Did Arnold & Willis' late mother have to have been a housekeeper?

[TMC]

The late '70s-early 80's were if I'm not mistaken, all about women being independent and having a career. Therefore, couldn't they make the mother at least have an executive job or owned a business? Maybe she could have worked alongside Mr. Drummond in his business instead of cleaning his toilets. I get that they needed a storyline to explain how a white millionaire ended up with two black brothers who were orphans, but I think it was stereotypical to have her as his maid.

[glickmam]

Originally Posted by TMC

The late '70s-early 80's were if I'm not mistaken, all about women being independent and having a career. Therefore, couldn't they make the mother at least have an executive job or owned a business? Maybe she could have worked alongside Mr. Drummond in his business instead of cleaning his toilets. I get that they needed a storyline to explain how a white millionaire ended up with two black brothers who were orphans, but I think it was stereotypical to have her as his maid.

I guess the writers and producers felt that having Arnold and Willis' mother be a coworker of Mr. Drummond instead of his maid felt too contrived and too arbitrary, and that having her be Mr. Drummond's maid felt more organic.

[Torgo]

Originally Posted by glickmam

I guess the writers and producers felt that having Arnold and Willis' mother be a coworker of Mr. Drummond instead of his maid felt too contrived and too arbitrary, and that having her be Mr. Drummond's maid felt more organic.

Yeah, because Mr Drummond having a coworker that lived in Harlem would have been very realistic.

[Marvo301]

Originally Posted by Alan Brady's Hair

If they're all from the same social class, you lose the contrast in lifestyles that generated a lot of the comedy. An accountant's kid would say, "Willis, what are you trying to tell me?"

Exactly! Because the humor on this show came much more from two poor kids moving in with a rich family than it did from two black boys moving in with a white family.

[Retro4Life]

Yep, there's little to no "culture clash" if the kids' mom was an executive or something. Remember, the humor was only partly based on "a white man adopting two African American kids"' most of it was based on "rich man adopts poor kids, regardless of race".

[RetroTVNitekatt]

I often wondered the gap of time between The Boys' Mother working for Mr.D and Mrs. Garrett working for him - she seemed rather settled in in the pilot.