Supposedly, Norman Lear wanted to do a sitcom around Phillips, after he saw her in the movie American Graffiti. Each episode was to center around the 'trials and tribulations' of a teenage high school girl living with her younger sister and recently divorced mother, who would play supporting roles to Phillips. Each week's story line would be centered around Phillips' character 'Julie'.

He chose Franklin to play the mother, as he found her very 'likable' on Broadway in 1970, in the musical "Applause, Applause!" and promised her he would feature her in one of his sitcoms he was developing for CBS. (She had said early in the series run that she never really wanted to do television, but wanted to stay in New York City and do Broadway musicals.)

Somewhere during development however, it was apparently decided that Phillips shouldn't carry the show each week, and the 'family of three' would be the focus (yet many early story arcs were centered around Phillips, though tweaked to give more presence to her mother and younger sister).