; and his straight down-the-middle persona was often used to counter Ned's over-the-top antics.
Eric is sometimes jealous of Ned's close relationship with their shared parents-in-law. Whereas Ned was an instant hit, Eric has been unable to connect with them, even though he is the father of their only grandchild, Howard.
Eric is a mellow person, who is always being used by Ned in his personal schemes. He doesn't mind it since he idolizes his friend. He seldom stands up for himself; and, most often his wife, Amanda, has to step in when things threaten to get out of hand.
Syndication
The series has began airing in the UK on new channel Sony TV, which began airing the show on 7 April, 2011, the same day as the channel's launch.TV Guide Network began airing reruns of the show September 12, 2011. Oxygen also airs the show every now and then, usually on Thursday mornings at 6am EST.
DVD release
In September 2005, Sony Pictures Home EntertainmentSony Pictures Home Entertainment
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is the home video distribution arm of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation. It was established in November 1979 as Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment, releasing 20 titles: The Anderson Tapes, Bell, Book and Candle, Born Free, Breakout,...
released the first season of Ned and Stacey on DVD in Region 1. Due to poor sales, it is currently unknown whether they will ever release the second and final season.