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 twelve 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. Much of the film cast returned, including Leslie Jordan and Olivia Newton-John. Delta Burke was replaced with Caroline Rhea, while the part of Ty Williamson, formerly played by Kirk Geiger, was now portrayed by Jason Dottley. Kirk Geiger reprised his role as Ty Williamson 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.

The television series began airing in July 2008. It ended after one season.

In Fall 2014, Del Shores announced that he was working on sequel to the film titled A Very Sordid Wedding. Shores' Beard Collins Shores Productions launched an Indiegogo fundraising campaign to assemble the project and secure investor financing. The campaign ended on October 29, 2014, and filming for the sequel began in October 2015. The film premiered in Palm Springs CA on March 10, 2017.

The film picks up sixteen years after the events of the first film and deals with the impact of the advancement of same-sex marriage in the conservative, southern community. Several actors from the original Sordid Lives film are reprising their roles, including Bonnie Bedelia, Leslie Jordan, Newell Alexander, Sarah Hunley, Rosemary Alexander, Ann Walker and Kirk Geiger. Joining them from the Sordid Lives series are David Steen, David Cowgill and Caroline Rhea. Original actors Beth Grant and Olivia Newton John turned down offers to return for the sequel. While Grant's role of Sissy is being recast, Newton John's role of Bitsy Mae was written out of the script. Shores also announced that several new actors would be joining the returning performers. In Spring 2015, Whoopi Goldberg was added to the cast as Ty's mother in-law.