11 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Bringing in Jolene and marrying Vera off made me enjoy the last years of the show, but I think other parts of the show had definitely had their day. 

 

For sure. How many times could someone accidentally back their car up into the diner or have a freshly cut tree fall through its roof? Poor Mel must have had extremely high insurance premiums.

3 minutes ago, cct said:

Everyone's sitcom game was dire around that time. Several entertainment magazines did articles on the Death of the Sitcom from 82-84. It was actually The Cosby Show that revived the format.

Right, but my shock is that CBS was still dry in the late 80s, after The Cosby Show blew up. They actually weren't doing too, too bad in the early part of the decade, though their hits were all on their last legs - The Jeffersons was still a Top 20 hit, and Alice more or less still rated high enough to justify staying on the air.

NBC and ABC were more willing to run with family sitcoms in the late 80s, and I think that helped them rebound more quickly than CBS. Not that CBS had anything to complain about, anyway. What they lacked in sitcom popularity, they more than made up with in their drama/mystery/action series.

25 minutes ago, amybrickwallace said:

 

For sure. How many times could someone accidentally back their car up into the diner or have a freshly cut tree fall through its roof? Poor Mel must have had extremely high insurance premiums.

 

Or the ladies quitting and coming back. 

2 hours ago, DRW50 said:

 

Or the ladies quitting and coming back. 

 

That's another plot they ran into the ground.