The original stage play premiered in Los Angeles on May 11, 1996, and ultimately won 14 Drama-Logue Awards. The film met with mixed reviews from mainstream audiences but became a cult classic with LGBT fans, particularly in the South. The movie tells the story of a Texas family coming together in the aftermath of the matriarch's death. To keep the stories going, Viacom's new station Logo produced 12 episodes of "Sordid Lives: The Series". The television version begins at a point before that covered in the film, with Rue McClanahan as the mother, Peggy Ingram. Many of the film cast returned, including Leslie Jordan and Olivia Newton-John. Caroline Rhea replaced Delta Burke, and Jason Dottley replaced Kirk Geiger as Ty Williamson, although Geiger reprised the role of Ty in the "Sordid Lives" sequel "A Very Sordid Wedding" in 2017, along with Bonnie Bedelia, Caroline Rhea, Dale Dickey, Leslie Jordan, Ann Walker, Emerson Collins, Whoopi Goldberg, and Katherine Bailess.