During the 1st 3 yrs of FM the writers focused alot more on the older characters rather than the younger cast, by the start of the 4th season, not only was Steve getting alot more attention, but other characters were too. Waldo had become a regular cast member, Maxine started getting more attention when they started going out, Weasel was a recurring character for seasons 4/5 and we would see Steve, Eddie, Waldo, and Weasel hang-out alot. Myra was a recurring character, and then a regular cast member in season 6, and Greta, Stefan, and Myrtle were also recurring characters the last few yrs. The reason the writers did this is because the show was becoming very popular with younger viewers. The show didn't do that well in the ratings by the start of season 4, but I guess that only makes sense becuase apparently when shows are popular only with kids they don't do that well in the ratings (Boy Meets World, Step By Step). The first couple yrs, I think the show was really a show that the whole family would want to watch together, but after the show had all of those weird plots, grown-ups certainly were'nt interested, my question is, do you guys think the writers would have been better off focusing more on the older cast like Carl, Harriette, Rachel, and Mother Winslow, like they had done before?

Well Carl did get a lot more attention because of his interactions with Steve. But I think they should have used the same pattern they did in the first three seasons because the older cast and younger cast got decent amount of attention. The mistake was adding Myra, Mrytle (she was okay the first time around) and Stefan because they really took the focus off everyone else at least with Maxine, Greta, Weasel and Waldo they were friends of Eddie and Laura and were kept as side characters. But Myra, Mrtyle and Stefan were unnecessary characters and it was just a branch out to give Steve more attention.

I think they should have. I've always thought the first three seasons were the better with the first being the best. the older characters had more depth than Steve and the ones that were brought in.

Yeah, shows like The Cosby Show, Growing Pains, Who's The Boss, and Family Ties did very well in the ratings because they focused alot on all the family members, therfore making them popular with the whole family, not just kids.

I personally wouldn't have minded seeing Rachel step in for a story line in the later years. Also if Judy was still there for the final season she would have been graduating High School at the end of that year. So in a way they could have gave her charachter more storylines, because she would have been at that age where they give charachters her age the most attention. For some reason High School kids on sitcoms have been much more interesting to watch on TV than college kids. JMO

Yeah I wish they had kept Judy, I always think it's strange how in future eps they only mention having 2 kids, when Judy was on there for 4 yrs. But the writers were having problems with Jaimee Foxworth's mother, she said she wanted more eps to focus on Judy and she even asked one of the producers when that would happen and the producer responded by saying "When pigs fly." OUCH!

I always wondered how Rachel would have responded to all of that wackiness that went on. I wondered how she would respond to Stefan, the cloning, the teleporter and the time traveling. All of the wackiness started once she left. I also wanted to see how she would have responded and interacted with Myra and 3J. Me personally I was a big fan of the Aunt Rachel character and I really wish they let her pop in at least once in a while in the later seasons.

Yeah I liked Rachel alot too, it was good to see her in the final Christmas eps, at least they hadn't forgotten about her after all that time.