When "Delta" returns to prime time April 6 in the coveted Tuesday night slot behind "Roseanne," the biggest change in the show won't be Delta Burke returning as a brunette. The sitcom, which flopped at the beginning of the season when Burke was a blond, has been overhauled with one idea in mind: conflict.
Delta Bishop, Burke's character, immediately will start battling with her mother, Roslyn, played by Elizabeth Wilson, who shows up in Nashville and moves in with her daughter."The situation we created (last year) in the bar was conflict-free," said co-executive producer Brad Johnson. "If you put a mother and daughter within the same four walls, it will intensify the pressure of the relationship. She is going to remind Delta of what she is up against - divorced, 35 years old, overweight and pursuing a career that her mother thinks is frivolous."
Roslyn is not the only newcomer to Nashville. Delta gets an agent, Sandy Scott, played by Joe Urla. "He's a very L.A. guy who doesn't understand Nashville," said Johnson's partner Mark Ganzel. "She has to lead him around, like a fish out of water."
Delta's ex-husband, Charlie (Kevin Scannell), will intrude even more into the life of his ex-wife. "The reality for a lot of divorced couples is that you continue a relationship with them," Johnson said. "They stay a part of her life. He's a reminder of what she could fall back to."
In the revised series, which has five chances of catching on with viewers, Delta Bishop scales back on her singing career and concentrates on song writing. It helps Delta's character become more relatable to viewers. "Being a country-western star is too rarefied," Johnson said. "If you err in the direction too specifically country and less specifically about life, the audience goes, `I don't relate to that.' She has to deal with her life more honestly. She is recently divorced and is going to have to start over again."