Where did Flo go? I sort of remember that Carl has some kind of illness and they move to Arizona or something like that, but was she gone for the whole season? When she comes back, what happens to Carl?

Good question, I forgot what happened to Carl

Where did Flo go? I sort of remember that Carl has some kind of illness and they move to Arizona or something like that, but was she gone for the whole season? When she comes back, what happens to Carl?



Yes, Flo and Carl was suppose to have gotten married at the end of the fourth season. That's when Esther Rolle left the show and didn't come back for the whole fifth season, with the excuse that her and Carl were on their honeymoon in Arizona. Esther Rolle returned for the sixth season, without Carl, but the show never explained what happened to him. It's like he never existed.

Where did Flo go? I sort of remember that Carl has some kind of illness and they move to Arizona or something like that, but was she gone for the whole season? When she comes back, what happens to Carl?


He passed away in a VA Hopsital in Chicago. That was supposed to be the explaination but I guess they never went through with it. Read in a 1978 Jet magazine that the Carl character was going to be in a VA hospital at the beginning of season6

It was hard enough for the viewers when James was killed off and watching the family received the news, the funeral and working through it. We weren't that attached to Carl so I guess that's why they did not say anything about his whereabouts when Florida came home. There should had been some brief explaination to what happened to him. It was like he did not exist but it was strange that Florida married him and in the season opener of season 5 to explain why Florida wasn't there. JJ was talking to her on the phone and referred to her as Mrs. Dixon. When she came home for Thelma's wedding in season 6 she came back as Florida Evans (Mrs. Evans not Mrs. Dixon). That was strange. That show could had went down as a classic but with all the backstage fighting, too much emphasis on J.J. with so many ways he can scream dynomite, and the heart, John Amos, and soul of the show, Esther Rolle, left the show it just was no longer the same. You can tell by the cast performances those last three seasons, especially season 5, it was impacted on them what was going on.

Esther Rolle and John Amos were definitely the heart and soul of GT. I read where ER had finally had enough of the negative stereotypes the writers perputrated, especially in the case of JJ, and quit at the end of Season 4. One of the perks to get her back in the final season was pretend Carl Dixon had never exsisted. Instead, it messed up the show's continuity even more. Why couldn't they just acknowledge that the Dixon marriage was an unhappy one, he died in Arizona, and have her take back the Evans name? Would've made a lot more sense, but hey, we're the viewers. We're not supposed to question these things...:lol: