Question about "Bunred Out" episode

[Smokin' Sods]

When I was watching the "Burned Out" ep from ABC Family the other day, I noticed it was missing something that I could have sworn I remembered from the last time I had seen it. When Dave walks into his destroyed bedroom, he sees a picture frame, picks it up, and breaks down with emotion. They show Sandy walk in and comfort it, but then it cuts out. I could have sworn (on the unedited episode) they had a conversation about that being a picture of his mother (Valerie). Was I just imagining this, or was this a crappy ABC Family edit?? If it is, the edit really sucks because that is a VERY important piece of info to that episode.

[Minneapolis Chazz]

Honestly, from the version I remember seeing on NBC (granted 18 years ago), he comes into his room, music begins to play, he finds the picture on the floor, picks it up, lets the frame drop to the floor, begins to cry, Sandy stands in the threshold of the door, the two hug, David cries into her shoulders, the music comes to an end, the scene fades to black and fades from black into an exterior shot of the Poole's house.

I don't believe the syndicated versions have snipped anything here. (Only added a commercial break during the fade in and out from black).

[Edster2973]

You are correct. There was never any discussion about the picture being specifically of Valerie Hogan, although that is what's implied. The show made many an effort to make sure that minimal references were made of her. In the case of the fire, they had to mention her, albeit in a minimalistic way. It just would've come off as too weird to not mention the mother in some fashion or other, but any and all references to her were brief, almost as if she were a non-entity. Wouldn't some of her stuff be in the attic? Also, she was never called by her name other than Val by Michael Hogan and mom by David. It was as if the show felt that the merest acknowledgement of her by her FULL NAME would be too much of a reminder of what the show was before, which was asinine as hell since the show at the time was titled Valerie's Family. Wouldn't the title alone serve as a reminder? :rolleyes:

Either way, there was no discussion of the picture being of Valerie Hogan, although, again, it is implied that it was. I think it also served as a way to explain why there were no other pictures of her in the house since we could assume they were all burned. Again, this is asinine. The kids did have her parents as grandparents and her sisters (which she made reference to in several Valerie episodes) as aunts. Surely they would've lended their beloved dead Valerie's family a few pictures of their mother. But no, the producers thought the audience had brains the size of peas... :rolleyes:

--Ed