Which episode do you find more "shocking", Dear Max or The Nearness of You.

1. What is the meaning of this thread title?

2. What was the premise in each of the two episodes you speak of?

1) you're right, I changed it.

2) Dear Max is when Julie abandons him and the baby.
The Nearness of You is when Max and Barbara kiss.

Which episode do you find more "shocking", Dear Max or The Nearness of You.


IDK???? I'm going to have to sleep on this! :crazy: And get back to you tomorrow! ;)

"Dear Max"

Neither episode is shocking or surprising.

Julie was always erratic and a problem child, so no shock or surprise when she bailed on Max and Annie in "Dear Max". That was typical Julie. Anyhow, the writers had to find a way to write Mac out of the show after she was let go yet again. I dislike Mackenzie Phillips, casting her in this show was a disaster. They should have let her go for keeps and hire another actress for the part as soon as they started having trouble with her.

"Nearness Of You" is not shocking or surprising either. With Julie out of the picture, it was just a matter of time until Max developed feelings for Barbara. It already started a few episodes before when Max passed Barbara on the stairs and said "Hi Doll" to her. :lol: Max and Julie were a mismatch. Mark and Barbara were also a mismatch. Sam and Ann were a mismatch, Sam looked too old for her. However, Max and Barbara looked good together.

ODAAT has finished another run on Antenna TV, starting over now with the 1st season. I like the show so I'll probably watch until Antenna takes it off the schedule. What about the rest of you?

I like the earlier seasons (1, 2, and 3) because that is when Bonnie Franklin looked her cutest until they gave her that ugly, unattractive short hairstyle.

OK ! Not to sound fickle but I'm gonna say this time around Dear Max was more shocking! Last time around it was The nearness of you!!!!

But in all fairness, knowing what was going to happen, wasn't as shocking! I wonder what my answer would be to this question in 1984?

Neither episode is shocking or surprising.

Julie was always erratic and a problem child, so no shock or surprise when she bailed on Max and Annie in "Dear Max". That was typical Julie. Anyhow, the writers had to find a way to write Mac out of the show after she was let go yet again. I dislike Mackenzie Phillips, casting her in this show was a disaster. They should have let her go for keeps and hire another actress for the part as soon as they started having trouble with her.

"Nearness Of You" is not shocking or surprising either. With Julie out of the picture, it was just a matter of time until Max developed feelings for Barbara. It already started a few episodes before when Max passed Barbara on the stairs and said "Hi Doll" to her. :lol: Max and Julie were a mismatch. Mark and Barbara were also a mismatch. Sam and Ann were a mismatch, Sam looked too old for her. However, Max and Barbara looked good together.

ODAAT has finished another run on Antenna TV, starting over now with the 1st season. I like the show so I'll probably watch until Antenna takes it off the schedule. What about the rest of you?

I like the earlier seasons (1, 2, and 3) because that is when Bonnie Franklin looked her cutest until they gave her that ugly, unattractive short hairstyle.


I think I am not going to watch it as faithfully for a third time!!! Just select eps. that I liked!! I'm kind of sad that it came to an end again!!! :( I think the posts here will pretty much dwindle!!! Hoping we can all go onto other threads or post about other shows we like together, I will miss our dear ODAAT club we have here! :(

The show I am into a lot now is Petticoat Junction since METV put it back on and not and an ungodly early hour like they used to have it on whenever it ran! ! And I catch Family Ties most of the time too! ;) Other than that I mainly watch the real life crime shows on IDTV!! Or sports with the hubby! :) Oh and CHIPS, but this is the third time around that it's run on METV so I just keep an eye on it to see Ponch! :) The show isn't as exciting as it used to be seeing them all already twice!

That is the great part of the Chit Chat section here. There's always something to post about there! ;)

Dear Max wasn't too shocking, but it was a very emotional episode.

I thought the most shocking episode of the series was when Ann had an affair with a married man. Or when they killed Nick off with a drunk driver.

But of the two listed I have to go with the Max kisses Barbara one.

Max totally betrayed the guy who stuck by him through the worst time in his life. (:violin: )It was pretty shocking to see him do that and even more so for Barbara to say it curled her toes.

Damn, that was out of nowhere and they saved it for the very end.

I still wonder what part was cut out for syndication involving Ann.

(I wonder if Barbara fantasized about Max while they were in Mexico.:blush: )

I think I am not going to watch it as faithfully for a third time!!! Just select eps. that I liked!! I'm kind of sad that it came to an end again!!! :( I think the posts here will pretty much dwindle!!! Hoping we can all go onto other threads or post about other shows we like together, I will miss our dear ODAAT club we have here! :(

That is the great part of the Chit Chat section here. There's always something to post about there! ;)

As long as Antenna TV still airs the episodes, I may occasionally post here on the ODAAT forum if I have something I want to say.

Chit Chat forum. I'm on there once in a while, but usually I'm on the sitcoms forums. 60's and 70's mostly.

Then there is PM. You can message me there too if you like. :wave:

I noticed I never answered my own question, so I'll do it now at halftime. I'll pick The Nearness of You, mostly by combining Retro's and Anna's comments. There's 3 characters involved. One could make a case that Julie's character was always written in that direction, and one can argue that Max's loneliness overwhelmed him. That leaves Barbara's reaction to the kiss, which , if not shocking, was at least surprising. So I go with that.

I thought the most shocking episode of the series was when Ann had an affair with a married man. Or when they killed Nick off with a drunk driver.

But of the two listed

Yeah, I didn't cherry pick from the whole series. I was in season 9 mode, and just went with the two that had aired on Antenna within the last week.