Was TFOL initially kept alive for economic reasons

[TMC]

The Facts of Life was at first a show about a whole group of girls at the private school, but by the second season it was pared down to just the four (Blair, Tootie, Natalie, and they combined aspects of Cindy and Sue Anne to make Jo) and Mrs. Garrett. Is it true that the real reason for the retooling was NBC actually wanted to cancel the show outright due to dismal ratings, but they couldn't afford production on a new show, so they kept the sets and trimmed the cast in half instead?

['80sSitcoms]

RetroGuy2000 will have more specific info on this, but in a nutshell, pretty much, yes.

Jo has more of Cindy than Sue Ann, but she also has some Molly similarities as well (see "Molly's Holiday" and "The Secret"). And if you wanna go on and use all 4 Lost Girls, you can say she had a long-steady boyfriend and she used the telephone.

[80s Dude]

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

RetroGuy2000 will have more specific info on this, but in a nutshell, pretty much, yes.

Jo has more of Cindy than Sue Ann, but she also has some Molly similarities as well (see "Molly's Holiday" and "The Secret"). And if you wanna go on and use all 4 Lost Girls, you can say she had a long-steady boyfriend and she used the telephone.

Though Julie Ann was much more of a natural athlete than Nancy McKeon. Jo was more biker chick than jock girl.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by TMC

The Facts of Life was at first a show about a whole group of girls at the private school, but by the second season it was pared down to just the four (Blair, Tootie, Natalie, and they combined aspects of Cindy and Sue Anne to make Jo) and Mrs. Garrett. Is it true that the real reason for the retooling was NBC actually wanted to cancel the show outright due to dismal ratings, but they couldn't afford production on a new show, so they kept the sets and trimmed the cast in half instead?

No, it's not true. At least, not the "kept the sets" part. None of the sets seen in Season One were used again in Season Two.

I don't think it was about "affording" anything: NBC had spent a ton of money on promoting shows that were IMO complete garbage, and were quickly cancelled. You can view some of NBC's 1978 promos here. NBC was promoting shows like The Young Runaways and specials like Dan Haggarty Goes to the Circus. NBC spent a huge amount of money on promos for shows no-one was ever going to tune into. In a WTF moment, their Proud As a Peacock campaign of 1979-1980 spent more time focusing on past successes, rather than promoting new shows. It was like NBC executives couldn't understand that past success wouldn't guarantee future success. Actually, I suspect heavy drug use had caused several important NBC executives to "check out" of their jobs. It's the only way to explain how shows like Pink Lady and Jeff, which the AV Club called a "disaster", made it to air. No-one in charge at NBC bothered to check to see if the Japanese women on that show even spoke English!

NBC was in a dismal place in the ratings, but I don't believe "couldn't afford a new show" was even in NBC executives' vocabulary: they had spent tons of money, but unwisely.

Although FOL ended the fall-spring 1979-1980 season ranking in the 70s, newspapers at the time announced that the show had bounced back during summer 1980 reruns, once Fantasy Island and The Incredible Hulk were in reruns. This, I believe, was why NBC gave the greenlight to a second season; the series had started to attract an audience. But big changes would be in store...

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

Jo has more of Cindy than Sue Ann, but she also has some Molly similarities as well (see "Molly's Holiday" and "The Secret"). And if you wanna go on and use all 4 Lost Girls, you can say she had a long-steady boyfriend and she used the telephone.

['80sSitcoms]

Oh, I too had heard in the past they were kinda "stuck" with FOL and because they were so desperate to get hit shows again, they kept it and worked with it. Oh well, lol.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

Oh, I too had heard in the past they were kinda "stuck" with FOL and because they were so desperate to get hit shows again, they kept it and worked with it. Oh well, lol.

That is definitely stated in one documentary: they opted to overhaul the show they already had, rather than risk a whole new show. I only objected to "afford" and "kept the sets".