question about finale

[chrisw79]

I was thinking about the finale how they should have had some old faces return for the wedding. I realize that Chrissy wasn't going to happen because of all the trouble with Suzanne. However, does anyone know if Jenelee Harrison, Norman Fell, and Audra Lindley were invited or asked back as their charachters should have been there as they'd known Janet well over the years.

[Chain Gang Member]

I know that they said that Cindy was furious at Janet in "Janet Wigs Out" and she would never come back

[Janet McFarland]

Yeah well that was one of the many problems in the finale , not bringing back old characters.

[Burley_Furley]

Originally posted by Jackhammer
I know that they said that Cindy was furious at Janet in "Janet Wigs Out" and she would never come back

When was it said that Cindy would never come back? Was it said in the episode? Am I missing something:confused:

[BuffaloBill]

it is worth noting that last night tv land ran the final episode of happy days. i think the last time i saw it was when it aired some 20 years ago. well to my surprise only a handfull of the main characters were at joany/chochy's wedding. other than the whole cunningham clain, big al and the fonz, no one else was on the finale (like potsy, ralph, etc). so oviously three's comp fans wern't the only ones slighted .

[TVFactFan]

Originally posted by Jackhammer
I know that they said that Cindy was furious at Janet in "Janet Wigs Out" and she would never come back



I saw Janet Wigs Out and Cindy was no where near furious at Janet

[Janet McFarland]

Originally posted by TVShow Analyzer
I saw Janet Wigs Out and Cindy was no where near furious at Janet

To make up for Jenilee's abscence on the show , in the "Come And Knock On Our Door" book , they say that Cindy was mad at Janet when Janet wanted her to leave. But they never did mention that on the show , they just forgot about her , like Chrissy.

[TVFactFan]

Originally posted by Trippergrl
To make up for Jenilee's abscence on the show , in the "Come And Knock On Our Door" book , they say that Cindy was mad at Janet when Janet wanted her to leave. But they never did mention that on the show , they just forgot about her , like Chrissy.


Well if Jenille's character was supposed to be mad at Janet when she left the Beagle, she did a POOR acting Job. Because the Cindy character didn't appear to be mad to me.

[Janet McFarland]

Originally posted by TVShow Analyzer
Well if Jenille's character was supposed to be mad at Janet when she left the Beagle, she did a POOR acting Job. Because the Cindy character didn't appear to be mad to me.

Well , ok , that's your opinion. I'm not really sure what the case was with Cindy/Janet , but who cares? I think its over now.

[TVFactFan]

Originally posted by Trippergrl
Well , ok , that's your opinion. I'm not really sure what the case was with Cindy/Janet , but who cares? I think its over now.


Jackhammer was saying Cindy would not have shown up at Janet's wedding because she was FURIOUS with her-LOL So that's why i was talking about it. It wasn't true

[Sean Snow]

Originally posted by TVShow Analyzer
Well if Jenille's character was supposed to be mad at Janet when she left the Beagle, she did a POOR acting Job. Because the Cindy character didn't appear to be mad to me.

I think when Cindy left the Beagle, she was just ticked off at the way Janet was acting. I doubt she was furious enough to never speak to Janet ever again. The explanation about Cindy never coming back due to that incident was just made in jest in Chris Mann's book. She just disappeared on the show.

[TVFactFan]

Originally posted by Sean Snow
I think when Cindy left the Beagle, she was just ticked off at the way Janet was acting. I doubt she was furious enough to never speak to Janet ever again. The explanation about Cindy never coming back due to that incident was just made in jest in Chris Mann's book. She just disappeared on the show.


That was a very weak explanation

[BuffaloBill]

cindy being upset at janet had nothing to do with the fact she never appeared on the show again. cindy was written out of the show cause jenilee was releaved of her duties on the show.

[Chain Gang Member]

124. Janet Wigs Out
gs: Robert Swick (Bill Rogers) Brad Blaisdell (Mike the bartender (uncredited))

Janret buys a blonde wig to improve her image, but ends up breaking bad on her friends.


b: 06-Apr-1982 pc: 0626 w: Budd Grossman d: Dave Powers

NOTE: This is Jenilee Harrison's last episode as Cindy Snow. The producers use the excuse that Cindy was so furious at Janet for mouthing off at her that she never visited the apartment again.

Joyce DeWitt hated this episode, and the fact that Janet would never do something like this. The producers would not let the cast have input on the plot or the cast changes, so she would have to go along with it. During rehearsals, Joyce DeWitt would often break down and cry.

[robyrob]

Originally posted by TVShow Analyzer
That was a very weak explanation which goes along well with cindy's character :)

[chrisw79]

Did Norman or Audra ever do any interviews about not being in the finale, such as whether or not they were asked or would have wanted to do it?

[jjlover]

That was one major drawback of the finale....not returning the past characters. Ruling out Cindy & Chrissy......why the hell didn't they bring back the Ropers???:(

[stella]

Originally posted by jjlover
That was one major drawback of the finale....not returning the past characters. Ruling out Cindy & Chrissy......why the hell didn't they bring back the Ropers???:(

I made the two postings below way back in September 2003 and since this topic is being discussed again, I think I will paste my two postings. Essentially, I think it is not so much a matter of bringing back the actual characters as it is the difficulty of bringing back the actors/actresses who play them. With Suzanne Somers, it's obvious that she didn't part on good terms with the producers. The same thing may be said about Norman and Audra as they were asked to do their own sitcom, The Ropers, which eventually flopped after two seasons.

====================================

Many of you on this thread mention how great it would have been if the main cast members who left (Chrissy, Cindy, Mr. & Mrs. Roper, Lana) would have rerturned one last time for the Sitcom finale. I totally agree with that. But I think in the end it all depends on whether the both the producers and the actor/actress is willing to return for the finale. Also, this is dependant on assuming the producers know that it is a finale as some sitcoms did produce a final episode, but it obviously was not a finale.

Below, I have compiled a list of long-running series finales in which the main past cast members (usually those who appeared when the show first started) returned for the last episode, and another list of sitcoms that did not bring back the cast member. As you can see, there are a lot more sitcoms that did NOT bring back main past cast members, so Three's Company definitely was not alone. I admire those sitcoms that were able to bring back all the original cast members for a final reunion in the grand finale.

Sitcoms in which past cast members returned for the finale

1. Cheers - Shelley Long as Diane Chambers returned.

2. Growing Pains - Tracey Gold as Carol Seaver returned for the final few episodes despite her battle with anorexia.

3. Star Trek: The Next Generation - Despite being killed off, Denise Crosby returned as Tasha Yar in a skillfully written finale.

4. Dallas - Several past characters.

5. The Wonder Years - Olivia D'Abo returned as Karen in the finale.


Sitcoms in which past cast members did NOT return in the finale

1. Home Improvement - Jonathan Taylor Thomas never returned as Randy in the final episode even though he was well liked by many. Neither did Pamela Anderson as Lisa, the first tool-time girl.

2. Cosby Show - Lisa Bonet did not return as the second daughter, Denise, in the finale.

3. Family Matters - the youngest daughter, Judy, was written out of the series and never returned.

4. Diff'rent Strokes - Dana Plato as Kimberley missed many episodes in the last season including the finale, as did the past housekeepers.

5. Married...With Children - Steve was not in the finale.

6. Beverly Hills 90210 - Shannen Doherty as Brenda was not in the finale.

7. The Facts of Life - I don't think Charlotte Rae as Mrs. Garrett was in the final episode.

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Assuming that everything in the TV-movie "Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Three's Company" depicted the real-life situation correctly, then it becomes very obvious why Chrissy could not realistically appear in the final episode. The producers disliked Suzanne Somers so much and vice versa that there was no way the two sides could ever cooperate to do another episode ever again.

To a lesser extent, the same thing may be said of Norman Fell and Audra Lindley for being deceived into thinking that their spinoff would do well, and maybe even of Jenilee Harrison for being written out of the show. I think it's very difficult for any actor/actress to depart on good terms with the producers if they are written out of the show. It's almost like being being fired. What employee departs on good terms with a firm that fires them?

Of course, from the viewers point of view it's always good to see old characters return one last time. And if the producers really wanted to yield to the sentimental wishes of their loyal audience, I think the least they could have done was to hire lookalike actors and actresses for the role of past characters. Of course, it will never be as good as the originals, but it's probably better than nothing. I know of at least two sitcoms that had different people playing the same character, and it didn't produce that much of a difference:

1. Roseanne: Both Alicia Goranson and Sarah Chalke played Becky Connor.

2. Baywatch: First Brandon Call, and then Jeremy Jackson played Hobie Buchanon.

[chrisw79]

Interesting point about other finales not bringing back old charachters. In some cases though, it might not have suited the storyline, while in this case it being Janet's wedding, it would have made sense for old friends of hers to come. A few other examples of old faces not returning for last episoes; Flo didn't come back for the Alice finale and Fish didn't come back for the Barney Miller finale.