....Or was it doomed from the start?

I think if Leo had been a younger actor,Bess could have dated him to Phyllis'

horror as in the 2nd season they did with Bess and Mark.

I felt in the second seasons,Phyllis was still on about Lars and we could have

done without the episode of Phyllis bringing Lar's body back to SF.

There was a lot they could with Phyllis on the job front but the unfunny office setting,the unfunny Leonard and the sad death of judith Lowry and indeed,Barabara Colby's death early on in the show,really hit the show bad.

I wouldn't say it was doomed from the start. Considering it was a top 10 show in the first season. Also Cloris Leachman was nominated for Lead actress in a comedy series for it. The problem may be they changed it too much and viewers didn't accept the changes only into the second season. If Barbara Colby would have lived I bet it would have lasted a lot longer. She and Cloris would have been a good team. I didn't care for Liz Torres as Julie.

Well, the deaths of Colby and Lowry really hurt the show, but nothing could be done about that. I would have kept Torres’ Julie on, axed Leo, had Jonathan and Audrey go on an extended vacation, and explore Phyllis’ life as a grandmother (and have her continue to live in the SF house and def have a better job than she had in Season 02).

The Gary Marshall Strategy

have the spinoff air right after the parent show