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No spoilers, but the October 18th, 1984 episode knocked me down for the count. That was some strong material and acting.

Unhoused basically is what is used by advocates to try and destigmitize homelessness in order to get more funding and resources. Joey manipulating Vanessa by acting like he feels too inferior for the country club goes to show how dumb she is. Of course she already demonstrated her idiocy by passing out escort service cards at the country club. It's fine that the subject of health care is addressed, but it needs to sounds less like a pamphlet. That dialogue was a bit clunky.

Tanice sounds like a gospel singer, lol.

The show has leaned in a lot of letting the viewers know who the characters are and that is what the flashback was about. It really should have been used during Bill's health scare, but there seems to be somewhat of a build up to Bill possibly collapsing from being poisoned (maybe at Winterfest?) and the reactions to that.

Vanessa was making a huge assumption that other women in Fairmont Crest cheat on their husbands and would pay for services. She thinks her hands are clean, but I'm guessing that Joey is trafficking some people for the escort service. If he's willing to committ murder then he'll traffic. Bill's not going to have to worry about not being a part of a family, because if Hayley gets her way he'll be seeing his parents soon.

Back to the topic at hand, Reba McEntire had a flop with "Malibu Country" post "Reba". It seems like she's found another hit with "Happy's Place". Meredith Baxter's first hit was "Bridget Loves Bernie", but it was canceled due to backlash from Orthodox Rabbis over interfaith marriage being portrayed. Several bomb and death threats were made against the show. Nell Carter did "You Take The Kids" with Roger E. Mosley (who I had a major crush on) and it was supposed to be the Black answer to Roseanne, but it only lasted 6 episodes. She went on to do two seasons of "Hangin' With Mr. Cooper".

It was a rather odd thing to post.

Tracee Ellis Ross did "Reed Between The Lines" with Malcolm-Jamal Warner on BET when the network was first getting into scripted programming. She left after the first season and a couple of years later landed "Black-ish". Cedric The Entertainer spent six seasons on "The Steve Harvey Show" and later did four seasons of "The Soul Man" before finding his biggest hit with "The Neighborhood". His only flop was the sketch show "Cedric The Entertainer Presents". Christina Applegate did a few of two season series post "Married...With Children", "Jesse", "Samantha Who?" and "Up All Night" before her most nominated role on "Dead To Me".

That would have worked great. Lucy had a sarcasm about her that would have worked very well going up against any of the 80s soap villains. Falcon Crest would have been the best fit.

That is true. It's not that June can't go to that level, she's just at the point where she is trying to get herself together and doesn't have time for Leslie's nonsense.

A poor theme song and opening credits can break a new sitcom, IMO. The vibe is set for the viewer from the first chord of the theme song. Of course, poor writing and concept doesn't help much either.

Patty Duke was an Academy Award and Emmy Award winner, but success with another series after "The Patty Duke Show" never materialized. Her first venture "Hail To The Chief" in 1985 lasted only 7 episodes. After that she did "Karen's Song" on the then brand new FOX Network, but it went nowhere. Her last try at a series was a drama called "Amazing Grace" which was only 5 episodes.

Physical comedy was used very sparingly at the time where it was only funny if the audience was actually surprised by it. The writing being old hat was the man problem, but the supporting cast was so awful and I only managed to get through about five episodes. The only episode that I slightly enjoyed was one where Lucy gave away her son's teddy bear and the woman who bought it wouldn't give it back. Dena Dietrich's back and forth with Lucy actually worked and she would have been a decent co-star had the project been done right.

Suzanne Pleshette had a number of misses after being on "The Bob Newhart Show". Her first was the sitcom "Maggie Briggs" (also known as "Suzanne Pleshette is Maggie Briggs") and then she tried dramas "Bridges To Cross" and "Nightengales" before later trying another sitcom called "The Boys Are Back" with Hal Linden. Her last regular series role was in the first season of "Good Morning, Miami". "Bridges to Cross" also featured Eva Gabor in what was her only other series regular role other that "Green Acres".

Happy Thanksgiving. I hope everyone had a wonderful day and will continue to enjoy the weekend.

Steve Guttenberg failed at primetime series before he focused energy on movies. He had two really bizarre series, "Billy" where he played a mortician's clerk who daydreamed in every episode and later "No Soap, Radio" which was intentionally non-sensical. "No Soap, Radio" was Hillary B. Smith's first regular role on television. Laurence Fishburne (credited as Larry) starred with Mr. Kim Zimmer, AC Weary in "The Six O'Clock Follies". The show was set during the Vietnam War. Robert Guillaume did a self-titled sitcom a few years after "Benson" that revolved around him playing a single father who dates his white secretary. Robert claimed ABC set the show up for failure by showing episodes out of order. He also did "Pacific Station" a couple of years later. "Sports Night" was his last series and it lasted 45 episodes.

Raymond Burr settled into "Ironside" just a year after "Perry Mason" ended and was on television nearly non-stop from the late 50s to mid 70s. He had a flop with "Kingston: Confidential" but later revived "Perry Mason" with a series of TV movies. In between those he did a short series that dramatized real cases where he played a fictional judge. Rita Moreno was on "The Electric Company", then the network seasons of "9 to 5", "Oz" on HBO and the revival of "One Day At a Time". The one season flops she had were "The Cosby Mysteries" (which was a big wtf is this series) and "Cane" which debuted during a writers strike.

Sheryl Lee Ralph got a couple of seasons of "It's A Living" under her belt before she had a flop with "New Attitude" with Phyllis Yvonne Stickney and Morris Day. Sheryl would sometimes use the babyish voice she used for Deena Jones in "Dreamgirls" and it came off silly. Her fellow "Dreamgirls" alumni Loretta Devine had a flop with "Sugar and Spice" that used the similar level headed/impulsive sister format as "New Attitude".

It was an odd match, but Debbie did good some good lines as Jackie. When Tiffany and her friend were trying to go somewhere in some tight dresses Jackie said they looked like they were going dancing with Senator Packwood which for some reason had me in stitches.

Shanice is more willing to go back and forth with Leslie, whereas June is more calm and takes the high road. As we saw in the hospital Shanice had no problem arguing with Leslie. June pretty much just looked at Leslie like she's insane and kept it moving.

*face palm* "Fame" always escapes me for some reason. I had been thinking about Debbie Allen and the only TV shows for her that came to mind were "In The House" and "Grey's Anatomy".

Valerie Bertinelli had a couple of flops with "Sydney" and "Cafe Americain" that were both leading ventures for her. She joined "Touched By An Angel" for the last two seasons and later landed "Hot In Cleveland". Food Network gave her a lot of work for nearly a decade. No one from Good Times had another television hit. Esther Rolle's only attempt at another sitcom was the failed "Singer and Sons" with Harold Gould. John Amos did "704 Hauser" which was a rework of "All In The Family" that Norman Lear was inspired to create by the rise of right-wing talk radio. John played a Democrat with a conservative son who had a White girlfriend. Jimmie Walker did a failed syndicated adaptation of the film "Bustin' Loose".

I remember Fran most for the episode where Thelma burnt up her dress and replaced it with one full of tucks. Rue must have felt so embarrassed to deliver the line "look at my seat, it's all bunched up and pointy".

It's possible there was some spite, but it would have been pretty silly on the producers part since Mama's Family was off a full two years before syndication revived it and Rue was starting the second season of The Golden Girls by then. Rue was asked about Mama's Family in an interview and she sort of waved off the question in a "don't remind me" sort of way. A check is a check, but from a creative standpoint Fran was such a pathetic, whiny character that Rue probably was not happy with playing.

Debbie Reynolds was definitely tested as a possible replacement in the episode where Dorothy tried to remarry Stan. But the way Debbie played Truby she almost rivaled Blanche more so than a replacement for Dorothy. There was no replacing Arthur or Dorothy anyway. Back to actors having misses, just before "The Golden Girls" Bea had a terrible flop with "Amanda's" which was an adaptation of "Fawlty Towers". Oddly enough, Betty White did a failed pilot for show that was the first attempt to adapt that show. "Amanda's" flopped but managed to produce one episode than "Fawlty Towers" although only 10 aired. Not much a flex though since US sitcoms were expected to last longer than that.