What are the elements that kept the show on the air for 9 years?

[FOL-FAN-ITA]

For you, what are the reasons of its success for 9 years, 201 episodes, two tv movies?

My list:
- Great chemistry between Charlotte Rae and the girls
- You can relate to every character
- The stories are funny when they do comedy and serious with issues

[Christopher]

The real life friendships between the actresses. No way it would have lasted 9 years if they didn’t like each other.

[80s Dude]

Plus the actresses were pretty much the age of their characters they portrayed and they rarely strayed off into unrealistic episodes like what happened on Family Matters.

The one character I had most trouble relating to was Jo.

[FOL-FAN-ITA]

Originally Posted by Christopher

The real life friendships between the actresses. No way it would have lasted 9 years if they didn’t like each other.

Good point! I remember season 5 on Three's Company when Suzanne Somers was in a contract dispute, when Chrissy was on screen, the other two were very nervous in the scenes with her. Luckily, Nancy McKeon's dispute ended after two episodes

[FOL-FAN-ITA]

Originally Posted by 80s Dude

Plus the actresses were pretty much the age of their characters they portrayed and they rarely strayed off into unrealistic episodes like what happened on Family Matters.

The one character I had most trouble relating to was Jo.

Another good point!

I'm not a huge fan of Jo (and of Nancy M. in general), I like her but that's it

[cfr1970]

Also it's been mentioned here how it's like different shows throughout the years. I think those changes definitely contributed to it's longevity. The Cafeteria Years, the change to Edna's Edibles, then Over Our Heads, then to them all full grown women out in the world. It was like 4 different shows.

And the fact that they didn't keep them stuck in HS for 9 years also contributed. We got to see them all graduate Eastland and move on to college and then out into the world. Keeping it based in a realistic timeline was definitely a positive for the show endurance.

If they were all still at Eastland by the mid 80's I think viewers would've started tuning out in droves.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by FOL-FAN-ITA

For you, what are the reasons of its success for 9 years, 201 episodes, two tv movies?

My list:
- Great chemistry between Charlotte Rae and the girls
- You can relate to every character
- The stories are funny when they do comedy and serious with issues

Well, about the success. The show probably shouldn't have run for nine seasons. By the end, they had already run out of plot ideas, most of the original cast had long since departed (even the star), and even the scripts seemed to suggest the actresses were ready to move on. The writing didn't feel realistic anymore.

For example, in episode 8-11, Natalie submits a story to a magazine, which is rejected. Tootie starts reading a story out of the magazine to Natalie, who realizes it's her own writing (big coincidence that out of all the magazines published, Tootie just happens to read a story to Natalie that Natalie wrote, and an even bigger coincidence that the story that's plagiarized is the same one she just submitted to the same exact magazine), and then, in a third coincidence, it turns out the person plagiarizing the story is someone they know: Andy's grandmother. Who somehow submitted the story to the same magazine before Natalie had a chance to. The writing elements are backwards, but they didn't need to be: they easily could have made Natalie's story get rejected because the magazine felt it was plagiarized, eliminating the need for Tootie to read the story out loud to Natalie. It's these sorts of writing miscues that makes the viewer realize that no-one's paying attention to the writing anymore.

In that same episode, there are references to Andy's parents going to Europe, and Andy being taken care of by his grandmother. Yet just two months later, in episode 8-19, Beverly Ann has to adopt Andy(!) because his foster parents have split up, and there's no mention of his grandmother, or the recent trip to Europe. It's like there's no consistency between the episodes.

I really feel the show should have ended when Mrs. Garrett left. If Charlotte Rae wasn't interested in being there anymore, they should have wrapped up the storylines and called it a day. There's nothing that says a show that wraps after seven seasons is less successful than a show that runs nine seasons. Sure, everyone continued making money on the series, but at what cost to the art?

[Impressions]

I think this show worked for all this time because the show kept reinventing itself throughout the years. That was the secret sauce of this show’s longevity. The new writers, the cast purge, the new time slot and the retooling of the show in seasons 2, 5, 7 and 8 played a huge role in the show’s success. Had it not been for this, the show may not have survived.

I know a lot of lost girls fans will say the cast purge was a mistake, but for me, it was a necessary evil that kept the show running. I don’t think the show would have continued to work if it focused on 8 girls in the multi-camera and 30 minute sitcom format. We could speculate what would have happened if the show had been retooled to acclimate the lost girls, but I don’t think they needed all those girls to tell a good story. Yes, there were other shows that had large casts but I think a change in the dynamic of the show was necessary to make this show survive. It kept the show fresh and not stale. We really saw in later years when there were add-on characters that it really didn’t work for them to be there and distracted away from the message of the original show and the winning formulaic dynamic of the core 4. When the show was reinvented with Edna’s Edibles, Over Our Heads and Beverly Ann eras, that helped the show keep the close-knit characters together (although by season 9 we started to seem them drift apart).

To me, the great blend of comedy and drama (or dramedy) format of the show, the chemistry of the characters, and the groundbreaking storylines and characters pulled this show together and made it a hit. It also helped that NBC kept this show in a good time slot behind its successor and other hit shows.

That’s just my 2 cents why this show worked.

[valentina warner]

To me it was definitely the great chemistry MRS G had with all the girls: how she was able to blend/relate to any of them regarding their class and personality.

One day, out of the blues, a HOUSEKEEPER shows up at an all girls school and bond with them right away (even with BLAIR when she was the naughtiest girl).
At first, she clashes with the nervous/eccentric headmaster, she then gets offered a job as a HOUSEMOTHER, and from then on, she would become the wisest, warmest and confidante to all the 'Eastland' girls and form a tight bond with a few of them: at first 7, and eventually 4.....

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by Impressions

I think this show worked for all this time because the show kept reinventing itself throughout the years.

I strongly agree with you that the reinvention of the show, again and again, kept the show fresh for viewing audiences. But don't you ever feel the show sort of falls apart when examining all the reboots? By the end, nearly all of the original characters are gone, with a nearly completely different cast in place. We see a similar situation with Designing Women. Had The Golden Girls replaced Blanche and Dorothy with an Australian Golden Girl and a Texan Golden Girl for the final two seasons, it would have resembled what FOL and DW did. Which, to me, is unthinkable.

Anyway, thanks, as always, for your take.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by valentina warner

To me it was definitely the great chemistry MRS G had with all the girls: how she was able to blend/relate to any of them regarding their class and personality.

That's a really good point, Valentina: Mrs. Garrett could relate to any of the girls, despite their very different backgrounds. It didn't matter if the girl was a trouble-making gang-banger, an elite preppy snob, an African-American girl who liked to gossip, a Jewish girl who liked to crack wise, or a willowy young tomboy not sure of where she fit in life. Mrs. Garrett taught them all life lessons. And while the girls have sometimes stated that Charlotte wasn't motherly on set to them, it's undeniable that there was major chemistry between Mrs. Garrett and her girls, at least during the first six seasons, before Pod Edna took over.

[80s Dude]

Tom Kennedy is still among us at 93 years old.

[valentina warner]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

That's a really good point, Valentina: Mrs. Garrett could relate to any of the girls, despite their very different backgrounds. It didn't matter if the girl was a trouble-making gang-banger, an elite preppy snob, an African-American girl who liked to gossip, a Jewish girl who liked to crack wise, or a willowy young tomboy not sure of where she fit in life. Mrs. Garrett taught them all life lessons. And while the girls have sometimes stated that Charlotte wasn't motherly on set to them, it's undeniable that there was major chemistry between Mrs. Garrett and her girls, at least during the first six seasons, before Pod Edna took over.

Very well described [B]Retro[/B!

In order, the girls were JO, BLAIR, TOOTIE, NATALIE and CINDY (what about the others?).

Although i liked to think that BLAIR was more than just your basic 'elite preppy snob' (she certainly was more 'rebellious' on the pilot and season 1).

And yes, MRS G was a POD during season 7 (on her last episode on season 8 'Out of Peekskills', she reverts to herself to say goodbye to her girls).

I really don't buy it that CHARLOTTE RAE wasn't motherly to them: there is too much of MRS G in CHARLOTTE + the girls got on so well with her on and off set too! (So much, that after 15 years, they reunited again for 'REUNION 2001' movie, although minus JO).

[Impressions]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

I strongly agree with you that the reinvention of the show, again and again, kept the show fresh for viewing audiences. But don't you ever feel the show sort of falls apart when examining all the reboots? By the end, nearly all of the original characters are gone, with a nearly completely different cast in place. We see a similar situation with Designing Women. Had The Golden Girls replaced Blanche and Dorothy with an Australian Golden Girl and a Texan Golden Girl for the final two seasons, it would have resembled what FOL and DW did. Which, to me, is unthinkable.

Anyway, thanks, as always, for your take.

The show did fall a part near the end, but also, it also fell a part at the very beginning as well. As we know, over the course of the series, there were characters who suddenly disappeared, new characters being added who served very little purpose for the plot, timelines that didn't make sense, episodes where characters behaved and veered differently from their original self, and character progressions and arcs that didn't make much sense. The show had its ups and downs, much like life. The show had to adapt and make changes along the way to see what worked and what didn't work.

By the end of season 9, it definitely was a shell of its former self. Only 3 of the original characters remained, and they've had all very much changed, and it seemed like all the characters were aloof or going in their own direction.

For me, it's difficult for me to draw that comparison to The Golden Girls. If I were to compare it to how the show could have changed similar in vein to The Facts of Life in the later years, I think characters personalities would change and minor characters would be sprinkled into the show. Possibly, Dorothy and Sophia would become much more softer, Blanche would be less flirtatious, more career and community minded, and Rose would be less naive. New supplement characters would be brought in. So some spark would be gone.

But in The Facts of Life, I don't believe anyone was actually ever replaced, so for me, I don't think it would be like The Golden Girls losing two people from the original quartet. In my opinion, new characters supplemented previous ones or were brought in to change the dynamic, but not replaced in The Facts of Life. For a great part of the show, our core 4 were the heart of this show, and it was only Jo who had been brought in, but not to replace, but to supplement.

['80sSitcoms]

I think the main elements were the constant reinventing and the cast changes.

Some "Cheers" fans hated to see Diane go, but the show probably wouldn't have gone for ELEVEN YEARS without such a pivotal cast change going from Diane to Rebecca.

Originally Posted by Christopher

The real life friendships between the actresses. No way it would have lasted 9 years if they didn’t like each other.

Originally Posted by FOL-FAN-ITA

Good point!

A show can last with actors hating each other, as well as movies, IF the actors are professional to pull it off and indeed act. The prime example of this is "I Love Lucy" where William Frawley and Vivian Vance (Fred & Ethel) got off to a really bad start and DETESTED each other, but you'd never know it watching the show.

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

Had The Golden Girls replaced Blanche and Dorothy with an Australian Golden Girl and a Texan Golden Girl for the final two seasons, it would have resembled what FOL and DW did. Which, to me, is unthinkable.

Well, in DW's defense, Jean Smart decided on her own to leave at the time when Delta was going.