The series follows a trio of obese sisters who had other things on their mind besides their weight: like work, relationships, popularity, and starting a family. The ladies also shared a small one-bedroom apartment in New York City, which added to the comic friction. The Gilbert sisters include Darlene, the eldest, who was a dog groomer and recently divorced ; Charlene, the middle sister, who was a makeup artist for a commercial photographer and was the most active one out of the three; and Marlene, the youngest sister, a former toll collector, who was seen as a dreamer with a naive, yet trusting, personality. Also in the cast was Charlene's boyfriend, Ronnie Underwood, a restaurant owner. He disappeared at mid-season, as a result putting all three sisters on the dating market. At that time, the girls' landlady, Florence Newman, became a regular. All three also had physical elements in their resume and it was evidenced in most of the episodes whenever something would tick off the sisters. Among the notable examples: Charlene getting blown up in a helium dress, Darlene breaking a hockey stick while attending a New York Rangers game that got her on probation and head-butting Ronnie over who was going to spend the night at the apartment, Marlene waking the sisters up with potato chips after they didn't hear her come in, and the sisters ganging up on a mime after he mocked them.
The show was initially criticized by several groups for making fun ofoverweight people due to some of the jokes that were used in the show's early episodes, but the controversy faded as later episodes began to put a more positive spin on the characters when it came to weight issues. The girls had differing views of their body image, with Charlene being most concerned about health issues and frequented a gym, then was ridiculed by an attractive woman. An enraged Charlene later returns to tell off the heckler. Although it had the Top 30 hit The Simpsons as its lead-in, it could not hold on to a large enough percentage from that show, and also at least partially because of the controversy, it did not earn a second season and was cancelled at the end of the 1990-1991 season.
Episodes
International broadcasts
The series also aired in France under the title Jamais Deux Sans Trois. In Israelthe show was titled Nashim Gdolot.
