Starring Dixie Carter and Charles Frank, the series satirized prime-time soap operas such as Dallas and Dynasty.

The series was set in Memphis at a fictional mansion called Toad Hall, which was owned by one Big Guy Beck (Slim Pickens in the pilot, and Forrest Tucker afterwards), a very wealthy land baron.

He had recently died of an undisclosed illness, and before he was cryonically frozen he had made out a videotaped will, a piece of which was played every week by his lawyer, George Wilhoit (David Healy and Vernon Weddle).

The will's terms were harshest on Big Guy's older son, snobbish Marshall Beck (Michael Lombard) and his equally-snobbish wife Carlotta (Dixie Carter).

Usually, it was Stanley who was able to protect Wild Bill and Bootsie (whom he and Mother B. accepted outright) from the devious scheming of his stepmother, who lusted after him; and his conniving brother and sister in-law.

When the fall schedule was announced in May, Filthy Rich wasn't included, but the network optioned it as a potential midseason replacement.

[4] Instead, cast members were forced to take small roles in films and guest-star on various TV shows while awaiting word on the fate of Filthy Rich.

In that era, it wasn't unusual for unsold pilots to be broadcast as filler during the summer – replacing low-rated reruns – as a means of recouping the money that was spent to produce them.

[10] Adding further woes to the troubled series, actor Slim Pickens, who played Big Guy Beck in the original hour-long pilot episode, was rushed to San Francisco Medical Center several days before the series premiered,[11] and he underwent five hours of surgery to remove a brain tumor the day after the show's TV debut.

Bloodworth quickly churned out some scripts, but she hired former Jimmy Carter speech writer E. Jack Kaplan to help pick up the slack.

[13] Filthy Rich returned to the schedule by January 1983 — on Monday nights, sandwiched between Square Pegs and M*A*S*H. Ratings didn't improve.

Bloodworth created the roles of Julia and Suzanne Sugarbaker for Carter and Burke[15] (Burke referred to her Filthy Rich character as "Suzanne in the Beginning;",[10] and Carter's Julia, with her self-righteous, long-winded monologues, had more than a bit in common with Carlotta) and numerous one-liners were recycled along with a "hog hat" prop which was prominently featured in episodes of both series.

Evening Shade, which aired from 1990 through 1994, included Ann Wedgeworth among its cast as Merleen Eldridge, the wife of the town doctor.