The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd

PREMIERED May 21, 1987

THE SCOOP Think of it as the beloved and quirky Manhattan aunt of Sex and the City or Ally McBeal, if you like, but when NBC premiered this half-hour series back in the late '80s, its title character, an introspective thirtysomething divorcée played by Blair Brown (pictured with costar David Straithairn), was an intriguing change of pace from the standard sitcom heroine. And although Molly Dodd, the kind of series for which the word ''dramedy'' was coined, never broke through as a mainstream success (getting canceled by NBC after one year), a subsequent stay of execution from the fledgling cable outlet Lifetime gave loyal fans a couple more years to follow Molly's romantic and professional travails. —Michael Slezak