"Any Day Now" in Birmingham

Back in 2014 I wrote a piece on films and tv shows set in Birmingham. One of the titles I included was Any Day Now. As I said at the time, "As far as I know, it’s the only scripted television series set in the city. The CW’s current series Hart of Dixie is set in a fictional small town in south Alabama. These may be the only two scripted television series set in the state."

In addition, I wrote, "Any Day Now ran on the Lifetime network from August 1998 until March 2002 for a total of 88 hour-long episodes. Annie Potts and Lorraine Toussaint played middle aged versions of two childhood friends--one white, the other black--who grew up in Birmingham in the 1960s. Potts' character has remained in town, where she and her husband and two children struggle financially. Toussaint's character became a successful attorney in Washington, D.C., but when her father dies she moves back, sets up a practice, and resumes the friendship.

"Each episode featured scenes from the lives of the two women in both the past and the present. The show ended after four seasons because Potts chose not to renew her contract; she wanted to spend more time with family. According to the IMDb entry, at least some filming was done in Birmingham."

I recently watched the first of the 88 episodes, "Unfinished Symphony", originally  shown August 18, 1998. Rene Jackson's father has died, and she returns to Birmingham to attend the funeral. Her childhood friend Mary Elizabeth Sims learns of his death and debates attending his funeral; the two women had not parted on good terms. M.E., as she's known, does go, and the reunion that begins awkwardly soon becomes friendlier. In this episode we also see in the black and white flashbacks how Rene and M.E. met and some of their first adventures together.

As you can see from the screenshots below, the series is firmly linked to Birmingham. I enjoyed the first episode and hope to watch others. I'm sure events of the 1960s will appear in the flashbacks, and how "contemporary" Birmingham is portrayed will be of interest as well. The Wikipedia entry includes some reactions from critics during the initial run of the show. 

Any Day Now currently airs on StartTV. I was unable to find any current availability elsewhere or any legitimate VHS or DVD releases.