The "Lost-est" of The Lost Girls

['80sSitcoms]

Cindy.
Sue Ann.
Nancy.
Molly.

These are whom we FOL fans affectionately know as "The Lost Girls".

But what about the two girls who are even "lost-er"? (haha)

I'm talking about the two Eastland students we know who never even appeared on the series; but they were there at the very birth of FOL, the "Diff'rent Strokes" back door pilot "The Girls' School".

Yes, that's right. I'm talking about Jennifer and Laura.

Do they have any fans? Does anyone in this world favor them over the beloved Lost Foursome?

Has anyone thought about what Eastland would have been like had Laura and her frog Leon stuck around?

Just some FOL food for thought.

[RetroGuy2000]

Great topic!

"The Girls' School" aired in May 1979. "Rough Housing" was broadcast in late August 1979. So sometime during the summer, the decision was made to axe Jennifer Rooney and Laura Shuman. Those girls apparently had no prior television or film acting experience; their IMDB profiles are empty, outside of the backdoor pilot. Yet it's likely that they were cast by Eve Brandstein, just as the other girls were.

As we know, JR and LS were replaced by Julie Anne Haddock and Mindy Cohn. Julie Anne had a ton of prior work under her belt, including a half a dozen film and television roles, and was a professional child. Mindy Cohn was discovered by Charlotte Rae at Westlake, and she (Charlotte) insisted she (Mindy) be brought on the show.

I'm sure after seeing that messy backdoor pilot, with what Warren Littlefield must have thought was 10,000 girls , NBC would have insisted on some changes before greenlighting the show. They probably wanted seasoned actresses, thus Julie Anne was brought in. Fussy old Mr. Crocker was replaced with the younger Mr. Bradley. And the other girls in the dorm, simply extras without names, were given the heave-ho in favor of a less-realistic but easier to digest seven-girl dormitory.

I can imagine it would be tough to be cast on a pilot and not make the cut for the series, but I think it would be a lot more upsetting to play the role for a whole season, getting to know the producers, writers, other crew, and fellow actors, and also getting to know your character, and then getting cut. Especially when there were newspaper articles reporting that you were one of the lucky ones that had been kept on, which we know happened to Felice and Julie.

But it had to be not-nice to be cast for a pilot and then get dropped almost instantly. Laura Shuman and Jennifer Rooney, I salute you! You were the first girls fired, but you would not be the last!

['80sSitcoms]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

Jennifer Rooney and Laura Shuman. Those girls apparently had no prior television or film acting experience; their IMDB profiles are empty, outside of the backdoor pilot.

I checked those too! Amazing that the FOL back-door pilot is their lone Hollywood experience. I wonder if they ever amazed future friends by stating the fact that they were in the one episode of DS that led to the 9-season series FOL? lol

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

I'm sure after seeing that messy backdoor pilot, with what Warren Littlefield must have thought was 10,000 girls

Haha, too true!

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

Fussy old Mr. Crocker was replaced with the younger Mr. Bradley.

Ah yes...it's much more realistic in "Flash Flood" to have Blair fall into hero worship for Mr. Steven Bradley, barely old enough to be her father, rather than---"The Crock"!

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

I can imagine it would be tough to be cast on a pilot and not make the cut for the series, but I think it would be a lot more upsetting to play the role for a whole season, getting to know the producers, writers, other crew, and fellow actors, and also getting to know your character, and then getting cut. Especially when there were newspaper articles reporting that you were one of the lucky ones that had been kept on, which we know happened to Felice and Julie.

Totally...and especially for Felice and Julie P. considering that last point, yowch!

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

But it had to be not-nice to be cast for a pilot and then get dropped almost instantly. Laura Shuman and Jennifer Rooney, I salute you! You were the first girls fired, but you would not be the last!

Now if they had ever been brought onto FOL as background extras, that would have been something!

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

I checked those too! Amazing that the FOL back-door pilot is their lone Hollywood experience. I wonder if they ever amazed future friends by stating the fact that they were in the one episode of DS that led to the 9-season series FOL? lol

I'm sure they must have.

Ah yes...it's much more realistic in "Flash Flood" to have Blair fall into hero worship for Mr. Steven Bradley, barely old enough to be her father, rather than---"The Crock"!

Yeah, there's no way Blair would have developed a crush for an old man.

Now if they had ever been brought onto FOL as background extras, that would have been something!

As far as I know, they were not. And it looks as though that was their first and last gig in Hollywood. Also, what was the deal with casting girls and just giving them their real names on the show? Jennifer=Jennifer, Laura=Laura, Molly=Molly. Not very imaginative, writers!

['80sSitcoms]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

As far as I know, they were not.

Yeah I don't think they were either, I was just theorizing for what could have been.

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

And it looks as though that was their first and last gig in Hollywood.

Yup, considering that's it for their IMDB pages. What a profile! lol

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

Also, what was the deal with casting girls and just giving them their real names on the show? Jennifer=Jennifer, Laura=Laura, Molly=Molly. Not very imaginative, writers!

Yeah, it sounds kinda sloppy---and odd---for Jennifer and Laura. Perhaps they came up with Molly before hiring Molly Ringwald, or maybe they just liked the name when they saw her and thought it was a good different name for the cast, but that doesn't explain Jennifer and Laura and why three of the girls in the back door pilot were named the same name as the actress.

At least Molly became Molly Parker and not Molly Ringwald.

I did think that was interesting when I was a little boy watching the syndicated re-runs, noting that Molly's character name was the only one of the seven girls to be the same as her real name.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

Yeah, it sounds kinda sloppy---and odd---for Jennifer and Laura. Perhaps they came up with Molly before hiring Molly Ringwald, or maybe they just liked the name when they saw her and thought it was a good different name for the cast, but that doesn't explain Jennifer and Laura and why three of the girls in the back door pilot were named the same name as the actress.

At least Molly became Molly Parker and not Molly Ringwald.

Bwah! At least she got a last name on-camera, unlike Cindy during her Eastland years.

I get the feeling the backdoor pilot was hastily created. Mr. Crocker was way over the top, and not a very good actor (or at least not believable in that role). For some reason, the school rehearsals take place in the living room of one of the dorms. There's a cast of one (Warren Littlefield) million girls, but only seven are introduced to us by name, and it turns out that half of them have the same name as the actresses appearing on the show.

(notice also in the pilot that Blair and Sue Ann hate each other. By "Dope", they are 'best friends').

I did think that was interesting when I was a little boy watching the syndicated re-runs, noting that Molly's character name was the only one of the seven girls to be the same as her real name.

Yeah, I'm sure I noticed it, too.

['80sSitcoms]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

Bwah! At least she got a last name on-camera, unlike Cindy during her Eastland years.

Yeah, even Nancy got her last name revealed on camera (saying it herself), but poor Cindy never got to tell us her surname was Webster. I did feel somewhat vindicated in that though with the seasons one and two DVD set, where Julie Anne said "Cindy Webster" in her interview, so at least she got to get it out there that way.

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

I get the feeling the backdoor pilot was hastily created.

Yeah, I can see what you mean.

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

For some reason, the school rehearsals take place in the living room of one of the dorms.

Exactly! Who does that? LOL Doesn't Eastlake ( ) have its own auditorium?? They're not going to put on a play in a small dorm's common room where all the living room furniture is, lol.

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

There's a cast of one (Warren Littlefield) million girls

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

(notice also in the pilot that Blair and Sue Ann hate each other. By "Dope", they are 'best friends').

Yeah, after the pilot they had a very strange "frenemy" relationship during that first season.

And after the back door pilot Sue Ann actually knew every time she was insulted, lol.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

Yeah, even Nancy got her last name revealed on camera (saying it herself), but poor Cindy never got to tell us her surname was Webster. I did feel somewhat vindicated in that though with the seasons one and two DVD set, where Julie Anne said "Cindy Webster" in her interview, so at least she got to get it out there that way.

I know, right? LOL!

Exactly! Who does that? LOL Doesn't Eastlake ( ) have its own auditorium?? They're not going to put on a play in a small dorm's common room where all the living room furniture is, lol.

Bwahaha! Exactly!

See, I always fanwank these situations, coming up with complex reasons for everything. For example, the reason the auditorium was unavailable was because of a major renovation at Eastlake. This is also why the girls had to eat in their own dormitory during part of Season One: the main cafeteria was being remodeled. The last building to get revamped was the library, which didn't happen until January 1982.

Due to the renovation of the auditorium, Mr. Crocker planned to hold the actual play outdoors, befitting his retelling of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', but it was too windy that day to rehearse outdoors, so they moved inside.

['80sSitcoms]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

See, I always fanwank these situations, coming up with complex reasons for everything.

Me too! It's the writer and the "TV-land" fanatic in me, lol.

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

This is also why the girls had to eat in their own dormitory during part of Season One:

Hmm, I always took that to be a separate building myself.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

Hmm, I always took that to be a separate building myself.

Then why are the only lunch attendees the seven girls in the dorm? I mean, if it was in another building, wouldn't there be other students there at lunch-time? But no. The only students who apparently eat at Eastland are those seven? And there are only two tables in the cafeteria, so they'd have to eat lunches in shifts all day, from dawn to dusk, unless Eastland only has 30 students.

The establishing shot appears to show the same ivy-covered building, but a different door (the same one Mr. Bradley is ambushed at in the opening credits).

['80sSitcoms]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

Then why are the only lunch attendees the seven girls in the dorm? I mean, if it was in another building, wouldn't there be other students there at lunch-time? But no. The only students who apparently eat at Eastland are those seven? And there are only two tables in the cafeteria, so they'd have to eat lunches in shifts all day, from dawn to dusk, unless Eastland only has 30 students.

It just comes from having always thought of it as another building since I was a kid, and from seeing fans joke online about what a ridiculously small cafeteria it is, lol, plus Molly's line "the cook baked them today" implies to me that is a separate "eating quarters", even if small.

I just always thought it was a ridiculous touch in the same way it was ridiculous having a play rehearsal in a dorm, running into the cafeteria on your arrival of your first day of school and getting your assignments there as opposed to the obvious destination of the dorm, etc. Just something you roll with as a fan, lol.

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

The establishing shot appears to show the same ivy-covered building, but a different door (the same one Mr. Bradley is ambushed at in the opening credits).

And we know how well established exteriors so often "match" with sets, lol. (laughing at TV, not you, lol) So it could be the dorm, or another building (perhaps a "Choose Your Own Adventure" type of thing, lol); if the former, then it's neat getting to see another area of the dorm building.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

It just comes from having always thought of it as another building since I was a kid, and from seeing fans joke online about what a ridiculously small cafeteria it is, lol, plus Molly's line "the cook baked them today" implies to me that is a separate "eating quarters", even if small.

That room is so small. There's no way that a room with only three tables and a vending machine is a full cafeteria. I think it might be a faculty break room (in any building) that was pressed into service as a lunch room while the real cafeteria was being remodeled.
</fanwank>

It's like everything was brought over from the kitchen: the mystery meat is in a big, covered tureen; the cinnamon buns come in a basket covered in paper. There's a table with a tray of only twelve cups on it, as if they knew they wouldn't need any more than twelve cups. There's no window into a kitchen, so it's like there is no attached kitchen.

(Incidentally, it's a good thing Mrs. G became the school dietician; mystery meat and cinnamon buns are all they had for lunch! Not a very balanced meal... where were the greens?)

I just always thought it was a ridiculous touch in the same way it was ridiculous having a play rehearsal in a dorm, running into the cafeteria on your arrival of your first day of school and getting your assignments there as opposed to the obvious destination of the dorm, etc.

But if you don't know which dorm you've been assigned to, how do you know which dorm to go to? No, better to keep the list in a centralized location, like the cafeteria.

And we know how well established exteriors so often "match" with sets, lol.

Yeah, that's always been a pet peeve of mine about sitcom sets. They almost never match the exteriors. Some shows are better than others about this, and I think FOL did a good job making the exteriors and interiors at least semi-match. (The Cosby Show was the absolute worst).

One thing I really like about the 2nd season cafeteria set is the feeling of depth you get. Not only is the building fairly wide, with a kitchen and staircase on the left, the cafeteria itself in the middle, and the break room on the right, but there's a lobby attached to the cafeteria, giving the impression of depth that was missing from the first season dorm set.

['80sSitcoms]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

That room is so small. There's no way that a room with only three tables and a vending machine is a full cafeteria. I think it might be a faculty break room (in any building) that was pressed into service as a lunch room while the real cafeteria was being remodeled.
</fanwank>

See, I usually think of it as a "side room" in the cafeteria, where the girls from Mrs. Garrett's dorm are assigned to eat; the other Eastland girls eat in separate rooms branched off which are assigned to their own respective dorms </fanwank> lol

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

It's like everything was brought over from the kitchen: the mystery meat is in a big, covered tureen; the cinnamon buns come in a basket covered in paper. There's a table with a tray of only twelve cups on it, as if they knew they wouldn't need any more than twelve cups. There's no window into a kitchen, so it's like there is no attached kitchen.

Well, it's a private school, so they serve "fancier". That's my fanwank, lol.

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

(Incidentally, it's a good thing Mrs. G became the school dietician; mystery meat and cinnamon buns are all they had for lunch! Not a very balanced meal... where were the greens?)

Mrs. Garrett hoarded them all for her "bunny lunch"!

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

But if you don't know which dorm you've been assigned to, how do you know which dorm to go to? No, better to keep the list in a centralized location, like the cafeteria.

This is a private school. Don't they have an admissions building or student union building for things like that? See, that's my problem with it, lol. The cafeteria just seems much too contrived to me when there are other options that IMO make more sense. I know, I know though, they just didn't wanna spend the $ to build another set.

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

One thing I really like about the 2nd season cafeteria set is the feeling of depth you get. Not only is the building fairly wide, with a kitchen and staircase on the left, the cafeteria itself in the middle, and the break room on the right, but there's a lobby attached to the cafeteria, giving the impression of depth that was missing from the first season dorm set.

Oh, I love that, too. And there's even that little "hidden walk-way nook" to the left of the cafeteria where you can can walk around a wall between the cafeteria and the back of the kitchen; and also, the entrance to the basement is hidden somewhere back there as well.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

This is a private school. Don't they have an admissions building or student union building for things like that? See, that's my problem with it, lol. The cafeteria just seems much too contrived to me when there are other options that IMO make more sense. I know, I know though, they just didn't wanna spend the $ to build another set.

This is a school which is serving only mystery meat and cinnamon buns for lunch; how can they afford an admissions building or a student union?

See, I think the cafeteria building served as the student union. This is why there was that separate break room on the right.

Oh, I love that, too. And there's even that little "hidden walk-way nook" to the left of the cafeteria where you can can walk around a wall between the cafeteria and the back of the kitchen; and also, the entrance to the basement is hidden somewhere back there as well.

Yeah! And the door in the break room that presumably leads to the garage!

['80sSitcoms]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

This is a school which is serving only mystery meat and cinnamon buns for lunch; how can they afford an admissions building or a student union?

bwahaha!

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

Yeah! And the door in the break room that presumably leads to the garage!

The garage? I always thought that door was just a side door to the outside, right outside the "lobby" area.

And what is this "break room" to which you keep referring? Don't forget, in Eastland terms, it's strictly "the lounge".

Hmm, which inspires a new thread...