What would have made the series finale better - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

TV Guy · 04-08-2018, 08:31 PM

Pimppa should have been killed off. Perhaps a pack of wild dingos ran loose in Peekskill and got her.

RoryGilmore · 04-17-2018, 03:10 AM

hahahaha!!!

Honestly just more of the 4 main girls

TV Guy · 04-19-2018, 06:29 AM

100% agreed. That’s what the last two seasons needed - more of the main quartet and less of Pipperly Anndy. Those writer/producers for the last two seasons really stunk.

The girls moving out and going their separate ways after all those years together should have been an emotional event, similar to “Gradutation” back in the Eastland years. But they didn’t reflect on that. Not even a little. They should have been able to squeeze that in along with Pippa’s funeral.

Christopher · 04-19-2018, 08:47 AM

I think the series should have ended with Mrs. Garrett returning from Africa for Jo's wedding and helping the girls go on with their lives in separate directions. The writers knew Nancy and Mindy were not coming back for a season 10. They should have taken advantage of the final episodes for season 9 to make it the special ending to, what was at the time, NBC's longest running sitcom. It's a shame they ruined those last two episodes on a spin off attempt for Blair. It was a waste of production IMO.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TV Guy

That’s what the last two seasons needed - more of the main quartet and less of Pipperly Anndy. Those writer/producers for the last two seasons really stunk.

I agree season 9 stunk, but season 8 is one of the shows best seasons ever. Season 8 had 2 episodes (Boy About The House & Ex Marks The Spot) and season 9 had 3 episodes (Up From Down Under, A Thousand Frowns, and It's A Wonderful Christmas) where the main focus was on the supporting characters. The quartet were still the primary focus of both seasons. The problem with season 9 though is that the writers didn't know how to write the characters that year. They phased out the store, they phased out Beverly Ann wasting Cloris's acting skills, and had the characters grow apart from each other. It wasn't The Facts of Life we all knew the first 8 years. Jo marrying Rick after only dating him for a little while really felt out of character for her. She wasn't one that rushed into things. The only thing the writers got right in season 9 was putting Tootie back with Jeff. They were the on again / off again couple throughout the show that needed to end up together.

'80sSitcoms · 04-19-2018, 09:41 AM

If I may be annoying here, you would say the someone or something "stank", not "stunk". Those are also lyrics in the song You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch: "The three words that best describe you are as follows, and I quote: stink, stank, stunk!"

In a past tense you would say something or someone stank, but use "stunk" with have/has/had, such as: "Those producers and writers shouldn't have stunk".

I've noticed more and more in society the middle choice, the simple past tense, is getting left out. I have heard "shrunk" in TV and movies when they really meant "shrank" (shrink, shrank, has/have/had shrunk...i.e, hearing "I shrunk your jeans" instead of "I shrank your jeans").

So yes, technically the movie should have been Honey, I Shrank the Kids, lol.

Sorry for the annoying grammar side note, lol.

TMC · 04-22-2018, 01:59 AM

The Facts of Life deserved a a proper finale episode. It may not have been brilliant and had become stale those last few years, but it ran for 9 years and was a fixture of NBC in the '80s. To run so long and not even get a real finale was just sad (the same sort of thing incidentally, happened with The Jeffersons and later, Married..with Children). The way it ended with Blair as Eastland headmaster and focusing on what was meant to be a backdoor pilot (including young Seth Green and Juliet Lewis), and barely including any of the other girls, was just wrong.

Impressions · 04-23-2018, 10:26 PM

Honestly, the backdoor pilot attempt felt cheap and forced, if it weren't for that, it wouldn't have been so bad. Also, having all the girls there would have helped. Also, the Andy and Pippa characters were annoying...they should have never happened. Honestly, I think they should have closed Eastland, instead of trying to save it.

Smartboy · 04-24-2018, 08:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Impressions

Honestly, the backdoor pilot attempt felt cheap and forced, if it weren't for that, it wouldn't have been so bad. Also, having all the girls there would have helped. Also, the Andy and Pippa characters were annoying...they should have never happened. Honestly, I think they should have closed Eastland, instead of trying to save it.

Why do you think that they should have closed Eastland?

Christopher · 04-25-2018, 09:18 AM

That actually might have been a better finale. They could have brought back the season 1 girls along with Mrs. Garrett to say goodbye to Eastland. Unlike The Golden Girls, this show never overkilled the flashback theme episodes so it wouldn't have been a bad ending for the girls to reminiscence about the times at Eastland before it's closed for good.

TV Guy · 05-01-2018, 03:23 AM

If they had to do Blair’s Eastland pilot, then it should have happened a couple of episodes prior to the finale. Then, they could have done an episode where there was a triple funeral for Beverly Ann, Pippa, and Andy. Then, the finale could have focused on Jo’s wedding, and the girls moving out and saying goodbye to each other. Maybe sprinkle in a few flashbacks.

Wildchats · 05-02-2018, 08:41 PM

That final scene should NOT have had Natalie on the phone. It was sad and dumb how they treated her. Tootie hanging up on her.

If anything changed in that last episode, even if it was a spinoff attempt, that final scene should have included Natalie coming back to get her last things to move to SoHo and her being all excited that Tootie was going off to the study drama in Paris. Their final interaction was not good as they were best friends. "I'm going to Paris. I need to call Jeff. Goobye!"

Natalie should have been in that final photo. Also, even though people hated Andy, he should have been in that last scene as well and been in the photo.

Having Mrs. G. come back would have been also nice, but having those 2 characters in that last scene would have been so much better.

Impressions · 05-06-2018, 09:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smartboy

Why do you think that they should have closed Eastland?

Because it would have given greater closure to the show. I don't like open-ended finales that don't pay off, which is what happened with Facts. The reason why it didn't work for Blair to save it was because I felt like she, and the other characters had moved on and it felt like the writers made her save it only for the sake of continuing the show/the plot. It was about as necessary as opening Over Our Heads or the introduction of Beverly Ann: these things continued the plot but they didn't make the show any better or didn't make sense as the girls had matured and were already going their separate ways.

Had the producers knew that the spin-off attempt wouldn't be picked up/bought, do you think the finale would be different? Yes, Eastland would have been closed. But instead, they jumped the gun and wrote the plot we all know instead, which we know just didn't work.

RetroGuy2000 · 05-14-2018, 10:34 PM

The "triple funeral" idea made me laugh very hard, TV Guy!

I personally liked the idea of ending the show on an Eastland note. However, Natalie, Tootie, Blair, Jo, and Mrs. G should have been in the finale. If they couldn't have managed to get Mrs. G back, they could have returned to Eastland, where Mr. Bradley was running Eastland once more.

'80sSitcoms · 05-16-2018, 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

I personally liked the idea of ending the show on an Eastland note. However, Natalie, Tootie, Blair, Jo, and Mrs. G should have been in the finale. If they couldn't have managed to get Mrs. G back, they could have returned to Eastland, where Mr. Bradley was running Eastland once more.

Oo, that's a good idea too. I was thinking recently that I actually like the closure feel for the viewer of having Eastland shut its doors for one final time (preferably with all the girls, including the Lost Girls from season 1, there). But now I also like the idea of the Mrs. G., Blair, Natalie, and Tootie being there to watch the torch pass on to Mr. Bradley as the new caretaker of the school (president/headmaster, what-have-you).

RetroGuy2000 · 05-17-2018, 08:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

Oo, that's a good idea too. I was thinking recently that I actually like the closure feel for the viewer of having Eastland shut its doors for one final time (preferably with all the girls, including the Lost Girls from season 1, there). But now I also like the idea of the Mrs. G., Blair, Natalie, and Tootie being there to watch the torch pass on to Mr. Bradley as the new caretaker of the school (president/headmaster, what-have-you).

Thanks! Yeah, I think having Mr. Bradley back would have given closure to the series, as in the show coming full circle. They could have even shown the old dorm (or a reasonable facsimile of it). After all, if DWTS can reconstruct that set on a week's notice, surely FOL could have done the same for a two-part finale.

Then again, by the end of the series, the show was recycling its interstitial music from Silver Spoons, and Nancy McKeon complained that their final wrap party consisted of beer and pretzels, so maybe asking for a set reconstruction would be asking too much...

04-08-2018, 08:31 PM	#1
TV Guy Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Jun 25, 2001 Location: Boston, MA, USA Posts: 3,419	What would have made the series finale better Pimppa should have been killed off. Perhaps a pack of wild dingos ran loose in Peekskill and got her.

04-17-2018, 03:10 AM	#2
RoryGilmore Always and Forever Forum Veteran Join Date: Oct 30, 2004 Location: Wherever he is, that's where I'll be Posts: 6,529	hahahaha!!! Honestly just more of the 4 main girls
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05-02-2018, 08:41 PM	#11
Wildchats Me Senior Member Join Date: Jul 15, 2001 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 1,076	That final scene should NOT have had Natalie on the phone. It was sad and dumb how they treated her. Tootie hanging up on her. If anything changed in that last episode, even if it was a spinoff attempt, that final scene should have included Natalie coming back to get her last things to move to SoHo and her being all excited that Tootie was going off to the study drama in Paris. Their final interaction was not good as they were best friends. "I'm going to Paris. I need to call Jeff. Goobye!" Natalie should have been in that final photo. Also, even though people hated Andy, he should have been in that last scene as well and been in the photo. Having Mrs. G. come back would have been also nice, but having those 2 characters in that last scene would have been so much better.
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05-14-2018, 10:34 PM	#13
RetroGuy2000 Julie,Julie Anne,&Felice 4Ever Forum Star Join Date: Dec 27, 2013 Posts: 16,914	The "triple funeral" idea made me laugh very hard, TV Guy! I personally liked the idea of ending the show on an Eastland note. However, Natalie, Tootie, Blair, Jo, and Mrs. G should have been in the finale. If they couldn't have managed to get Mrs. G back, they could have returned to Eastland, where Mr. Bradley was running Eastland once more.
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04-19-2018, 06:29 AM	#3
TV Guy Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Jun 25, 2001 Location: Boston, MA, USA Posts: 3,419	100% agreed. That’s what the last two seasons needed - more of the main quartet and less of Pipperly Anndy. Those writer/producers for the last two seasons really stunk. The girls moving out and going their separate ways after all those years together should have been an emotional event, similar to “Gradutation” back in the Eastland years. But they didn’t reflect on that. Not even a little. They should have been able to squeeze that in along with Pippa’s funeral.

04-19-2018, 09:41 AM	#5
'80sSitcoms Member Forum Star Join Date: Jan 30, 2013 Posts: 12,474	If I may be annoying here, you would say the someone or something "stank", not "stunk". Those are also lyrics in the song You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch: "The three words that best describe you are as follows, and I quote: stink, stank, stunk!" In a past tense you would say something or someone stank, but use "stunk" with have/has/had, such as: "Those producers and writers shouldn't have stunk". I've noticed more and more in society the middle choice, the simple past tense, is getting left out. I have heard "shrunk" in TV and movies when they really meant "shrank" (shrink, shrank, has/have/had shrunk...i.e, hearing "I shrunk your jeans" instead of "I shrank your jeans"). So yes, technically the movie should have been Honey, I Shrank* the Kids*, lol. Sorry for the annoying grammar side note, lol.

04-22-2018, 01:59 AM	#6
TMC Member Forum Idol Join Date: Jan 09, 2001 Posts: 126,393	The Facts of Life deserved a a proper finale episode. It may not have been brilliant and had become stale those last few years, but it ran for 9 years and was a fixture of NBC in the '80s. To run so long and not even get a real finale was just sad (the same sort of thing incidentally, happened with The Jeffersons and later, Married..with Children). The way it ended with Blair as Eastland headmaster and focusing on what was meant to be a backdoor pilot (including young Seth Green and Juliet Lewis), and barely including any of the other girls, was just wrong.

04-23-2018, 10:26 PM	#7
Impressions She died the way she lived Forum 4000 Club Member Join Date: May 08, 2002 Posts: 4,640	Honestly, the backdoor pilot attempt felt cheap and forced, if it weren't for that, it wouldn't have been so bad. Also, having all the girls there would have helped. Also, the Andy and Pippa characters were annoying...they should have never happened. Honestly, I think they should have closed Eastland, instead of trying to save it.

04-25-2018, 09:18 AM	#9
Christopher The OG Core Four Forum Fanatic Join Date: Apr 15, 2001 Posts: 14,833	That actually might have been a better finale. They could have brought back the season 1 girls along with Mrs. Garrett to say goodbye to Eastland. Unlike The Golden Girls, this show never overkilled the flashback theme episodes so it wouldn't have been a bad ending for the girls to reminiscence about the times at Eastland before it's closed for good.

05-01-2018, 03:23 AM	#10
TV Guy Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Jun 25, 2001 Location: Boston, MA, USA Posts: 3,419	If they had to do Blair’s Eastland pilot, then it should have happened a couple of episodes prior to the finale. Then, they could have done an episode where there was a triple funeral for Beverly Ann, Pippa, and Andy. Then, the finale could have focused on Jo’s wedding, and the girls moving out and saying goodbye to each other. Maybe sprinkle in a few flashbacks.