"I don't know" how I missed this. lol

[mcguinnfan]

Wendy, I'm right with you on Jim Stechyson. I hope that, if these assorted rumors about the other 1979 episodes being recovered are true, we'll get to see a lot more of him...along with Sarah West, who I also really like, from what little I've seen of that season.

And I am a big fan of Angie Coddett. She and Kevin Schenk combined to bring an element of "sass" to the show that was rarely seen thereafter.

[banana man]

Wendy, I'm right with you on Jim Stechyson. I hope that, if these assorted rumors about the other 1979 episodes being recovered are true, we'll get to see a lot more of him...along with Sarah West, who I also really like, from what little I've seen of that season.

And I am a big fan of Angie Coddett. She and Kevin Schenk combined to bring an element of "sass" to the show that was rarely seen thereafter.

Cyndi Kennedy was my favorite obscure season 1 cast member.

[mcguinnfan]

I like Cyndi too. In fact from what's out there (as well as WTYO), the 1979 cast intrigues me a lot as a whole. Not to mention the live-show format adds a fascinating seat-of-the-pants atmosphere to the proceedings. Most of the cast (including Cyndi in "You Can't Do That on Film") seem to recall those days fondly, and it would be pretty cool to see more of those episodes and get a fuller idea of the show's origins.

[ugotslimed]

loved how Cyndi Kennedy would play the mom character. I actually preferred the concept of kid playing the adult characters even if Abby Haggard was more iconic.( I liked it when Moose played the adult coffee pouring secretary too) Cyndi's best moments were probably the scene where, as the mom, she pies all her kids, and the scene where she is tortured in the dungeon for the Pepsi/coke thing.
Jim Stechyn ,or however you say his name, seemed like the "victim" of a lot of the early shows. He often seemed to be doomed to the dungeon, and Moose did say "Jim always gets slimed!" in that one episode. Hee hee Moose! soon it would be YOU who ALWAYS got slimed! Liked the one where she was reading ahead in the script and saw what was going to happen to him in a later scene and couldn't wait to see him get the upcoming torture. Hopefully Jim got a good laugh at how much they tortured Moose when he watched the later episodes.
One last thing about the early shows-why did they lose that laugh track! I loved the early one where you can hear the one kid in the audience say "ohhh grooss" it's perfect for slimings. Does anyone know why they stopped using that laugh track? Or when it was recorded? What are the kids reacting too in that recording?

[CappieGuy]

About 1986, Fairy Tales had a great concept but for some reason I didnt like it much was because of no or little laugh track. It threw me off. The rest of the Christines episodes in 86 had them. Was it broken or something ??

I loved the Vanessa paint dumping under the ladder though.

I didnt like the 3rd week of 1986s (the week that Vanessa wore glasses but had longer hair) except Luck which was awesome. Contests should have been better.

I loved the final week of 1986. It had more humor and it was the first time I started watching new episodes. I loved Barth's "I Heard That!" in Mysteries/Crimes

[Adam 12]

Van with short hair never looked right to me. It's interesting how often she and Doug ended up with the same hair cut. I wonder if that was intentional.

1986 was my favorite year for the series. Even moreso if we cut it in half, give the early ones to 85, and fold the 87's in. The later 86's and the 87's were all one production season anyway. Moose was great, but when she left, the other cast members had more time to shine.

[ssjup81]

Okay, so I've been watching more of the 1979 eps and WTYO. Seriously, I'm loving these eps! I'm interested in Marc Ballion now. I like him, and his always trying to hook up with Moose. lol It's so cute. Getting down to it, how did the writers even pick which actors to link romantically even if it's one-sided? Like... Doug's liking of Vanessa!

How come WTYO didn't last long anyway? Seemed like a really funny show. Sucks Cyndi and Jim weren't in it (but I swear, the kid with the sling slot in the first ep of WTYO looked like him). Still curious of why some of the 1979 cast of YCDTOTV or why some of those from WTYO weren't around for the 1981 season of YCDTOTV.

[Adam 12]

2 years is a long time for a kid, especially a teenager. The 79 kids who didn't make the cut for 81 were likely mostly just too old. Some others probably found other interests than acting to occupy their time.

Christine is an interesting example. She was 16 before filming for the 81's started, and was still going 5 years later! Of course, she looked like a teenager well into her 20's. I don't know of anyone else to star in an episode after their 18th birthday, and only Chris Bickford, Lisa Ruddy, and Vanessa Lindores are known to star in an episode after turning 16. I may be missing some, largely because I'm not aware of some of the actors' ages.

[ssjup81]

Yeah, that's a possibility. I'm just curious why they didn't make the cut. Was it genuinely because of the age thing (I know Christine was the exception) or did they really just grow interested in other things, or was it like a Kevin Schenks situation where he was probably let go after 1981 since he, apparently, didn't get along with the producers, or something like that.

Wish there were more interviews around with the original cast members.

[mcguinnfan]

I think Lisa was nineteen when she left the show...but I could have my dates mixed up. I would say that Christine and Lisa were exceptions because they were so integral to the show that it was hard to part with them, particularly when they were able to present them as (possibly) being younger for several years.

WTYO, unfortunately, went off the air because it just didn't have many viewers. I agree that it was a very funny show...but looking on the bright side, I'm not sure Price and Darby would have had the freedom to do some of the things they ended up doing if they had gotten locked into a prime-time, network-aired weekly program. The arrival of the episodes on the internet over the last couple years has been a wonderful development, in that it gives us a chance to see the genesis of what YCDTOTV, in large part, later became, but also because there are a lot of neat ideas and concepts they didn't develop that were still cool. Besides, Ruth Buzzi is wonderful!

I also like the Marc/Christine thing a lot; I generally liked the more "story"-oriented stuff they did like that. And I think a lot of us felt for Marc; in a way he represents a lot of the kids out there watching who probably had crushes on her too.

[ssjup81]

Yeah, I like the story stuff too. That aside, a cast member I remembered, but didn't remember at the same time, was Rodney Helal. I remembered him by looks only, though. Man, I like him! To me, he was the Dougie of the show before Doug got there, just as, imo, Allisdair became the Kevin Kubusheskie of the series. Rodney just always looked like he was up to something. lol Too bad he didn't stick around past the 1981 season.

Oh yeah, one thing about the 1981 season that I am disliking (but was too young to have realized when I saw the season as a kid [Angie is very vivid in my mind. lol]) is how Jono and Kevin (Somers)'s roles were reduced to either the dungeon or the execution chamber. Kinda sucks that they were rarely on the link set for the few eps they were in. I would've liked to have seen them interact with the kids who joined the cast that year: Kevin Kubusheskie, Angie, Martin, Brodie, Jami (I know, not main, but I wish he could've been around for more eps), etc. And it would've been nice to see them interacting with the oldies: Christine, Lisa, Kevin Schenks, Rodney, each other (come one, those two worked so well together lol), etc. Just seems like a real missed opportunity there with Jono and Kevin since it was going to be their last season anyway, whether the show would've been picked up for another season or not. I didn't realize how much both had grown since WTYO. lol

It's crazy how much the boys (minus Dougie ) really grew on this show. Even from the first season of YCDTOTV to WTYO the boys seemed to shoot up overnight. lol