Worst casting ever. Mackenzie.

Respectfully disagree with you on all three of your contentions.

I think that she was sort of cute in the first season. The seasons that she was on drugs in real life... Ugh. I mean the hair and makeup dept couldn't do any better with her?

I was just about to make a new post regarding Mackenzie and her departure to the show, but saw your post about her so i'm just going to throw it here since it applies.

I'm watching the series now on Antenna TV channel after not seeing the show in over 25 years and they're now up to the time when Julie is gone....and in my personal opinion, her departure left a glaring and gaping empty hole in the show.

Yes, she was a junkie IRL, but even knowing that now and watching her act on the show, I never saw any signs that her addiction interfered with her work. I think she played Julie quite good and her absence on the show makes it a little less fun to watch that i'm looking forward to the season when she returns again.

Sure she's not the prettiest actress, but so what? I think she was a good opposite to the perky cuteness that was Valerie Bertinelli...(who btw can't say a line without stifling a laugh...and she still does it decades later on Hot in Cleveland...talk about not knowing how to act...but that's for another post lol).

And with Julie gone, they brought in that horribly annoying Glenn Scarpelli who just grates...I can't stand him at all....And Schneider got more attention as well who I couldn't stand as the series went on....just the way he was always creeping around the apartment, using his key to enter anytime he wanted...and even at 3 in the morning in one episode he just happened to be lurking about their hallway....I'll go as far as saying Schneider is one of THE most annoying sitcom characters EVER...and Julie being gone only gave him more screen time to annoy!

So bottom line here is that I have to respectfully disagree with your views on Mackenzie...I thought she was an integral part of the show...just the dynamics between Julie & Ann & Barbara is what made the whole show run like a charm and when she left, the show was basically like a car running with one of it's wheels missing. My favorite episodes are when she's there. :)

If anything, she has too much personality; from there comes most of the conflict that drives the show. When it's just Ann and her good daughter, it's sweet, but sometimes the conflicts that drive the individual plots seem forced.

She's homlier than Valerie Bertinelli, but has a certain sex appeal, especially when she's healthier.

I don't know what makes you say she can't act. She has the same talent for reaction shots that Bonnie Franklin does, and very good pacing on her line delivery, and her articulation is fine. Her facial expressions and body movements are good. What more could she be doing? She's a teenage girl in the 70s playing a teenage girl in the 70s; she's not playing Ophelia.

I also must respectfully disagree.

The interaction of the characters/personalities made the show work, IMO. She may have been chosen for her connection with The Mamas And The Papas to bring in some of the 'hip' kids as viewers, but she blended well. It is **possible** that was intended to deliberately bring episodes with a moral to that very audience.

I have already stated I saw/see the show as being "issue driven", but not all the episodes were.
EXAMPLE:
When people try to tell kids about financial responsibility, the instant reaction is to 'check out' of the discussion that then becomes a lecture. In an episode after the airline strike ended, Max and Julie insisted on taking Ann out for a nice meal as repayment for supporting them during the strike, but their credit cards got rejected. They were embarressed, the waiter worked to humiliate them, and they had to 'borrow' money from everyone at the table to scrape up the bill payment while Ann was away from the table, so she wouldn't find out, or even worse, have to pay too. As the episode unfolded, both Max and Julie used the cards for various reasons, but didn't tell each other they had, or discuss whether they should. That lesson will sneak up on a kid, and they will notice what happens, hopefully avoiding that experience in their own life. With the added comedy of the situation, those ideas at least get the attention of kids.

An episode similar to that might have been done with Barbara and spending too much on her nice clothing, but she didn't have a job, or another person to share the financial problem's responsibility. The show, and the lesson had to have a "bad daughter/wife/husband" to work the way it did.

In that time-frame, my wife and I went through the halls of the local High School, and were shocked to find all the VISA and MASTERCARD advertising posters and banners there, and clearly targeting the high school kids! That changed around ten years later, and the credit card ads were gone, but a lot of kids got themselves into troubles by then.




Unfortunately, when Mac got into the booze and the drugs, (and maybe even more from what I have read), her looks went downhill, and perhaps she was more argumentative, (and louder). Otherwise, she still meshed in the cast, until she couldn't keep up her health(?).

I also felt something was missing in the show when Mac was gone, but there could be any of several reasons for "the hole". I suspect her first seperation from the show was abrupt, and scripts had to be hurriedly reworked to less than great results. The writers were accustomed to the four primary characters, and were in unfamiliar territory without that balance. The show had been on long enough that the cast and the writers had the timing of the lines and comedy well practiced, and with one character short, or with a different cast, the timing needed practice to work as well.


As far as Mac's "looks" go, if you watch the B/W TV shows, the talented actors were a wide variety of faces and body types, not the 'plastic' looks that became the norm in shows like 90210, DYNASTY, HART TO HART, THE LOVE BOAT, and many more. By the 'plastic standard', look in the mirror and check yourself. I am glad to see even occasional exceptions on TV and in movies... it reflects real life, even though the few times you may see that are in the post office or the Department of Motor Vehicles, (or the unemployment office, like ODaaT).




- - - added by edit - - -
BTW, I recently realized I haven't seen many comments about hair length in comments here. It suddenly jumped off the screen the other day that Schneider and Ann have roughly the same hair length (season 6 anyway, with Ann's shorter hair).
So, does that mean Schneider has long hair, Ann has short hair, or both?
Julie had a more conservative hair length, and Barbara's hair is quite long, as a young woman's hair usually would be, (back then at least... no such thing as a Miley Cryus or Shinead O'Connor then, but there were Crystal Gayle and Jane Seymour with hair so long they had to be careful when they sat down). **smile** There were probably guys like either Telly Savalas or Fabio too, (look those up if you don't recognize the names).
**smile**

Her conflict added spice and flavor to the show. I always found it funny how she was the bad girl and hot Barbara was the goody two shoes. Also that she got the hot husband and Barbara got the ugly husband.

Julie also looked amazing around spring 1979 where she was extremely thin and had extremely thick hair. You can see that where she is dancing the Charleston in a green outfit in the opening song. Wowee!

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All of you people have been feeding a troll (the OP), but I gotta admit that your comments are excellent.