Rita Rocks: Difference between revisions

*Rita Rocks*
Rita Rocks
Created by	James Berg; Stan Zimmerman
Starring	Nicole Sullivan; Richard Ruccolo; Tisha Campbell-Martin; Ian Gomez; Natalie Dreyfuss; Kelly Gould; Raviv Ullman
Composer	Matter Music
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	40 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	James Berg; Stan Zimmerman
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	30 minutes
Production companies	Zimmerman-Berg; Lifetime Television; Media Rights Capital
Original release
Network	Lifetime
Release	October 20, 2008 –; December 7, 2009

Browse history interactively

← Previous edit

Content deleted Content added

VisualWikitext

Inline

Latest revision as of 03:04, 17 August 2024

Rita Rocks is a Lifetime original sitcom that ran from October 20, 2008 to December 7, 2009. It was the network's first original comedy in over a decade. The series debuted alongside re-runs of Reba as part of a new comedy hour for Tuesday nights, which later changed to Monday nights. The show stars Nicole Sullivan as Rita, Tisha Campbell-Martin, Richard Ruccolo, Raviv Ullman, and Kelly Gould.

On 11 January 2010, Lifetime cancelled the series after two seasons due to low ratings.^[1]

Plot

A hard-working mom and wife splits her time between a job she doesn't particularly like, running the kids around and managing the household. She believes that if she can just get a few hours a week to herself, she can figure a few things out. After finding her old guitar in the garage and the prompting of a new friend, they start up a weekly jam session and are joined by a neighbor, the mail-woman and her daughter's boyfriend for nightly rehearsals. The plot is set in the Metropolitan Detroit area, most likely the Southfield area as Shannon attends Southfield Elementary School, which is shown throughout season 1.

In a February 2009 interview on Anytime with Bob Kushell, Sullivan agreed the main character is going through a midlife crisis, but she does not like using the term "midlife".^[2]

Characters

Main

Rita Clemens (Nicole Sullivan): a working mom with a busy life. She is the leader of a garage band and also the assistant manager of Bed Bath & Max. She was formerly training assistant before her boss learned of her pregnancy.
Jay Clemens (Richard Ruccolo): Rita’s husband who tries his best to support her band. He sometimes takes care of the household, getting himself into funny situations in the process.
Patty Mannix (Tisha Campbell-Martin): a postal worker and Rita's best friend who convinces her to take down her guitar and start the band.
Hallie Clemens (Natalie Dreyfuss): Rita's absent minded and rebellious teenage daughter.
Shannon Clemens (Kelly Gould): Rita's nine-year-old daughter. She goes to a school for gifted children and is interested in space camp and astronauts.
Kip (Raviv Ullman): Full name is Skip; Hallie's goofy and likable boyfriend/ex-boyfriend is the drummer in Rita's band. His parents are separated and he spends all of his time at the Clemens' household.
Max: Rita & Jay's new baby. Rita gave birth to him in the Season 2 finale.
Owen Delgado Jr. (Ian Gomez): Rita's unemployed neighbor who joins her garage band. He has two kids with wife Audrey. (left in 2009 to join Cougar Town).

Recurring

Audrey (Lauren Bowles): Owen's wife and mother of his two children who seems to love her job more than her own husband.
Chuck (Duane Martin): Rita's new neighbor, a former baseball player who is a huge annoyance to Rita and Jay. He and Patty (played by Duane Martin's wife Tisha Campbell-Martin) begin dating in late Season 2.
Marilyn (Swoosie Kurtz): Rita's mother, who visits and stays for four episodes before leaving at Rita's request to talk to her father.
Allison (Allie Gonino): Hallie's friend.
Rusty (Paul Vato): the owner of the bowling alley where Rita's band performs publicly for the first time.

Episodes

Series overview

Season	Episodes	Originally aired
Season	Episodes	First aired	Last aired
1	20	October 20, 2008 (2008-10-20)	February 23, 2009 (2009-02-23)
2	20	October 5, 2009 (2009-10-05)	December 7, 2009 (2009-12-07)

Season 1: 2008–09

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
1	1	"Pilot"	Andrew D. Weyman	James Berg & Stan Zimmerman	October 20, 2008 (2008-10-20)
2	2	"Lies, Lies, Lies, Yeah-ah"	Shelley Jensen	Diane Burroughs & Joey Gutierrez	October 21, 2008 (2008-10-21)
3	3	"You Gotta Have Friends"	Shelley Jensen	James Berg & Stan Zimmerman	October 22, 2008 (2008-10-22)
4	4	"Flirting With Disaster"	Peter Marc Jacobson	Denise Moss	October 23, 2008 (2008-10-23)
5	5	"Nobody Does It Better"	Katy Garretson	Bob Nickman	October 24, 2008 (2008-10-24)
6	6	"Mother's Little Helper"	Peter Marc Jacobson	Sylvia Green	October 28, 2008 (2008-10-28)
7	7	"Take This Job and Shove It"	Emile Levisetti	Nastaran Dibai & Jeffery Hodes	November 11, 2008 (2008-11-11)
8	8	"The Crying Game"	Andrew D. Weyman	Sylvia Green	November 18, 2008 (2008-11-18)
9	9	"Under Pressure"	Katy Garretson	Diane Burroughs & Joey Gutierrez	November 25, 2008 (2008-11-25)
10	10	"Got No Time"	Shelley Jensen	Denise Moss	December 2, 2008 (2008-12-02)
11	11	"Love on the Rocks"	Shelley Jensen	Sylvia Green	December 9, 2008 (2008-12-09)
12	12	"I Write The Songs"	Shelley Jensen	Diane Burroughs & Joey Gutierrez	December 16, 2008 (2008-12-16)
13	13	"The Girl Is Mine"	Shelley Jensen	Bob Nickman	January 5, 2009 (2009-01-05)
14	14	"Old Friends"	Shelley Jensen	Denise Moss	January 12, 2009 (2009-01-12)
15	15	"It's My Party"	Emile Levisetti	Bob Nickman	January 19, 2009 (2009-01-19)
16	16	"I Can't Make You Love Me"	Jody Margolin Hahn	Bill Fuller & Jim Pond	January 26, 2009 (2009-01-26)
17	17	"Get Off of My Cloud"	Shelley Jensen	Teleplay by : Mark Driscoll Story by : Adam Waring	February 2, 2009 (2009-02-02)
18	18	"Killer Queen"	Shelley Jensen	Ellen Byron & Lissa Kapstrom	February 9, 2009 (2009-02-09)
19	19	"What's Love Got Do To With It?"	Lynn McCracken	Diane Burroughs & Joey Gutierrez	February 16, 2009 (2009-02-16)
20	20	"We Can Work It Out"	Gerry Cohen	James Berg & Stan Zimmerman	February 23, 2009 (2009-02-23)

Season 2: 2009

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
21	1	"A Change is Gonna Come"	Shelley Jensen	Denise Moss	October 5, 2009 (2009-10-05)
22	2	"Breaking Up is Hard to Do"	Shelley Jensen	Diane Burroughs & Joey Gutierrez	October 6, 2009 (2009-10-06)
23	3	"Nothing's Gonna Change My World"	Shelley Jensen	Sylvia Green	October 7, 2009 (2009-10-07)
24	4	"Welcome to the Working Week"	Andy Cadiff	Denise Moss	October 8, 2009 (2009-10-08)
25	5	"Stuck in the Middle with You"	Andy Cadiff	Bob Nickman	October 9, 2009 (2009-10-09)
26	6	"The Shape of Things To Come"	Lynn McCracken	Bob Nickman	October 13, 2009 (2009-10-13)
27	7	"Mr. Bassman"	Andy Cadiff	Seth Kurland	October 20, 2009 (2009-10-20)
28	8	"Mommy's Alright, Daddy's Alright"	Mark Cendrowski	Jennifer Glickman	October 26, 2009 (2009-10-26)
29	9	"Vogue"	Lynn McCracken	Diane Burroughs & Joey Gutierrez	October 26, 2009 (2009-10-26)
30	10	"Bad Company"	Shelley Jensen	Sylvia Green	November 2, 2009 (2009-11-02)
31	11	"Why Can't We Be Friends?"	Shelley Jensen	Seth Kurland	November 2, 2009 (2009-11-02)
32	12	"Mother and Child Reunion"	Shelley Jensen	Denise Moss	November 9, 2009 (2009-11-09)
33	13	"Anchors Aweigh"	Leonard R. Garner Jr.	Diane Burroughs & Joey Gutierrez	November 9, 2009 (2009-11-09)
34	14	"Shower The People"	Shelley Jensen	Jennifer Glickman	November 16, 2009 (2009-11-16)
35	15	"Is She Really Going Out With Him?"	Shelley Jensen	Matt Quezada & Frank Wolff	November 16, 2009 (2009-11-16)
36	16	"Sympathy For The Devil"	Leonard R. Garner Jr.	Bob Nickman	November 23, 2009 (2009-11-23)
37	17	"Jingle All The Way"	Shelley Jensen	Teleplay by : Seth Kurland Story by : Maxine Lapiduss & Seth Kurland	November 23, 2009 (2009-11-23)
38	18	"The Jealous Kind"	Shelley Jensen	Sylvia Green	November 30, 2009 (2009-11-30)
39	19	"Should I Stay or Should I Go?"	Shelley Jensen	Denise Moss	November 30, 2009 (2009-11-30)
40	20	"Born In The USA"	Shelley Jensen	Bob Nickman	December 7, 2009 (2009-12-07)

Home media

Rita Rocks: The Complete 1st Season was released on a 3-disc combo pack on April 27, 2010.^[3]

International broadcasting

Arena TV in Australia airs the program.
Citytv in Canada airs the program.
STAR World in Asia airs the program.
Fox Life in Poland, Turkey, Greece, Portugal, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia airs the program.
SKY Uno in Italy is going to air in autumn 2009.
NET 5 in the Netherlands airs the program
TNT Serie in Germany airs the program.
Comédie! in France, Belgium and Switzerland will air the sitcom in 2010.
Yes Comedy in Israel airs the program.
TV4 Komedi in Sweden airs the program.
MTV3 in Finland airs the program.

References

^ Lifetime Cancels "Rita Rocks" Archived 2010-01-14 at the Wayback Machine, Entertainment Weekly, 11 January 2010
^ "Anytime with Bob Kushell feat. Nicole Sullivan". Anytime with Bob Kushell. Season 1. Episode 12. 2009-02-27.
^ "Rita Rocks: Season 1". Amazon. 27 April 2010.

External links

Rita Rocks at IMDb
Rita Rocks at Mylifetime.com

[1] Lifetime Cancels "Rita Rocks" Archived 2010-01-14 at the Wayback Machine, Entertainment Weekly, 11 January 2010

[2] "Anytime with Bob Kushell feat. Nicole Sullivan". Anytime with Bob Kushell. Season 1. Episode 12. 2009-02-27.

[3] "Rita Rocks: Season 1". Amazon. 27 April 2010.

[1]

[2]

[3]

@@ Line 11: / Line 11: @@
 | country            = United States
 | language           = English
-| company            = Zimmerman-Berg<br>[[MRC (company)|Media Rights Capital]]
+| company            = Zimmerman-Berg<br>Lifetime Television<br>[[MRC (company)|Media Rights Capital]]
-| distributor        = [[20th Century Fox Television]]
 | network            = [[Lifetime (TV channel)|Lifetime]]
 | first_aired        = {{Start date|2008|10|20}}
@@ Line 21: / Line 20: @@
 }}
-'''''Rita Rocks''''' is a [[Lifetime (TV network)|Lifetime]] original [[Situation comedy|sitcom]] that ran from 20 October 2008 to 7 December 2009. It was the network's first original comedy in over a decade. The series debuted alongside re-runs of ''[[Reba (TV series)|Reba]]'' as part of a new comedy hour for Tuesday nights, which later changed to Monday nights. The show stars [[Nicole Sullivan]] as Rita, [[Tisha Campbell-Martin]], [[Richard Ruccolo]], [[Raviv Ullman]], and [[Kelly Gould]].
+'''''Rita Rocks''''' is a [[Lifetime (TV network)|Lifetime]] original [[sitcom]] that ran from October 20, 2008 to December 7, 2009. It was the network's first original comedy in over a decade. The series debuted alongside re-runs of ''[[Reba (TV series)|Reba]]'' as part of a new comedy hour for Tuesday nights, which later changed to Monday nights. The show stars [[Nicole Sullivan]] as Rita, [[Tisha Campbell-Martin]], [[Richard Ruccolo]], [[Raviv Ullman]], and [[Kelly Gould]].
 On 11 January 2010, Lifetime cancelled the series after two seasons due to low ratings.<ref>[http://news-briefs.ew.com/2010/01/11/lifetime-cancels-rita-rocks Lifetime Cancels "Rita Rocks"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100114045705/http://news-briefs.ew.com/2010/01/11/lifetime-cancels-rita-rocks/ |date=2010-01-14 }}, ''Entertainment Weekly'', 11 January 2010</ref>
 ==Plot==
-A hard-working mom and wife splits her time between a job she doesn’t particularly like, running the kids around and managing the household. She believes that if she can just get a few hours a week to herself, she can figure a few things out. After finding her old guitar in the garage and the prompting of a new friend, they start up a weekly jam session and are joined by a neighbor, the mail-woman and her daughter’s boyfriend for nightly rehearsals. The plot is set in the [[Metropolitan Detroit]] area, most likely the [[Southfield, Michigan|Southfield]] area as Shannon attends Southfield Elementary School, which is shown throughout season 1.
+A hard-working mom and wife splits her time between a job she doesn't particularly like, running the kids around and managing the household. She believes that if she can just get a few hours a week to herself, she can figure a few things out. After finding her old guitar in the garage and the prompting of a new friend, they start up a weekly jam session and are joined by a neighbor, the mail-woman and her daughter's boyfriend for nightly rehearsals. The plot is set in the [[Metropolitan Detroit]] area, most likely the [[Southfield, Michigan|Southfield]] area as Shannon attends Southfield Elementary School, which is shown throughout season 1.
 In a February 2009 interview on ''[[Anytime with Bob Kushell]]'', Sullivan agreed the main character is going through a [[midlife crisis]], but she does not like using the term "midlife".<ref>{{cite episode | title = Anytime with Bob Kushell feat. Nicole Sullivan | series = Anytime with Bob Kushell | airdate = 2009-02-27 | season = 1 | number = 12}}</ref>
@@ Line 141: / Line 140: @@
  |EpisodeNumber=8
  |EpisodeNumber2= 8
- |Title=The Crying
+ |Title=The Crying Game
- |DirectedBy=
+ |DirectedBy=Andrew D. Weyman
- |WrittenBy=
+ |WrittenBy=Sylvia Green
  |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|2008|11|18}}
  |ShortSummary=
@@ Line 152: / Line 151: @@
  |EpisodeNumber2= 9
  |Title=Under Pressure
- |DirectedBy=
+ |DirectedBy=Katy Garretson
- |WrittenBy=
+ |WrittenBy=Diane Burroughs & Joey Gutierrez
  |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|2008|11|25}}
  |ShortSummary=
@@ Line 162: / Line 161: @@
  |EpisodeNumber2= 10
  |Title=Got No Time
- |DirectedBy=
+ |DirectedBy=Shelley Jensen
- |WrittenBy=
+ |WrittenBy=Denise Moss
  |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|2008|12|2}}
  |ShortSummary=
@@ Line 173: / Line 172: @@
  |Title=Love on the Rocks
  |DirectedBy=Shelley Jensen
- |WrittenBy=Bob Nickman
+ |WrittenBy=Sylvia Green
  |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|2008|12|9}}
  |ShortSummary=
@@ Line 192: / Line 191: @@
  |EpisodeNumber2= 13
  |Title=The Girl Is Mine
- |DirectedBy=
+ |DirectedBy=Shelley Jensen
- |WrittenBy=
+ |WrittenBy=Bob Nickman
  |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|2009|1|5}}
  |ShortSummary=
@@ Line 231: / Line 230: @@
  |EpisodeNumber=17
  |EpisodeNumber2= 17
- |Title=Get Off My Cloud
+ |Title=Get Off of My Cloud
- |DirectedBy=
+ |DirectedBy=Shelley Jensen
+ |WrittenBy={{StoryTeleplay|t=Mark Driscoll|s=Adam Waring|tfirst=y}}
- |WrittenBy=
  |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|2009|2|2}}
  |ShortSummary=
@@ Line 295: / Line 294: @@
  |EpisodeNumber=23
  |EpisodeNumber2=3
- |Title=Nothings Gonna Change My World
+ |Title=Nothing's Gonna Change My World
  |DirectedBy=Shelley Jensen
  |WrittenBy=Sylvia Green
@@ Line 316: / Line 315: @@
  |EpisodeNumber2=5
  |Title=Stuck in the Middle with You
- |DirectedBy=
+ |DirectedBy=Andy Cadiff
- |WrittenBy=
+ |WrittenBy=[[Bob Nickman]]
  |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|2009|10|9}}
  |ShortSummary=
@@ Line 327: / Line 326: @@
  |Title=The Shape of Things To Come
  |DirectedBy=Lynn McCracken
- |WrittenBy=[[Bob Nickman]]
+ |WrittenBy=Bob Nickman
  |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|2009|10|13}}
  |ShortSummary=
@@ Line 336: / Line 335: @@
  |EpisodeNumber2=7
  |Title=Mr. Bassman
- |DirectedBy=[[Mark Cendrowski]]
+ |DirectedBy=Andy Cadiff
- |WrittenBy=Jennifer Glickman
+ |WrittenBy=Seth Kurland
  |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|2009|10|20}}
  |ShortSummary=
@@ Line 346: / Line 345: @@
  |EpisodeNumber2=8
  |Title=Mommy's Alright, Daddy's Alright
- |DirectedBy=Mark Cendrowski
+ |DirectedBy=[[Mark Cendrowski]]
- |WrittenBy=
+ |WrittenBy=Jennifer Glickman
  |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|2009|10|26}}
  |ShortSummary=
@@ Line 366: / Line 365: @@
  |EpisodeNumber2=10
  |Title=Bad Company
- |DirectedBy=Mark Cendrowski
+ |DirectedBy=Shelley Jensen
- |WrittenBy=
+ |WrittenBy=Sylvia Green
  |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|2009|11|2}}
  |ShortSummary=
@@ Line 406: / Line 405: @@
  |EpisodeNumber2=14
  |Title=Shower The People
- |DirectedBy=
+ |DirectedBy=Shelley Jensen
- |WrittenBy=
+ |WrittenBy=Jennifer Glickman
  |OriginalAirDate= {{Start date|2009|11|16}}
  |ShortSummary=
@@ Line 426: / Line 425: @@
  |EpisodeNumber2=16
  |Title=Sympathy For The Devil
- |DirectedBy=
+ |DirectedBy=Leonard R. Garner Jr.
- |WrittenBy=
+ |WrittenBy=Bob Nickman
  |OriginalAirDate= {{Start date|2009|11|23}}
  |ShortSummary=
@@ Line 446: / Line 445: @@
  |EpisodeNumber2=18
  |Title=The Jealous Kind
- |DirectedBy=
+ |DirectedBy=Shelley Jensen
- |WrittenBy=
+ |WrittenBy=Sylvia Green
  |OriginalAirDate= {{Start date|2009|11|30}}
  |ShortSummary=
@@ Line 501: / Line 500: @@
 [[Category:2008 American television series debuts]]
 [[Category:2009 American television series endings]]
-[[Category:2000s American sitcoms]]
+[[Category:2000s American multi-camera sitcoms]]
-[[Category:English-language television shows]]
+[[Category:American English-language television shows]]
-[[Category:Lifetime (TV network) original programming]]
+[[Category:Lifetime (TV channel) original programming]]
 [[Category:Television shows set in Detroit]]
 [[Category:Television series by Media Rights Capital]]
-[[Category:Midlife crisis in television]]
+[[Category:Television shows about midlife crisis]]