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<blockquote data-quote="Crimson" data-source="post: 406789" data-attributes="member: 5079">I was briefly very confused about where you are in the series run.&nbsp; I forgot Penny showed up in S4; she also shows up later playing a different character.As is often the case, some serendipitous casting .&nbsp; The scriptwriter included a note describing Sue Ann as a &quot;Betty White-type&quot;, but she wasn&#039;t originally considered.&nbsp; Other actresses auditioned.&nbsp; Betty and her husband were great friends with Mary and her husband going back to the early 60s; White was often in the audience when MTM was filming.&nbsp; The producers weren&#039;t sure Mary would want to mix friendship with work, but Mary readily agreed with offering the role to Betty. Sue Ann was written as a one-off character.&nbsp; During rehearsals, the director loved the confrontation between Sue Ann and Phyllis but was annoyed by the gaping oven door.&nbsp; Betty improvised slamming the door shut with her knee, which cracked everyone up and was kept in for filming.&nbsp; By the end of filming, the producers were already telling Betty to clear her schedule for future appearances.I love MTM from beginning to end but I admit the show loses some of its spark with the departure of Rhoda.&nbsp; It&#039;s a void that&#039;s never entirely filled.&nbsp; Just as the show hadn&#039;t found Mary a compelling suitor to stay the course, they never succeeded in finding a &quot;new Rhoda&quot; either but not for lack of trying.&nbsp;&nbsp; Combined with the increasingly infrequent appearances of Phyllis -- Cloris&#039; career was booming by then -- Mary&#039;s homelife started to feel a bit empty.We&#039;re lucky to have had Rhoda as long as we did, I suppose.&nbsp; Network pressure to give Rhoda her own show started early; definitely in S3 possibly as early as S2.&nbsp; I suspect the failed backdoor pilot may have been an attempt by the producers to give the network a spin-off without sacrificing any of their characters. Earlier, the producers didn&#039;t think their show could survive without Rhoda and didn&#039;t think Rhoda could survive without the show.&nbsp; By S4, with the introduction of Georgette and Sue Ann, the producers felt they had a strong enough ensemble to let Rhoda spin off.&nbsp;&nbsp; Personally, I wish they had held off on giving Rhoda her own show until the end of MTM, just as they did with Lou. I hadn&#039;t noticed before that Valerie didn&#039;t appear in the last couple episodes of S4.&nbsp; Possibly she was already prepping her own show, although it wasn&#039;t unusual for Rhoda to not appear in a episode or two.&nbsp;&nbsp; Even without watching RHODA, Rhoda&#039;s departure is addressed directly in the series in S5.&nbsp; She fared better than Gordie, at least, who stopped appearing but was still occasionally referred to as if he was still around.You are correct in assuming Georgette will be nudged into the role of Mary&#039;s confidant.&nbsp; Like all of the characters, Georgette evolved over time.&nbsp; As Mary herself grew in confidence and directness, it wasn&#039;t the worst thing for her friend to be the naive one.If you&#039;re planning to just watch the wedding episodes, I suggest interjecting them in between S4 and S5 or anywhere early S5.&nbsp; If you plan to watch all of S1 of RHODA, you could aim for for the order in which the two shows aired.&nbsp; RHODA aired on Mondays (starting 9/9/74) and MTM aired Saturdays (starting 9/14/74) and they just alternate from there.&nbsp; That said, there&#039;s so little continuity between the shows it&#039;s hardly worth the effort.&nbsp; You could watch them in random batches and it would hardly matter.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Crimson, post: 406789, member: 5079"] I was briefly [I]very [/I]confused about where you are in the series run. I forgot Penny showed up in S4; she also shows up later playing a different character. As is often the case, some serendipitous casting . The scriptwriter included a note describing Sue Ann as a "Betty White-type", but she wasn't originally considered. Other actresses auditioned. Betty and her husband were great friends with Mary and her husband going back to the early 60s; White was often in the audience when MTM was filming. The producers weren't sure Mary would want to mix friendship with work, but Mary readily agreed with offering the role to Betty. Sue Ann was written as a one-off character. During rehearsals, the director loved the confrontation between Sue Ann and Phyllis but was annoyed by the gaping oven door. Betty improvised slamming the door shut with her knee, which cracked everyone up and was kept in for filming. By the end of filming, the producers were already telling Betty to clear her schedule for future appearances. I love MTM from beginning to end but I admit the show loses some of its spark with the departure of Rhoda. It's a void that's never entirely filled. Just as the show hadn't found Mary a compelling suitor to stay the course, they never succeeded in finding a "new Rhoda" either but not for lack of trying. Combined with the increasingly infrequent appearances of Phyllis -- Cloris' career was booming by then -- Mary's homelife started to feel a bit empty. We're lucky to have had Rhoda as long as we did, I suppose. Network pressure to give Rhoda her own show started early; definitely in S3 possibly as early as S2. I suspect the failed backdoor pilot may have been an attempt by the producers to give the network a spin-off without sacrificing any of their characters. Earlier, the producers didn't think their show could survive without Rhoda and didn't think Rhoda could survive without the show. By S4, with the introduction of Georgette and Sue Ann, the producers felt they had a strong enough ensemble to let Rhoda spin off. Personally, I wish they had held off on giving Rhoda her own show until the end of MTM, just as they did with Lou. I hadn't noticed before that Valerie didn't appear in the last couple episodes of S4. Possibly she was already prepping her own show, although it wasn't unusual for Rhoda to not appear in a episode or two. Even without watching RHODA, Rhoda's departure is addressed directly in the series in S5. She fared better than Gordie, at least, who stopped appearing but was still occasionally referred to as if he was still around. You are correct in assuming Georgette will be nudged into the role of Mary's confidant. Like all of the characters, Georgette evolved over time. As Mary herself grew in confidence and directness, it wasn't the worst thing for her friend to be the naive one. If you're planning to just watch the wedding episodes, I suggest interjecting them in between S4 and S5 or anywhere early S5. If you plan to watch all of S1 of RHODA, you could aim for for the order in which the two shows aired. RHODA aired on Mondays (starting 9/9/74) and MTM aired Saturdays (starting 9/14/74) and they just alternate from there. That said, there's so little continuity between the shows it's hardly worth the effort. You could watch them in random batches and it would hardly matter. [/QUOTE]

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