This show had a shelf life of 5 years

[counrfk]

This show should not have gone more than 5 seasons. I liked it when Julie and Barbara were teenagers going to high school, and Ann was carving out her career. Especially the first 3 seasons have some great, memorable episodes. You can watch those episodes over and over again and still enjoy them. Not true for the later seasons. Everything should have been wrapped up, and you could have had 5 high quality seasons in a nice, tight box.

Very few shows are good beyond 5 years. And boy, when they go into those DREADED 9TH SEASONS they usually turn pitiful. Look at the horrible 9th season of "Roseanne". An awesome show that literally went to Hell in season 9, but it was horrible even before that. "Little House on the Prairie" also had a horrible 9th season. One show that got it close to right was "Leave it to Beaver". It went for 6 seasons, one season too long but ended before it got bad.

Back to ODAAT. Most of the episodes after season 5 were not necessary for the story of Ann Romano and her daughters. Nick and Alex were unnecessary. The show wasn't about a divorced man raising his son. It certainly wasn't about Ann raising a son. There's no way that realistically Ann would have been raising Alex. And to make matters worse, he vanishes without a trace after season 8. Ann tells him that he's a part of the family, and then he's gone.

This show went on too long!

[Alex Cooper]

Originally Posted by counrfk

This show should not have gone more than 5 seasons. I liked it when Julie and Barbara were teenagers going to high school, and Ann was carving out her career. Especially the first 3 seasons have some great, memorable episodes. You can watch those episodes over and over again and still enjoy them. Not true for the later seasons. Everything should have been wrapped up, and you could have had 5 high quality seasons in a nice, tight box.

Very few shows are good beyond 5 years. And boy, when they go into those DREADED 9TH SEASONS they usually turn pitiful. Look at the horrible 9th season of "Roseanne". An awesome show that literally went to Hell in season 9, but it was horrible even before that. "Little House on the Prairie" also had a horrible 9th season. One show that got it close to right was "Leave it to Beaver". It went for 6 seasons, one season too long but ended before it got bad.

Back to ODAAT. Most of the episodes after season 5 were not necessary for the story of Ann Romano and her daughters. Nick and Alex were unnecessary. The show wasn't about a divorced man raising his son. It certainly wasn't about Ann raising a son. There's no way that realistically Ann would have been raising Alex. And to make matters worse, he vanishes without a trace after season 8. Ann tells him that he's a part of the family, and then he's gone.

This show went on too long!

Since I am tot'ly in love with Alex , I may be a bit biased, but I do agree that the show changed directions after season 4, which were the heart of the show. And while I heart-on Alex hanging around after his dad's death, for improbable reasons, the reasons for his leaving were even more unlikely. It's like the show had to change, and change it did, but could not hold unto those changes, and then fell into oblivion.

[Bonniegirl]

Originally Posted by counrfk

This show should not have gone more than 5 seasons. I liked it when Julie and Barbara were teenagers going to high school, and Ann was carving out her career. Especially the first 3 seasons have some great, memorable episodes. You can watch those episodes over and over again and still enjoy them. Not true for the later seasons. Everything should have been wrapped up, and you could have had 5 high quality seasons in a nice, tight box.

Very few shows are good beyond 5 years. And boy, when they go into those DREADED 9TH SEASONS they usually turn pitiful. Look at the horrible 9th season of "Roseanne". An awesome show that literally went to Hell in season 9, but it was horrible even before that. "Little House on the Prairie" also had a horrible 9th season. One show that got it close to right was "Leave it to Beaver". It went for 6 seasons, one season too long but ended before it got bad.

Back to ODAAT. Most of the episodes after season 5 were not necessary for the story of Ann Romano and her daughters. Nick and Alex were unnecessary. The show wasn't about a divorced man raising his son. It certainly wasn't about Ann raising a son. There's no way that realistically Ann would have been raising Alex. And to make matters worse, he vanishes without a trace after season 8. Ann tells him that he's a part of the family, and then he's gone.

This show went on too long!

Seasons 5, 7 , 8 and 9 !!!!!! I have ONE thing to say about those seasons...

MAX

[Alex Cooper]

Originally Posted by Bonniegirl

Seasons 5, 7 , 8 and 9 !!!!!! I have ONE thing to say about those seasons...

MAX

BonBons! I had a premonition you would have a fondness for the later seasons...

[Bonniegirl]

Originally Posted by counrfk

This show should not have gone more than 5 seasons. I liked it when Julie and Barbara were teenagers going to high school, and Ann was carving out her career. Especially the first 3 seasons have some great, memorable episodes. You can watch those episodes over and over again and still enjoy them. Not true for the later seasons. Everything should have been wrapped up, and you could have had 5 high quality seasons in a nice, tight box.

Very few shows are good beyond 5 years. And boy, when they go into those DREADED 9TH SEASONS they usually turn pitiful. Look at the horrible 9th season of "Roseanne". An awesome show that literally went to Hell in season 9, but it was horrible even before that. "Little House on the Prairie" also had a horrible 9th season. One show that got it close to right was "Leave it to Beaver". It went for 6 seasons, one season too long but ended before it got bad.

Back to ODAAT. Most of the episodes after season 5 were not necessary for the story of Ann Romano and her daughters. Nick and Alex were unnecessary. The show wasn't about a divorced man raising his son. It certainly wasn't about Ann raising a son. There's no way that realistically Ann would have been raising Alex. And to make matters worse, he vanishes without a trace after season 8. Ann tells him that he's a part of the family, and then he's gone.

This show went on too long!

But we got these two!!!!!!






And Baby Annie too!!!

[RetroTVNitekatt]

The Ratings for the later seasons were top 10-11 stable and it was still a hit. Even with the cast changes and Mac's issues.

It was the timeslot moves of late Season 8 (Testing new slot - but there was never any doubt the show wouldn't be kept - CBS offered a two season pick up) and Late Season 9 (ordered as a final season when they couldn't convince Bonnie and Val to stay two years) moves where the numbers dipped a little and became lopsided - but the same time the show was doing killer in syndication. If Bonnie and Val had agreed to do a 10th Year, CBS would have taken better care of the Season 9 "counter-programming" move.

What it comes down to the show evolved and it was no longer Bonnie's Show which is why she wanted to move on. Valerie said in her book if Bonnie took the two year (9&10) deal, she would have taken Season 9 off and returned for the 10th.

No show stays the same after the 4th or 5th year. Season 9's only problem was you now had two series on one show - Ann and Sam and their stuff and the "kids" and Grandma with Schneider as the "Link" so to speak between the two. There are episodes where Bonnie is only in one scene and she's the star! Any wonder she was unhappy and wanted to leave? Mac's relapse didn't help things,either. Look how many episodes Bonnie,Pat,and Howard Didn't do that year. The show WAS more about Barbara,Mark,Max,Grandma Katie at this point - this was normal evolving of the series and characters and frankly we know Bonnie didn't like it AT ALL!

The show did end on it's own terms - no other Lear show did. "Good Times" was pulled for months and they managed a last episode after being canceled by CBS, Bea Arthur didn't want to do the revised format of "Maude", "Archie Bunker's Place" was canceled with decent ratings in it's 4th year (CBS kept series with lower ratings!),and "The Jefferson's" ratings dropped badly the last year it was canceled without a final show.

[counrfk]

Originally Posted by RetroTVNitekatt

The Ratings for the later seasons were top 10-11 stable and it was still a hit. Even with the cast changes and Mac's issues.

It was the timeslot moves of late Season 8 (Testing new slot - but there was never any doubt the show wouldn't be kept - CBS offered a two season pick up) and Late Season 9 (ordered as a final season when they couldn't convince Bonnie and Val to stay two years) moves where the numbers dipped a little and became lopsided - but the same time the show was doing killer in syndication. If Bonnie and Val had agreed to do a 10th Year, CBS would have taken better care of the Season 9 "counter-programming" move.

What it comes down to the show evolved and it was no longer Bonnie's Show which is why she wanted to move on. Valerie said in her book if Bonnie took the two year (9&10) deal, she would have taken Season 9 off and returned for the 10th.

No show stays the same after the 4th or 5th year. Season 9's only problem was you now had two series on one show - Ann and Sam and their stuff and the "kids" and Grandma with Schneider as the "Link" so to speak between the two. There are episodes where Bonnie is only in one scene and she's the star! Any wonder she was unhappy and wanted to leave? Mac's relapse didn't help things,either. Look how many episodes Bonnie,Pat,and Howard Didn't do that year. The show WAS more about Barbara,Mark,Max,Grandma Katie at this point - this was normal evolving of the series and characters and frankly we know Bonnie didn't like it AT ALL!

The show did end on it's own terms - no other Lear show did. "Good Times" was pulled for months and they managed a last episode after being canceled by CBS, Bea Arthur didn't want to do the revised format of "Maude", "Archie Bunker's Place" was canceled with decent ratings in it's 4th year (CBS kept series with lower ratings!),and "The Jefferson's" ratings dropped badly the last year it was canceled without a final show.

Good analysis and information. I just don't see why any show would want to go on after the quality has diminished and/or the original storyline is gone. If I was a producer, I would insist on going out on top. One show that I can think of that did that was "The Wonder Years". They did 5 seasons, stopped when they needed to, and had an awesome finale episode.

[RetroTVNitekatt]

Originally Posted by counrfk

Good analysis and information. I just don't see why any show would want to go on after the quality has diminished and/or the original storyline is gone. If I was a producer, I would insist on going out on top. One show that I can think of that did that was "The Wonder Years". They did 5 seasons, stopped when they needed to, and had an awesome finale episode.

A show like "The Wonder Years" by it's nature had a "good by" date on it just based on the concept - the time-period and characters "journey"- there was always a planed beginning-middle-end. They knew where the journey would end.

There was no such thing on "One Day at a Time". The Travel Agency and Max's life as a single father and after Julie did open new story-lines, as did the possibility of Barbara and Mark adopting eventually.

The introduction of Mike Lembeck as Max (The first "new" character to actually work well!) then the lost of Mac Philips and Lembeck for a season (Then back only as reoccurring), the introduction of Ron Rifkin and Glenn Scarpelli, the writing off of Rifkin and the increase of Shelley Fabares role,etc didn't hurt the series.

Bernard "Bud" Wiser produced seasons 5-8,(started as freelance/staff writer and various other producer positions) wrote a load of the BEST scripts (Including the two-parter that introduced Mark, Barbara's future husband - based on the true story how he won over his wife), and it was a shame he didn't produce the last season. (He went on to work on the development of what became "Who's the Boss")

Wouldn't it have been nice to have seen the Evans and Woods families AFTER the last episode of "Good Times" when they finally got out of the ghetto? Sadly, Ratings killed any chance of that.

[James28]

I think the title of this thread is an indication that the early-1980s CBS Sunday-Night lineup would have turned out different. The Jeffersons only saw its ratings rise after it was moved from Wednesdays to Sundays, and I think Jeffersons was on the verge of cancellation during season 5, while One Day at a Time was still in the Nielsen Top 10 during season 4.

If All in the Family and Jeffersons had been cancelled after the 1977-78 and 1978-79 seasons, respectively, then on the CBS Sunday night schedule, we would have saw One Day at a Time and Alice on the anchor slots, and maybe WKRP in Cincinnati would have ended up on either of the X:30 hammock slots as well.

Would The Jeffersons have been the one that had a shelf-life of five years rather than ODaaT?

[Svenfan1234]

Originally Posted by James28

I think the title of this thread is an indication that the early-1980s CBS Sunday-Night lineup would have turned out different. The Jeffersons only saw its ratings rise after it was moved from Wednesdays to Sundays, and I think Jeffersons was on the verge of cancellation during season 5, while One Day at a Time was still in the Nielsen Top 10 during season 4.

If All in the Family and Jeffersons had been cancelled after the 1977-78 and 1978-79 seasons, respectively, then on the CBS Sunday night schedule, we would have saw One Day at a Time and Alice on the anchor slots, and maybe WKRP in Cincinnati would have ended up on either of the X:30 hammock slots as well.

Would The Jeffersons have been the one that had a shelf-life of five years rather than ODaaT?

The OP meant story-wise, arc-wise and cast-wise.

ODAAT certainly had a rough last season, but there were others that were worse (enter, Gimme a Break! and Welcome Back, Kotter).

[TMC]

Originally Posted by counrfk

This show should not have gone more than 5 seasons. I liked it when Julie and Barbara were teenagers going to high school, and Ann was carving out her career. Especially the first 3 seasons have some great, memorable episodes. You can watch those episodes over and over again and still enjoy them. Not true for the later seasons. Everything should have been wrapped up, and you could have had 5 high quality seasons in a nice, tight box.

Very few shows are good beyond 5 years. And boy, when they go into those DREADED 9TH SEASONS they usually turn pitiful. Look at the horrible 9th season of "Roseanne". An awesome show that literally went to Hell in season 9, but it was horrible even before that. "Little House on the Prairie" also had a horrible 9th season. One show that got it close to right was "Leave it to Beaver". It went for 6 seasons, one season too long but ended before it got bad.

Back to ODAAT. Most of the episodes after season 5 were not necessary for the story of Ann Romano and her daughters. Nick and Alex were unnecessary. The show wasn't about a divorced man raising his son. It certainly wasn't about Ann raising a son. There's no way that realistically Ann would have been raising Alex. And to make matters worse, he vanishes without a trace after season 8. Ann tells him that he's a part of the family, and then he's gone.

This show went on too long!

What if One Day at a Time ended with maybe Barbara going off to college, Julie getting married and even having the baby, and possibly Ann deciding she was finally ready to get married again? And then all three going their separate ways.

Or more directly, the show could've ended in the seventh season with Barbara getting married, Julie having her first child, Ann moving up in the business world, Schneider moving away to look after his niece and nephew in Florida.

They certainly could have had a better ending for Julie, but I suppose that Mackenzie Phillips' real life personal issues was inevitably going to make that difficult.

[James28]

Originally Posted by Svenfan1234

The OP meant story-wise, arc-wise and cast-wise.

ODAAT certainly had a rough last season, but there were others that were worse (enter, Gimme a Break! and Welcome Back, Kotter).

I wonder if the OP has the same opinion about Alice and its run-length as well?

[TMC]

Somebody on Ken Levine's blog believed that ODAAT didn't do better in off-network syndication because it was a hard fit. It wasn't exactly clearly appealed to children but it also wasn't a definite show for adults. So there was this big grey area regarding who this show could be for.

The point being is that although Julie and Barbara drove most of the action, the actual crux of the show was Anne's reaction to their problems and situations. Plus, significant time was also devoted to Anne's relationship, friendships and career.

So you ultimately had a show that couldn't exactly fit into the earlier, kid-oriented syndication hours since it didn't exactly have that solid "youth appeal". But you also had a show that really seemed out of place among the later, "grown-up" syndication hours.

[Chocolate Moose]

Yeah, preferred the early seasons.

[Fallon97]

I preferred the later seasons of the show with the husbands.