Series Description

The Civil Wars TV show was a 60 minute legal drama series that aired on ABC for 36 episodes from 1991-1993. It was about divorce lawyers whose cases were typically either very depressing or ridiculous in nature. As if the hostile breakup of once loving relationships wasn't enough of a "downer" for audiences, in the second season they added a sideline story about the agonizing fight of Charlie Howell's father against prostate cancer.

Civil Wars Cast

Mariel Hemingway .... Sydney Guilford
Peter Onorati .... Charlie Howell
Alan Rosenberg .... Eli Levinson
Debi Mazar .... Denise Iannello
David Marciano .... Jeffrey Lassick
Jennifer Hetrick .... Holly
Romy Walthall .... Audrey (1992-1993)

Civil Wars Trivia

The setting for the Civil Wars TV show was in Manhattan.

Sydney and Charlie soon developed the obligatory obvious but unspoken sexual attraction for each other that's so common in this type of series.

The timeslot for the Civil Wars TV show was changed three times during its run. When it first hit the airwaves on Wednesday evenings from 10:00 to 11:00PM on ABC it had to compete with "48 Hours" on CBS and "Quantum Leap" on NBC. Civil Wars was moved to the same time on Tuesday nights in March of 1992 where it went up against the last half of the "CBS Tuesday Movie" and "Dateline NBC". For it's second season, Civil Wars was moved back to its original time slot. NBC moved "Quantum Leap" to another slot and replaced it with their hit legal series, "Law and Order"! That far superior legal drama certainly didn't help Civil War's ratings! In January ABC moved Civil Wars again to the same time slot on Tuesdays and (again) in competition with movies on CBS and a New Magazine ("Dateline NBC"). Civil Wars had not been able to find an audience, however, and was canceled in March.