Summer of '84

[cfr1970]

I love the title so much. (Oh take me back there PLEASE!)

What a FUN episode to open the 6th season!!!

Jo finally ditches the ponytail and her hair is beautiful. I love it so much. She looks much more softer and feminine like this. A really welcome change from the hard edged looking Jo. Then wardrobe throws her into a hideous over sized man suit for that summer flashback scene. WHY?! WHY?! It looked AWFUL!!

Blair's new hair was also really nice. God I love those 80's hairstyles!!

Natalie acted angry without any hint of smile suppression. Mindy Cohn must have finally graduated Hollywood Acting School for Young Girls that summer. She was really good being ticked off by the obnoxious kid.

I know Tootie's braces come off soon, so i'm looking forward to that. She looked gorgeous in the summer scene dressed like a 30 year old and reminded me of Regine from "Living Single" that she'd become a decade later.

And Natalie's line about Tootie's "front burners" cracked me up. Pretty bold for that show to draw attention to one of the girl's large rack.

Blair on the farm, feeding the pigs in heels. Priceless!

And Mrs. G got some!

(ok she came back from the Boardwalk...but in my mind she told Jo not to wait up for her later on when they left the lounge!)

And Gomez plays Mrs. G's hookup. (He'll always be Gomez to me from Addam's Family)...His son Mackenzie Astin appears later in the season as Andy...who I won't make a comment till watching it again, but from memory...that kid annoyed me. (sorry Andy fans)...Maybe i'll change my mind on seeing it again.

All in all, this was a really good episode and perfect start to a new season. And I love that Jo stayed with Mrs. G for the summer and they went to A.C. together.

['80sSitcoms]

Glad you enjoyed it! And yes, I was such a child in the '80s, so PLEASE let's go back!!

IIRC I thought Blair's hair looked AWFUL! And this is a guy who digs the '80s! lol

You're right Jo's hair looks so good, but it's still hard for me to see her as "soft" or "feminine" because of how masculine she's been for years.

That obnoxious kid was one "The Goonies"!

Also, I don't know about you, but Retro and I are APPALLED that they wrote Jo as a pianist. That is SO unrealistic.

Also loved Blair on the farm! Its' like picturing her visiting her friend Sue Ann back near Miller's Pond in Kansas City, Kansas!

Originally Posted by cfr1970

And I love that Jo stayed with Mrs. G for the summer and they went to A.C. together.

And of course they had fan favorite JO go with Mrs. Garrett, and not one of the other girls. [slight eye roll at writers]

I do like the Atlantic City aspect though---"Mr. Belvedere" had a 2-parter in Atlantic City!

[cfr1970]

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

Glad you enjoyed it! And yes, I was such a child in the '80s, so PLEASE let's go back!!

IIRC I thought Blair's hair looked AWFUL! And this is a guy who digs the '80s! lol

You're right Jo's hair looks so good, but it's still hard for me to see her as "soft" or "feminine" because of how masculine she's been for years.

That obnoxious kid was one "The Goonies"!

Also, I don't know about you, but Retro and I are APPALLED that they wrote Jo as a pianist. That is SO unrealistic.

Also loved Blair on the farm! Its' like picturing her visiting her friend Sue Ann back near Miller's Pond in Kansas City, Kansas!




And of course they had fan favorite JO go with Mrs. Garrett, and not one of the other girls. [slight eye roll at writers]

I do like the Atlantic City aspect though---"Mr. Belvedere" had a 2-parter in Atlantic City!

Not just Jo playing the piano, but singing too....both so unrealistic that I just ignored it and was glad it was short. But yeah...it was way too out of her character and really reaching on the writer's part. But again, it was short enough for me to ignore and forget it exists lol.

(I still can't multiple quote so i'll copy/paste)....

And of course they had fan favorite JO go with Mrs. Garrett, and not one of the other girls. [slight eye roll at writers]


What do you mean by this? Jo was the fan favorite when it originally aired at the time? That's news to me. I think since it was A.C. it could have only been between Blair and Jo to go with her, and Blair on the farm is much more funny than Jo doing it. So I think it was the right choice.

And having Nat & Tootie together made a lot of sense since they're best friends. So I don't think it had anything to do with favorites. I'm now trying to remember if I had a favorite when I originally watched and I really don't think I did.
I liked them all equally and no one really stood out as more of a favorite to me than the other. I think that's the sign of a good ensemble show imo, where not one person is the favorite.

But apparently Jo was with the viewers so that theory gets shot to hell then.

[RetroGuy2000]

I do indeed, as '80s Sitcoms says, believe that Jo playing the piano was so unrealistic. We'd never, ever seen her show any interest in the piano before. Now she's playing like a pro? Without there ever being any mention of even a single lesson? Please.

And playing the piano just isn't Jo. It isn't in her.

This is where you can start to tell the writers had run out of ideas: they start forcing the characters into roles they never should have been wedged into.

[valentina warner]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

I do indeed, as '80s Sitcoms says, believe that Jo playing the piano was so unrealistic. We'd never, ever seen her show any interest in the piano before. Now she's playing like a pro? Without there ever being any mention of even a single lesson? Please.

And playing the piano just isn't Jo. It isn't in her.

This is where you can start to tell the writers had run out of ideas: they start forcing the characters into roles they never should have been wedged into.

I agree with you: it was unrealistic, and it kind of bugged me how the writers insisted on giving JO the many talents lol!

If anyone should be playing the piano, it'll have to be BLAIR: out the 4 girls, she was the one with the best singing voice (she sang very nicely on the 'Xmas episode' from season 6) and she kind of reminds me of a character coming out of any 'Jane Austen' films

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by valentina warner

I agree with you: it was unrealistic, and it kind of bugged me how the writers insisted on giving JO the many talents lol!

If anyone should be playing the piano, it'll have to be BLAIR: out the 4 girls, she was the one with the best singing voice (she sang very nicely on the 'Xmas episode' from season 6) and she kind of reminds me of a character coming out of any 'Jane Austen' films

Blair definitely had a nice singing voice. But maybe Tootie should have learned to play the piano: it was established that Tootie was into the performing arts, and being able to play an instrument would help her land roles. I don't mean that she should have instantly been playing piano, of course: only that they should have gradually dropped in lines indicating that she was learning to play. Then, and only then, could the reveal have been made, with a public performance.

[cfr1970]

Originally Posted by valentina warner

I agree with you: it was unrealistic, and it kind of bugged me how the writers insisted on giving JO the many talents lol!

If anyone should be playing the piano, it'll have to be BLAIR: out the 4 girls, she was the one with the best singing voice (she sang very nicely on the 'Xmas episode' from season 6) and she kind of reminds me of a character coming out of any 'Jane Austen' films

And it was never explained either which was weird. When the girls heard the story and asked Jo she just growls at them and leaves it at that. Why?! To make her seem mysterious?! It was silly.

Had she said something like "When I was a kid my Mom made me take piano lessons" or "My grandma taught me on her old piano" at least something to justify it to satisfy our curiosity. But Jo was....MYSTERIOUS!!

It reminds me of when they all drank and everyone kept asking her where she got the beer..."I got beer!"....SO MYSTERIOUS!!! LMAO!

[valentina warner]

Originally Posted by cfr1970

And it was never explained either which was weird. When the girls heard the story and asked Jo she just growls at them and leaves it at that. Why?! To make her seem mysterious?! It was silly.

Had she said something like "When I was a kid my Mom made me take piano lessons" or "My grandma taught me on her old piano" at least something to justify it to satisfy our curiosity. But Jo was....MYSTERIOUS!!

It reminds me of when they all drank and everyone kept asking her where she got the beer..."I got beer!"....SO MYSTERIOUS!!! LMAO!

That with the beer episode doesn't surprise me: JO was a 'Bronx kid', and i'm sure she'd be intimidating purchasing beer at any supermarket or shop without being questioned (even in a bar lol!).
I remember how she intimidates one their jails 'mates' (a tall woman) on the 'New girl part 2' episode from season 2 hee hee!

[cfr1970]

Originally Posted by valentina warner

That with the beer episode doesn't surprise me: JO was a 'Bronx kid', and i'm sure she'd be intimidating purchasing beer at any supermarket or shop without being questioned (even in a bar lol!).
I remember how she intimidates one their jails 'mates' (a tall woman) on the 'New girl part 2' episode from season 2 hee hee!

The fact that she looked and dressed like a 21 year old man probably also helped.

[valentina warner]

Originally Posted by cfr1970

The fact that she looked and dressed like a 21 year old man probably also helped.

JO didn't look like a 21 year old man! (maybe a boy though hee hee!)

[cfr1970]

Originally Posted by valentina warner

JO didn't look like a 21 year old man! (maybe a boy though hee hee!)

Ok maybe not 21, but 18 year old for sure when she wore that army getup she had.

[WriterChick78]

Jo playing piano made sense in the context of the episode because they were saying how they thought they knew everything about each other after living together for years, but they sometimes could surprise one another. Mrs. Garrett even said it was the last thing she expected Jo to be doing.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by WriterChick78

Jo playing piano made sense in the context of the episode because they were saying how they thought they knew everything about each other after living together for years, but they sometimes could surprise one another. Mrs. Garrett even said it was the last thing she expected Jo to be doing.

But that's like Tootie saying she's not really talkative, or Natalie saying she's really not all that into journalism: we know it's not true. They might as well have made Jo decide to become a nun for a couple of episodes, and then suddenly change her mind, and never speak of it again. Might as well have Blair have an accident and suffer a horrible scar that will be "permanent" until the next episode, when it will completely vanish.

[cfr1970]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

But that's like Tootie saying she's not really talkative, or Natalie saying she's really not all that into journalism: we know it's not true. They might as well have made Jo decide to become a nun for a couple of episodes, and then suddenly change her mind, and never speak of it again. Might as well have Blair have an accident and suffer a horrible scar that will be "permanent" until the next episode, when it will completely vanish.

Yeah, whatever happened that that scar?! I guess we weren't supposed to ever think about that again! If you didn't bring that up, I never would have.

BUT, WriterChick78 DOES make a good point. The episode's point I guess was to show that after all those years together, they still can be surprised and learn new things about each other.

They should have just thrown in ONE line in for Jo explaining why she knew how to play instead of not answering and growling at them. Had that happened, it would've been easier to swallow.

I missed the nun episode. Just reading that explanation has me scratching my head. Tootie or Nat I can see cause they're younger and more impressionable, but not Jo....Will have to wait for that one to cycle around again.

[Christopher]

Originally Posted by cfr1970

And it was never explained either which was weird. When the girls heard the story and asked Jo she just growls at them and leaves it at that. Why?! To make her seem mysterious?! It was silly.

Had she said something like "When I was a kid my Mom made me take piano lessons" or "My grandma taught me on her old piano" at least something to justify it to satisfy our curiosity. But Jo was....MYSTERIOUS!!

Jo does explain how she learned to play the piano. When she was a kid, she would have to wait at her mom's job until she was off work before they go home. The piano player there taught Jo how to play. Syndication knocks off about 5 to 6 minutes of each episode for commercials so a lot of these episodes might not make sense. That's why I buy the DVD sets if there is one and just put digital copies of them on my hard drives to watch.