Was there ever an official reason on why Lisa Whelchel didn't appear in the episode from season 9; "The First Time"? The episode where Natalie looses her virginity

Lisa Whelchel was a born -- again Christian, and born -- again Christians don't think young girls should lose their virginity before marriage . When the writers first imagined this episode, they pictured Blair ( Lisa Whelchel ) being the girl to lose her virginity . Lisa Whelchel refused to have any part of that idea, and the episode was re -- written for Natalie ( Mindy Cohn ) . This was the only episode Lisa Whelchel didn't appear in .

There was one episode where Mrs . Garrett ( Charlotte Rae ) and the girls were having a classroom discussion about sex . One girl claimed her husband would teach her "everything she needed to know" . Blair said "I'd like to teach MY husband a thing or two !" . I guess it was all right for her to talk about it, but not actually go through with it .

Finally, I knew why Lisa Whelchel wasn't in this episode, which is why I decided to answer your question . I checked Wikipedia to make sure I spelled her name right, and they featured a paragraph explaining that this episode was originally written for Blair, and Lisa Whelchel refused to go along with it, so I received extra information without looking for it .

Lisa Whelchel was a born -- again Christian, and born -- again Christians don't think young girls should lose their virginity before marriage . When the writers first imagined this episode, they pictured Blair ( Lisa Whelchel ) being the girl to lose her virginity . Lisa Whelchel refused to have any part of that idea, and the episode was re -- written for Natalie ( Mindy Cohn ) . This was the only episode Lisa Whelchel didn't appear in .

There was one episode where Mrs . Garrett ( Charlotte Rae ) and the girls were having a classroom discussion about sex . One girl claimed her husband would teach her "everything she needed to know" . Blair said "I'd like to teach MY husband a thing or two !" . I guess it was all right for her to talk about it, but not actually go through with it .

Finally, I knew why Lisa Whelchel wasn't in this episode, which is why I decided to answer your question . I checked Wikipedia to make sure I spelled her name right, and they featured a paragraph explaining that this episode was originally written for Blair, and Lisa Whelchel refused to go along with it, so I received extra information without looking for it .

Actually Blair didn't say that line, that line belonged to Molly Ringwald.

But the gist of your post is on the mark, in that episode Blair advocated a more adventurous lifestyle while Sue Ann advocated conservatism.

The thing about the character about Blair though as she flatly states in the first episode of the series is that she was a tease. She would toy with a guy's emotions but that is about far as she went as I can recall.

I was a little suprised that Lisa didn't have a problem with Blair playing with a weegie board in that first season episode. Maybe Lisa hadn't established her Christian beliefs yet at that point.

I was a little suprised that Lisa didn't have a problem with Blair playing with a weegie board in that first season episode. Maybe Lisa hadn't established her Christian beliefs yet at that point.

Actually, she had established her Christian beliefs at that point. She just didn't have any clout at that point. Keep in mind, unless you generally have name power in Hollywood, you're not really in a position to question the decisions of the writers and/or producers of your movie or show.

Very true.

You know Lisa gets allot of respect from me for making that choice I know there are allot of shows where people go off and lose there virginity like the soap opera I watch, the young teenagers/adults are all having sex on that show. It's just nice to see that she stuck to her religious beliefs and that she didn't want to go around posing as someone who thinks it's ok even if it's acting cause there are allot of young girls that watch this show and she wanted to be the good Christian role model and I applauded her for that. But I will admit I do like that episode though.

Yes, I respect her decision, too. I'm always a little surprised and somewhat disgusted that people in sitcoms from Friends onwards just simply sleep with each other on their FIRST date. I'm sure it's not like that really...

Oh, and that episode was good...I especially liked the Jo/Nat dialogues. Very rare

Good for her making that decision. But I wonder why she didn't have a problem with the episode where they went to a strip club.

I was a little suprised that Lisa didn't have a problem with Blair playing with a weegie board in that first season episode. Maybe Lisa hadn't established her Christian beliefs yet at that point.
Actually, it's called a Ouija board, but pretty much pronounced the same.

I also thought that was rather strange for Lisa to do that. Plus, she also smoked in an another episode, and was rather aggressive with a guy in a van, in a, err, non-Platonic sense.

This has probably been explained before but the episode that dealt with the loss of virginity, Lisa's problem with it wasn't so much her Christian beliefs but she felt it was going to send a message to her fans that losing your virginity is something that every teenager goes through.

Lisa thought that putting that message out was wrong and while I'm sure her religious beliefs had something to do with those convictions I'm sure the fact that she realized that she had a young following of fans probably had something to do with that as well.

And you know what else I noticed that the last season when Lisa was more into her religious beliefs and bringing that more into her acting I noticed that she didn't kiss on the lips there was one ep where Blair and Casey started realizing they liked each other and they were at the Girl's house and they were going to kiss and Casey kissed Blair on the forehead then the cheek and the chin not the lips and then Jo walks in and catches them kissing and said doesn't he know where your lips are. I also think everytime after that when Casey was going to kiss her he kissed her like that not on the lips.

And you know what else I noticed that the last season when Lisa was more into her religious beliefs and bringing that more into her acting I noticed that she didn't kiss on the lips there was one ep where Blair and Casey started realizing they liked each other and they were at the Girl's house and they were going to kiss and Casey kissed Blair on the forehead then the cheek and the chin not the lips and then Jo walks in and catches them kissing and said doesn't he know where your lips are. I also think everytime after that when Casey was going to kiss her he kissed her like that not on the lips.
Exactly.

This has probably been explained before but the episode that dealt with the loss of virginity, Lisa's problem with it wasn't so much her Christian beliefs but she felt it was going to send a message to her fans that losing your virginity is something that every teenager goes through.

Lisa thought that putting that message out was wrong and while I'm sure her religious beliefs had something to do with those convictions I'm sure the fact that she realized that she had a young following of fans probably had something to do with that as well.

Still, in the strip-club episode, she was clearly enjoying the experience to the max. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's got to send some kind of message to the audience about both male and female strip clubs, no? am i also right in believing that Christian values would be against this sort of thing? I'm not a Christian, so I don't know

As DarkDante explained, Lisa felt that the episode in question was blatantly promoting premarital sex as something that was fine to do, and she couldn't agree with that and opted out of that episode.

The strip club episode didn't necessarily promote strip clubs because it sort of ended on a sour note, with the girls realizing that they were treating the men like objects.

The important thing to realize is that Lisa didn't refuse to do any scene that went against Christian morals, Blair did many things through out the entire series that would frowned upon by a devout Christian. Lisa knew she was playing a role, and that "Blair" had different beliefs than Lisa. It was just the sex episode she had an issue with, and not purely from a Christian stand point but also from a moral standpoint.

ok according to what Lisa wrote in her book facts of life and other lessons she has a chapter on this topic. Bear with me it's a little long

The book states that after the producers came to Lisa about Blair losing her virginity in and ep she said she knew she couldn't compromise her beliefs. After her meeting with the producers she felt a responsibility to the young girls who might be watching the show and some of them might be thinking about losing there virginity and feel tempted to bow to peer pressure by saying "see, everyone is doing it, even Blair." Lisa goes on to say "Once a girl gives away her virginity she can never get it back. God created sex, and he instructs his children to wait until marriage to enjoy it." Lisa didn't want to go on television and by her actions say " God doesn't know what he is talking about. Having premarital sex is a normal, healthy fact of life." Her producers tried to convince Lisa that she was just playing a part and it's not really her but Lisa said she could see the big picture and she stood firm. Lisa realized that the overall message of the show would perpetuate the lie that having sex before marriage is natural, with no negative consequences as long as people practice "Safe Sex."

Lisa then went on to say she hadn't always made the best choices earlier in her career. She says she bought into the rationalization that it's only a part. For instance she regrets that even thought it wasn't a real cigarette, she gave the impression in the first episode of the show that Blair smoked. She was embarrassed by some of the immodest clothing she wore in a few of the TV movies she was in and she can't believe she once accepted a part in a movie without ever reading the rest of the script. Her role in that move was harmless enough, but the rest of the movie she thought was awful. She goes on to say as she grew as a child of the lord, her discernment concerning the parts she takes as an actress has grown as well. She then states that "God hasn't condemned me for the poor choices I made when I was younger, he knows me completely, and he understands that I didn't know any better at the time. But as I grow in the lord and am able to see things more clearly, he expects me to make better choices, and I'll continue to obey according to the glimpses of truth I'm given."

I think it's so cool how Lisa doesn't compromise her beliefs even if it means backing out of acting roles. She is such and inspiration to me because of that.

ok according to what Lisa wrote in her book facts of life and other lessons she has a chapter on this topic. Bear with me it's a little long

The book states that after the producers came to Lisa about Blair losing her virginity in and ep she said she knew she couldn't compromise her beliefs. After her meeting with the producers she felt a responsibility to the young girls who might be watching the show and some of them might be thinking about losing there virginity and feel tempted to bow to peer pressure by saying "see, everyone is doing it, even Blair." Lisa goes on to say "Once a girl gives away her virginity she can never get it back. God created sex, and he instructs his children to wait until marriage to enjoy it." Lisa didn't want to go on television and by her actions say " God doesn't know what he is talking about. Having premarital sex is a normal, healthy fact of life." Her producers tried to convince Lisa that she was just playing a part and it's not really her but Lisa said she could see the big picture and she stood firm. Lisa realized that the overall message of the show would perpetuate the lie that having sex before marriage is natural, with no negative consequences as long as people practice "Safe Sex."

Lisa then went on to say she hadn't always made the best choices earlier in her career. She says she bought into the rationalization that it's only a part. For instance she regrets that even thought it wasn't a real cigarette, she gave the impression in the first episode of the show that Blair smoked. She was embarrassed by some of the immodest clothing she wore in a few of the TV movies she was in and she can't believe she once accepted a part in a movie without ever reading the rest of the script. Her role in that move was harmless enough, but the rest of the movie she thought was awful. She goes on to say as she grew as a child of the lord, her discernment concerning the parts she takes as an actress has grown as well. She then states that "God hasn't condemned me for the poor choices I made when I was younger, he knows me completely, and he understands that I didn't know any better at the time. But as I grow in the lord and am able to see things more clearly, he expects me to make better choices, and I'll continue to obey according to the glimpses of truth I'm given."

I think it's so cool how Lisa doesn't compromise her beliefs even if it means backing out of acting roles. She is such and inspiration to me because of that.

While I respect her decisions hindsight being what it is, it probably shows that she made the right choice professionally speaking leaving the entertainment industry behind after FOL. Lisa Whelchel was a very beautiful woman and would've no doubt been asked if she had continued on in the industry to take on more adult roles.

If she would've been uncomfortable with those roles and kept turning them down it would've likely created a roadblock in so much as career advancement went.

I think of someone like Kirk Cameron who seemed to be pegged for superstardom in the mid eighties before undergoing a change of philosophy in his life which lead him to veto a great deal of storylines on his show "Growing Pains". Eventually co-star Alan Thicke counseled him that " more explicitly Christian entertainment might be a better fit" given that "Growing Pains" was pretty tame fare to begin with. To my knowledge after that sitcom ended Cameron basically dropped from sight professionally speaking although I don't know if that was of his own volition or not.

I guess what I'm saying is in the nineties the entertainment industry was about to take a radical turn in a new direction with more confrontational television. Instead of just touching on issues like the sitcoms of the eighties did, the television fare of the nineties confronted them head on and I'm not sure if actors would've been given the same "wiggle room" that Whelchel or Cameron were given in the eighties with their objections to storylines. If both stayed in the industry in the nineties, right or wrong both may have soon found themselves out of work.

While I respect her decisions hindsight being what it is, it probably shows that she made the right choice professionally speaking leaving the entertainment industry behind after FOL. Lisa Whelchel was a very beautiful woman and would've no doubt been asked if she had continued on in the industry to take on more adult roles.

If she would've been uncomfortable with those roles and kept turning them down it would've likely created a roadblock in so much as career advancement went.

I think of someone like Kirk Cameron who seemed to be pegged for superstardom in the mid eighties before undergoing a change of philosophy in his life which lead him to veto a great deal of storylines on his show "Growing Pains". Eventually co-star Alan Thicke counseled him that " more explicitly Christian entertainment might be a better fit" given that "Growing Pains" was pretty tame fare to begin with. To my knowledge after that sitcom ended Cameron basically dropped from sight professionally speaking although I don't know if that was of his own volition or not.

I guess what I'm saying is in the nineties the entertainment industry was about to take a radical turn in a new direction with more confrontational television. Instead of just touching on issues like the sitcoms of the eighties did, the television fare of the nineties confronted them head on and I'm not sure if actors would've been given the same "wiggle room" that Whelchel or Cameron were given in the eighties with their objections to storylines. If both stayed in the industry in the nineties, right or wrong both may have soon found themselves out of work.
But now Lisa has returned to the entertainment industry.

It was just the sex episode she had an issue with, and not purely from a Christian stand point but also from a moral standpoint.[/QUOTE]
Isn't the second one inextricably linked to the first?

It was just the sex episode she had an issue with, and not purely from a Christian stand point but also from a moral standpoint.
Isn't the second one inextricably linked to the first?[/QUOTE]
I think that she wasn't trying to say sex was all "naughty, naughty" :nonono:, but that it was more about not influencing young impressionable teens to make improper decisions that would adversely impact the rest of their lives--and society in general (such as the cost of raising a child, disease, etc.).