Did the retained girls know about the Season 1 Great Purge?

[80s Dude]

How much did Lisa, Kim, and Mindy know about the Great Purge after Season 1?

Lisa said they didn't know about it until they showed up for taping of the first episode of Season 2. Kim, meanwhile, said many times over that she thought she was going to be one of the girls fired. Mindy, meanwhile, never said anything on the subject. Since her agent was Felice's mother at the time, I doubt she didn't know about it.

It could be that both Lisa and Kim are correct. Lisa was shy and led a sheltered childhood and may not have had much contact with her costars during the off-season by some accounts. Meanwhile, there have been reports that Kim had to compete with Molly to see which preteen to keep.

[RetroGuy2000]

News of the Cast Purge was in newspapers by August. It seems inconceivable that Lisa, Kim, and Mindy didn't know in October.

I can post at least two articles and one video which show the public was already aware.

[PracTz]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

News of the Cast Purge was in newspapers by August. It seems inconceivable that Lisa, Kim, and Mindy didn't know in October.

I can post at least two articles and one video which show the public was already aware.

No offense to you, but if you ( who has, in the past, bought Miss Welchel's spins more readily than I have) aren't believing she and the other Season Two castmates were truly ignorant of the others having been let go, then IMO that's TRULY a baldfaced lie on her part!

While Miss Fields appears to have been the most honest about the knowledge and timing of the casting decisions, I think we can still give Miss Cohn the benefit of the doubt that she's not attempted to lie or spin the timing just because she's never commented on it.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by PracTz

No offense to you, but if you ( who has, in the past, bought Miss Welchel's spins more readily than I have) aren't believing she and the other Season Two castmates were truly ignorant of the others having been let go, then IMO that's TRULY a baldfaced lie on her part!

I'm not at all offended, believe me! I LOVE conversations like this, and appreciate your comments. It's comments like yours, and 80sDude's, which keep this board a happening, fun place to read and reply.

I'm not prepared to say Lisa was lying. I don't know what newspapers she read, or how sheltered she was during her summer back in Texas. I think it's possible she didn't know, but it feels unlikely. Certainly Kim seems to have known, since she says she thought she was getting cut because she was the black girl and didn't fit in with the white cast. Why did a (roughly) 11-year-old know the news, and a (roughly) 16-year-old did not? (I know, I know: cause Tootie was a bigger gossip than Blair! )

While Miss Fields appears to have been the most honest about the knowledge and timing of the casting decisions, I think we can still give Miss Cohn the benefit of the doubt that she's not attempted to lie or spin the timing just because she's never commented on it.

I give everyone the benefit of the doubt. ...Well, not Warren Littlefield.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by 80s Dude

Meanwhile, there have been reports that Kim had to compete with Molly to see which preteen to keep.

I never took this to mean there was an actual competition (like, for example, an audition), only that producers did compare the two in deciding "who was to stay and who was to go" (in Charlotte's words; she says she wasn't involved in that process, and I believe her, though she was brought in to approve Nancy McKeon's addition).

I suppose the process of elimination was quite messy, likely involving multiple meetings while the "herd is thinned", but the fan in me imagines a group of execs and producers at a table at the studio, gathered around the photos (head shots) of seven young girls. Paperclips hold a paper with their resumes and profiles to the back of the photo. Warren Littlefield is clueless as to why there are only seven photos being passed around the table ("Did we already get rid of three, five girls?" he thinks to himself).

[80s Dude]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

I never took this to mean there was an actual competition (like, for example, an audition), only that producers did compare the two in deciding "who was to stay and who was to go" (in Charlotte's words; she says she wasn't involved in that process, and I believe her, though she was brought in to approve Nancy McKeon's addition).

I suppose the process of elimination was quite messy, likely involving multiple meetings while the "herd is thinned", but the fan in me imagines a group of execs and producers at a table at the studio, gathered around the photos (head shots) of seven young girls. Paperclips hold a paper with their resumes and profiles to the back of the photo. Warren Littlefield is clueless as to why there are only seven photos being passed around the table ("Did we already get rid of three, five girls?" he thinks to himself).

I think that Jerry Meyer has said that there was lots of disagreements and tension deciding who to cut. He wanted to keep Molly. " I still think it’s funny that, of the girls they decided to cut, one of them was Molly Ringwald, who, even though they were all very talented, went on to be the biggest star of the bunch. I remember thinking, “God, I hate to lose her, because she really has talent!”

Warren Littlefield probably thought he was getting rid of 3 or 5 dozen girls.

[opus]

Any of you guys ever mock up one of those Purge movie posters with Nancy, Molly, Sue Ann, and Cindy?

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by opus

Any of you guys ever mock up one of those Purge movie posters with Nancy, Molly, Sue Ann, and Cindy?

That sounds hilarious!

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by 80s Dude

I think that Jerry Meyer has said that there was lots of disagreements and tension deciding who to cut. He wanted to keep Molly. " I still think it’s funny that, of the girls they decided to cut, one of them was Molly Ringwald, who, even though they were all very talented, went on to be the biggest star of the bunch. I remember thinking, “God, I hate to lose her, because she really has talent!”

That's a good point. However, if even the show's co-developer and producer couldn't keep the girl he wanted, something got seriously messed up.

Warren Littlefield probably thought he was getting rid of 3 or 5 dozen girls.

[Lorimar Television]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

That sounds hilarious!

Get to it Retro!

['80sSitcoms]

Originally Posted by 80sDude

Mindy, meanwhile, never said anything on the subject.

Originally Posted by PracTz

While Miss Fields appears to have been the most honest about the knowledge and timing of the casting decisions, I think we can still give Miss Cohn the benefit of the doubt that she's not attempted to lie or spin the timing just because she's never commented on it.

But Mindy has commented on it. It's in one of the interviews, I believe one of the season 1 & 2 DVD bonus features? When they talk about the purge, they cut to Mindy saying something to the effect of, "We show up, and it's like, okay where'd everybody go?" (italics for exact quote)

So she made it sound like she had no idea either.

But I'm with Retro. It seems completely inconceivable, in as small an acting industry there was at the time, and with Hollywood reports in print months prior, and agents and parents who surely "gossiped", that the girls would not have known.

['80sSitcoms]

Originally Posted by Lorimar Television

Get to it Retro!

Haha! Sassy-pants Lorsie!

[80s Dude]

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

But Mindy has commented on it. It's in one of the interviews, I believe one of the season 1 & 2 DVD bonus features? When they talk about the purge, they cut to Mindy saying something to the effect of, "We show up, and it's like, okay where'd everybody go?" (italics for exact quote)

So she made it sound like she had no idea either.

But I'm with Retro. It seems completely inconceivable, in as small an acting industry there was at the time, and with Hollywood reports in print months prior, and agents and parents who surely "gossiped", that the girls would not have known.

Especially when Mindy's agent was Felice's mother.

['80sSitcoms]

^---Yup.

Also, with something as unbelievable as Lisa's claims, we have to consider the factor these are actors talking about a job they they had 30, 40 years ago (considering when the DVD interviews were recorded, and any later similar statements). Sometimes people just honestly misremember or forget things.

I've caught Vicki Lawrence doing that in a few interviews where she didn't get something correct. For example, she's claimed Mama never smiled on the Burnett show, and that is not true. Mama smiled in more than Family sketch, and, in fact, in her very first appearance, Mama actually smiled and joked and got silly and laughed regarding her little doggie!

So perhaps Lisa did hear about the purge and forgot, or she didn't take it seriously when she heard it so dismissed it as gossip, or who knows?

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

^---Yup.

Also, with something as unbelievable as Lisa's claims, we have to consider the factor these are actors talking about a job they they had 30, 40 years ago (considering when the DVD interviews were recorded, and any later similar statements). Sometimes people just honestly misremember or forget things.

I've caught Vicki Lawrence doing that in a few interviews where she didn't get something correct. For example, she's claimed Mama never smiled on the Burnett show, and that is not true. Mama smiled in more than Family sketch, and, in fact, in her very first appearance, Mama actually smiled and joked and got silly and laughed regarding her little doggie!

So perhaps Lisa did hear about the purge and forgot, or she didn't take it seriously when she heard it so dismissed it as gossip, or who knows?

Some great points, here, from both '80s Anne and 80s Pie.

The Mama's Family example is a great one: the actors were focused on their lines, their looks, and their real lives. They tell us the best they can what they remember, even if we know it's not correct. Julie Pie told us she ad-libbed the rice pudding part in "Dieting", but we've seen the script, and the pudding bit ( ) was always in there. I don't believe she was lying; her memories have just become jumbled over 40+ years. I'd much prefer to get these interviews where the actresses/actors don't get everything right, than get no interviews at all. Even Felice, who recalled so little, still managed to make me smile with her story of Kim and Felice's grandfather's dentures!

As '80s says, maybe Lisa just dismissed the stories ("That's just tawwwwk!") and really was caught off-guard when she showed up to Metromedia Square for the table read and her friends and co-workers weren't there.

As 80s says, Mindy's agent was Felice's mom. There's no way Mindy didn't know as soon as Felice got the call from the Lost Girls basement. And with the way those girls spread gossip...