Monica Warner the new Mrs. Garrett??

[FOL-FAN-ITA]

Yesterday, I watched a scene on YT of the s7 episode where Blair finds out her mother is pregnant. A comment under the video says the producers were considering Monica for the role of the housemother after Mrs. Garrett left but then they hired Cloris after Charlotte's suggestion. I don't know if this is true but it would have been interesting. The audience knew Monica since season 3 (1 if we count Pam Huntington). What do you think? Would you have liked Monica as the new Mrs. Garrett?


To be honest, I would have preferred only the Core Four in the house. You know I like Beverly Ann, mainly because she's not a clone of the character she was replacing, and Cloris Leachman is very talented, but I always had the impression the producers hired her only because they need a new mother figure and Cloris Leachman was a "strong" name. Anyway, it wouldn't have been so bad with Monica, at least she was a character that was familiar to the audience.

[TV Guy]

I read that they also considered Betty Kean, who played Louse LeBeau, the “life of the party,” in “The Lady Who Came to Dinner”. I doubt that either she or Marj Dusay were really seriously considered though. I think they wanted a “name”.

But the main issue, as you said, is that the girls didn’t need a new mother figure at that point.

[80s Dude]

Having one of the mothers of the girls being the new house mother would not have gone over very well. They should have spun off Blair and Jo on to their new show of life at Langley and brought in new girls for Eastland. Perhaps Charlotte would have stayed longer then.

[RetroGuy2000]

I've never heard that Marj was considered for the housemother role; my understanding is that Charlotte specifically had recommended Cloris for the role, as they had been very close for many years. Cloris accepted the role, and it was a very big deal at the time, as she had already been an Oscar-winning film actress. For them to get an actress of that (industry-acknowledged) caliber was a huge deal, and you'll notice Beverly Ann was far more integrated into the Season 8 scripts than Edna had been in Season 7 or even Season 6.

Originally Posted by 80s Dude

Having one of the mothers of the girls being the new house mother would not have gone over very well. They should have spun off Blair and Jo on to their new show of life at Langley and brought in new girls for Eastland. Perhaps Charlotte would have stayed longer then.

I really think, now, in retrospect that that is the direction they should have gone. It's not that the EE era was bad (it was not), it's that focus shifted away from Mrs. Garrett, and the writers lost focus on what the heart of the show was supposed to be. By the end, Mrs. Garrett had become superfluous, and Charlotte knew it.

[FOL-FAN-ITA]

Originally Posted by TV Guy

I read that they also considered Betty Kean, who played Louse LeBeau, the “life of the party,” in “The Lady Who Came to Dinner”. I doubt that either she or Marj Dusay were really seriously considered though. I think they wanted a “name”.

But the main issue, as you said, is that the girls didn’t need a new mother figure at that point.

The lady played by Betty Kean??? Wow . At least Monica had a point, as the mother of one of the girls but Louise?? She was a stranger, plus Mrs. Garrett and Natalie never met her, both actresses didn't appear in that episode.

[FOL-FAN-ITA]

Originally Posted by 80s Dude

Having one of the mothers of the girls being the new house mother would not have gone over very well. They should have spun off Blair and Jo on to their new show of life at Langley and brought in new girls for Eastland. Perhaps Charlotte would have stayed longer then.

I would have liked a spin off starring Blair and Jo but I don't think Facts could have survived with new characters like Alex or Miko or other girls . Don't get me wrong, I like your idea

[FOL-FAN-ITA]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

I've never heard that Marj was considered for the housemother role; my understanding is that Charlotte specifically had recommended Cloris for the role, as they had been very close for many years. Cloris accepted the role, and it was a very big deal at the time, as she had already been an Oscar-winning film actress. For them to get an actress of that (industry-acknowledged) caliber was a huge deal, and you'll notice Beverly Ann was far more integrated into the Season 8 scripts than Edna had been in Season 7 or even Season 6.

Yeah, Charlotte was the star until early 1984, after the fifth season she basically became a guest star in her own show. About Marj, I don't know if this is true but would you have liked her as the new mother figure?

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by FOL-FAN-ITA

Yeah, Charlotte was the star until early 1984, after the fifth season she basically became a guest star in her own show. About Marj, I don't know if this is true but would you have liked her as the new mother figure?

I don't feel as though a new mother figure was even necessary at that point. By Season 8, the girls were grown. Lisa was 23, playing an about 22-year-old Blair. Jo must have been about 22, as well. Even Tootie must have been 18 or 19, based on the fact that she graduated at the end of Season 7. But a group of four girls, three in their 20s, don't really need an adult supervisor anymore; sure, someone to look in on them from time to time, but a permanent roommate?

I never felt as though Monica Warner was a particularly good mother; she spent a lot of time being more like an "older sister" to Blair, or, as Blair says, "a friend". Maybe a fish-out-of-water angle could have worked, but I suspect having Monica there would have come across more like Julia Sugarbaker (Julia Duffy) on Designing Women, who replaced Suzanne Sugarbaker: too cold and impersonal for the role to have worked well. (Have you seen Designing Women, ITA? Do they show that program in Italy? Julia Duffy was brilliant as the self-absorbed Stephanie on Newhart, but for whatever reason, she just didn't gel as the replacement snob on Designing Women.) But we'll never know for sure if Monica Warner could have worked.

[80s Dude]

Originally Posted by FOL-FAN-ITA

I would have liked a spin off starring Blair and Jo but I don't think Facts could have survived with new characters like Alex or Miko or other girls . Don't get me wrong, I like your idea

How about Brenda the Rock Girl?

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by FOL-FAN-ITA

I would have liked a spin off starring Blair and Jo but I don't think Facts could have survived with new characters like Alex or Miko or other girls . Don't get me wrong, I like your idea

I think Alexandra and Cindy could have worked. Miko was too one-note; there was nothing to her character other than she was Japanese and was obsessed with Jo (what was it with the writers and them actually writing characters like Miko and Kelly who were obsessed with another character the writers wrote? There may be something meta to be said about that.)

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by 80s Dude

How about Brenda the Rock Girl?

Just imagine the possibilities!

Episode 5-07, "Advance Placement": Although Natalie is still a junior in high school, she gets an opportunity to enroll in a course at Langley and develops an ego that puts a strain on her friendship with Tootie. Tootie feels left out because Natalie is busy with her college class and Brenda is busy with her rocks.

Episode 5-12, "The Christmas Show": The girls prepare to go their separate ways for Christmas vacation. Natalie and Tootie plan to spend Christmas together, Mrs. Garrett will bake yuletide fruitcakes at Eastland, and Brenda will travel home to collect more rocks. But all their plans go awry when they get snowed in.

Episode 5-18: "Big Fish/Little Fish": Mrs. Garrett and the other girls help Natalie, who is still reeling from her father's death. Meanwhile, Brenda collects rocks from the local park. Don Herbert guest stars as a local geologist.

[FOL-FAN-ITA]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

I never felt as though Monica Warner was a particularly good mother; she spent a lot of time being more like an "older sister" to Blair, or, as Blair says, "a friend". Maybe a fish-out-of-water angle could have worked, but I suspect having Monica there would have come across more like Julia Sugarbaker (Julia Duffy) on Designing Women, who replaced Suzanne Sugarbaker: too cold and impersonal for the role to have worked well. (Have you seen Designing Women, ITA? Do they show that program in Italy? Julia Duffy was brilliant as the self-absorbed Stephanie on Newhart, but for whatever reason, she just didn't gel as the replacement snob on Designing Women.) But we'll never know for sure if Monica Warner could have worked.

Oh yes, here in Italy it became Quattro donne in carriera (Four career women)

[FOL-FAN-ITA]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

I think Alexandra and Cindy could have worked. Miko was too one-note; there was nothing to her character other than she was Japanese and was obsessed with Jo (what was it with the writers and them actually writing characters like Miko and Kelly who were obsessed with another character the writers wrote? There may be something meta to be said about that.)

Cindy would have been wonderful .

[FOL-FAN-ITA]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

Just imagine the possibilities!

Episode 5-07, "Advance Placement": Although Natalie is still a junior in high school, she gets an opportunity to enroll in a course at Langley and develops an ego that puts a strain on her friendship with Tootie. Tootie feels left out because Natalie is busy with her college class and Brenda is busy with her rocks.

Episode 5-12, "The Christmas Show": The girls prepare to go their separate ways for Christmas vacation. Natalie and Tootie plan to spend Christmas together, Mrs. Garrett will bake yuletide fruitcakes at Eastland, and Brenda will travel home to collect more rocks. But all their plans go awry when they get snowed in.

Episode 5-18: "Big Fish/Little Fish": Mrs. Garrett and the other girls help Natalie, who is still reeling from her father's death. Meanwhile, Brenda collects rocks from the local park. Don Herbert guest stars as a local geologist.

Graduation: Mrs. Garrett receives a rock from Brenda and gave it to Jo

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by FOL-FAN-ITA

Graduation: Mrs. Garrett receives a rock from Brenda and gave it to Jo