Jami Gertz Is 'Standing' On Top
The CBS sitcom "Still Standing" chronicles the everyday adventures of a Chicago couple trying to raise three children and maintain their marriage. Jami Gertz plays Judy, a woman who struggles to handle the unexpected challenges of being a wife, a mother and a daughter.
You can see "Still Standing" Monday nights at 9:30 p.m. - a plum time slot between "Everybody Loves Raymond" and "CSI: Miami." Since its debut in September, the show has racked up impressive numbers. According to CBS Entertainment, it is the top rated and most watched new sitcom of the year and the number two new program overall, behind "CSI : Miami."
Gertz says that she thinks it's the humor on "Still Standing" that sets the show apart from the pack. She thinks it's more cutting and racier that what you find on most network sitcoms. Gertz believes that much of what happens on the show is true to life -- saying that there are many people of her generation who are parents, but still aren't quite ready to be grown-ups.
About the sitcom:
"Still Standing" is a comedy about a blue-collar Chicago couple working to raise their three children responsibly and not lose sight of their own youthfulness. After 15 years of marriage, high-school sweethearts Bill (Mark Addy from "The Full Monty") and Judy Miller (Jami Gertz) still make each other laugh, and try to keep their marriage intact, even when their family pulls them in different directions.
Judy's unmarried sister, Linda (Jennifer Irwin), butts heads with Bill, and the Millers' precocious teenage daughter, Lauren (Renee Olstead), thinks her parents are un-cool. Meanwhile, their uptight, studious son, Brian (Taylor Ball), is just discovering girls, and their youngest child, Tina (Soleil Borda), would prefer to run around naked. Since Bill has a far more immature approach to marriage and raising children than Judy does, they work at striking a balance and remembering why they love each other, quirks and all.
About Jami Gertz:
Gertz was most recently seen in the title role on ABC's "Gilda Radner: It's Always Something" for Merv Griffin Entertainment and Winsome Entertainment in association with Jaffe/Braunstein Films. The biopic was based on Radner's autobiography.
Last year, Gertz was nominated for an Emmy for her role on the critically acclaimed television series "Ally McBeal." She guest starred in a four-episode arc as Kimmy Bishop, an old law school classmate of Ally's (Calista Flockhart). She reprised the Emmy nominated role when Kimmy hired the firm to help her sue a matchmaker for deeming her "unmatchable."
Gertz is widely recognized for her role as a sex therapist in "Twister" in which she co-starred opposite Bill Paxton. She also starred with Dylan McDermott in the romantic comedy "Jersey Girl"; in "Less Than Zero" (based on the best selling novel by Bret Easton Ellis) with James Spader and Robert Downey, Jr.; and in "The Lost Boys" with Kiefer Sutherland and Jason Patric.
She was discovered at age sixteen in a nationwide talent search for the CBS sitcom "Square Pegs," opposite Sarah Jessica Parker. Since then, she has appeared on several hit television shows including "Seinfeld," "E.R." and "Dream On."
On stage, Gertz appeared in the Off-Broadway production of Garry Marshall's "Wrong Turn at Lung Fish" with the late George C. Scott and Tony Danza. She also starred in "Come Back Little Sheba" with Tyne Daly and "Out of Gas on Lover's Leap" with Jason Patric.
Gertz, a Chicago native, lives in Los Angeles with her husband and their three sons.