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<blockquote data-quote="Snarky Oracle!" data-source="post: 437068" data-attributes="member: 57984">Viewers were not that shocked by divorce in 1976 television (back in 1970, when MTM premiered just six years earlier, it was much more so).What made Rhoda&#039;s &amp; Joe&#039;s divorce so tiresome was that it felt like a desperate measure, arbitrary, and exactly what it was: a forced attempt to shake things up because RHODA was never really working.. Sure, the ratings had been great in the beginning, the snarky TV sidekick of the era getting her own spin-off (which almost never really works, especially since the writers always water-down the persona once they get their own show -- and you knew that would happen here, without fail). And Rhoda&#039;s wedding, only 8 episodes into the first season (as dictated by CBS for &quot;sweeps&quot; purposes), garnered record numbers for a TV nuptial. But RHODA never really knew what it was, or wanted to be.And, yes, the divorce just made it worse. Embracing late-&#039;70s disco life as a Manhattan single could have worked, but it didn&#039;t; it was just more unfocused see-what-sticks-to-the-wall-and-then-use-what-doesn&#039;t desperation. There was just so little creative clarity in RHODA from the outset, things getting even more misguided as the series went along and tried to make adjustments.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Snarky Oracle!, post: 437068, member: 57984"] Viewers were not that shocked by divorce in 1976 television (back in 1970, when MTM premiered just six years earlier, it was much more so). What made Rhoda's & Joe's divorce so tiresome was that it felt like a desperate measure, arbitrary, and exactly what it was: a forced attempt to shake things up because RHODA was [B][I]never [/I][/B]really working.. Sure, the ratings had been great in the beginning, [I][B]the [/B][/I]snarky TV sidekick of the era getting her own spin-off (which almost never really works, especially since the writers always water-down the persona once they get their own show -- and you knew that would happen here, without fail). And Rhoda's wedding, only 8 episodes into the first season (as dictated by CBS for "sweeps" purposes), garnered record numbers for a TV nuptial. But RHODA never really knew what it was, or wanted to be. And, yes, the divorce just made it worse. Embracing late-'70s disco life as a Manhattan single [B][I]could [/I][/B]have worked, but it didn't; it was just more unfocused see-what-sticks-to-the-wall-and-then-use-what-doesn't desperation. There was just so little creative clarity in RHODA from the outset, things getting even more misguided as the series went along and tried to make adjustments. [/QUOTE]

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