Fred and Cora

[Dean Winchester]

what were ABC's motives firing these two in the 1979-1980 season? I felt that they were both good characters and provided some great comic relief alongside Mork. I've only ever seen the first season (Paramount, RELEASE SEASON 2 ALREADY!!!) but I can understand why ratings went down, not just from the move to Sundays, I thought Cora was hilarious. I know that Fred and Cora ended up rehired on the show, but honestly, what was ABC thinking ditching them in the first place?

[robyrob]

i think that will always be one of the mysteries for the ages; there can be no other explanation besides executive stupidity.

[Dr. Thong]

Originally Posted by Dean Winchester

what were ABC's motives firing these two in the 1979-1980 season? I felt that they were both good characters and provided some great comic relief alongside Mork. I've only ever seen the first season (Paramount, RELEASE SEASON 2 ALREADY!!!) but I can understand why ratings went down, not just from the move to Sundays, I thought Cora was hilarious. I know that Fred and Cora ended up rehired on the show, but honestly, what was ABC thinking ditching them in the first place?

Their motive was greed.

A demographic study convinced ABC that viewers wanted to see younger, hipper characters, so they demanded Garry Marshall replace Fred and Cora. They did and that, combined with switching the show to Sunday nights for the first few months of the 1979-80 season, is what started M&M into the slow slide of ratings oblivion, culminating in the 1982 cancellation.

[TV Guy]

You could tell from the minute you first heard the new bombastic version of the opening theme in season 2 that something was wrong. They took this sweet, simple show and ruined it. Fred and Cora gone and replaced with the annoying Mr Bickley as the older character. The deli thing with the unappealing Jay Thomas. And what was up with the unfunny politician cousin - he should have appeared once, max, and a guest star.

Whoever was responsible for these changes should have been fired immediately and forced to go scrub toilets somewhere.

[GameShowFan]

I wholeheartedly agree.

Plus the first season had other semi-regulars that they could have had to expand the season one cast:

Exidor (Robert Donner)
Susan Taylor (Morgan Fairchild)
Eugene (Jeffrey Jacquet)
Bickley (Tom Poston)
and of course you had Ralph James as Orson

But instead they axed Fred & Cora and brought on Remo, Jeannie & Nelson, very "vanilla" and weak characters in my humble opinion. I didn't mind Bickley as a regular for seasons 2 and 3.

Indeed as the old saying goes "If it isn't broke, don't fix it." The powers that be at ABC at the time did not heed that adage. That M&M lasted another 3 seasons in and of itself is remarkable. Season 1 is the one I watch most often, although I do own the entire series.

[Dr. Thong]

Originally Posted by GameShowFan

I wholeheartedly agree.

Plus the first season had other semi-regulars that they could have had to expand the season one cast:

Exidor (Robert Donner)
Susan Taylor (Morgan Fairchild)
Eugene (Jeffrey Jacquet)
Bickley (Tom Poston)
and of course you had Ralph James as Orson

But instead they axed Fred & Cora and brought on Remo, Jeannie & Nelson, very "vanilla" and weak characters in my humble opinion. I didn't mind Bickley as a regular for seasons 2 and 3.

Indeed as the old saying goes "If it isn't broke, don't fix it." The powers that be at ABC at the time did not heed that adage. That M&M lasted another 3 seasons in and of itself is remarkable. Season 1 is the one I watch most often, although I do own the entire series.

I think having Exidor on every week would be a bit much. He's a very extreme character and i think a weekly diet of his ravings and hallucinations would wear on the audience over time.

IMO, he was better as a recurring character.