They got married too soon

[torcan]

I recently expanded my cable package and now have access to a station that airs "Rhoda". Oddly enough, the first episode I saw was the premiere.

I really think the first two seasons of the show were great, but lost interest when Johnny Venture made his debut. It just wasn't the same after that.

I think part of the problem was that the Rhoda and Joe got married too soon - only 8 weeks after the premiere. In retrospect, I really think they should have had them spend the entire first season engaged and leading up to the wedding. The second-season premiere could have been a one-hour wedding show and that season could have been spent detailing the early days of a marriage. This way they could have had the marriage storyline go further.

I read that the reason they had them split up in the third season is that two happily married people just aren't funny and they had trouble coming up with good scripts.

If they had delayed the wedding to the second season, maybe they could have stayed married through the third season, and maybe in the fourth season explored the idea of a separation.

I really think this was a case of a rushed wedding, and the best storylines were already used by the end of season one.

[TVFactFan]

Originally Posted by torcan

I recently expanded my cable package and now have access to a station that airs "Rhoda". Oddly enough, the first episode I saw was the premiere.

I really think the first two seasons of the show were great, but lost interest when Johnny Venture made his debut. It just wasn't the same after that.

I think part of the problem was that the Rhoda and Joe got married too soon - only 8 weeks after the premiere. In retrospect, I really think they should have had them spend the entire first season engaged and leading up to the wedding. The second-season premiere could have been a one-hour wedding show and that season could have been spent detailing the early days of a marriage. This way they could have had the marriage storyline go further.

I read that the reason they had them split up in the third season is that two happily married people just aren't funny and they had trouble coming up with good scripts.

If they had delayed the wedding to the second season, maybe they could have stayed married through the third season, and maybe in the fourth season explored the idea of a separation.

I really think this was a case of a rushed wedding, and the best storylines were already used by the end of season one.

Yeah seemed kind of crazy to have them get married and the show had just started. Just glad it wasn't followed up with a kid after season 1 lol

[snowpeck]

The producers wanted to save the wedding for the end of the season, but the CBS brass pushed them into doing it sooner. They wanted a big "event" for a ratings stunt. It worked... it was one of the most watched programs of all time... but then the ratings and the story ideas tapered off.

[treky]

I remember reading somewhere when the show was first airing in the 70s, that after the wedding the show became "just another sitcom about a married couple".

And also they were thinking of having Mary Richards get married on MTM but after Rhoda started going downhill after she got married they changed there mind.

[biffbronson]

Let's look at some sitcoms that aired between 1970 and 1979, regardless of how many seasons fell into those years:

That Girl: Unmarried woman with boyfriend
Here's Lucy: Unmarried woman, no steady boyfriend
One Day at a Time: Unmarried woman, no steady boyfriend
The Mary Tyler Moore Show: Unmarried woman, no steady boyfriend
The Beverly Hillbillies: Several unmarried women and men (Mr. & Mrs. Drysdale sole exception)
Nanny & The Professor: Unmarried man, unmarried nanny
Family Affair: Unmarried man, unmarried "gentleman's gentleman", no steady girlfriends
The Courtship of Eddie's Father: Unmarried man, unmarried housekeeper, unmarried friends
Alice: Unmarried woman, no steady boyfriend
Three's Company: Unmarried roommates
Sanford & Son: Unmarried man, unmarried son
WKRP in Cincinnati: Several unmarried characters
Taxi: Most if not all unmarried characters (until Latka's wedding)
Laverne & Shirley: Unmarried women, no steady boyfriends
Diff'rent Strokes: Unmarried man
The Partridge Family: Unmarried woman, unmarried band manager
Mork & Mindy: Unmarried roomates (premise at least)


I guess this leads to a point ~~

Maybe the timing wasn't right, but how could the writers not come up with some good scripts for a married couple -- marriages had become less prevalent on TV than the single life, burning through the script ideas for the unmarrieds...!

[LittleRickyII]

Originally Posted by biffbronson

Maybe the timing wasn't right, but how could the writers not come up with some good scripts for a married couple -- marriages had become less prevalent on TV than the single life, burning through the script ideas for the unmarrieds...!

The issue wasn't that it had become a show about a married couple, per se; it was specifically about the character, Rhoda, being married. What had worked with that character in years past, what was fun about her, and the reason viewers had loved her was her self deprecation. Which was rooted in her having a less-than-perfect life, including never being able to find a steady or "normal" boyfriend. Her sarcastic comments about her perpetual single status, or the goofballs that were attracted to her: that's what viewers craved. With her being married to this great guy, Joe, who was nothing like the losers she'd wind up with on MTM, it just didn't work. There was no plausible reason for her to put herself down. She wasn't funny anymore. Having her married, and married to this ideal guy, took all the fun out of the character, and destroyed the very essence of what made the character funny and appealing to viewers.

There were moments, like when Rhoda first met Joe's beautiful and "perfect" ex wife, that we were able to get glimpses of the old, funny Rhoda. But for the most part those moments were gone and there were not enough ways to bring them back with a married (and slim) Rhoda. Sure, they could come up with all sorts of married couple stories, but nothing that would set this show apart from any of the many other married couple stories told on countless other sitcoms. The show did become sort of dull in the second season as it retreated into the standard married couple sitcom. The writers wisely recognized the problem; however, there was no simple fix because in order for that self-deprecating Rhoda to be funny, she needed the contrast of a "Miss Perfect" Mary Richards type of character. And there was no Mary Richards on this show. Instead, her closest friend was sister, Brenda, who had been created to be what Rhoda had been in the past. So married or single, the show just couldn't find its legs.

[mets82]

Yes, it seemed fast that they had the wedding in episode 8, I think. Maybe the ratings stunt should have been Joe proposing to Rhoda and the cliffhanger being would she accept or not.

[Mr. Television]

They probably did marry too soon. The problem was that after you hyped the wedding, you can't split them up 2 years later. The audience felt cheated.

[liane49]

Originally Posted by treky

I remember reading somewhere when the show was first airing in the 70s, that after the wedding the show became "just another sitcom about a married couple".

And also they were thinking of having Mary Richards get married on MTM but after Rhoda started going downhill after she got married they changed there mind.

I don't think it would have worked to have Mary get married because since was living on her own with a good job and single it made other women feel they could do it too and they didn't "have" to get married.

[ThomasE]

Originally Posted by TVFactFan

Yeah seemed kind of crazy to have them get married and the show had just started. Just glad it wasn't followed up with a kid after season 1 lol

For real. Thank you. CBS rushed that. They should have waited.