Interesting spin off

[sm95fan]

I never knew until today that CoC was planning a spin off series centered around Billie and Gary.


https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid...91537270933095

[sm95fan]

Another interesting article that hints at a potential spin off. Talks about the big plans Denise Miller had for her future. Boy things sure didn't go as planned. There was no Billie/ Gary spin off. ABP itself was canceled shortly after this was written. There was no big movie career. Instead she had an amazing guest gig on Knight Rider, then went MIA. Her next significant role wasn't until she reunited with CoC on a dark episode of In the Heat of the Night as an addicted young mother. It was far from the smart, centered Billie Bunker character. Into the 90s she had solid one off roles on Murder She Wrote and Diagnosis, Murder unfortunately there just weren't nearly enough of them to get her back into the spotlight. Her last real chance at the brass ring was Platypus Man but sadly the plug was pulled after only 13 episodes. I wonder if she had to fight the stigma of being a former child actress? A lot of times that is a death sentence. Plus there was the huge shadow of Archie Bunker. Nobody from ABP really had a thriving post Archie career except ironically CoC himself.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid...38152409604912

[sm95fan]

There's nothing, phony about Archie, which is one of the reasons the series remains successful. Even O'Connor agrees. "As long as we keep writing about real people and situations, we won't run out of material," he remarked the other day. "It's when the writers start reaching for phony situations that limitations are placed on a series. We've been lucky, so far." MARTIN BALSAM, as already noted, will not be back as Murray Klein, a role that held promises unfulfilled. "I expected the writers to write shows around him, but it never happened," commented O'Connor, a close friend of Balsam. And Anne Meara, a confirmed New Yorker, is finding it difficult committing herself to traveling back and forth to the West Coast for another season to play the tough cook, Veronica Rooney. "We'll have to take her when we can get her;" O'Connor said. "It's difficult to formulate a satisfactory contract She doesn't want to promise anything." ' ' ' In New York, where he keeps an apartment, O'Connor was discussing television at a favorite West Side hangout. He said he's not worried about the fall. "There'll be plenty to keep Archie busy raising that little girl (Danielle Brisebois). She's getting older ' and more independent - She's starting to talk back to him, which is understandable, 'since he's generally wrong anyway. She'll also be dating boys this coming season. Archie doesn't care for that a bit . "Then there's his niece, played by Denise Miller. She'll have a romance with Barry Gordon, the attorney, and well have an Abie's Irish Rose situation. What I'd like to do is eventually spin off the two of them. I'd also like to be able to spin off Anne Meara into a series." Sally Struthers, who played " his daughter, Gloria, on "All in the Family," has already been spun off : into a new fall series, "Gloria." co-starring Burgess Meredith; the series is slotted after "Archie Bunker's Place' Sunday nights at 8:30. O'CONNOR HAS THE contented look of a rich man who doesnt need to work any more. He owns 50 of "Archie Bunker's Place" He also has a production company, UGO, which so far has scored only once, and that was on NBC with "The Last Hurrah." All the other things he has attempted, the actor frankly admits, were dogs. "The series produced by my production company were so bad I didn't even want my name on them. Rob Reiner, Carl's son, played Archie Bunker's "Meathead" son-in-law in "All in the Family," and was the closest to O'Connor of all the cast members. "I was like papa to him on the set," he recalls. "He'd argue with me Just like a son would a father." O'Connor thinks Jean Stapleton might still be with the show if Mort Lochman and the writers had listened to him and started building episodes around Edith. "I wanted them to expand the character. To show Edith awakening to her own potential and, instead of her reacting to Archie, have Archie react to her, to try and stop her growth. But it's always easier to write for a' character who you're sure is going to get the easy laugh. "The same thing happened with Marty Balsam. I had hoped they'd split the shows and give him half of them, but again they argued that it was Archie's show." O'CONNOR HAS NEVER tired of Archie. Looking back over the last 12 years, he thinks one of the best shows was the one in which Archie had to deal with Edith's death when he tried not to get sentimental. And another of his all-time favorites was the time he had to deliver a eulogy for Stretch Cunningham and found out he was Jewish. - "Another episode I liked," recalled O'Connor,, "was the one where Edith went down to Pennsylvania to the funeral of her aunt an old-maid school teacher, and discovered she had been a lesbian living with another woman: She had hoped to inherit her aunt's tea set but the woman was so sentimental about it Edith decided to let her have it Archie, determined to make public what was going on so Edith could keep the set ended up by running off with a spoon." O'Connor, whose contract runs for another two years, ends up by running off with millions from one of the most successful" https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/490107132/

[sm95fan]

The thing I don't understand about the article above is if Anne Meara was having trouble with the commute for the limited role she had on Archie's Place, why would CoC think a she'd do a spin off which would obviously require a much greater time commitment.

[TVFactFan]

Originally Posted by sm95fan

I never knew until today that CoC was planning a spin off series centered around Billie and Gary.


https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid...91537270933095

That show would have been a disaster

[Duster76]

Originally Posted by sm95fan

There's nothing, phony about Archie, which is one of the reasons the series remains successful. Even O'Connor agrees. "As long as we keep writing about real people and situations, we won't run out of material," he remarked the other day. "It's when the writers start reaching for phony situations that limitations are placed on a series. We've been lucky, so far." MARTIN BALSAM, as already noted, will not be back as Murray Klein, a role that held promises unfulfilled. "I expected the writers to write shows around him, but it never happened," commented O'Connor, a close friend of Balsam. And Anne Meara, a confirmed New Yorker, is finding it difficult committing herself to traveling back and forth to the West Coast for another season to play the tough cook, Veronica Rooney. "We'll have to take her when we can get her;" O'Connor said. "It's difficult to formulate a satisfactory contract She doesn't want to promise anything." ' ' ' In New York, where he keeps an apartment, O'Connor was discussing television at a favorite West Side hangout. He said he's not worried about the fall. "There'll be plenty to keep Archie busy raising that little girl (Danielle Brisebois). She's getting older ' and more independent - She's starting to talk back to him, which is understandable, 'since he's generally wrong anyway. She'll also be dating boys this coming season. Archie doesn't care for that a bit . "Then there's his niece, played by Denise Miller. She'll have a romance with Barry Gordon, the attorney, and well have an Abie's Irish Rose situation. What I'd like to do is eventually spin off the two of them. I'd also like to be able to spin off Anne Meara into a series." Sally Struthers, who played " his daughter, Gloria, on "All in the Family," has already been spun off : into a new fall series, "Gloria." co-starring Burgess Meredith; the series is slotted after "Archie Bunker's Place' Sunday nights at 8:30. O'CONNOR HAS THE contented look of a rich man who doesnt need to work any more. He owns 50 of "Archie Bunker's Place" He also has a production company, UGO, which so far has scored only once, and that was on NBC with "The Last Hurrah." All the other things he has attempted, the actor frankly admits, were dogs. "The series produced by my production company were so bad I didn't even want my name on them. Rob Reiner, Carl's son, played Archie Bunker's "Meathead" son-in-law in "All in the Family," and was the closest to O'Connor of all the cast members. "I was like papa to him on the set," he recalls. "He'd argue with me Just like a son would a father." O'Connor thinks Jean Stapleton might still be with the show if Mort Lochman and the writers had listened to him and started building episodes around Edith. "I wanted them to expand the character. To show Edith awakening to her own potential and, instead of her reacting to Archie, have Archie react to her, to try and stop her growth. But it's always easier to write for a' character who you're sure is going to get the easy laugh. "The same thing happened with Marty Balsam. I had hoped they'd split the shows and give him half of them, but again they argued that it was Archie's show." O'CONNOR HAS NEVER tired of Archie. Looking back over the last 12 years, he thinks one of the best shows was the one in which Archie had to deal with Edith's death when he tried not to get sentimental. And another of his all-time favorites was the time he had to deliver a eulogy for Stretch Cunningham and found out he was Jewish. - "Another episode I liked," recalled O'Connor,, "was the one where Edith went down to Pennsylvania to the funeral of her aunt an old-maid school teacher, and discovered she had been a lesbian living with another woman: She had hoped to inherit her aunt's tea set but the woman was so sentimental about it Edith decided to let her have it Archie, determined to make public what was going on so Edith could keep the set ended up by running off with a spoon." O'Connor, whose contract runs for another two years, ends up by running off with millions from one of the most successful" https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/490107132/

This has come up in the past, O'Connor served up some real whoppers, he should have done some Burger King commercials.

Here we go:

"MARTIN BALSAM, as already noted, will not be back as Murray Klein, a role that held promises unfulfilled. I had hoped they'd split the shows and give him half of them. I expected the writers to write shows around him, but it never happened," commented O'Connor, a close friend of Balsam".

By season 2 of ABP Carroll was in complete charge, if he wanted episodes centering around Balsam's character why didn't he write them or order the writers to do just that. The writers work for him so to blame them is ridiculous.

"O'Connor thinks Jean Stapleton might still be with the show if Mort Lochman and the writers had listened to him and started building episodes around Edith. "I wanted them to expand the character. To show Edith awakening to her own potential and, instead of her reacting to Archie, have Archie react to her, to try and stop her growth. But it's always easier to write for a' character who you're sure is going to get the easy laugh".

Carroll's comments on Mort Lachman are very misleading. Lachman was the executive producer (showrunner) the last three seasons of All in the Family, take a look at his IMD credits, the episodes are listed, many of those episodes Edith is either the lead character or has a very prominent role. She had been in the series for 9 years, she was entering her late 50's and wasn't being compensated at the same rate as Carroll. I think the evidence suggests that she was looking to drastically cut back on her series involvement or looking for a much higher rate of compensation. Carroll's company was now running the show, they clearly did not think Jean's continued participation was worth the dollars, the decision was made to end her involvement with the series and he had a lot to do with that decision.

With respect to the spinoffs he was hoping for there is no evidence that this was anything more than wishful thinking on his part. The network (or Sally Struthers for that matter) did not want O'Connor producing Gloria which would suggest he was not held in high regard as a producer. Why would the network have any interest in working with him on spinoffs from ABP.

[Will Dockery]

Originally Posted by sm95fan

There's nothing, phony about Archie, which is one of the reasons the series remains successful. Even O'Connor agrees. "As long as we keep writing about real people and situations, we won't run out of material," he remarked the other day. "It's when the writers start reaching for phony situations that limitations are placed on a series. We've been lucky, so far." MARTIN BALSAM, as already noted, will not be back as Murray Klein, a role that held promises unfulfilled. "I expected the writers to write shows around him, but it never happened," commented O'Connor, a close friend of Balsam. And Anne Meara, a confirmed New Yorker, is finding it difficult committing herself to traveling back and forth to the West Coast for another season to play the tough cook, Veronica Rooney. "We'll have to take her when we can get her;" O'Connor said. "It's difficult to formulate a satisfactory contract She doesn't want to promise anything." ' ' ' In New York, where he keeps an apartment, O'Connor was discussing television at a favorite West Side hangout. He said he's not worried about the fall. "There'll be plenty to keep Archie busy raising that little girl (Danielle Brisebois). She's getting older ' and more independent - She's starting to talk back to him, which is understandable, 'since he's generally wrong anyway. She'll also be dating boys this coming season. Archie doesn't care for that a bit . "Then there's his niece, played by Denise Miller. She'll have a romance with Barry Gordon, the attorney, and well have an Abie's Irish Rose situation. What I'd like to do is eventually spin off the two of them. I'd also like to be able to spin off Anne Meara into a series." Sally Struthers, who played " his daughter, Gloria, on "All in the Family," has already been spun off : into a new fall series, "Gloria." co-starring Burgess Meredith; the series is slotted after "Archie Bunker's Place' Sunday nights at 8:30. O'CONNOR HAS THE contented look of a rich man who doesnt need to work any more. He owns 50 of "Archie Bunker's Place" He also has a production company, UGO, which so far has scored only once, and that was on NBC with "The Last Hurrah." All the other things he has attempted, the actor frankly admits, were dogs. "The series produced by my production company were so bad I didn't even want my name on them. Rob Reiner, Carl's son, played Archie Bunker's "Meathead" son-in-law in "All in the Family," and was the closest to O'Connor of all the cast members. "I was like papa to him on the set," he recalls. "He'd argue with me Just like a son would a father." O'Connor thinks Jean Stapleton might still be with the show if Mort Lochman and the writers had listened to him and started building episodes around Edith. "I wanted them to expand the character. To show Edith awakening to her own potential and, instead of her reacting to Archie, have Archie react to her, to try and stop her growth. But it's always easier to write for a' character who you're sure is going to get the easy laugh. "The same thing happened with Marty Balsam. I had hoped they'd split the shows and give him half of them, but again they argued that it was Archie's show." O'CONNOR HAS NEVER tired of Archie. Looking back over the last 12 years, he thinks one of the best shows was the one in which Archie had to deal with Edith's death when he tried not to get sentimental. And another of his all-time favorites was the time he had to deliver a eulogy for Stretch Cunningham and found out he was Jewish. - "Another episode I liked," recalled O'Connor,, "was the one where Edith went down to Pennsylvania to the funeral of her aunt an old-maid school teacher, and discovered she had been a lesbian living with another woman: She had hoped to inherit her aunt's tea set but the woman was so sentimental about it Edith decided to let her have it Archie, determined to make public what was going on so Edith could keep the set ended up by running off with a spoon." O'Connor, whose contract runs for another two years, ends up by running off with millions from one of the most successful" https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/490107132/

Great back story, thanks for posting.