Life's Work

Life's Work is an American sitcom series that aired from September 1996 to June 1997 on ABC; the show stars Lisa Ann Walter as Lisa Ann Minardi Hunter, an assistant district attorney in Baltimore.

Life's Work
Title screen with programming information
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Warren Bell and Lisa Ann Walter[1]
Starring	Lisa Ann Walter Michael O'Keefe Lainie Kazan Jenny O'Hara Alexa Vega
Opening theme	"Life's Work" (instrumental)
Composers	Mark Mothersbaugh Bob Mothersbaugh
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	18
Production
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	30 minutes[2]
Production companies	Weest, Inc. Touchstone Television
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	September 17, 1996 (1996-09-17) – June 10, 1997 (1997-06-10)

Premise

Lisa Ann always wanted to practice law since she was young because she always argued with her parents.^[3] She also had a basketball coach husband named Kevin Hunter (Michael O'Keefe) who served as the patriarch of the family.^[3] Together, they raised a seven-year-old daughter Tess (Alexa Vega) and a toddler son named Griffin (Cameron and Luca Weibel).^[3] During the entire run of the series, an electric guitar & piano instrumental was used as the show's opening theme. Walter helped Mark Mothersbaugh write the theme.

Walter was an actress turned stand-up comic whose "voice" of a busy working mom became a top headlining act in the 1990s. ABC developed Life's Work for Walter, where she played a feisty feminist who could stand up to her mother in addition to her superiors at work.^[4] Walter received almost unanimous positive reviews for her portrayal of a harried working mother in a bold departure from the usual working mom shows where you never see the mom actually working.

As of July 2022, 15 (of the 18) episodes are available to purchase on several streaming services including AppleTV, Amazon, and YouTube.

In one of the episodes, Lisa Ann claimed to have a sexual affair with then-current American President Bill Clinton.^[5]

Cast

Main

• Lisa Ann Walter as Lisa Ann Minardi Hunter
• Michael O'Keefe as Kevin Hunter
• Alexa Vega as Tess Hunter
• Cameron and Luca Weibel as Griffin Hunter

Recurring

• Larry Miller as Mr. Jerome Nash
• Lightfield Lewis as Matt Youngster
• Molly Hagan as Dee Dee Lucas
• Jenny O'Hara and Lainie Kazan as Constance "Connie" Minardi
• Tara Karsian as Emily

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date	Prod. code
1	"Pilot"	Michael Lessac	Story by : Lisa Ann Walter & Warren Bell Teleplay by : Warren Bell	September 17, 1996 (1996-09-17)	L402
2	"Daycareless"	Michael Lessac	Nora Lynch & Paul Palisoul	September 24, 1996 (1996-09-24)	L404
3	"Contempt"	Michael Lessac	Warren Bell	October 1, 1996 (1996-10-01)	L406
4	"Concert"	Michael Lessac	Vicki S. Horowitz	October 8, 1996 (1996-10-08)	L407
5	"Burnout"	Michael Lessac	Elin Hampton & David Fury	October 15, 1996 (1996-10-15)	L405
6	"Playdates"	Michael Lessac	Tim Maile and Douglas Tuber	October 22, 1996 (1996-10-22)	L403
7	"Girlfriends"	Unknown	Alana Burgi & Marsha Myers	October 29, 1996 (1996-10-29)	L408
8	"Pregnancy"	Michael Lessac	Mitchell Newman	November 12, 1996 (1996-11-12)	L409
9	"Jobs"	Unknown	Elin Hampton & David Fury	November 19, 1996 (1996-11-19)	L410
10	"Gobbledegook"	Michael Lessac	Nora Lynch & Paul Palisoul	November 26, 1996 (1996-11-26)	L411
11	"Boss"	Michael Lessac	Bernie DeLeo	December 3, 1996 (1996-12-03)	L412
12	"Fired"	Michael Lessac	Douglas Tuber & Tim Maile	December 17, 1996 (1996-12-17)	L413
13	"Harassment"	Howard Murray	Matt Ember & Warren Bell	January 7, 1997 (1997-01-07)	L414
14	"Fraud"	Howard Murray	Marsha Myers & Alana Burgi	January 14, 1997 (1997-01-14)	L415
15	"Neighbors"	Michael Lessac	Douglas Tuber & Tim Maile	January 28, 1997 (1997-01-28)	L417
16	"Ride Along"	Michael Lessac	Story by : Lois Bromfield Teleplay by : Phil Palisoul & Nora Lynch	May 27, 1997 (1997-05-27)	L418
17	"Dates"	Michael Lessac	Nora Lynch & Phil Palisoul	June 3, 1997 (1997-06-03)	L416
18	"Banquet"	Michael Lessac	Story by : Douglas Tuber & Tim Maile Teleplay by : Alana Burgi & Marsha Myers	June 10, 1997 (1997-06-10)	L419

Cancellation

The show was put on hiatus after the episode "Neighbors" aired on January 27, 1997. Months later, having finished the season in 38th place with a 9.5 rating, the show was officially cancelled even though it held on to more than 90% of the viewers who watched the final season of Roseanne.^[6]