Debbie M.I.A.

[TJAMES03]

While it is a small gripe, I wish that the producers would have explained the absence of Rhoda's other sister Debbie (seen on a MTM Show episode).

[zevonsky72]

I'm glad they didn't reuse Debbie. Rhoda would have become the second-banana to an older, married Debbie, which would have been a rerun of her role on TMTMS. I give the writers credit for giving Rhoda a chance to take the lead in her own show.

[Pentimento]

I'm glad they didn't reuse Debbie. Rhoda would have become the second-banana to an older, married Debbie, which would have been a rerun of her role on TMTMS. I give the writers credit for giving Rhoda a chance to take the lead in her own show.I agree, but they could have said she was married and living somewhere else. I always liked to imagine that she ran off with Chuck Cunningham - two mysteries solved!

[OKCRay]

I'm glad they didn't reuse Debbie. Rhoda would have become the second-banana to an older, married Debbie, which would have been a rerun of her role on TMTMS. I give the writers credit for giving Rhoda a chance to take the lead in her own show.

Actually Debby was a YOUNGER sister of Rhoda, and we never hear anything more about her after that one MTM episode (maybe she's on an island somewhere with Chuck Cunningham...LOL). One thing that happens in a season one episode of MTM (but you really have to listen for it or you'll miss it) is that Rhoda actually mentions having a sister named Brenda, and in another MTM episode she mentioned having a brother.

[catlover79]

I agree, but they could have said she was married and living somewhere else. I always liked to imagine that she ran off with Chuck Cunningham - two mysteries solved!
:lol: Yes, they are off living on the Island of Misfit TV Characters, along with Judy Winslow, Carl Dixon, etc. :rofl:

[OOliver]

Yes, I remember Rhoda mentioning her brother Arnold on one ep of MTM. I think it was when her mother 'Ida' was visiting.

[catlover79]

Yes, I remember Rhoda mentioning her brother Arnold on one ep of MTM. I think it was when her mother 'Ida' was visiting.
I remember that, too. Didn't Rhoda mention having yet another sister during her TMTMS years?

[OOliver]

Yes, but I think the other sister she (or her mother) mentioned was "Brenda". So all in all, she had two sisters (Brenda and Debbie) and one brother (Arnold). Only Brenda survived in 1974! (She must have killed off Debbie and Arnold, and the other Morgensterns suffered amnesia).

[Kristen]

Ever since I first saw Rhoda on N@N, it's always bugged me whenever I watch "Rhoda's Sister Gets Married." I get that Brenda was a better fit for the spinoff than Debbie would've been, but it's so weird for a sibling to just disappear like that! Maybe Ida didn't like the guy she married, so she just cut off all contact, and forced the others to do the same. LOL Knowing Ida, I wouldn't say it's completely impossible! ;)

[catlover79]

^ That idea makes a lot of sense, Kristen. :eek: :lol:

[McGillicuddy]

There was also Aunt Rose (Brett Somers) in that episode, that was never seen or heard from again. Why wasn't she at Rhoda's wedding?

[Chrisothebigc]

This is a common thing in sitcoms, yes? The incidental disposable relative.

I remember Arnold being mentioned twice. Aunt Rose was at least refered to, many times.

Anyone else remember Phyllis' gay brother, Ben? That's when we learn her maiden name is Sutherland. Their mother seems to be alive, as her demise is never mentioned.

Also, Lars' family comes for a visit, and his father is alive at that point, and ever one of them is speaking a foriegn language. When we meet Lars' mother, Audrey, on the pilot of "Phyllis" there is no trace of any accent, although Lars' is spoken of! No mention of when Lars' father died, but Audrey has apparently remarried rather quickly to Jonathan. Phyllis and Bess have no where else to go! Could it be that she wore out her welcome with her own family...LOL!

So it goes!
Chris O

[catlover79]

Oh, gosh, I remember Ben. Phyllis couldn't have cared less that he was gay - as long as he wasn't marrying Rhoda, she was happy. :lol:

[Chrisothebigc]

That was a GREAT episode!

Phyllis: "Please go on with your party, it's imporatnt to Mary!"

I think that was the first time someone was acknowledged as gay on t.v., yes?

BTW, Catlover79, I love "Bewitched". Agnes Moorehead is a favorite actor of mine. Have you ever seen her in "The Magnificent Amberson's".

[catlover79]

That was a GREAT episode!

Phyllis: "Please go on with your party, it's imporatnt to Mary!"

I think that was the first time someone was acknowledged as gay on t.v., yes?

BTW, Catlover79, I love "Bewitched". Agnes Moorehead is a favorite actor of mine. Have you ever seen her in "The Magnificent Amberson's".
I think All in the Family had episodes with gay people before the MTM episode aired, but it had to have been ONE of the first shows to deal with the issue. Haven't seen The Magnificent Ambersons, but I should. I DID see her in Citizen Kane. :cool:

[OOliver]

I remember when Lars' family came to visit. Phyllis said they were all speaking with Sweedish accents.

[McGillicuddy]

I often think about the changes that were made with Rhoda's family from MTMS to Rhoda, but I forgot all about references to Phyllis' family on MTMS before Phyllis. Yeah that is weird Audrey didn't have a swedish accent, when apparently the senior Lindstroms visited Minneapolis.

[Chrisothebigc]

I guess it really just comes down to what works best for the writers at the time. Perhaps Audrey used an accent to please her hubby?

It's kinda fun making up exscuses for the gaff's in continuity. I can't imagine Ida would let her daughter marry someone she didn't like. You all know what a control freak she was. Maybe Debbie and her husband joined a commune!

[catlover79]

I guess it really just comes down to what works best for the writers at the time. Perhaps Audrey used an accent to plase her hubby?

It's kinda fun making up ecscuses for the gaff's in continuity. I can't imagine Ida would let her daughter marry someone she didn't like. You all know what a control freak she was. Maybe Debbie and her husband joined a commune!
Or joined the witness protection program!!

[Chrisothebigc]

HA! Or...

Debbie left her cheating husband, and considers being a radical lesbian NUN. Searching her soul to see if this is her true calling, she still refuses to return to her estranged husband, even though Ida repeatedly screams "It's not too late to save the marriage"!

Meanwhile, Ben Sutherland is driving his elderly mother to a performance of "Man Of LaMancha", when they are struck by a bus crammed full of...radical lesbian nuns. They are the chaste, habit wearin', bullwhip bearin' Sisters of Perpetual Angst:Would-Be Brides of the Blessed Virgin.

Mother Sutherland is instantly killed (poor dear...but she lived a long, FULL life). Ben survives virtually unharmed, but wanders into traffic... suffering from amnesia. Sister Debbie Faye Rita Agnes whisks him up in the folds of her crinsom robes (she is a radical after all), and rushes him back to her cell at SPA headquarters.

Suffering from complete memory loss, Ben cannot remember that he is gay; and Sister Debbie (who was really only bi-curious), nurses him back to health...literally. YES. Debbie is in fact, carrying a love child, unbeknownst to the other sisters, who assumed that she was filled with the retainable waters of divinity.

Ben and Debbie run off together. They wind up in our most familiar of the twin cities, where they wisk up to Rhoda's attic apartment. Ben feels very strange, but cannot quite put his finger on it....

And then...

[catlover79]

^ :rofl: :brent

[McGillicuddy]

It'll be quite a scary scene when either Phyllis or Ida find out!!!!

[catlover79]

It'll be quite a scary scene when either Phyllis or Ida find out!!!!
:nod: :lol: