When I think of 80's television, several shows come to mind… Beauty and the Beast, Young Riders, The A-Team, Silver Spoons, Who's the Boss?... I was a religious watcher of Beauty and the Beast and Young Riders (I actually have 2 postcards from the cast of Young Riders with their autographs), but my all time favorite television show of the 80's was… Scarecrow and Mrs. King.
Oh, I sat every Monday night waiting… waiting… for that show! I loved it! I had this friend on the school bus who was also a fan, and every Tuesday morning we'd huddle in our seats together and rehash every moment and every glance.
Especially before Lee and Amanda became a couple. Oh, my goodness! (To accurately quote Amanda King). Season One, they could barely stand each other. Season Two (The season I like to call "What was she thinking with that hair cut?"), the ice was melting, leading into heavy flirting and hand holding in Season Three… and finally, their secret love affair and marriage in Season Four. I mean, come on! What future romance author wouldn’t eat this stuff up with a spoon!
I was in junior high/early high school at the time, and I didn't know the story behind why suddenly -- right after the two of them were married on the show -- that Kate Jackson/Amanda King pretty much disappeared from the screen. And when the show was cancelled, I was heartbroken! I saw at least two more seasons of them sneaking around before they finally got caught and had to fess up! It was until later that I discovered the truth. Right after they filmed the episode in which Lee and Amanda got married, Kate Jackson was diagnosed with breast cancer and immediately began intense treatments that left her so tired she completed what little filming they did (they rewrote scripts to accommodate her) usually seated. And they cancelled the show instead of going on without her, or with an abbreviated appearance. She was, after all, Mrs. King.
Twenty or so years later, I made my own resolution. Writing SMK fanfiction was my first endeavor into the long misunderstood genre. ☺ I rewrote their first kiss, because I didn't like it and thought it was lame. I created a whole back story through the third and fourth season, and I wrote a novella length story that was ultimately their 'coming out'… the reason they had to come clean and confess their secret marriage. That was about 10 years ago, and I still get emails today about those stories. ☺
I guess Lee and Amanda were some of my early 'television' romance influences. I always look for the 'ship'. And hello… Bruce Boxleitner was totally hot!
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I adored that show, too. Kate Jackson was a favorite from Dark Shadows! And Yep, Bruce was quite hot. Would love to read those stories you wrote.
ReplyDeleteDidn't know that about the breast cancer. Glad she won that battle.
Great blog. Brought back lots of memories as this show was one of my daughter's favorites, too.
ReplyDeleteToni
Thanks for your post, Gail.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember viewing "Scarecrow and Mrs. King" during the 1980s. At that time I watched hardly any TV.
But I'm a fan of Kate Jackson, largely because of her work on "Charlie's Angels". So I know about her fight with breast cancer. She has since lent her efforts to campaigns against it.
Of the three actresses who rose to fame during the first season of "Charlie's Angels"---Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith, and Farrah Fawcett---each would in later years have to fight cancer. Two of them beat it.
Oh sure bring back memories, I liked Scarecrow and Mrs King, remington steel and the A team kind of had to cause hubby watched it. Was the Young Riders the Pony express show I liked that too
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