The series centers on the Jerrico family, consisting of seven brothers and sisters in the O'Fallon Park neighborhood of St. Louis who lose their parents and are being raised by the eldest brother, Josh. The early episodes focused on the siblings attempting to not be split up by authorities. This leads to Josh, the eldest brother who was trying to raise the family alone, to dress in drag and pose as older guardian, Aunt Jelcinda, to fool their case worker, Alana Michaels. Alana quickly sees through the charade, but decides to help the family stay together. Alana and the family attempt to fool Alana's boss, Mr. Gordon Ormsby, that "Mama J" is actually taking care of the family. Problems arise when Mr. Ormsby becomes enamored with "Mama J" and pursues her. Ultimately, "Mama J" tells Mr. Ormsby that she cannot enter into a relationship with him because she is focused on the well being of the children. The pilot episode also featured Rae'Ven Larrymore Kelly as Hannah, a young neighbor girl and friend of the Jerricos. She was originally slated to be a regular cast member, as she was credited in the opening title sequence, but she did not appear ever again after the prologue segment of the pilot. In December 1994, the series was put on hiatus and retooled. When it returned to the air in March 1995, Josh was granted full custody of his siblings, thus ending the need for the Aunt Jelcinda/Mama J character. The characters of Alana Michaels and Mr. Ormsby were also written out of the show, and a new character, Scotti Decker was introduced. Scotti, a young, attractive professional contractor, rented a room from the Jerricos in exchange for the work she was doing on their home. She became a sister figure to the younger kids, while fighting off sexual advances from Josh and Jimi and turning them into more responsible "men of the house". Suki and Nails were the carpenters who worked for Scotti. Having aired on Sunday nights at 7:30/6:30c during the first half of the season, On Our Own was moved to the 9:30/8:30c time slot following Step by Step on TGIF when it returned in March 1995. The changes to the series in the spring didn't help ratings, and after six more episodes, the show was canceled by ABC.
After the series was cancelled, the exterior shots of the Jerrico home resurfaced on Miller-Boyett's short-lived 1997 sitcom Meego. Although not set in St. Louis, Meego used the On Our Own home exteriors to depict the residence of the Parker family in that series. Meego largely used the view from the house's east side in exterior shots, but most of the shots from On Our Own were recycled.
Syndication
The series was briefly re-aired on TV One in 2007.
