The Help is a 2011 American period drama film directed and written by Tate Taylor, and adapted from Kathryn Stockett's 2009 novel of the same name. Featuring an ensemble cast, the film is about a young white woman, Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, and her relationship with two black maids, Aibileen Clark and Minny Jackson, during the Civil Rights era in 1963 Jackson, Mississippi. Skeeter is a journalist who decides to write a book from the point of view of the maids (referred to as "the help"), exposing the racism they are faced with as they work for white families.
The film stars Viola Davis, Emma Stone, Octavia Spencer, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jessica Chastain, Ahna O'Reilly, Chris Lowell, Sissy Spacek, Mike Vogel, Cicely Tyson, LaChanze, Allison Janney, Mary Steenburgen, and Anna Camp. Produced by DreamWorks Pictures and released by Touchstone Pictures, the film opened to positive reviews and became a commercial success with a worldwide box office gross of $216 million against its production budget of $25 million.
The Help is a 2009 novel by American author Kathryn Stockett. The story is about African-American maids working in white households in Jackson, Mississippi, during the early 1960s.
A USA Today article called it one of the "summer sleeper hits". An early review in The New York Times notes Stockett's "affection and intimacy buried beneath even the most seemingly impersonal household connections" and says the book is a "button-pushing, soon to be wildly popular novel". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution said of the book: "This heartbreaking story is a stunning début from a gifted talent."
The novel is Stockett's first. It took her five years to complete and was rejected by 60 literary agents before agent Susan Ramer agreed to represent Stockett.The Help has since been published in 35 countries and three languages. As of August 2011, it has sold five million copies and has spent more than 100 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list.
The Help's audiobook version is narrated by Jenna Lamia, Bahni Turpin, Octavia Spencer, and Cassandra Campbell. Spencer was Stockett's original inspiration for the character of Minny, and also plays her in the film adaptation.
"The Help" is the sixth episode of the fifth season of the American sitcom Modern Family, and the series' 102nd overall. It aired on October 23, 2013. The episode was written by Danny Zuker and directed by Jim Hensz.
The episode features the fourth guest appearance of Nathan Lane as Pepper Saltzman and the fifth of Fred Willard as Frank Dunphy. It also guests Adam DeVine, Peri Gilpin and Christian Barillas.
Phil's (Ty Burrell) recently widowed dad, Frank (Fred Willard), is feeling down after being dumped by the woman he was dating. Phil, to make him feel better, invited him to stay with them for the weekend but he ends up staying with them for two weeks. Frank's "visit" causes some troubles between Haley (Sarah Hyland) and Alex (Ariel Winter) who now have to share the same room.
Claire (Julie Bowen) suggests that Frank should go to a therapist to help him deal with his loss but Phil does not agree. They call Jay (Ed O'Neill) to ask his help and Phil, Frank and Jay arrange a night exit to a bar. Phil and Jay leave Frank there alone, since he found a woman to flirt with. On his way home though, he meets another woman, Jeannie (Peri Gilpin), who he brings home with him. The next morning Frank realizes that Jeannie is a hooker and when he tells Phil, Phil tries without success to make her leave before Claire comes back home.
The Help is an American situation comedy television series which premiered on The WB on March 5, 2004. The show was a raunchy comedy that focused on the hard-luck life of a beauty school dropout who must work for the wealthy, spoiled Ridgeway family. The rest of the hired help are also quirky. The WB only aired seven episodes, the show ending on April 16, 2004, and canceled it in May 2004.
Maria is studying to be a beautician when she has to come home to nurse her sick mother. After her mother's death, Maria is forced to take her place as the wealthy Ridgeway family's maid. She soon discovers not only a class struggle between the Ridgeways and the help, but also an all-out war among the servants.