The Truth About Blossom | The Lead Was Supposed To Be a Boy?

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American sitcom Blossom premiered as a mid-season replacement on NBC on January 3, 1991 and aired for 5 seasons ending on May 22, 1995. The show was created by television writer and producer Don Reo and produced by his Impact Zone Productions and Witt/Thomas Productions in association with Touchstone Television. In the summer of 1989, Don went to Florida to celebrate the 50th birthday of Dion DiMucci, lead singer of ‘50s vocal group Dion and the Belmonts. While there he noticed how Dion and his wife interacted with their 3 daughters. Their behavior was normal, except that the dad in this scenario was a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It gave him the beginnings of an idea for a show, a family sitcom, in which the father would be hipper than the ones who were then on TV. Don was also inspired by J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye and wanted to create a series about a wise-beyond-his-years, introspective teenage boy modelled closely after protagonist Holden Caulfield. He first pitched the project to NBC with the working title Richie. A character named Blossom was in the script too, as the younger sister. While the network liked the screenplay, an executive, a woman, suggested that Blossom become the lead character due to the overabundance of coming-of-age stories with boys.