Would you have liked "The Girls School" premise for the show?

[FOL-FAN-ITA]

Would you have liked "Garrett's Girls"?

No "The Facts Of Life", no Natalie, Jo, Cindy, Mr. Bradley, Miss Mahoney, Mr. Parker. Blair is a smoker, The Crock is the headmaster, Molly and Sue Ann are a little bit different, Nancy is the lead girl.


I could give a pass to everything except Natalie. She is the strongest character, I would have removed one of the main girls in the pilot for her.

And you, what do you think? Would you have liked this premise or would you have changed something?

[RetroGuy2000]

The premise, with Mr. Crocker as the main antagonist, never would have worked long-time, for a series. No one would work for Crocker willingly for very long. The man was insane. You can't have a man like that running a boarding school. There would be lawsuits.

I like that they added a faculty member like Miss Mahoney, and wish that we had seen more teachers over the years at Eastland. The script for "The Girls' School" already included a faculty member role, but it wasn't properly developed, and got nixed at the last second. But there should always be faculty at Eastland.

Molly, Nancy, Sue Ann, Blair, and Tootie were a wonderful Core Five: each one unique and distinct. There just was nothing to characters like Laura and Jennifer, and I can see why they were axed: they had no special attributes. Adding Cindy and Natalie definitely helped balance things... unfortunately, I think it led producers to believe that their cast was always replaceable, which is problematic from a continuity perspective.

I do believe Felice was good as the head girl: she was a good actress who played the part well. I think her lack of experience on TV may have spooked network executives, and that may have led to them giving her a background role with little time to shine.

But several key elements were already in place: Blair as the rich girl, Tootie as the cute one, and Mrs. Garrett giving sage advice that saves the day. Those three elements would become central to the show. I wish they had kept more elements down the line.

Anyway, I would have watched. We had only three commercial networks in those days.

[80s Dude]

The characters, except for a couple were not developed in the Girls School Pilot. The Crock would have taken away the serious messages the show was trying to convey. Sue Ann would not done well at being an air head.

['80sSitcoms]

Originally Posted by 80s Dude

Sue Ann would not have done well at being an air head.

I actually think she did her airhead lines fine.

[80s Dude]

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

I actually think she did her airhead lines fine.

Yes, but I like her better being the naive, but smart student from Kansas City, Kansas.

[FOL-FAN-ITA]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

The premise, with Mr. Crocker as the main antagonist, never would have worked long-time, for a series. No one would work for Crocker willingly for very long. The man was insane. You can't have a man like that running a boarding school. There would be lawsuits.

I like that they added a faculty member like Miss Mahoney, and wish that we had seen more teachers over the years at Eastland. The script for "The Girls' School" already included a faculty member role, but it wasn't properly developed, and got nixed at the last second. But there should always be faculty at Eastland.

Molly, Nancy, Sue Ann, Blair, and Tootie were a wonderful Core Five: each one unique and distinct. There just was nothing to characters like Laura and Jennifer, and I can see why they were axed: they had no special attributes. Adding Cindy and Natalie definitely helped balance things... unfortunately, I think it led producers to believe that their cast was always replaceable, which is problematic from a continuity perspective.

I do believe Felice was good as the head girl: she was a good actress who played the part well. I think her lack of experience on TV may have spooked network executives, and that may have led to them giving her a background role with little time to shine.

But several key elements were already in place: Blair as the rich girl, Tootie as the cute one, and Mrs. Garrett giving sage advice that saves the day. Those three elements would become central to the show. I wish they had kept more elements down the line.

Anyway, I would have watched. We had only three commercial networks in those days.

I agree with you about the faculty members. New characters would have given the show a different side, it would have been great even on a recurring basis. I think Mr. Crocker would have been "acceptable" as a recurring character, not as a regular. Anyway, the pilot was done very well, I give it a 8/10.

Originally Posted by 80s Dude

The characters, except for a couple were not developed in the Girls School Pilot. The Crock would have taken away the serious messages the show was trying to convey. Sue Ann would not done well at being an air head.

The characters were not developed as they were in the actual series but I think they did a good job. We have the mean girl, the fast talking one, the youngest. The Crock would have been okay on a recurring basis

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by FOL-FAN-ITA

I agree with you about the faculty members. New characters would have given the show a different side, it would have been great even on a recurring basis. I think Mr. Crocker would have been "acceptable" as a recurring character, not as a regular. Anyway, the pilot was done very well, I give it a 8/10.

I can see The Crock making recurring appearances as the overly-dramatic drama teacher. Imagine him in "Green-Eyed Monster", for example. But not a regular character.

As 80s Dude says, that OTT performance would have taken away from the serious message the show had: you couldn't stick The Crock in an episode where, for example, Natalie almost gets raped. The two styles just don't work together: one is "Three's Company Jack Tripper style", while one is serious "ABC Afterschool Special".

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by 80s Dude

Yes, but I like her better being the naive, but smart student from Kansas City, Kansas.

And that broadened character gave Sue Ann many more opportunities to shine. There just wasn't much room for a dumb character on FOL. By changing Sue Ann from dumb to merely a little naive, they could get Sue Ann into all kinds of situations.

I do believe that change may have helped Sue Ann eclipse Nancy, who'd been the "lead girl" in the backdoor pilot. With Blair and Tootie becoming the break-out hits, Sue Ann becoming the go-to character for many episodes, and Cindy, Natalie, and Molly each getting at least one episode, there really wasn't much left for Nancy.

It really is a shame FOL went on a six-month hiatus after the fourth episode: with thirteen more episodes, we really could have gotten to know Nancy, maybe Miss Mahoney (assuming Jenny would have stayed long enough to feel like her character wasn't so much of a bobblehead), and maybe explored other characters: Steve; family members for Sue Ann, Cindy, and Nancy; and maybe even Cook!

And the show that NBC replaced FOL with after four episodes, Shirley, was not a hit anyway: thirteen episodes and it was gone. The New York Times reported that it fared poorly in the ratings for NBC.

[Lorimar Television]

Yeah Nancy in TGS was more like Sue Ann in the series

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by Lorimar Television

Yeah Nancy in TGS was more like Sue Ann in the series

Yeah, to some extent, that's true: Nancy in TGS was well-liked enough that the girls were sad that she would be leaving. Nancy in the series seemed to "lift out": no one's surprised when she doesn't get into "The Group", and while Sue Ann and Cindy are besties, and Sue Ann and Blair are besties, while Natalie and Tootie are besties, and Cindy offers to have Molly spend part of the vacation with her, no one offers Nancy anything similar.

Even Mrs. Garrett doesn't pull a "Boy, you sure are popular, Blair... but I guess not popular enough to get Nancy into 'the Group'" on behalf of Nancy.

I'll bet Nancy was secretly very glad Blair, Natalie, Tootie, and Jo got exiled to the Cafeteria: it gave her a chance to sit at the Gossip Girls' table instead of fretting about Roger or not getting into "The Group".

[FOL-FAN-ITA]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

I can see The Crock making recurring appearances as the overly-dramatic drama teacher. Imagine him in "Green-Eyed Monster", for example. But not a regular character.

As 80s Dude says, that OTT performance would have taken away from the serious message the show had: you couldn't stick The Crock in an episode where, for example, Natalie almost gets raped. The two styles just don't work together: one is "Three's Company Jack Tripper style", while one is serious "ABC Afterschool Special".

I would have definitely liked Mr. Crocker as the drama teacher. I don't understand why they did cut Jennifer, Laura and Mr. Robinson. I could understand the two girls, they weren't really developed as characters but the other two? Maybe they weren't interested for a full time job on a weekly show or the writers were already concerned about the number of characters introduced. Since Mr. Robinson offered Mrs. Garrett the housemother position in the pilot, it would have been a sweet continuity nod if he was at least in "Rough Housing".

"Mrs. Garrett, I'm very happy that you work for our school now. Without Mr. Crocker, things will be a lot more easier for our staff and our girls"

"Thanks, Mr. Robinson, but now I gotta make these decorations for the Harvest Fair before there's a change of season"

[80s Dude]

Originally Posted by FOL-FAN-ITA

I would have definitely liked Mr. Crocker as the drama teacher. I don't understand why they did cut Jennifer, Laura and Mr. Robinson. I could understand the two girls, they weren't really developed as characters but the other two? Maybe they weren't interested for a full time job on a weekly show or the writers were already concerned about the number of characters introduced. Since Mr. Robinson offered Mrs. Garrett the housemother position in the pilot, it would have been a sweet continuity nod if he was at least in "Rough Housing".

"Mrs. Garrett, I'm very happy that you work for our school now. Without Mr. Crocker, things will be a lot more easier for our staff and our girls"

"Thanks, Mr. Robinson, but now I gotta make these decorations for the Harvest Fair before there's a change of season"

Mr. Robinson was on the Board of Directors and they would only come once or twice a year for meetings. He couldn't be a regular character.

[FOL-FAN-ITA]

Originally Posted by 80s Dude

Mr. Robinson was on the Board of Directors and they would only come once or twice a year for meetings. He couldn't be a regular character.

No, not a regular but on a recurring status he would have been fine. Imagine him in "Legacy" or "Ain't Miss Beholden"

[A.C.]

You had me at no Jo!