Assembled by the same production team responsible for
Roseanne, this NBC sitcom starred
Whoopi Goldberg as hard-drinking, chain-smoking Mavis Rae, a former pop star with but one hit song to her name. With her 15 minutes of fame a distant memory, Mavis was reduced to running a second-class hotel, which she hoped to "class up" by opening a lounge. This premise was merely an excuse for Mavis to fire free-association, non-PC insults at anyone and everyone. Her favorite targets included her stuffy lawyer brother, Courtney (Wren T. Brown), a black man trying to be white; Courtney's girlfriend, Rita (Elizabeth Regen), a white girl trying to be black; and Mavis' Iranian handyman-concierge Nasim (
Omid Djalili), who had to endure endless jibes about terrorists and illegal aliens (he was of course neither).
Whoopi scored an immediate hit when it first aired on September 9, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide