The Season 2 Cast Changes - Who Was Responsible

[Eric Paddon]

The massive overhaul of this show from its first season to its brief second season never made any sense to me. You just can't get new people to watch a show that isn't already working with one set of actors and expect those who've *liked* the first set of actors to stick around.

Anyway, here's a newspaper article from August 1978 that explains what happened. Apparently the mass firing of John Astin and everyone else except for Melinda Naud (and in lesser roles, Jim Varney and Richard Brestoff) was dictated entirely by ABC, and not Universal. They felt there were too many cast members but rather than just trim the ensemble, they decided to "reboot" the show with a new group. Dumb thinking IMO.

[Jude The Obscure]

And had the nerve to call it "The New Operation Petticoat"......much like a few years earlier they rebooted "Temperatures Rising" by axing cast members and putting Paul Lynde as the big attraction and called it "The New Temperatures Rising Show".