Which Era is Better?

[icecream]

I don't care for Sandy Duncan as a lead actress, but I like the Valerie Harper seasons so far.

[rcbrad]

I think that Sandy Duncan was good in her role and still enjoyed the show, but I much preferred Valerie Harper and the quality of the shows during seasons 1 & 2.

[AMackII]

The Sandy Duncan Episodes

[TMC]

Originally Posted by rcbrad

I think that Sandy Duncan was good in her role and still enjoyed the show, but I much preferred Valerie Harper and the quality of the shows during seasons 1 & 2.

Valerie Harper and Miller-Boyett productions were a bad match right from the beginning. Valerie came from the classy, sophisticated adult sitcoms (from the likes of MTM/James L. Brooks and Norman Lear) of CBS in the '70s. After the success of The Cosby Show at NBC, the sitcom experienced a revival as an art form, so Valerie thought she could replicate that. But her producers Miller/Boyett came from a very broad, juvenile sense of humor (Laverne and Shirley, Mork and Mindy, Happy Days and later, Full House, Perfect Strangers, Step by Step, and Family Matters) that was unlike anything else on NBC at the time. Valerie's inexperienced, controlling husband was brought on as EP and that surely didn't help matters.

Meanwhile, Valerie limped along in the ratings during Season 1 and half of 2. Miller/Boyett subsequently did what they were good at - find a breakout character that appealed to kids and center the show around that. They would find it in the form of Jason Bateman. Valerie however, suddenly became a boring middle aged mom giving advice to her teenaged heartthrob son, with the other sons basically an afterthought.

The ratings actually did start rising towards the end of Season 2 with the introduction of Edie McClurg. Valerie could see where this was headed, but she also thought she would use the better ratings as leverage to get more money and perhaps more control.

[RetroGuy2000]

I cannot stand it when an actress is treated shabbily on set, and ends up feeling unwelcome or even gets fired. This thing played out over and over in the 1980s, when male producers and male actors called all the shots.

I always liked Valerie, and felt what happened to her was unfair. I was glad she won her case, but other ladies didn't have her star power, and couldn't fight the system in that era.

[hawkeye123]

I voted for Valerie Harper.

[Bonniegirl]

I voted Valerie, I preferred her to Sandy Duncan. However Sandy was good too, so I still like the show after Valerie left. By that time of course the boys were getting older so different story lines were going on and Mrs. Poole who is hilarious is a big part of the show !

But all in all I preferred Valerie in the lead female role!

[JR1]

Team Val. I don't have anything against Sandy Duncan, though that iteration just didn't work as well.

[Fallon97]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

I cannot stand it when an actress is treated shabbily on set, and ends up feeling unwelcome or even gets fired. This thing played out over and over in the 1980s, when male producers and male actors called all the shots.

Unfortunately, those things were going on way before the 1980s.

[Fallon97]

To answer the question? I like both eras equally but I will give a slight edge to Valerie.

[BestTVever]

This is such a tough call that I could not vote.

I like Valerie era based on scripts. The show was a surprise hit and when I watch them again, I can see why. But the Valerie blow up was not just about money. The network wanted teen heart throb Jason Bateman to be a focus and that infuriated Valerie where she wanted to be the sole star of the show. I dislike how absent the dad was too. While the scripts were really good, a good show focuses on other characters as well.

I like the Sandy Duncan era only because it brings the father back into the show and the show also features scripts around the kids, etc.

[mphs95]

Originally Posted by BestTVever

This is such a tough call that I could not vote.

I like Valerie era based on scripts. The show was a surprise hit and when I watch them again, I can see why. But the Valerie blow up was not just about money. The network wanted teen heart throb Jason Bateman to be a focus and that infuriated Valerie where she wanted to be the sole star of the show. I dislike how absent the dad was too. While the scripts were really good, a good show focuses on other characters as well.

I like the Sandy Duncan era only because it brings the father back into the show and the show also features scripts around the kids, etc.

The dad was only recurring the 1st two seasons because Josh Taylor was still on Days of our Lives. When VH was fired, he left Days and joined THF full time.

[PracTz]

Originally Posted by BestTVever

This is such a tough call that I could not vote.

I like Valerie era based on scripts. The show was a surprise hit and when I watch them again, I can see why. But the Valerie blow up was not just about money. The network wanted teen heart throb Jason Bateman to be a focus and that infuriated Valerie where she wanted to be the sole star of the show. I dislike how absent the dad was too. While the scripts were really good, a good show focuses on other characters as well.

I like the Sandy Duncan era only because it brings the father back into the show and the show also features scripts around the kids, etc.

Yeah, but the widowed father and his divorced sister had nothing close to the chemistry that a married father and his wife had had! And one could imagine said father being able to have thrown out said sister on her ear if he got fed up with her 'parenting' but that wouldn't have been so feasible re his wife!

Yes, I liked both the late Valerie Harper and Sandy Duncan (although the latter always seemed to have a bit less depth in her performances) but this 'replace mom with aunt' just didn't work, IMO!

[TVSCREEN2015]

I prefer the Sandy Duncan era (Seasons 3-6)

[TMC]

Originally Posted by BestTVever

This is such a tough call that I could not vote.

I like Valerie era based on scripts. The show was a surprise hit and when I watch them again, I can see why. But the Valerie blow up was not just about money. The network wanted teen heart throb Jason Bateman to be a focus and that infuriated Valerie where she wanted to be the sole star of the show. I dislike how absent the dad was too. While the scripts were really good, a good show focuses on other characters as well.

I like the Sandy Duncan era only because it brings the father back into the show and the show also features scripts around the kids, etc.

Valerie was originally supposed to be about the trials and tribulations of a modern soccer mom juggling three kids (teenage son and twin boys) and a job (she worked for an auction house) while her husband was regularly absent (he was an airline pilot).

But, Jason Bateman became the breakout star and heartthrob, so the powers that be wanted to focus the storylines on him to draw younger viewers, which did not go over well with Harper. She was mildly upset that a show with her name in the title began to focus more on Jason Bateman's character than her own.

Miller-Boyett however, was famous for retooling shows - see the later example of Family Matters, which quickly became the Urkel show in all but a title change - to cling to whatever pulls in viewers. Mix in that Valerie Harper and her husband held out for more money and missed the opening episode of their season but eventually settled and returned to work - only to be dismissed like a episode or two later.