I have been watching the Facts of life's 2nd and 3rd season. The first year Sue Anne was the focus in quite a few episodes, Nancy was the main focus in only one along with Sue Anne.(Episode 4.IQ) During the second and third seasons Nancy seemed to get more appearances, airtime and lines up till 1982. I think she had a chance. The first season all she really ever did was talk about Roger her boyfriend. To me she seemed like she would have been able to fit in. She was one of the main focuses in ep.29 (Gossip) when she put ice cubes in Blair's blouse for Blair's attempt to sneak out on date with Nancy's boyfriend Roger. Honestly I wish the producers had kept all the girls. I'm Glad they wrote "The little chill episode in which they brought the original girls back. (Except Molly of course)

ITA! I think Felice Schacter(Nancy) should of been reworked fulltime into the series with the 4 musketeers after seeing her in that gossip episode. She was blairs age and had a good camraderie with natalie and tootie. She could of been the high-strung sensitive insecure one to complement the two extremes between blair and jo.

There is a group photo in the original fol website with the girls in real life throwing felice(nancy) a surprise 18th birthday party.You could tell from blair and natalie's hairstyle's that it was taken a couple years into the series way after felice was no longer a regular, so apparantly she was good friends with the girls off screen.

In the first season the character of Nancy was very ill-defined. She was supposed to be the smart one but never got any of the witty lines, except if it had to do with her boyfriend we never saw! Sueann seemed to get most of the airtime for the first season girls which i never understood since she overacted and yelled most of her lines.

I blame the poor development of the character Nancy on the writers not the actress. Ironically Nancy was the first girl to get the shaft but the producers must of changed there minds since she had the most airtime when the 3 girls were reduced to occasional appearances in the 2nd and 3rd season before they disappeared completely. I think Nancy could of fit in better with the new format of the show than the other two and should of stayed since blair would of had someone else her age to bounce off besides Jo.

Originally posted by bratpacker:
In the first season the character of Nancy was very ill-defined. She was supposed to be the smart one but never got any of the witty lines, except if it had to do with her boyfriend we never saw! Sueann seemed to get most of the airtime for the first season girls which i never understood since she overacted and yelled most of her lines.

I blame the poor development of the character Nancy on the writers not the actress. Ironically Nancy was the first girl to get the shaft but the producers must of changed there minds since she had the most airtime when the 3 girls were reduced to occasional appearances in the 2nd and 3rd season before they disappeared completely. I think Nancy could of fit in better with the new format of the show than the other two and should of stayed since blair would of had someone else her age to bounce off besides Jo.
I couldn't have said it better myself. She definietly had potential. The producers obviously made a mistake. She should have at least graduated with Jo and Blair. Does anybody else feels the same or otherwise?

I agree that Nancy should of been seen graduating with blair and jo(i think sueann and cindy were a year younger,but they still could of been involved)it would of made the episode much better having all the girls from the beginning together for closure before mrs.garret,blair and even jo left eastland. I think the producers forgot how close all the girls were that first season. They tried to make up for it in 96 writing the chill episode, but it didn't have the impact it could of had(mrs.garret was replaced by her sister) if they did a similar episode before they left eastland where jo felt like an outsider with the orig girls.

If Jo knew the girls in the first years, why did the writers feel like an insider? That was not a wise decision.

I personally didn't like nancy. It was just like an extra blair, and let me tell you, one blair is enough for anyone.

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See ya~The T
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Richie: Rally! Everybody Rally!

Fonz: The Fonz don't Rally.

Richie: Your chipping away at my leadership Fonz.

Fonz: everybody rally!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

If Nancy would have been on the show, as a main character, the relationship between Blair and Jo wouldn't have been the same. Having another "Blair like" charater on the show would have been too much, not to mention to many. But, I do think that the writers should have put Nancy in a few more episodes. She was the best out of the first season girls. The thing that bugged me about Nancy was her boyfried Roger.

Nancy really wasn't a blair clone, she was more the insecure one. She also wasn't spoiled and wealthy like blair. The only thing they really had in common was they were both melodramatic. I think it's a shame they never gave Nancy more to do than talk about Roger! The actress was capable of so much more! You have to give Felice credit though because she tried out for the part of kimberly on different strokes and lost it to Dana Plato, but the producers liked her enough to cast her in the spinoff the FOL, she was also the first girl to be cast! It really didn't seem like the writers put much thought into the character Nancy besides the roger shtick. I also think Nancy should of continued to appear sporadically (but with more airtime)up until the graduation in 83.

I agree with that. The writers really should have given her more to do than talk about Roger.

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JO

"Your born, you move on, you die, that's life." -Jo Polniaczek

[This message has been edited by Jo Polniaczek (edited 10-06-2000).]

I agree with the person who says that Nancy balances out Jo and Blair. She has some of Blair's characteristics, and a splash of Jo. Blair was more confident in herself, Nancy was always worried about her looks like most teenage girls.

i still don't really like nancy but she was neccesary in a few eps like the one where tootie became a model.

------------------
See ya~The T
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Richie: Rally! Everybody Rally!

Fonz: The Fonz don't Rally.

Richie: Your chipping away at my leadership Fonz.

Fonz: everybody rally!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Originally posted by bratpacker
In the first season the character of Nancy was very ill-defined. She was supposed to be the smart one but never got any of the witty lines, except if it had to do with her boyfriend we never saw! Sueann seemed to get most of the airtime for the first season girls which i never understood since she overacted and yelled most of her lines.


I agree. It was like Nancy wasn't a character except for her never-seen Roger. Since she wasn't developed at all, that's probably why she's my 6th or 7th favorite of the girls. lol :)

And I completely agree about Sue Ann. Well, Blair got more air time, but Sue Ann was like 2nd banana. I try to like Sue Ann, but her dang overacting and, as you said, "yelling her lines", really irks me. I can actually enjoy her though, especially in the first 4 shows (where her hair was cuter, too) and she was more agreeable. And "Running" has always been one of my favorite episodes, first of all cause it features my favorite of the Season 1 girls, Cindy, :loveya: , and Sue Ann isn't naggin' at Blair like she does so much of the time. Cindy seemed to bring out a better side of her in that episode.

Ya know, we know that Nancy was the first one hired, and the first one fired. But we never know the sequence of who else got fired---who was the one dropped, leavin' it Blair/Natalie/Tootie? Was Sue Ann almost left on? Or maybe Cindy, thinkin' they could bring out her jockishness to fight with Blair more, like in the pilot?

It is ironic that Nancy got more air time than the other axed girls in the cafeteria years. And it always bugged me since she wasn't really a "character" as far as the others went. But yeah, she shoulda graduated with the others. And this is kinda how I always thought of their ages:

Blair/Sue Ann/Nancy: 15
Cindy: 14
Natalie/Molly: 13
Tootie: 12

I wonder if any scripts confirm anything in notes or character bios?

And isn't it interesting that Cindy was one of the "big four" in the opening credits of the pilot, then she was replaced by Tootie? I wonder if she was originally meant to have a bigger role, more like Sue Ann's?

Man, the questions and thoughts that you can come up with late at night, lol!