About the girls...

[FOL-FAN-ITA]

I don't understand this. In the backdoor pilot, we meet five of the seven girls from the first season. At that point, the girls had already been chosen or they auditioned for the role between TGS and Rough Housing?

Second question: Nancy was the first girl fired, followed by Sue Ann, Cindy and Molly. Is this correct?

[80s Dude]

Depends on your source. Either Molly or Julie Ann were the last one fired.

[FOL-FAN-ITA]

I think Molly, because she was the first Lost girl to appear

[80s Dude]

Originally Posted by FOL-FAN-ITA

I think Molly, because she was the first Lost girl to appear

Molly said that Molly was going to be the original 4th girl.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by FOL-FAN-ITA

I don't understand this. In the backdoor pilot, we meet five of the seven girls from the first season. At that point, the girls had already been chosen or they auditioned for the role between TGS and Rough Housing?

No, six girls (Felice, Lisa, Julie Pie, Molly, Kim, and Jennifer Rooney) were cast sometime before TGS. Sometime between TGS and RH, some changes were made: Jennifer was shown the door, Mindy was brought in, and at the last possible minute, Julie Anne was brought on board.

Second question: Nancy was the first girl fired, followed by Sue Ann, Cindy and Molly. Is this correct?

WELL. That is an interesting story!

In Cast Confessions, Felice says she was told (on the phone, in her basement) that she, Julie Pie, Julie Anne, and Molly wouldn't be going on. In her interview on WWHL, Molly says that she was told by the producers that she was continuing, but later they changed it, and she was replaced by Nancy McKeon. One documentary states that Felice was the first girl in, and the first girl out. One documentary states that Julie Pie, Julie Anne, and Felice were out, and that Molly left to do film. One documentary states that Julie Anne "was the last to face expulsion". A newspaper article from the time (Summer 1980) mentions the downsizing of the cast, stating that Felice is likely to be kept on(!); (I posted it in the Retro Articles thread, here). On camera, in the final moments of Season One ("Dope"), we see Kim, Lisa, Mindy, and Julie Pie being hugged by Mrs. Garrett, as "our group", with Molly, Julie Anne, and Felice still downstairs, not part of "our group", as if the writers were already preparing the audience for big changes.

So, as far as I know, every source contradicts every other source on the exact order of the Cast Purge, and we may never know the exact details. Several people here have their opinions, but I'd say it's nothing definite. Things were clearly chaotic, with Nancy McKeon not certain to join the cast until very late in the process due to the writers' strike, and that, too, may have complicated the Cast Purge: it's possible that producers were hedging their bets until they knew for sure that Nancy was signed.

We do also know that "Gossip" was pushed up in the broadcast schedule (it was taped later but pushed up earlier for broadcast), as if the network had heard complaints about the absence of the Lost Girls, and pushed up the date of that episode.