If Molly, Sue Ann, Cindy, Nancy, Mr. Bradley and Mrs Mahoney stayed for the duration of the show's 9 seasons would it have made it that long! I mean the change was a result of the show's creators but if from a viewer point would you have wanted them to stay. To me personally it was an unorganized success I did not learn the same lessons I learned after the 1st season and there were no sad episodes that made you cry. Also Mrs Garrett changed for the better because she lost weight after season 1 and her character changed from house mother to school dietician and she showed sensitivity that she did not show before and she became more of a major part during season 2 on

i think adding Nancy McKeon sparked a lot of new interest in the show, but I do think they should have kept all the first season girls, just moved them more into the background more.

i think adding Nancy McKeon sparked a lot of new interest in the show, but I do think they should have kept all the first season girls, just moved them more into the background more.

Totally agree. I think the addition of Jo really put the show over the top.

It did seem weird after that first year to basically have a school where it seemed like there were only really four students running around! They should have kept at least some of the others.

Sue Ann, Cindy and Nancy did appear here and there for a couple of years after Jo came, but they weren't regulars anymore and didn't appear in the opening credits.

I liked the show much better with all of them in it.

I like the first season girls but I am not sure if they would ever have reached the same level of popularity as the others, especially Jo and Blair. I know quite a few fans who don't like the first season girls, so I don't think they could have reached the same lavel of popularity as Blair, Jo, Natalie and Tootie.

I like the first season girls but I am not sure if they would ever have reached the same level of popularity as the others, especially Jo and Blair. I know quite a few fans who don't like the first season girls, so I don't think they could have reached the same lavel of popularity as Blair, Jo, Natalie and Tootie.i agree with you almost word for word

It wouldn't have been quite as popular because with 4 girls they could focus in on each character better and develop them. Also same for Mrs. G. Adding Jo opened up the door for more story lines. You couldn't have given Jo's storylines to any of the other girls and still retained the realism. They needed to bring in another character.

I do wish they would have shown the 1st season girls a little more even if say there was a dance or a scene on the cafeteria with students eating a meal, they could have been in those scenes. Even if they didn't have speaking lines, they could have been seen in the crowd.

There was no reason why the other girls couldn't have been used as supporting roles. There were plenty of one shot characters that simply could have been a role for Nancy, Sue Ann, Cindy or Molly. And why couldn't John Lawlor not continued on as Mr. Bradley?? Sure the role would have been reduced, but look at how much Mr Parker was being used by Season 4--every third or fourth episode.

Ok here is my answer:
NANCY, SUE ANN, MOLLY + CINDY had no chemistry with MRS. G the way BLAIR did: you could see how MRS. G seemed to look out for BLAIR more since she was the "troublemaker" who smoked cigarettes & wore skimpy clothes.....
then, these 3 girls were bad actresses (exept for SUE ANN) & there is no way they would have fit it with JO the way BLAIR did: she had a stronger character than all these 4 girls put together!
As for TOOTIE & NAT: there made such a funny pair + showed a lot of potential in the acting department "like mother like daughter" when they start immitating MONICA with her lover! fantastic!
PS: any comments?:crazy:

Hmm...I had a sense of loss when I found out the other girls weren't coming back. But Jo was such a star, after the first couple of episodes with her, I never looked back.

I especially was horrified that they dropped Molly...let me clarify that I had absolutely NO idea who Molly Ringwald was until I watched FOL about 3 years ago. So I can genuinely say that she was a very cool actress as a kid.

About the others...nah, such a big cast would never have been able to make it. I think it was an act of mercy to just let them go and not dangle their lost places in the main cast in front of them all the time.

I liked the show much better with all of them in it.

Me too. I also liked the original lyrics to the theme song. Mrs. Garrett even sang one of the lines.

There was no reason why the other girls couldn't have been used as supporting roles. There were plenty of one shot characters that simply could have been a role for Nancy, Sue Ann, Cindy or Molly. And why couldn't John Lawlor not continued on as Mr. Bradley?? Sure the role would have been reduced, but look at how much Mr Parker was being used by Season 4--every third or fourth episode.

I don't really care about Mr. Bradley but I agree they could have used Nancy, Sue Ann and Cindy as supporting characters more as friends outside of the core group. Molly I never got into and because of what leaving the show did for the actress she was better off leaving when she did.