Jo and Martin visit the burnt down Inn | Mary Stuart Search for Tomorrow

I'd never watched this scene but it's such a clear meta statement of CBS canceling the show and NBC picking it up. That also helps explain why Mary Stuart is so emotional here compared to how stoic her Jo often is.

I guess I get the idea, but I still don't think they should have gotten rid of the place just for that reason.

(maybe with a smaller NBC budget or studio space, if it was smaller, they had to let this set go)

Surprising that they don't try to go golly gosh and instead admit that nothing will ever be as good or the same, but they just have to move on. And that is probably how many fans felt about the move, even if those last 5 years had some strong moments.

That makes me curious - would you rather the show have ended in early 1982 or are you glad they had those extra years?

It also showed the lack of chemistry b/w Jo and Martin. She barely looked at him and his words were not very comforting- kinda clinical.

And the dialogue probably meant a lot to Mary. Things were changing and she had to grin and bear it. I just hope it wasn't too depressing for her to witness it all. Maybe by this time she was grateful to be still working and have some presence on the show.

I wonder if Jo and Stu got a similar scene?

Does anyone know the age difference between Mary Stuart and John Aniston? To me, Martin always seemed younger than Jo. Plus he was much more worldly, and a bit of a cad. Although I feel it was a good decision to directly connect Jo to the Tourner/Sentell family, the romance between Jo and Martin always seemed a little forced. I'm still glad the Corringtons wrote it, but the chemistry between the two characters was a bit off, in my opinion.

John was seven years younger than Mary. She was born in 1926. He was born in 1933.

For comparison's sake, Larry Haines was born in 1918 and Peggy McCay (to use one of John's early DOOL costars) was born in 1927.

18 minutes ago, Franko said:

John was seven years younger than Mary. She was born in 1926. He was born in 1933.

For comparison's sake, Larry Haines was born in 1918 and Peggy McCay (to use one of John's early DOOL costars) was born in 1927.

Thank you for the information. I never noticed an obvious age difference between McCay and Aniston. But the age difference between Stuart and Aniston was more obvious, in my opinion. Not the fault of the actors -- probably just my perception.

John James (Tom Berman) and Alison Argo (Cindy French). After John left they tried recasting Tom but went with quirky types =Robert Lupone, Mitch Letrofsky instead of centering Tom as a leading man.

As someone who didn't like the concept of Martin and Jo, I felt there was something about them in the late 1983 episodes I've seen where Martin is in the hospital after being shot by Vargas (I think) where I see a bit of a spark between Aniston and Stuart. I do think Maree Cheatham and Aniston were gold. A Martin / Stephanie / Lloyd triangle would have been quite fun.

Revisiting the 1981 weekly summaries, I think ending it in 1982 would have been bleak, not that ending in 1986 was less bleak. Personally, I like the stretches I've watched of Tomlin's first run and most of the 1985 episodes that I'm happy the show lasted.

Jo and Stu partnered in an inn again, Caldwell House. It was destroyed in the flood.

25 minutes ago, anthonymolchan said:

Jo and Stu partnered in an inn again, Caldwell House. It was destroyed in the flood.

True, but wasn't Caldwell House a small bead and breakfast, rather than a hotel and restaurant? If tptb were going to give Stu and Jo the Caldwell House to run, why not just keep the Hartford House?? Especially since the HH was much more important to the culture of the show.

Edited 19 hours ago19 hr by Tisy-Lish

Just now, Tisy-Lish said:

True, but wasn't Caldwell House a bead and breakfast, rather than a hotel and restaurant? If tptb were going to give Stu and Jo the Caldwell House to run, why not just keep the Hartford House?? Especially since the HH was much more important to the culture of the show.

That was probably 30 regimes later.

5 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

That was probably 30 regimes later.

Well assuming you are correct, that in itself was a huge issue. Far too many "regimes" between the Corringtons and the end. Makes my head spin.

5 minutes ago, Tisy-Lish said:

Well assuming you are correct, that in itself was a huge issue. Far too many "regimes" between the Corringtons and the end. Makes my head spin.

I think @VelekaCarruthers and @dc11786 put some lists of each regime and what they did or didn't do for the show a while back, each one from the late '70s to 1986. Maybe it's not as many as I think but it seemed like about 500 people.

Edited 19 hours ago19 hr by DRW50

9 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

I think @VelekaCarruthers and @dc11786 put some lists of each regime and what they did or didn't do for the show a while back, each one from the late '70s to 1986. Maybe it's not as many as I think but it seemed like about 500 people.

Same thing happened on Another World for the show's final twenty-years. One regime after another, endlessly -- until it killed the show.

40 minutes ago, Tisy-Lish said:

Same thing happened on Another World for the show's final twenty-years. One regime after another, endlessly -- until it killed the show.

And not one of those teams looked at the history and foundations of the shows.

Instead it was -drop these newish characters in favor of our new characters.

So Stu didn't see Janet, Tom, Gary and Danny for years. Sunny's sister and dad were MIA.

And when they did try to use history it was often misguided

eg Patti returning, younger, no longer a nurse and seemingly child free.

3 minutes ago, Paul Raven said:

And not one of those teams looked at the history and foundations of the shows.

Instead it was -drop these newish characters in favor of our new characters.

So Stu didn't see Janet, Tom, Gary and Danny for years. Sunny's sister and dad were MIA.

And when they did try to use history it was often misguided

eg Patti returning, younger, no longer a nurse and seemingly child free.

Total agreement here. Especially regarding Patti. Patti had been a contemporary of Janet Bergman, who was Liza and Gary's mother. So Patti should have been cast with an actor old enough to have adult children. There was no reason to reverse-soras Patti and forget her entire adult history.