Season 1 Intro and Outro Themes Discussion

['80sSitcoms]

Let's examine the intro first...(I'm going straight to the final season 1 intro, the one used for the 9 spring 1980 shows)

So in season 1, we have 4 girls as our first look at students of Eastland, but---they're none of "our girls". I wonder how many of us have watched these girls casually descend the steps of Eastland on campus and wondered, "Who are they?"

I know, I have.

Could one of them be Tumpy's sister Kedgie Barksdale?

Could one of them be Nina Branch, daughter of the amorous Justin Branch whom Blair caught her mother with in flirtations?

We may never know, but can always speculate, lol.

One interesting thing though, there are 4 girls. And there would wind up being 4 girls as the main characters after this introductory season...eerie coincidence!

I have always loved this opening shot of the theme, showing Eastland's exterior. The hallowed pale building covered in green ivy, the look of the windows and doors and those lantern-esque lights, the front bushes bathed in morning sunlight---such a welcoming sight to see right at the beginning of every show.

['80sSitcoms]

Then we have the "gaggle of Garrett's girls" scene, lol. One thing I never noticed before----poor Molly, sweet unobtrusive Nancy hogs her space and won't let her in for anything!

Also, note how when Blair and Sue Ann rush onto the scene, Sue Ann vehemently points at Blair while hurriedly talking to Cindy; I've always wondered, is she pointing in kind of a "Cindy, you won't believe what she did!" kind of way, or in kind of a "Cindy, tell her!" kind of way, or in a kind of "Cindy, she did it!" kind of way, or a kind of "Cindy, she won't--!" kind of way, or whatever kind of way, lol.

And Nancy still won't let Molly see the light of day!

['80sSitcoms]

And then there's the "Bradley's Folly" scene, lol.

Interestingly, 6 of the 7 girls are in this scene---all but Blair. But, Blair is the only girl featured in Charlotte's credit intro clip, giving her behind a double pat. This is interesting in that 1) the only girl not featured in "Bradley's Folly" is featured in the clip before Charlotte's credit, and it makes you wonder if the producers chose that to "balance" out the fact that Blair wasn't in "the Group" that pummels Mr. Bradley , and 2), it makes you wonder if the producers feel so strongly about Blair at this point that they wanted to include her in Charlotte's clip regardless of any clip she may not have been in.

['80sSitcoms]

And now a very interesting question indeed...the clip introducing the girls' cast credits only features 3 girls. And these just happen to be arguably the 3 most heavily favored characters from season 1: Blair, Tootie, and Sue Ann. Could the producers have been onto something at the point when these opening credits were being filmed? Who should they feature in a scene before the girls' credits? The 3 biggest characters among the girls, of course.

Or, if that was coincidence, it sure was quite a coincidence...

['80sSitcoms]

Okay, WHO is this man in the outdoor play scene?? lol...how odd he just stands there watching! (but I gave him his own season 1 style credit, lol)

Also, two non-creepy things of note in this scene:

1) Lisa appears to accidentally "punch" Julie Anne, lol...yikes! (photo 2 - it's a bit hard to tell in the photo, but you can see her fisted arm shoot back to where Julie Anne's head is in the actual clip, lol)

2) Julie P. (perhaps in retaliation for Lisa hitting her character's best friend?) clearly commits a willful act of violence by diving in and strangling Lisa! (photo 3)

I never before realized what a violent clip this last scene is! lol

Also, they put the more heavily featured/favored girls in the middle (with Lisa square front and center, where the eye is drawn), with those tending toward "lost" status more on the outsides, hmmmmmm....

['80sSitcoms]

And now the closing clips (minus the Garrett and Bradley clips)...

Interestingly, not all 7 of the girls have their own featured clip. And Blair has several! lol...she shares the screen with Natalie in her clip, she's with Mrs. Garrett in her own clip, she's seen to the side of Nancy's clip (Nancy's, shared with Sue Ann), and she gets the grand finale clip of that sashay down the stairs in her sophisticated dress. It's obvious the producers had early on picked Blair as the "star" of their show!

Of the other girls, we have some very nice "telling" clips of their characters:

Photo 1 - Natalie being humorous as she mocks beauty beside Blair

Photo 2 - Blair with Mrs. Garrett

Photo 3 - Cindy in an athletic shirt pouring out her athletic spikes after she went down to the flooded basement

Photo 4 - Tootie, the youngest, being silly with a wig

Photo 5 - Molly singing her little heart out

Photo 6 - Nancy admiring lingerie that would turn Roger's head

Funnily enough though, while most of the clips are right around 3 seconds long, "Blair with Mrs. Garrett" is only about half that, roughly 1.5 seconds long.

Now it's interesting that, had the producers pegged Sue Ann as one of the more favored/feature characters when they put together the clips for the closing credits, they didn't give her her own! Frankly I think every girl deserves her own closing credit clip. Sure you can argue Natalie doesn't have her own, as she shares the screen with Blair, but the focus is more on Natalie and her comcial movement. Sue Ann, however, feels like she is "sharing with Nancy in Nancy's clip", as the focus in the lingerie bit is on Nancy showing off those Switched-On Sizzlers, lol; the focus is on Nancy, with Sue Ann just feeling "there". How odd she didn't get her own clip---yet Blair appeared in several!

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

Okay, WHO is this man in the outdoor play scene?? lol...how odd he just stands there watching! (but I gave him his own season 1 style credit, lol)

Ahahaha! I laughed so hard! I wonder who that was? I wonder if he even knew he was being recorded for posterity?

The lady who scowls at Mary Tyler Moore as she throws her beret became semi-famous. Where is the love for Creepy Stranger?

1) Lisa appears to accidentally "punch" Julie Anne, lol...yikes! (photo 2 - it's a bit hard to tell in the photo, but you can see her fisted arm shoot back to where Julie Anne's head is in the actual clip, lol)

2) Julie P. (perhaps in retaliation for Lisa hitting her character's best friend?) clearly commits a willful act of violence by diving in and strangling Lisa! (photo 3)

Payback for the punches thrown in "Running" no doubt!

Also, they put the more heavily featured/favored girls in the middle (with Lisa square front and center, where the eye is drawn), with those tending toward "lost" status more on the outsides, hmmmmmm....

Hmmm, indeed!

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

And now a very interesting question indeed...the clip introducing the girls' cast credits only features 3 girls. And these just happen to be arguably the 3 most heavily favored characters from season 1: Blair, Tootie, and Sue Ann. Could the producers have been onto something at the point when these opening credits were being filmed? Who should they feature in a scene before the girls' credits? The 3 biggest characters among the girls, of course.

Or, if that was coincidence, it sure was quite a coincidence...

I also doubt it was coincidence. By this time, I think the producers knew who would be the focus of Season One. Why else would they show so much of Blair, Sue Ann, and Tootie?

Also, I want to know at what part of the Pomona campus that was taped at. As far as I know, although many people have made trips to the front of the building and walked down the iconic Eastland dorm stairs, no one has ever made a tribute stop at the courtyard location (as well as the wrestling field with Creepy Stranger).

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

Let's examine the intro first...(I'm going straight to the final season 1 intro, the one used for the 9 spring 1980 shows)

So in season 1, we have 4 girls as our first look at students of Eastland, but---they're none of "our girls". I wonder how many of us have watched these girls casually descend the steps of Eastland on campus and wondered, "Who are they?"

I know, I have.

Could one of them be Tumpy's sister Kedgie Barksdale?

Could one of them be Nina Branch, daughter of the amorous Justin Branch whom Blair caught her mother with in flirtations?

We may never know, but can always speculate, lol.

I definitely have wondered this, too.

Since this is the first season, these four could even include Laura and Jennifer from "The Girls' School".

I have always loved this opening shot of the theme, showing Eastland's exterior. The hallowed pale building covered in green ivy, the look of the windows and doors and those lantern-esque lights, the front bushes bathed in morning sunlight---such a welcoming sight to see right at the beginning of every show.

It definitely is a comforting sight!

In the recent fan videos, one can see the ivy has been removed from Harwood Hall, which I think is a shame. It makes the building feel less Ivy League, less academic. Still, I'm glad the building still exists, and that it can be visited! So many other historic TV monuments have been destroyed over the decades. At least Eastland still exists in some form.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

And then there's the "Bradley's Folly" scene, lol.

Interestingly, 6 of the 7 girls are in this scene---all but Blair. But, Blair is the only girl featured in Charlotte's credit intro clip, giving her behind a double pat. This is interesting in that 1) the only girl not featured in "Bradley's Folly" is featured in the clip before Charlotte's credit, and it makes you wonder if the producers chose that to "balance" out the fact that Blair wasn't in "the Group" that pummels Mr. Bradley , and 2), it makes you wonder if the producers feel so strongly about Blair at this point that they wanted to include her in Charlotte's clip regardless of any clip she may not have been in.

I want to know where this door is! It's clearly also at the Pomona campus. This door was used for the exterior shot of the first season cafeteria, as well. The girls were obviously very hungry!

It is weird that Blair isn't in this scene, but maybe she was on a diet. I guess she didn't learn Sue Ann's lesson!

['80sSitcoms]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

Ahahaha! I laughed so hard! I wonder who that was? I wonder if he even knew he was being recorded for posterity?

lol, well I'm glad it made for a good laugh---I have to admit, I never noticed him myself until someone pointed him out here in the past.

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

The lady who scowls at Mary Tyler Moore as she throws her beret became semi-famous. Where is the love for Creepy Stranger?

lol, true---maybe he'll follow her lead and come out of the opening credit closet and tell his story! lol

It could be some bystander wondering what the hell was going on with all those cameras and the crew, or maybe it was the wrestling coach wondering when are those damn TV people gonna get off my field, lol, or maybe it was even a crew member posted there for some sort of union or actor/safety rule? Although, if the latter, you'd think they'd get him to move off camera, lol. Whoever he is, it's funny they apparently didn't notice him and ask him to move! lol

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

many people have made trips to the front of the building and walked down the iconic Eastland dorm stairs

Oh my gosh, I would love to do that!! Although...I dunno, you say that tragically the ivy is gone...that would make it a bittersweet experience, as the ivy is such a part of the campus!

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

Since this is the first season, these four could even include Laura and Jennifer from "The Girls' School".

I don't think any of those four look like they could be Jennifer and Laura. Granted it's from a distance, but it just doesn't seem like they're any of those girls.

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

I want to know where this door is!

Lol, you're on a mission!

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

This door was used for the exterior shot of the first season cafeteria, as well.

Oo, good catch!

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

The girls were obviously very hungry!

That bare feet-smelling mystery meat must taste more amazing than it sounds!

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

It is weird that Blair isn't in this scene, but maybe she was on a diet. I guess she didn't learn Sue Ann's lesson!

Maybe they took Blair's character into consideration and thought that, of all the girls, with her maturity and sophistication she would be the least likely to plow over her headmaster in a mad dash to scramble in for mystery meat, lol.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

lol, true---maybe he'll follow her lead and come out of the opening credit closet and tell his story! lol

It could be some bystander wondering what the hell was going on with all those cameras and the crew, or maybe it was the wrestling coach wondering when are those damn TV people gonna get off my field, lol, or maybe it was even a crew member posted there for some sort of union or actor/safety rule? Although, if the latter, you'd think they'd get him to move off camera, lol. Whoever he is, it's funny they apparently didn't notice him and ask him to move! lol

But in 1979, home viewers didn't have the ability to pause a video, let alone take a screen capture and post it online. It was a different time, and some jerk standing off in the background would have been shrugged off. I suspect CS was just a bystander, and no one cared if there was some guy in the background of a few frames of videotape.

Besides, that campus looks otherwise empty; it's kinda nice seeing a living person in the background, even if he is a Creepy Stranger.

Oh my gosh, I would love to do that!! Although...I dunno, you say that tragically the ivy is gone...that would make it a bittersweet experience, as the ivy is such a part of the campus!

Even without the ivy, I hope to one day see "Eastland" in person. Though it's a shame about the ivy.

That bare feet-smelling mystery meat must taste more amazing than it sounds!

I suspect they rush in for the cinnamon buns, which seem to be the other staple of the Season One Cafeteria.

Maybe they took Blair's character into consideration and thought that, of all the girls, with her maturity and sophistication she would be the least likely to plow over her headmaster in a mad dash to scramble in for mystery meat, lol.

Hahaha! Could be!

['80sSitcoms]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

But in 1979, home viewers didn't have the ability to pause a video, let alone take a screen capture and post it online. It was a different time, and some jerk standing off in the background would have been shrugged off. I suspect CS was just a bystander, and no one cared if there was some guy in the background of a few frames of videotape.

Yeah I meant more the crew, though; just for the attention to detail and a "clean" frame, you'd think the cameraman would have noticed him in the view and been like "Hey buddy, could ya move it?", lol.

Oh well---it gives us something interesting to discuss 39 years later!

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

Besides, that campus looks otherwise empty; it's kinda nice seeing a living person in the background, even if he is a Creepy Stranger.

Haha, that's true!

[Lorimar Television]

Nice! You should analyze the cast credit scenes and the early versions of the intro too

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by Lorimar Television

Nice! You should analyze the cast credit scenes and the early versions of the intro too

I agree with Lorimar!