Charlene, Darlene, and Marlene were
sisters living together in a studio apartment in Manhattan. Charlene,
the outgoing and vivacious middle sister, made her living as a makeup artist
for a commercial photographer; Darlene, the cynical, divorced eldest sister,
worked as a dog groomer; and Marlene, the trusting, naive youngest sister,
was unsure of what she wanted to do.
Episodes dealt with their social
lives (Ronnie was Charlene's boyfriend early
on), the problems they had sharing a small apartment, and their working lives.
In the spring of 1991, Darlene went to work at a day-care
center. Mrs. Newman lived in their building.
What set this show apart from
other comedies was the size of its stars. All three actresses were considerably
overweight, in stark contrast to the svelte women usually seen on television.
Early in its run, Babes
made liberal use of fat jokes and situations that focused on girth. As time went
on, however, this aspect of the show was de-emphasized and their size became
incidental to the stories.
