Favorite 1st Season episodes!

[boechsner]

In your opinion, what are the best episodes from the 1st season. I think the best episodes are:

Pilot
Happy Anniversary
Sick House
Dog Day Afternoon

[Buffyboy323]

Pilot and Sick House are my favorite 1st Season episodes.

BTW, I forgot how much the earlier episodes were about just Valerie.

[Skywalker]

Old Enough
The Wrong Stuff

[friendsfan77]

In your opinion, what are the best episodes from the 1st season. I think the best episodes are:

Pilot
Happy Anniversary
Sick House
Dog Day Afternoon

That's basically my list, but adding the episode "One of the Boys."

BTW, I forgot how much the earlier episodes were about just Valerie.

Also the Valerie era had much less of a cheesy opening theme. Comparing the football used on Valerie and the baseball used on most of the Sandy Duncan episodes. Especially since the football in the air from Valerie was real. The baseball looked ridiculously fake.

[Edster2973]

BTW, I forgot how much the earlier episodes were about just Valerie.

That was deliberate. Practically the whole cast were unknowns except for Valerie, so naturally they'd capitalize on her popularity. She was famous for her work in The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda and NBC figured it'd draw more viewers by having her as the focus. Jason Bateman was also known from previous shows like Little House on the Prairie, Silver Spoons and It's Your Move, but his status as star was small compared to Valerie's. Plus, she helped create the show and they figured focusing on her character would help to find a fanbase.

During Season 2, she insisted things be different since NBC had agreed to keep the show going (the show was almost cancelled after Season 1 due to marginal ratings from being switched around a lot). She wanted Jason Bateman and the other boys to be used more so that it would be seen as a true ensemble. She felt there was a lot of untapped comedy with stories involving the boys.

She truly succeeded since the show was able to go on without her when they fired her. If not for her, none of the characters would've been developed as strongly as they were and the show wouldn't have lasted as long as it did. It's just ironic that some attribute the show's success without her as a sign that she wasn't that important to begin with. If it wasn't for her, the show never would've existed at all, let alone survived.

In any case, enjoy the show...

:)

Ed

[friendsfan77]

This must be that way of thinking that the producers claim Valerie had. Their side of the story is that she was very harsh behind the scenes.

[Edster2973]

This must be that way of thinking that the producers claim Valerie had. Their side of the story is that she was very harsh behind the scenes.

It's the same claim that is made mostly of professional women who try to assert themselves and get their due.
Sure, they said she was harsh behind the scenes, but then the cast attested that they were all broken up when she was fired and to this day have no idea why she was. Jason Bateman, for one, went on record saying that, although he loved Sandy Duncan, he felt very jarred that Valerie was fired and regarded her as a second mother. This doesn't sound much like someone who was "very harsh behind the scenes."

I think the relationship Valerie had with the show's producers was actually quite cordial and didn't turn sour until August of 1987 when she wanted a pay raise and more creative input in the show.

Basically, Valerie had asked for a raise and was refused. She told the show she wouldn't show up for work until there was some sort of agreement reached. The show filmed the first episode of Season 3 without her. A week later, an agreement was reached where Valerie was given a 15% raise and more profit shares in the show. She showed up for work, they re-shot the episode to include her in it, and things were back to normal. New contracts were drawn up and she was back to work, ready for a full season.

Later, however, someone either at Lorimar or NBC changed their minds and decided to fire Valerie instead, thinking that she wasn't worth the pay increase when the show had the ever-growing popular teenage heart throb Jason Bateman. They canned Valerie, claiming that she was disruptive and combative and greedy, and then proceeded to downplay her involvement in the show by not mentioning her at all or mentioning her death as a setup for a joke (tasteless as that may seem, it's what was done).

I don't think Valerie was a saint during negotiations. It's clear that she agreed to come back after receiving her raise and then was fired. I don't think it's fair to assume she was greedy or had an inflated ego. Again, if that were the case, I think the cast would've been glad to be rid of her. What probably happened is that someone at either Lorimar or Miller/Boyett didn't get the official "ok" from the big cheese to give in to Valerie's requests, so to rectify this, a decision was made to fire her instead. But the deal was done. Valerie had been given the ok and had signed a new contract and was back at work, and that is what she ended up proving in court.

Lorimar and Miller/Boyett tried to back peddle and claim that she was fired for her initial absence from the first episode (an episode that was re-shot with her when she came back). Their claim was ridiculous because they hadn't fired her originally but had offered her a compromise and had drawn up new contracts, so she won fair and square. It's just too bad that the killing off of her character couldn't have been undone.

I think the Valerie Hogan character deserved much better. Even if she had to die (which, we know by now, wasn't the case), they could've done it in such a way that didn't come across as insulting the character (a deliberate jab since a shot at the character was also a shot at the actress). It also was an insult to mothers, suggesting that any mother could be easily replaced by an aunt or caretaker as if nothing had happened.

Pretty shallow if you ask me. I'm glad she won...


Ed

[fullhousefan91619]

Do you have an example of them setting her death up as a quote? I'm a new fan!

[Edster2973]

Do you have an example of them setting her death up as a quote? I'm a new fan!

Setting her death up as a quote or as a joke? I'm going to assume you meant joke. It's not like they joked about the mother dying. But the rare moments her death was mentioned, it was as a setup for a joke instead of it being the sensitive, stinging reality it should've been.

One moment I remember was when Michael and Sandy were attempting to delicately handle the news about Michael going on his first date and Sandy mentioned that they'd all been through a lot of transition since their mom's death, and that this was one more (meaning the father dating again). Sandy and Michael wanted to know how the boys would feel and Mark and Willie at that moment walked away saying they were going to the mall or to their friend's house (I forget which). The 'joke' was that they couldn't have cared less. Cue laugh track... :rolleyes:

Another that I recall was when Steve Traeger's mom met Sandy and Michael for the first time and assumed they were married to each other. Sandy explained that she was Michael's sister and Michael then said that Sandy had been living with them since his wife died. Immediately after that, Mrs. Traeger started coming on to him, realizing he was available, by seductively saying "a widower, huh?" or something like that. Cue laugh track again... :rolleyes:

Ironically enough, I seem to recall the latter episode airing around the time when Valerie Harper won her court case against the show, so I guess this was the producers' way of getting another pot shot at the actress by making light of any references to Valerie Hogan's death. There may be more references made but I stopped watching the show regularly by then, so it was hit or miss.

Whether one understands why the show resorted to this tactic is immaterial. I just can't understand how some fans can insist the show got better and funnier when moments like this occurred. The writing (not the acting!) just got sillier and more predictable and was a step down from the Valerie years. Whereas Valerie was a comedy that could appeal to people of all ages, The Hogan Family became a show that only kids who weren't exposed to the clichéd writing could enjoy.

Yuck...


Ed