In the original episode, it was Tootie who was losing her hearing and was afraid to admit it. If the Lost Girls had stayed, Molly probably would have been the best fit for the role since her real father is blind. They could even have her father make a guest appearance to show people with a sense disability can over come it. He did appear in one movie of hers in the late 90s.

I'd think if Molly had had a major role in the episode, it would have been changed to a Blind episode, for the reasons you mention above. Bob Ringwald could have appeared as a mentor to the temporarily blind Molly. That would have been pretty cool.

See, these are the types of stories we missed out on, with the Cast Purge.

Wow. I had no idea Molly’s real life father was blind.

Wow. I had no idea Molly’s real life father was blind.

He is known for two things. Being a leader of a San Francisco jazz band and being a ham radio operator. His Ham call letters was who Molly rattled off in the flood. He and Molly helped rewrite the script for that ham radio conversations because they did not find it a realistic exchange in the original script. Molly would often read him some of the scripts in the show.

That’s awesome!