Miss Emily Mahoney

[wiseguy182]

No wonder they ditched this character very early on, she was an annoying, unlikeable, uptight prude.

[candycandy]

Originally Posted by wiseguy182

No wonder they ditched this character very early on, she was an annoying, unlikeable, uptight prude.

I thought she was quite good on the episode "I.Q" the way she teases MR BRADLEY lol so i'd say she's got a good sense of humor and also on the one "Like mother like daughter" lol!

[ThomasE]

Originally Posted by candycandy

I thought she was quite good on the episode "I.Q" the way she teases MR BRADLEY lol so i'd say she's got a good sense of humor and also on the one "Like mother like daughter" lol!

I didn't like it on the IQ ep when she expressed her disappointment in Sue Ann and Nancy because they failed the midterm. She was cool towards then end of the episode though.

['80sSitcoms]

Originally Posted by ThomasE

I didn't like it on the IQ ep when she expressed her disappointment in Sue Ann and Nancy because they failed the midterm. She was cool towards then end of the episode though.

Yeah, I thought she came down a little too hard on the girls too and was annoyed by that.

But I did like her and think it would have been nice if they could have kept her after the initial 4 episodes, at least as a recurring teacher character. I liked the female camaraderie she and Mrs. Garrett had together; it was nice to see Edna relate to another grown woman.

This just now occurred to me. In "Fear Strikes Back" in season 3, what if they changed the name of the victim at the beginning to Miss Mahoney? Viewers with the show from the beginning could then have put a face and personality with who was victimized.

What I really didn't like about her? That god-awful perm! lol

[ThomasE]

LOL. Has she stuck around, maybe she would have had extensions!!!

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

That god-awful perm!

THIS is what I think of, when I think of Miss Mahoney.

I suppose that was a popular style back then. Certainly, Erin Moran loved that 'do. But it's... god-awful, as you say.

['80sSitcoms]

And can you believe Miss Emily Mahoney was only 32?? With that dowdy style and god-awful perm she looked 10 years older! lol

Okay, I just Googled her (Jenny O'Hara), and Ms. O'Hara was 37 1/2 at the time FOL debuted, lol. So she was between Miss Mahoney's age and what Miss Mahoney looked! lol

[RetroGuy2000]

I suppose it didn't help that they decided she would be strict and by-the-rules. So by-the-rules that she apparently couldn't tolerate the changes at Eastland, and left after just one month!

['80sSitcoms]

Well, technically, maybe after 4 1/2 months? Cause she did administer the girls' mid-terms.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

Well, technically, maybe after 4 1/2 months? Cause she did administer the girls' mid-terms.

Strange that their mid-terms were in September! Classes usually begin in August. "IQ" aired on September 14th. After that, Miss Mahoney went missing, like so many characters after her. Strange that no one ever put two and two together: as long as Mrs. Garrett was around, people kept disappearing. Once Mrs. G left, the disappearances came to an abrupt stop.

[DarkDante]

I don't think I've ever seen Jenny O'Hara as underused on any project as she was on FOL. It makes me wonder why they even brought her in in the first place as there was clearly no room for another adult character on the show.

Unfortunate too because if you watch for example "My Sister Sam" starring Pam Dawber and the late Rebecca Schaeffer you'll see how entertaining Jenny O'Hara can be when she is given good material to work with. As far as her work on FOL goes, it's one of those situations where you hope the pay was good because they gave her absolutely nothing creatively to work with.

['80sSitcoms]

Originally Posted by DarkDante

there was clearly no room for another adult character on the show.

I think there was room, but because of the writing, they just didn't utilize her near to the extent that they could have. One of the best things about Miss Mahoney was that she was a fellow adult woman for Mrs. Garrett to converse with. I love the little scene they have together in Mrs. Garrett's room in "Rough Housing", just the two grown women having a scene to themselves. When they took her away, Mrs. Garrett didn't have another woman to talk with, and she lost that little extra unique relationship.