Paramount thought they had a hot commodity at the start of the 1974-5 season.
Paper Moon, based on the movie of the same name that came out a year earlier, was paired with The Odd Couple, which shifted from Fridays to Thursdays for its final season. Both the movie and the series were adaptations of the novel, Addie Pray, by Joe David Brown.
Christopher Connelly was cast as Moses "Moze" Pray, the role originated by his former Peyton Place castmate, Ryan O'Neal. Future Oscar winner Jodie Foster was cast as Addie, a role that earned Ryan's daughter, Tatum, an Oscar earlier in 1974. The late Alvin Sargent, who wrote the screenplay for the movie, also was a writer for the series. Sargent later went on to work on Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" trilogy, among his many film credits.
So why did the series fail? It was slotted opposite the 2nd half of The Waltons, which was set a little later in time, not quite in the same era as Moon, but it already had an established audience. Game over.
Following is the pilot episode:
Jodie Foster had done some guest roles on other sitcoms, including The Courtship of Eddie's Father, and with her brother, Buddy, on Mayberry RFD, before landing the Moon gig, her only starring role in a series.
No rating. I don't think my folks even tried this out, opting instead for The Waltons, though they'd abandon that for Barney Miller the following winter.
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