TMC
06-17-2004, 02:38 AM
NY DAILY NEWS/DAVID BIANCULLI (http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&threadm=20030918082856.24345.00001524%40mb-m16.aol.com&rnum=8&prev=/groups%3Fq%3Dchico%2Band%2Bthe%2Bman%2B8%2Bsimple%2Brules%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26selm%3D20030918082856.24345.00001524%2540mb-m16.aol.com%26rnum%3D8)
ABC executives' decision to continue "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage
Daughter," despite the sudden death of star John Ritter, is defensible from a
business standpoint. But by dishonoring the bond between a career-long TV star
and his audience, it stinks.
If ABC executives cared about viewers, the bottom line in this case would be
emotional, not financial.
Yes, the series is important to ABC.
No network wants to give up a fortified position in the battlefield of
prime-time TV. And no network with an ownership stake in a series - as ABC, by
being part of the Disney family, does with "8 Simple Rules" - wants to
surrender its dreams of the obscene profit margins generated by any show that
survives long enough to be syndicated.
Sadly, there's precedent for taking this "show must go on" approach to
similarly unsavory extremes.
When Freddie Prinze committed suicide in 1977, NBC continued "Chico and the
Man" by hiring a young actor, Gabriel Melgar, whom Jack Albertson's Ed quickly
nicknamed "Chico." More recently, when Redd Foxx had a heart attack and died a
few episodes into the filming of his 1991 CBS sitcom "The Royal Family," that
network kept the series going by writing the death of Foxx's character into the
script.
Now it's ABC's turn. After presenting the three episodes already filmed with
Ritter in his central role as the Hennessy patriarch, the network will take a
cue from CBS by writing the character's death into the script - and having the
family, and the show, go on without him.
No offense to Katey Sagal and the rest of the "8 Simple Rules" cast, who are a
talented bunch and who clearly loved their co-star deeply. But just as Prinze
was the heart of "Chico," and Foxx of "The Royal Family," Ritter - as the
put-upon, loving father - was the soul of that sitcom.
To retire it with dignity and reverence would have been the right and classy
thing to do. To continue is just greedy.
Neither "Chico" nor "Royal Family" lasted long without their fallen stars. "8
Simple Rules" isn't likely to, either.
ABC executives' decision to continue "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage
Daughter," despite the sudden death of star John Ritter, is defensible from a
business standpoint. But by dishonoring the bond between a career-long TV star
and his audience, it stinks.
If ABC executives cared about viewers, the bottom line in this case would be
emotional, not financial.
Yes, the series is important to ABC.
No network wants to give up a fortified position in the battlefield of
prime-time TV. And no network with an ownership stake in a series - as ABC, by
being part of the Disney family, does with "8 Simple Rules" - wants to
surrender its dreams of the obscene profit margins generated by any show that
survives long enough to be syndicated.
Sadly, there's precedent for taking this "show must go on" approach to
similarly unsavory extremes.
When Freddie Prinze committed suicide in 1977, NBC continued "Chico and the
Man" by hiring a young actor, Gabriel Melgar, whom Jack Albertson's Ed quickly
nicknamed "Chico." More recently, when Redd Foxx had a heart attack and died a
few episodes into the filming of his 1991 CBS sitcom "The Royal Family," that
network kept the series going by writing the death of Foxx's character into the
script.
Now it's ABC's turn. After presenting the three episodes already filmed with
Ritter in his central role as the Hennessy patriarch, the network will take a
cue from CBS by writing the character's death into the script - and having the
family, and the show, go on without him.
No offense to Katey Sagal and the rest of the "8 Simple Rules" cast, who are a
talented bunch and who clearly loved their co-star deeply. But just as Prinze
was the heart of "Chico," and Foxx of "The Royal Family," Ritter - as the
put-upon, loving father - was the soul of that sitcom.
To retire it with dignity and reverence would have been the right and classy
thing to do. To continue is just greedy.
Neither "Chico" nor "Royal Family" lasted long without their fallen stars. "8
Simple Rules" isn't likely to, either.