Tuesday, September 4, 2018

What Might've Been: I'm a Big Girl Now (1980)

ABC had hoped to catch lightning in a bottle again. The controversial daytime drama spoof, Soap, had yielded a successful spin-off, Benson. While I'm a Big Girl Now wasn't part of the family tree, if you will, its star, second generation actress-singer Diana Canova, had left Soap after three seasons. ABC and Soap's producers, Susan Harris, husband Paul Junger Witt, and Tony Thomas, had built Big Girl around Canova's character, and, with Thomas' father, TV legend Danny Thomas, and Martin Short (SCTV) in the supporting cast, it should've been a hit. Canova even made an appearance on American Bandstand to promote her new show.

It didn't work. Big Girl lasted just 1 season. I don't recall what night the show was on. I want to say Friday, but I'm not 100% certain. There was no room for it on Tuesdays or Thursdays, that I can recall.

Gilmore Box provides the intro. Canova sings the show's theme song.



No rating. Never saw the show.

2 comments:

Mike Doran said...

History Time:

In 1980, Friday nights belonged to CBS: The Incredible Hulk, The Dukes Of Hazzard, Dallas, in that order.
On ABC, Big Girl was slotted in between Benson and the Friday movie; it was a "bubble" show for that whole season.
(For the record, NBC was having a "back up the truck" year - nothing worked at all.)

Big Girl's premise probably didn't help: Diana Canova was a new divorcee whose father (that's Danny Thomas) was going through a split at the same time; he moved in with her and the cute kid, and hilarity ensued (it says here).
Not exactly encouraging …

I seem to recall that they couldn't decide what Diana was supposed to be doing for a living (the great Sheree North was her boss, no matter what).
Also, Deborah Baltzell, the other actress in the titles, had health problems; she died at age 25 not long after the show went out of production.
So there's that …

It's all way more complicated than you realize, isn't it?

hobbyfan said...

Thanks for filling in the blanks. Fridays at my place meant Hulk & the Dukes.