The first episode filmed for the season was "A Crowded Romance". It was written in advance not to include Chrissy because Suzanne Somers was booked in Vegas. The next one filmed was "Upstairs, Downstairs, Downstairs." Then to come was "...And Justice For Jack". But Suzanne failed to show so they quickly wrote her out of it. She also missed the next episode, an episode that no one knows anything about because it was scrapped completley. She returned however for "A Hundred Dollars A What?". The next day rehearsal was to start on "Downhill Chaser." Suzanne again didn't show, so they wrote her out of the episode. When Suzane returned they told her she wasn't needed. The next episode done was "Room At The Bottom". It was filmed 2 weeks after "Downhill Chaser." Chrissy calls home for the first time. I have four questions:

1) Was Chrissy originally supposed to be in "Room At The Bottom"?
2) At what point did the producers finally decide to fire her?
3) In "...And Justice For Jack", Chrissy was supposed to defend Jack in court. What was Chrissy supposed to do in "Downhill Chaser'?
4) Is there anything we know about that scrapped episode?

1) No she wasn't. I think they stated that she was away visiting her parents.

2) They decided to fire her at the same time they decided to make her do the phone call thing. They were just waiting for her contract to expire.

3) She wasn't supposed to be in the episode at all in the first place. She actually decided to show up for work that day and the producers told her to go home.

4) I don't think anyone knows a goddamn thing about that episode or at least I don't.

Thanks for the quick response. But, I thought that in Chris Mann's book it said that Chrissy was supposed to be in "Downhill Chaser".

I'm glad Upstairs, Downstairs, Downstairs was chosen as the season premiere since it seemed to be the strongest episode between that one and A Crowded Romance.

How about this.... let's look through all of these episodes mentioned (except Upstairs, Downstairs, Downstairs and A Hundred Dollars A What) and determine who ended up getting Chrissy's lines.

that sounds likea great idea!

This is the order in which the shows aired

Upstairs, Downstairs, Downstairs - Production Code: 0503
... And Justice for Jack - Production Code: 0501
A Hundred Dollars A What? - Production Code: 0504
Downhill Chaser - Production Code: 0505
A Crowded Romance - Production Code :0502
Room at the Bottom - Production Code :0506


I saw ...and Justice for Jack and it looks like Furley's lines regarding "ha-rass-ment" was originally Chrissy's.

It also looks like some of the lines that Janet has sounds like something Chrissy would say. Notice what she says and the manner she says it:
9:40 The way Janet paused when Larry asked her how does he know that Jack's bottom is all black and blue
10:11 The "turn the other cheek" gag
19:57 Janet's outburst in the court
20:20 Janet's second outburst mentioning Jack being sweet and innocent and shy

I think the rewrite occured after Ms. Callahan harassed Jack in the office. I'm guessing that's when Chrissy was supposed to step in and defend Jack. Once that part was written out, they had Mr. Higgins defend him.

I saw Downhill Chaser, and the only gag that sounds like a Chrissy line was said by Janet around 9:19...It's hilarious.

I saw A Crowded Romance, and although she was written out of that script prior to her negotiation ploy, it looks like the speech Janet gives to Jack and Larry about "it doesn't matter where you're girlfriend lives" sounds Chrissy-esque.

I just finished watching Room at the Bottom, and Yellow 11 is right, its the first episode where Chrissy calls home, so there were no changes made prior to this, since this was the 6th episode filmed in the season. This was after the Downhill Chaser rewrite.

I'm curious to see what the original scripts of ...and Justice for Jack and Downhill Chaser look like. Also, what the revised scripts for Upstairs, Downstairs, Downstairs and A Hundred Dollars A What? had Suzanne not been on these episodes.

Thanks for the quick response. But, I thought that in Chris Mann's book it said that Chrissy was supposed to be in "Downhill Chaser".

You are right she was supposed to be in "Downhill Chaser", but when she didn't show up for a Sunday rehearsal, that was the Producers' last straw. So when she showed up on Nov. 3rd for taping, producers told her that she wasn't needed. :)

1) No she wasn't. I think they stated that she was away visiting her parents.

2) They decided to fire her at the same time they decided to make her do the phone call thing. They were just waiting for her contract to expire.

3) She wasn't supposed to be in the episode at all in the first place. She actually decided to show up for work that day and the producers told her to go home.

4) I don't think anyone knows a goddamn thing about that episode or at least I don't.
They could' have fired her at anytime since she was in breech of her contract. The reason they didn't was because ABC was worried about the ratings and how the public would react. John even said he thought the situation would be eventually resolved. What did Suzanne in was she went on television and trashed the show because of what they were doing to her. After that the producers decided to fire her.

I'm glad Upstairs, Downstairs, Downstairs was chosen as the season premiere since it seemed to be the strongest episode between that one and A Crowded Romance.

How about this.... let's look through all of these episodes mentioned (except Upstairs, Downstairs, Downstairs and A Hundred Dollars A What) and determine who ended up getting Chrissy's lines.
Furley was the one that got most of Chrissy's lines.

Bump

I'm assuming the Hundred Dollars or What? episode would have been rewritten to have the call girl high school friend to have been Janet's instead of Chrissy's and maybe had Larry or Furley going along with Jack to save Janet from that convention full of men??

Since Chrissy's phone call scenes were during the show's last tagline segment, were they shown much in syndication? I remember seeing them a few times, but not that often really.

After reading Suzanne's book, After the Fall, she mentioned that the humiliating Chrissy phone call scenes were edited out of the syndicated reruns and she was glad they were.

I'm assuming the Hundred Dollars or What? episode would have been rewritten to have the call girl high school friend to have been Janet's instead of Chrissy's and maybe had Larry or Furley going along with Jack to save Janet from that convention full of men??

Since Chrissy's phone call scenes were during the show's last tagline segment, were they shown much in syndication? I remember seeing them a few times, but not that often really.
All the times I saw the reruns in syndication, the phone call scenes were always cut.

The only phone episode of Chriisy's that was ever seen in syndication was in "Room at the Bottom" and that's because the scene was in the middle of the show.