Delta Bishop was an enthusiastic woman who decided she wanted to make it in country music, just like her idol, Patsy Cline. When her husband Charlie refused to support her dream, she dumped him, quit her job as a hairstylist, moved in with her ditsy cousin Lavonne, and got a job waitressing at The Green Lantern bar, where Cline once sang. Working at the bar was Darden Towe, the owner with a gruff exterior but a heart of gold, and Connie, a loudmouth black lady from Detroit who despised Southerners. Lavonne's husband Buck (Bill Engvall in an early turn as his patented blue-collar redneck character) was a constant foil for Delta, and Lavonne's boss Thelma was constantly spouting off eccentric advice (the same sort of dialogue Beth Grant rattled off a decade later beside Burke in "Sordid Lives"). Arriving late to the series (after Delta reverted to brunette hair) were Delta's sleazy agent, the egotistical "tune mogul" Sandy, and Delta's shrill mother Rosiland.
Following a very public behind-the-scenes battle on "Designing Women," "Delta" was supposed to be Burke's big comeback. Didn't quite work that way. The problem is that the show features a large cast, but it wasn't an ensemble -- Burke was the star of the show, all of the others were just eccentric background characters. Darden was given more dimension than any of the other characters (it was obvious he'd have been a potential love interest if the show had survived), and Buck, Connie and Thelma each had numerous scene-stealing moments, but the rest of the characters were forgettable... not unlike the show itself.
Burke later said that she felt pressured to do the show when it was offered, and she wasn't entirely comfortable singing - which shows. Delta can pull off singing a song every now and then, but some of the songs she was forced to sing were out of her range to begin with and she often seemed unsure of herself while performing.
All in all, there was a great cast, an occasional big-name country guest star, a few funny moments and catchy songs but overall it was a fairly mediocre series.
