Full episodes of "Dorothy"

[80s Dude]

Dorothy, a show starring Dorothy London who played a teacher and housemother to 4 girls at a private girls school that debuted a couple of weeks before the Facts of Life did. Like the Facts of Life, it had a trial run of 4 weeks. Unlike Facts, it quickly disappeared and was forgotten in TV history.

The set of the room of the girls house/dorm looked quite a bit like the facts of life. They had two girls who fought like cats and dogs (like Blair and Sue Ann), the Jock (like Cindy), and the nerdy girl (like Molly). Unlike the Facts of Life, they had adult women playing school girls, I mean women. There also was a headmaster similar to Mr. Bradley and two other teachers.


I saw someone posted the all four episodes on YouTube. For some reason, the camera is very shaky in spots.

Episode 1: The Bookworm Turns/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yh1WYPeilk

Episode 2: Hard Hearted Hamilton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAV4wjWmHGo

Episode 3: Lies and Whispers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI7pRySmmnY

Episode 4: Give My Regrets to Broadway.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P00nCBLbjoE&t=215s

[Sitcommania]

Awesome, thanks for posting!

[RetroGuy2000]

Thanks! I had seen clips, but not a full episode.

The shaky video is a sign that someone recorded these by recording the episodes on a camera without a tripod, while the episodes were playing from a TV. The resulting video would have been shaky, but YouTube's video stabilization system will stabilize the center of the video while the edges of the picture shift around wildly. Still, I'm grateful for the videos!

Dorothy was a somewhat senseless show where the characterizations were very thin and the producers chose cheap laughs over deeper storytelling. It had none of the Norman Lear heritage of FOL, so there would be no lessons learned. I've also read that Dorothy Loudon herself hated children, which I guess is why all the girls are played by young adult women; The Facts of Life, conversely, cast child actresses deliberately, as they wanted a more realistic production. All of the actors on Dorothy seemed to scream their lines, and you can kind of see what FOL would have been like if they had kept the original crazy headmaster, Mr. Crocker: weekly firings, huge staff arguments, slammed doors, etc.

Ultimately, even though both shows were superficially very similar, you can see the care the producers took with The Facts of Life paid off. Dorothy was quickly cancelled.

[80s Dude]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

Thanks! I had seen clips, but not a full episode.

The shaky video is a sign that someone recorded these by recording the episodes on a camera without a tripod, while the episodes were playing from a TV. The resulting video would have been shaky, but YouTube's video stabilization system will stabilize the center of the video while the edges of the picture shift around wildly. Still, I'm grateful for the videos!

Dorothy was a somewhat senseless show where the characterizations were very thin and the producers chose cheap laughs over deeper storytelling. It had none of the Norman Lear heritage of FOL, so there would be no lessons learned. I've also read that Dorothy Loudon herself hated children, which I guess is why all the girls are played by young adult women; The Facts of Life, conversely, cast child actresses deliberately, as they wanted a more realistic production. All of the actors on Dorothy seemed to scream their lines, and you can kind of see what FOL would have been like if they had kept the original crazy headmaster, Mr. Crocker: weekly firings, huge staff arguments, slammed doors, etc.

Ultimately, even though both shows were superficially very similar, you can see the care the producers took with The Facts of Life paid off. Dorothy was quickly cancelled.

The guy who posted these on Youtube said he got these on old Betamax video tapes he bought from a garage sale.

[80s Dude]

Charlotte came off as warm as she naturally was. Dorothy came off as cold and distant as she naturally was. All the acting in the world couldn't cover up Dorothy's flaws.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by 80s Dude

The guy who posted these on Youtube said he got these on old Betamax video tapes he bought from a garage sale.

I suspected eventually these episodes would be posted somewhere (if not YouTube, DailyMotion or somewhere else) because by 1979, a lot of people were investing in home video devices. Glad they did surface.

Charlotte came off as warm as she naturally was. Dorothy came off as cold and distant as she naturally was. All the acting in the world couldn't cover up Dorothy's flaws.

Charlotte definitely could play a warm and caring person; the producers of DS definitely saw that when they decided to spin her off. Compare the first episode of Dorothy with "Rough Housing", which are very similar episodes: in both, the red-haired housemother has a heart-to-heart talk with the school tomboy, who feels as though she isn't fitting in.

"Rough Housing" is noted by critics as one of the iconic moments of FOL. Dorothy is barely remembered. The elements of Dorothy never gelled because we don't see any depth. Dorothy isn't caring; even while she's talking to her wayward charge, we see she's more concerned about the rift between herself and the other teachers. Her scene with her student is almost an afterthought. The emphasis is on the slapstick scene between the warring faculty members.

['80sSitcoms]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

by 1979, a lot of people were investing in home video devices. Glad they did surface.

Wow, I would not have thought that. I wouldn't have figured HVDs would have started to become very commonplace until the early nineteen hundred and eighties (lol).

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

Wow, I would not have thought that. I wouldn't have figured HVDs would have started to become very commonplace until the early nineteen hundred and eighties (lol).

Betamax was released in 1975. VHS supplanted Beta in the early 1980s.

['80sSitcoms]

Part of my thinking of that is because it is very rare to find soap opera clips from the nineteen hundred and seventies.

And to think all of that trained theatrical acting in these stories that was captured on videotape, and then just thrown out after airing. So sad....

[80s Dude]

The guy who played the male teacher said Dorothy Loudon was difficult to work with. He was surprised that they wanted him to sing theatre songs since he was the biology teacher (their Miss Mahoney).

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by 80s Dude

The guy who played the male teacher said Dorothy Loudon was difficult to work with. He was surprised that they wanted him to sing theatre songs since he was the biology teacher (their Miss Mahoney).

Thanks! I found an article about the behind-the-scenes trouble with the show.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

Part of my thinking of that is because it is very rare to find soap opera clips from the nineteen hundred and seventies.

Well, viewing numbers for evening shows were much higher than for daytime shows. And more viewers - a better chance of them getting recorded.

And to think all of that trained theatrical acting in these stories that was captured on videotape, and then just thrown out after airing. So sad....

That is very sad, for sure.

['80sSitcoms]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

Well, viewing numbers for evening shows were much higher than for daytime shows. And more viewers - a better chance of them getting recorded.

Sure, it just feels like it was more of a "cult status" then compared to the mid-'80s when "everybody" got VCRs.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

Sure, it just feels like it was more of a "cult status" then compared to the mid-'80s when "everybody" got VCRs.

Yeah, I'm sure that's true!

[Sitcommania]

Warner Bros. yanked these off YouTube.