Would you watch Co-Ed Fever 1979?

[FOL-FAN-ITA]

It looks like a cheaper version of "Big Apple Blues"


So, the set was dismantled for the DS backdoor pilot?

[Sitcommania]

If I had been around at the time, yes, but I vote no. The clip here is more than enough.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by FOL-FAN-ITA

So, the set was dismantled for the DS backdoor pilot?

It was never dismantled. They largely kept it the same. Stage Right was slightly altered to remove the weird curtain and install the payphone. Stage Left was slightly altered to modify the bookcase area. The door in the back wall was swapped out with a more fancy one. Add a grandfather clock, a piano, and random globes, and voila! Instant Eastland dorm!

The evolution of the dorm set is an interesting one. I suspect it was originally used for Maude (1972-1978). If you look in Maude's living room, you will see a staircase that goes up and to the left, with a row of diagonal windows above the staircase. I suspect they heavily modified the set for Co-Ed Fever, then when that show didn't work out, they only made slight modifications to the set for Diff'rent Strokes/The Facts of Life.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by Sitcommania

If I had been around at the time, yes, but I vote no. The clip here is more than enough.

[PracTz]

Well, I DID watch it during that one time it came on -and it was so lame, it made 'Three's Company' seem sophisticated!

NO, I wasn't surprised that Heather Thomas was the ONLY cast member most viewers heard of after that (though Jane Rose who played the housemother had played Phyllis's mother-in-law on that show but she wound up dying just months after this one-shot aired).

[Torgo]

Yeah, that David Keith obviously didn't do anything after this.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by PracTz

Well, I DID watch it during that one time it came on -and it was so lame, it made 'Three's Company' seem sophisticated!

Three's Company sure wasn't sophisticated, but the actors on it, especially John Ritter, definitely made it funny. (I remember my grandfather loved it.) Co-Ed Fever must have been an attempt to capitalize on "co-ed living" sitcoms like Three's Company (and of course the "Animal House" craze), but it didn't have a John Ritter doing pratfalls everywhere. And the writing may have needed more polishing.

Do you remember anything else from the show's sole airing, PracTz? I realize this was more than 40 years ago, but since we have an Original Viewer here, I thought I'd at least ask.

I don't remember this show at all, maybe because I was so young (or the TV was tuned in elsewhere that single episode), but I do remember tiny bits of Highcliffe Manor, which featured Jenny O'Hara in a pre-Facts role (and awful hair), and only six episodes of that series aired.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by Torgo

Yeah, that David Keith obviously didn't do anything after this.

Well, clearly, David Keith did a ton of work in Hollywood, for sure. I for one had no idea he'd done that much work until checking out his IMDB profile.

It's funny because right before taking on Co-Ed Fever, he was in a film called The Great Santini, which members of this forum will remember Julie Anne Haddock from.

[FOL-FAN-ITA]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

It was never dismantled. They largely kept it the same. Stage Right was slightly altered to remove the weird curtain and install the payphone. Stage Left was slightly altered to modify the bookcase area. The door in the back wall was swapped out with a more fancy one. Add a grandfather clock, a piano, and random globes, and voila! Instant Eastland dorm!

The evolution of the dorm set is an interesting one. I suspect it was originally used for Maude (1972-1978). If you look in Maude's living room, you will see a staircase that goes up and to the left, with a row of diagonal windows above the staircase. I suspect they heavily modified the set for Co-Ed Fever, then when that show didn't work out, they only made slight modifications to the set for Diff'rent Strokes/The Facts of Life.

Stage Left looks very similar to the dorm

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by FOL-FAN-ITA

Stage Left looks very similar to the dorm

Yeah, the back wall even has the door in the same spot.

[PracTz]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

Three's Company sure wasn't sophisticated, but the actors on it, especially John Ritter, definitely made it funny. (I remember my grandfather loved it.) Co-Ed Fever must have been an attempt to capitalize on "co-ed living" sitcoms like Three's Company (and of course the "Animal House" craze), but it didn't have a John Ritter doing pratfalls everywhere. And the writing may have needed more polishing.

Do you remember anything else from the show's sole airing, PracTz? I realize this was more than 40 years ago, but since we have an Original Viewer here, I thought I'd at least ask.

I don't remember this show at all, maybe because I was so young (or the TV was tuned in elsewhere that single episode), but I do remember tiny bits of Highcliffe Manor, which featured Jenny O'Hara in a pre-Facts role (and awful hair), and only six episodes of that series aired.

OK, I recall Heather Thomas looking gorgeous. Oh, and there was a proto-Natalie called 'Mousie' who said that her shrink said she had been neurotic when it was a girls' college due there being no boys around but now she was neurotic BECAUSE there were boys around.

The only other part that stayed in the memory bank was towards the end when the house mother Mrs. Selby (Jane Rose) was about to go on a date and her date honked the horn to let her know his arrival. This prompted one of the girl co-eds to say that shouldn't a gentleman come inside to get her (Mrs. Selby) which prompted the aging Mrs. Selby to reply 'Get me?! It's a miracle he can honk the horn!'

Yeah, who's have imagined that we'd be looking back with amusement to think that 1979 women considered a date picking her up at her residence to be the mark of a gentleman. Can anyone imagine someone in a 2021 sitcom even bringing that up?

Yes, it was supposed to be about 'wild frat life' through late 1970's primetime sitcom lenses.

Anyway, that's about all I remember from the show I saw a single time 42 years ago.

I guess they decided they spent so money on that set, they'd better put it use again so that's why it become the 'Facts' set!

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by PracTz

OK, I recall Heather Thomas looking gorgeous. Oh, and there was a proto-Natalie called 'Mousie' who said that her shrink said she had been neurotic when it was girls' college due there being no boys around but now she was neurotic BECAUSE there were boys around.

The only other part that stayed in the memory bank was towards the end when the house mother Mrs. Selby (Jane Rose) was about to go on a date and her date honked the horn to let her know his arrival. This prompted one of the girl co-eds to say that shouldn't a gentleman come inside to get her (Mrs. Selby) which prompted the aging Mrs. Selby to reply 'Get me?! It's a miracle he can honk the horn!'

Yeah, who's have imagined that we'd be looking back with amusement to think that 1979 women considered a date picking her up at her residence to be the mark of a gentleman. Can anyone imagine someone in a 2021 sitcom even bringing that up?

Yes, it was supposed to be about 'wild frat life' through late 1970's primetime sitcom lenses.

Anyway, that's about all I remember from the show I saw a single time 42 years ago.

Thanks for the recollections, PracTz! You still have a GREAT memory (of a bad show)! Awesome info!

I guess they decided they spent so money on that set, they'd better put it use again so that's why it become the 'Facts' set!

I suspect they thought no-one would ever notice. Home VHS barely existed, so playback for most people was impossible.

[valentina warner]

Originally Posted by PracTz

OK, I recall Heather Thomas looking gorgeous. Oh, and there was a proto-Natalie called 'Mousie' who said that her shrink said she had been neurotic when it was girls' college due there being no boys around but now she was neurotic BECAUSE there were boys around.

The only other part that stayed in the memory bank was towards the end when the house mother Mrs. Selby (Jane Rose) was about to go on a date and her date honked the horn to let her know his arrival. This prompted one of the girl co-eds to say that shouldn't a gentleman come inside to get her (Mrs. Selby) which prompted the aging Mrs. Selby to reply 'Get me?! It's a miracle he can honk the horn!'

Yeah, who's have imagined that we'd be looking back with amusement to think that 1979 women considered a date picking her up at her residence to be the mark of a gentleman. Can anyone imagine someone in a 2021 sitcom even bringing that up?

Yes, it was supposed to be about 'wild frat life' through late 1970's primetime sitcom lenses.

Anyway, that's about all I remember from the show I saw a single time 42 years ago.

I guess they decided they spent so money on that set, they'd better put it use again so that's why it become the 'Facts' set!

I'm glad they kept the same set: i cannot imagine FOL season 1 Golden era looking any different.....