Furienna
04-22-2010, 07:46 AM
This is one of the classic 90s sitcoms, and I've been watching it whenever a TV channel here in my country (Sweden) has shown it ever since I first discovered it back in 1997. But during the show's nine-year-long run, the people behind this show made two mistakes, for which I will never forgive them.
1: The (mis)treatment of Judy
When this show first started, Carl and Harriette had a third child, Eddy's and Laura's younger sister Judy Winslow. But after the 1rst season, they gave her less and less spotlight, until they let her go completely after the 4th season, cruelly firing the only 13-year-old actress Jaimee Foxworth, who would turn to drugs and porn a few years later. Except for two sub-plots, they had never given her much to do after the 1rst season, to the point that in a 4th season episode, they had all the cast members climb out of Steve's Isetta during a closing sequence, all of them except for Jaimee Foxworth. As a matter of fact, you hardly miss her during the latter half of the show's run, because she never was that interesting. But the thing is, they should have given her something to do, so she could become interesting! And if Jaimee Foxworth didn't work out for them for some reason, they could have looked for another girl to play the role. What about Valerie Jones, who played Judy in the pilot, for example? The character of Judy Winslow sure was a missed opportunity. She was becoming a teenager, which could have given us a lot of interesting plotlines for her, far more interesting than the numerous Stephan and Myrthle plotlines, that they kept bringing out during the last few seasons. But instead of working a little on the character, they decided to trash it completely and have the other characters pretend like Judy never had existed. And that was a bad choice from beginning to end.
2: Steve choosing Laura over Myra
This is another thing, that always has annoyed me about this show. Laura kept treating Steve like he was some dirt, that had gotten stuck under her shoe. And still, he kept proclaiming his undying love for her. Later on, Laura was willing to see Steve as a friend, but even then, she had no romantic interest in him. Or if she did, she didn't want to admit that even to herself, as he was a nerd and she just couldn't take the risk of damaging her precious reputation as a popular girl. But still, Steve kept drooling over this girl, who was so wrong for him at every level. Maybe you can't choose who you fall in love with. But there's also such a thing as realising when you've hit a dead end and move on. After all, there are plenty of other fish in the sea. And in the 4th season, they also found the perfect girl for Steve: Myra Mounkhouse. At last, Steve had found a girl, who wasn't afraid of loving a nerd, who loved him for who he was. But even now, Steve couldn't let go off his misguided affection for that shallow bitch Laura. Even after he decided to go steady with Myra and officially was devoted to her, far too many episodes still showed him drooling over Laura. And in the 9th and last season, they suddenly had to, in the most forced manner possible, have Laura suddenly fall for Steve, and of course, poor Myra was cruelly jilted, which was just what she had been afraid of for years. Why did they have to end the show this way? I know the Laura fans will answer "But she was the love of Steve's life". Oh yeah? So what had she ever done to deserve his love? Nothing at all, that's what! The people behind this show even tried to make Laura look like the perfect girl, who was every guy's wet dream, while they made Myra look like a crazy unsympathetic stalker. But they never fooled me, because I still say Myra, and not Laura, was the right girl for Steve. She even was prettier than Laura!
1: The (mis)treatment of Judy
When this show first started, Carl and Harriette had a third child, Eddy's and Laura's younger sister Judy Winslow. But after the 1rst season, they gave her less and less spotlight, until they let her go completely after the 4th season, cruelly firing the only 13-year-old actress Jaimee Foxworth, who would turn to drugs and porn a few years later. Except for two sub-plots, they had never given her much to do after the 1rst season, to the point that in a 4th season episode, they had all the cast members climb out of Steve's Isetta during a closing sequence, all of them except for Jaimee Foxworth. As a matter of fact, you hardly miss her during the latter half of the show's run, because she never was that interesting. But the thing is, they should have given her something to do, so she could become interesting! And if Jaimee Foxworth didn't work out for them for some reason, they could have looked for another girl to play the role. What about Valerie Jones, who played Judy in the pilot, for example? The character of Judy Winslow sure was a missed opportunity. She was becoming a teenager, which could have given us a lot of interesting plotlines for her, far more interesting than the numerous Stephan and Myrthle plotlines, that they kept bringing out during the last few seasons. But instead of working a little on the character, they decided to trash it completely and have the other characters pretend like Judy never had existed. And that was a bad choice from beginning to end.
2: Steve choosing Laura over Myra
This is another thing, that always has annoyed me about this show. Laura kept treating Steve like he was some dirt, that had gotten stuck under her shoe. And still, he kept proclaiming his undying love for her. Later on, Laura was willing to see Steve as a friend, but even then, she had no romantic interest in him. Or if she did, she didn't want to admit that even to herself, as he was a nerd and she just couldn't take the risk of damaging her precious reputation as a popular girl. But still, Steve kept drooling over this girl, who was so wrong for him at every level. Maybe you can't choose who you fall in love with. But there's also such a thing as realising when you've hit a dead end and move on. After all, there are plenty of other fish in the sea. And in the 4th season, they also found the perfect girl for Steve: Myra Mounkhouse. At last, Steve had found a girl, who wasn't afraid of loving a nerd, who loved him for who he was. But even now, Steve couldn't let go off his misguided affection for that shallow bitch Laura. Even after he decided to go steady with Myra and officially was devoted to her, far too many episodes still showed him drooling over Laura. And in the 9th and last season, they suddenly had to, in the most forced manner possible, have Laura suddenly fall for Steve, and of course, poor Myra was cruelly jilted, which was just what she had been afraid of for years. Why did they have to end the show this way? I know the Laura fans will answer "But she was the love of Steve's life". Oh yeah? So what had she ever done to deserve his love? Nothing at all, that's what! The people behind this show even tried to make Laura look like the perfect girl, who was every guy's wet dream, while they made Myra look like a crazy unsympathetic stalker. But they never fooled me, because I still say Myra, and not Laura, was the right girl for Steve. She even was prettier than Laura!