Would you watch the episodes of Coed Fever from 1979 if your could and it was for free?

I would just to see how the house looked alike and different from the Facts of Life time. I seen the first couple of minutes of the first episode on YouTube. It was so bad, they you can see the yellow stage curtain by the payphone. The payphone would stay for Season 1A, though it looks like it was a different designed one.

Note, there was a 1980 movie called Coed Fever, but that was a completely different animal.

Yes, but like you, I would only be there to see the FOL dorm set, and not the awful show itself, or that craptacular theme song.

I don't believe the curtain is a stage curtain. It's on the wrong wall; I think it was meant to be part of the set decoration.

I think i'm gonna have to watch it before i can vote: as i have never even heard of it lol!

I think i'm gonna have to watch it before i can vote: as i have never even heard of it lol!

Here's the video. It's pretty bad. But you do get to see the dorm common room before it was on The Facts of Life (with some slight changes).

ClD8Fidcd_k

Oh my god! That was like watching BEVERLY ANN interact with SUE ANN on the phone scene ha ha!

Absolutely LOVED it!

And watching the common room brought me back to the Eastland Golden Era from season 1 lol!

I voted for yes!

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Oh my god! That was like watching BEVERLY ANN interact with SUE ANN on the phone scene ha ha!

:lol::lol::lol::lol:

:lol::lol::lol::lol:


I'm glad i can make you smile, Retro!

:mrt::mrt::mrt::mrt::mrt::mrt::mrt::mrt::mrt::mrt::mrt:

I see that they have their own Molly on the show.

The girl shutting off the alarm clock at the 2:00 mark is Alexa Kenin who played Jo's friend from the hood in New York, New York.

Haha I’m gonna say no it looks really terrible

Haha I’m gonna say no it looks really terrible



Lorimar you are a traitor: how could you vote for no???

:mod::mod::mod::mod::mod::mod::mod::mod::mod::mod::mod::mod:

Haha I’m gonna say no it looks really terrible

This was their best episode, which aired as a "sneak preview"! Ratings were so bad they didn't air the other episodes in the US. They also apparently got a lot of complaints.

I see that they have their own Molly on the show.

They apparently did.

There were also two different book-dropping jokes in the first three minutes. Wonder what was going on with that.

Here's the video. It's pretty bad. But you do get to see the dorm common room before it was on The Facts of Life (with some slight changes).

ClD8Fidcd_k

Yay!

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Yay!

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:lol::lol::lol::lol:

It looks like a cheaper version of "Big Apple Blues" :lol::lol:


So, the set was dismantled for the DS backdoor pilot?

If I had been around at the time, yes, but I vote no. The clip here is more than enough.

So, the set was dismantled for the DS backdoor pilot?

It was never dismantled. They largely kept it the same. Stage Right was slightly altered to remove the weird curtain and install the payphone. Stage Left was slightly altered to modify the bookcase area. The door in the back wall was swapped out with a more fancy one. Add a grandfather clock, a piano, and random globes, and voila! Instant Eastland dorm!

The evolution of the dorm set is an interesting one. I suspect it was originally used for Maude (1972-1978). If you look in Maude's living room, you will see a staircase that goes up and to the left, with a row of diagonal windows above the staircase. I suspect they heavily modified the set for Co-Ed Fever, then when that show didn't work out, they only made slight modifications to the set for Diff'rent Strokes/The Facts of Life.

If I had been around at the time, yes, but I vote no. The clip here is more than enough.

:lol::lol::lol::lol:

Well, I DID watch it during that one time it came on -and it was so lame, it made 'Three's Company' seem sophisticated!

NO, I wasn't surprised that Heather Thomas was the ONLY cast member most viewers heard of after that (though Jane Rose who played the housemother had played Phyllis's mother-in-law on that show but she wound up dying just months after this one-shot aired).

Yeah, that David Keith obviously didn't do anything after this.

Well, I DID watch it during that one time it came on -and it was so lame, it made 'Three's Company' seem sophisticated!

Three's Company sure wasn't sophisticated, but the actors on it, especially John Ritter, definitely made it funny. (I remember my grandfather loved it.) Co-Ed Fever must have been an attempt to capitalize on "co-ed living" sitcoms like Three's Company (and of course the "Animal House" craze), but it didn't have a John Ritter doing pratfalls everywhere. And the writing may have needed more polishing.

Do you remember anything else from the show's sole airing, PracTz? I realize this was more than 40 years ago, but since we have an Original Viewer here, I thought I'd at least ask.

I don't remember this show at all, maybe because I was so young (or the TV was tuned in elsewhere that single episode), but I do remember tiny bits of Highcliffe Manor, which featured Jenny O'Hara in a pre-Facts role (and awful hair), and only six episodes of that series aired.

Yeah, that David Keith obviously didn't do anything after this.

:lol:

Well, clearly, David Keith did a ton of work in Hollywood, for sure. I for one had no idea he'd done that much work until checking out his IMDB profile.

It's funny because right before taking on Co-Ed Fever, he was in a film called The Great Santini, which members of this forum will remember Julie Anne Haddock from.

It was never dismantled. They largely kept it the same. Stage Right was slightly altered to remove the weird curtain and install the payphone. Stage Left was slightly altered to modify the bookcase area. The door in the back wall was swapped out with a more fancy one. Add a grandfather clock, a piano, and random globes, and voila! Instant Eastland dorm!

The evolution of the dorm set is an interesting one. I suspect it was originally used for Maude (1972-1978). If you look in Maude's living room, you will see a staircase that goes up and to the left, with a row of diagonal windows above the staircase. I suspect they heavily modified the set for Co-Ed Fever, then when that show didn't work out, they only made slight modifications to the set for Diff'rent Strokes/The Facts of Life.

Stage Left looks very similar to the dorm

Stage Left looks very similar to the dorm

Yeah, the back wall even has the door in the same spot.

Three's Company sure wasn't sophisticated, but the actors on it, especially John Ritter, definitely made it funny. (I remember my grandfather loved it.) Co-Ed Fever must have been an attempt to capitalize on "co-ed living" sitcoms like Three's Company (and of course the "Animal House" craze), but it didn't have a John Ritter doing pratfalls everywhere. And the writing may have needed more polishing.

Do you remember anything else from the show's sole airing, PracTz? I realize this was more than 40 years ago, but since we have an Original Viewer here, I thought I'd at least ask.

I don't remember this show at all, maybe because I was so young (or the TV was tuned in elsewhere that single episode), but I do remember tiny bits of Highcliffe Manor, which featured Jenny O'Hara in a pre-Facts role (and awful hair), and only six episodes of that series aired.

OK, I recall Heather Thomas looking gorgeous. Oh, and there was a proto-Natalie called 'Mousie' who said that her shrink said she had been neurotic when it was a girls' college due there being no boys around but now she was neurotic BECAUSE there were boys around.

The only other part that stayed in the memory bank was towards the end when the house mother Mrs. Selby (Jane Rose) was about to go on a date and her date honked the horn to let her know his arrival. This prompted one of the girl co-eds to say that shouldn't a gentleman come inside to get her (Mrs. Selby) which prompted the aging Mrs. Selby to reply 'Get me?! It's a miracle he can honk the horn!'

Yeah, who's have imagined that we'd be looking back with amusement to think that 1979 women considered a date picking her up at her residence to be the mark of a gentleman. Can anyone imagine someone in a 2021 sitcom even bringing that up?

Yes, it was supposed to be about 'wild frat life' through late 1970's primetime sitcom lenses.

Anyway, that's about all I remember from the show I saw a single time 42 years ago.

I guess they decided they spent so money on that set, they'd better put it use again so that's why it become the 'Facts' set!

OK, I recall Heather Thomas looking gorgeous. Oh, and there was a proto-Natalie called 'Mousie' who said that her shrink said she had been neurotic when it was girls' college due there being no boys around but now she was neurotic BECAUSE there were boys around.

The only other part that stayed in the memory bank was towards the end when the house mother Mrs. Selby (Jane Rose) was about to go on a date and her date honked the horn to let her know his arrival. This prompted one of the girl co-eds to say that shouldn't a gentleman come inside to get her (Mrs. Selby) which prompted the aging Mrs. Selby to reply 'Get me?! It's a miracle he can honk the horn!'

Yeah, who's have imagined that we'd be looking back with amusement to think that 1979 women considered a date picking her up at her residence to be the mark of a gentleman. Can anyone imagine someone in a 2021 sitcom even bringing that up?

Yes, it was supposed to be about 'wild frat life' through late 1970's primetime sitcom lenses.

Anyway, that's about all I remember from the show I saw a single time 42 years ago.


Thanks for the recollections, PracTz! You still have a GREAT memory (of a bad show)! Awesome info!


I guess they decided they spent so money on that set, they'd better put it use again so that's why it become the 'Facts' set!

I suspect they thought no-one would ever notice. Home VHS barely existed, so playback for most people was impossible.

OK, I recall Heather Thomas looking gorgeous. Oh, and there was a proto-Natalie called 'Mousie' who said that her shrink said she had been neurotic when it was girls' college due there being no boys around but now she was neurotic BECAUSE there were boys around.

The only other part that stayed in the memory bank was towards the end when the house mother Mrs. Selby (Jane Rose) was about to go on a date and her date honked the horn to let her know his arrival. This prompted one of the girl co-eds to say that shouldn't a gentleman come inside to get her (Mrs. Selby) which prompted the aging Mrs. Selby to reply 'Get me?! It's a miracle he can honk the horn!'

Yeah, who's have imagined that we'd be looking back with amusement to think that 1979 women considered a date picking her up at her residence to be the mark of a gentleman. Can anyone imagine someone in a 2021 sitcom even bringing that up?

Yes, it was supposed to be about 'wild frat life' through late 1970's primetime sitcom lenses.

Anyway, that's about all I remember from the show I saw a single time 42 years ago.

I guess they decided they spent so money on that set, they'd better put it use again so that's why it become the 'Facts' set!



I'm glad they kept the same set: i cannot imagine FOL season 1 Golden era looking any different.....

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