Valerie vs the Hogan Family

[DDM]

Does anyone else remember the mid-80's sitcom Valerie? Valerie Harper was meant to be the show's star, but, as with other sitcoms, the kids got more forcus, particularly Jason Bateman's character. Anyway, just before Season 3 aired, Valerie Harper was in a money dispute with the show. She wanted more money, but the Valerie creators said "NO!" Therefore, the producers unceremenously killed off Valerie. The kids, in the meantime, did not mourn her passing very long. If fact, the mourning happened in one episode for the transition of Mike's sister, played by Sandy Duncan, to move into the house as Valerie's replacement Mom. From this point, Valerie became The Hogan Family.

Valerie Harper did do the movie of the week starring in The People Across The Lake which is more humorous than horror.

Should Valerie Harper got her raise or is it right for the the producers to kill off the central character? Something must have been right since The Hogan Family lasted for several more seasons...

[glue]

I've got no problem with them killing her off. If the show was becoming less focused on her it was a stupid move to demand a raise.

[Ontir]

I don't recall the exact issue involved here, but there were lawsuits, and eventually Valerie Harper was vindicated and, I believe, the producers ended up paying her for the rest of her contract, as if she were still on the show.

After the initial dispute, Harper was fired. Then, they tried to work things out, and she came back for at least one day of work, before the producers decided it wasn't working. At that point, she was sent packing, and the show became Valerie's Family, then the Hogan Family, and finally the Hogans.

Largely, because things were up in the air, the family didn't respond to her absence for awhile. I think it was the writers not knowning what to write, and not wanting to write a funeral ep, only to have Harper return the week after it aired. Eventually, there was an ep which dealt with it. Bateman's character was dealing with a friend who'd been drinking and was going to drive anyway. He took the keys from him, telling him that a drunk driver killed his mom.

[glue]

Wait. So was she demanding a raise or were they trying to lower her contract salary?

[Ontir]

I don't recall the exact things now, but whatever it was, when the dust settled in court, the producers were in the wrong, and she got paid - BIG TIME!

[drwho]

You know I recall watching that show, but I dont have a clue why.

[DoubleShot]

You know I recall watching that show, but I dont have a clue why.

Yeah, but that's typical for that time period.

I remember watching it, I remember the transition, and I remember Sandy Duncan.

[Ontir]

I watched it, initially because of Valerie Harper (I'll always love Rhoda!), and then Edie McClurg joined the cast as "Patty Poole," and I love her too! Then, Sandy Duncan came in, beloved star of many films of my childhood!

[StoneGold]

You know I recall watching that show, but I dont have a clue why.
Your man-crush on Jason Bateman?

[Ontir]

Jason Bateman is a big strapping guy, there are worse men to crush on!

[Sean Whitmore]

I remember watching that show as a kid and being slightly traumatized. I didn't particularly give a crap about Valerie, just the fact that they killed off "the mom" on a show I watched. I thought there were rules about that sort of thing. :)


SEAN

[Ontir]

Actually that was around the time of what I called the "Dead Mom Era." Eva Marie Saint was on the mini-series A Year in the Life, but killed off before it went to regular production. I met her a few months ago, and she told me the only reason she took it, was that she died before the end of the mini.

Elizabeth Pena starred in the short-lived I Married Dora in which the mother is killed off in the first 5 minutes of the show. The desperate father, marries the equally desperate el Salvadoran maid, and they try to pull the family together - until the cancellation 2 eps later.

There were others, but you get the drift.