TMC
02-07-2022, 12:38 AM
There was an episode (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0642882/) of The Mary Tyler Moore Show where Rhoda (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhoda_Morgenstern) had a different younger sister: Debbie, a perky, pretty girl played by Liberty Williams, who was getting married before Rhoda. That caused her plenty of angst and made for a funny episode (https://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=300106).
By the time the spinoff series (https://web.archive.org/web/20140402220152/http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/topic/3112626-rhoda/?view=getnewpost) launched a few years later, Debbie was gone and replaced by Brenda, a schlubby underdog played by Julie Kavner.
Critics then and now say (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/YMMV/Rhoda) that Rhoda the show was fatally flawed because its premise made Rhoda boring—it married her off to a dull guy and gave the schlubby younger sister all the good old Rhoda lines and situations. When network execs demanded Rhoda get divorced (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Trivia/Rhoda), it sent ratings into a nosedive (https://web.archive.org/web/20061031130434/http://www.jumptheshark.com/r/rhoda.htm) but didn't make her any more interesting, because Brenda was still like "Old Rhoda". And a show that could have run eight years (based on how popular Rhoda once was) died (https://www.avclub.com/how-the-producers-of-rhoda-killed-the-show-by-making-it-1798237500) after four-and-a-half.
But if the show had been about Rhoda living in New York and coping with her perfect younger sister and husband, along with their parents and dating, that would have been a better premise. More conflict, more comedy. No?
By the time the spinoff series (https://web.archive.org/web/20140402220152/http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/topic/3112626-rhoda/?view=getnewpost) launched a few years later, Debbie was gone and replaced by Brenda, a schlubby underdog played by Julie Kavner.
Critics then and now say (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/YMMV/Rhoda) that Rhoda the show was fatally flawed because its premise made Rhoda boring—it married her off to a dull guy and gave the schlubby younger sister all the good old Rhoda lines and situations. When network execs demanded Rhoda get divorced (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Trivia/Rhoda), it sent ratings into a nosedive (https://web.archive.org/web/20061031130434/http://www.jumptheshark.com/r/rhoda.htm) but didn't make her any more interesting, because Brenda was still like "Old Rhoda". And a show that could have run eight years (based on how popular Rhoda once was) died (https://www.avclub.com/how-the-producers-of-rhoda-killed-the-show-by-making-it-1798237500) after four-and-a-half.
But if the show had been about Rhoda living in New York and coping with her perfect younger sister and husband, along with their parents and dating, that would have been a better premise. More conflict, more comedy. No?