I know it wasn't the "official" end to the show, but did the show lose steam after his birth?

I think it started to lose steam after they moved next door.

I think it started to lose steam after they moved next door.

That's what I was going to say. It started losing steam then, but was still pretty good. The show should have ended when Mike and Gloria moved to California. Things really went downhill after that, IMO.

That's what I was going to say. It started losing steam then, but was still pretty good. The show should have ended when Mike and Gloria moved to California. Things really went downhill after that, IMO.

Also, when they moved next door, we saw less of Gloria even though Mike was always there with Archie and Edith. It must be that Sally Struthers was part time?

The show lost steam when the Jeffersons were spun-off.

If they had stayed on the show it would have remained very funny

The show had to evolve a bit. You couldn't have had Mike and Gloria living with Archie and Edith forever, it just would have staggered believability. Particularly after Mike graduated from college, they needed to show the natural progression of things.

Many, many great episodes occurred after Joey was born; Edith's assault, her crisis of faith, the Vietnam vet episode, the Archie/Mike locked in the freezer episode, etc. The show REALLY jumped when Mike and Gloria left for California, there was no creative sense in continuing beyond that point.

The show had to evolve a bit. You couldn't have had Mike and Gloria living with Archie and Edith forever, it just would have staggered believability. Particularly after Mike graduated from college, they needed to show the natural progression of things.

Many, many great episodes occurred after Joey was born; Edith's assault, her crisis of faith, the Vietnam vet episode, the Archie/Mike locked in the freezer episode, etc. The show REALLY jumped when Mike and Gloria left for California, there was no creative sense in continuing beyond that point.
You are so right about that.

I agree. It did start to lose something once they moved out. It just wasn't the same. And, when they moved away and it was just Archie, Edith, Stephanie, and that lady who moved in it didn't seem as good.
They did need to progress and eventually be on their own, but it just seemed to lose something from there on out. Still good episodes though.

I don't think the show lost it's steam,the show needed to evolve. Naturally, Mike and Gloria couldn't live with the parents forever and of course they were going to eventually have a baby. I think them moving next door was a needed change because new storylines could take place at the Stivic household, it was sort of a breath of fresh air. Of course the birth of the baby opened up more storylines.

I don't think the show lost it's steam,the show needed to evolve. Naturally, Mike and Gloria couldn't live with the parents forever and of course they were going to eventually have a baby. I think them moving next door was a needed change because new storylines could take place at the Stivic household, it was sort of a breath of fresh air. Of course the birth of the baby opened up more storylines.


I think they should have had the baby near the end of the series and the pregnancy could have been in the finale. Not as soon as they moved out