Let's Discuss "Maude"

The opening is awesome. The show itself was always a little much for me.

As Babs Thorndyke might have said, a little of Bea goes a long way. I much preferred her Dorothy.

Too many dramatic monologues for me.

Conrad Bain stole the show.

I prefer Maude to The Golden Girls.

I loved Maude. She was ahead of her time.

Loved Florida but Mrs Naugatuck was a stitch.

Seven thousand posts about The Golden Girls can fill up, but one post about Maude whithers and dies after 5 replies. “Why don’t you just wear a sign that says ‘Too Ugly to Live’”

Her college nickname was "Chunky".

Loved Maude and have the series on DVD. I think the funniest episode the "Vivian's First Funeral". The funeral home is "Mcdonalds." The owner's first name is Ronald! When Maude knocks on the coffin cover I lose it.

I loved Maude’s catch phrase “God’ll get you for that!”

Both Maude and All in the Family were so ahead of their times - and I often wonder if they would be permitted to air in prime time today!

I only recently realized that Hermione Baddeley (Mrs Naugatuck) was Tiny Tim's mother in A Christmas Carol

What did I want with your father's powertools?

Beatrice Arthur talks about Rue, Florida, Carol, and that kid of her no one ever sees.

"Esther Rolle: I don't do WINDOWS and I don't do COMEDY!"

Starts at 17:16

It was fun at the time. They eventually drove it into the ground in the later seasons after the magic had dissipated.

Oh Florida, I forgot that's where she came from. They never should've let her go, she was perfect for Maude to play off of. That's what killed the show, Esther leaving.

I had never seen the show, so I bought the first rat season. To me, Dorothy was a more sedate character than Maude, and I used to think Dorothy was a bit over the top w her demands. I also thought it was funny that Walter and Didf'rent Strokes guy would be drunk in the bar without ACTUALLY being filmed with a drink in their hand. But then Maude got drunk at the political party she threw at her house.

Can someone tell me about the episode where Vivian thinks she has a hot date so she goes to the door topless & it turns out to be a minister? WTF? Did I understand that correctly?

R16 Vivian decided to spice up her marriage. She wraps herself in saran wrap. Maude and Walter visit. She runs to the door, flings it open with her eyes close and say "surprise lover boy!" she opens her eyes, sees Maude and Walter, screams, and slams the door.

The whole thing is shot BEHIND Maude and Walter, so their backs are to the camera. It's brilliant, because neither of them moves. Vivian answers the door, screams, and they are still. After the door is shut, maude and Walter don't move and are silent. The laughter builds and builds. Suddenly, after about ten seconds, we see Maude slightly shift her weight, and the laughter builds from that again. Any version of it now is cut for syndication, and it sucks. You don't get the full effect.

Maude, at its best, was much better than Golden Girls. The best episodes of Maude were like mini-plays.

Bill Macy (Walter) was stark naked in "Oh! Calcutta" on Broadway and in the video, and he was actually kind of cute naked.

I like how Adrienne Barbeau was credited as "the Twins"

R18 I guess it’s a matter of taste but I couldn’t disagree more.

The theme was bad ass, thoughz

The writing on "Maude" was always uneven and Bea tearing up the stage unhindered for half an hour could be a bit too much.

And it would never, ever air today except on a streaming platform. Maude had an abortion, called her husband a sonofabitch, drink like a fish (as did the whole cast) and popped pills recreationally, all for laughs, with no moralizing.

It was very much of its time.

The writing on GG was stronger, but Dorothy Z wasn't as good an all around character as Maude. Maude had a great many adventures over the course of those few seasons. She was feisty, she was independent, but she also had the support of a caring husband.

By contrast, as much as Dorothy could get sarcastic and appear above it all, she would wind up getting put in her place, either by Sophia or by the girls. . Her looks, her job, her lack of a social life and her divorce was constantly the subject of ridicule. There was always a sense of failure surrounding her situation that there never was with Maude Findlay.

Bea was deluded if she believed Maude and Vivian were like Lucy and Ethel.

I'd rather sit through the entire season of Maude every week than one episode of Golden Girls every year.

So no one linked Macy's peepee?

Adrienne lost a lot of weight right after the first season.

And then there's Maude

Bill Macy was cute, but Alan Rachins was gorgeous and very sexy nude in "Calcutta". Also, trying to imagine all naked guys who did "Hair" including Isaac from the "Love Boat", Joe Mantegna, Keith Carradine, all back then. There were some other well-known guys who stripped for Calcutta as well.

[quote]Conrad Bain stole the show.

I loved the episode where Arthur Harmon (Bain), upset about gay rights, announced his intention to start a protest group called Fathers Against Gay Sex. Maude replied, "You mean F.A.G.S.?" The look on his face was priceless!

On the other hand, despite fond memories of the series, I found it difficult to watch on DVD decades later. I'd forgotten how NOISY is was. (So much yelling!)

I still think the real Bea Arthur died shortly after Maude was cancelled and replaced with a lookalike. There's no way that the Bea Arthur we saw in Maude is the same lady who did Golden Girls. They don't look or act anything alike. They're simply not the same woman.

It's well-known that Mae West died and was replaced by her female impersonator brother. The Mae you saw towards the later part of her career was a man.

Some episodes hold up well but others are cringeworthy and such a product of the time. Loved it as a kid and unlike ALL IN THE FAMILY, I remember at one point it’s time slot was after my bedtime so I would have to sneak and watch it as I could.

Recently saw an episode with Maude at a psychiatrist . Bea was over emoting all over the place. Such an obvious play for an Emmy node. However, the episodes which revealed Maude’s manic depression and a I thought were really well scripted and acted.

Of course there were the episodes where the cast puts on a show which verged on THE LUCY SHOW territory.

Once the replaced the real Philip, with the fake, fat, blond one, it was all over

r33

FUCK YOU!

Walter did strip partly in one episode of "Maude", though he looked less cute with the moustache.

I never realized that she had a third housekeeper. It is a Jamacian woman played by the actress who played Laureen Hobbs in Network. (Marlene Warfield)

I've been watching the reruns on FE network. They still hold up.

I love the “Aunt Tinky” episode.

They did a musical episode every year too where Adrienne got to slut it up and show off her body.

I loved when Maude and Florida were going to sing “Me and my Shadow” and guilty liberal Maude wouldn’t let Florida be the shadow.

And a classic was Maude becoming a supporter of black liberation and throwing a party for a black panther type guy. Florida cancels and Maude realizes there will be no blacks at the party. Walter says “Maude, you got to have a back up black”. Another great line from the episode was when Maude was about to call a friend to see if she knew any blacks and then she remembers “American Indians are her bag”.

The show had self awareness and wasn’t afraid to call out and make fun of the ridiculousness of white liberals like Maude. That’s missing from shows today and they can seem a bit preachy. It’s good to laugh at ourselves sometimes.

[QUOTE]It's amazing how chunky Bea was in this show compared to a decade later in "The Golden Girls" when she looked like a bag of bones.

I always got the feeling that Bea was very vain.

R33 R34

PHILIP IS NOT DUMB ! !

Bea looked much better and healthier when she did GG.

It was a shout fest just like All in the Family and The Jeffersons and Good Times.

Donny Hathaway, who sang the "And Then There's Maude" theme song in the opening credits, took a concrete swan dive out of a 15th floor hotel window. He was 33.

R41: And yet Bea was given freedom to sing and be her, something that absolutely did not happen on Golden Girls.

^It's called being an actor. Who ever said that Bea needed to play herself in every role?

Maude was the ultimate social justice warrior. That show would have worked well today. Of course they cannot do a reboot, because no one could ever deliver the presence and energy that Be a Arthur brought.

R44: No one. But she seemed more natural and happier coming down the stairs, singing It's Impossible For Maude Findlay To Look As Beautiful...

And I say this as a fan of GG and Dorothy, who was always my favorite.

No one demographically desirable would watch a Maude reboot, so it would never happen. All of those relics from the 70s and into the early 80s, unless they are truly iconic and not just a product of their time and with mass public appeal (for example, Charlie's Angels/Dallas/Dynasty), would get a reboot or movie.

Maude is absolutely exhausting. Its kind of unwatchable.

[quote] Bea looked much better and healthier when she did GG.

She was thinner and she looks older, during Golden Girls. I wouldn't say that she necessarily looks healthier.

A reboot would never happen but if it did I’m not sure it would have the same self awareness and willingness to poke fun at itself that Maude had. Maude had great points but she could be an asshole and she sometimes was a hypocrite. Today she would be one note and it would be a lecture preaching to the converted. I mean we’ve laughed on DL at those liberals who said they’d love to leave the country over Trump and then where do they pick to move to? Why Sweden, Denmark, Canada, Ireland.... the same people who said how dare that racist Trump say shithole countries. Now that’s an episode of Maude right there. I can see Maude going on a screaming rant, coming down the stairs with her suitcase to say fairwell to Viv and Arthur and express how she must leave if she’s to remain a champion of the poor, the blacks, the asylum seekers. And the punchline........I’ll call you when I land in Oslo. Close up of Walter’s long suffering face. End credits.

Carol Burnett does a parody of "Maude" called BROAD

There's a very good reason Bea was thinner and healthier looking in the Golden Girls.

There was a spin-off featuring Mrs. Naugatuck called Cockney Kook. It was the only English language series ever to have English subtitles.

How Maude and Walter exchanged subservient and dominant roles was pretty revolutionary.

The musical number shows are all pretty good. Amazing how the whole cast was theater trained and could carry a musical number too.

The one where Maude is forced to sing Sinatra's My Way because the Sinatra impersonator didn't show up is great. She starts slowly and keeps apologizing and saying she can't do it and then slowly gets into it and really belts out the song including an encore.

Mrs. Naugautuct has what I think is the shortest Oscar nominated performance ever. She got a Best Supporting Actress nomination somehow for a movie called A Room at the Top where she basically walks up a staircase and says a few lines and that is it. I don't know how she ever got nominated for such a small role. The first time I saw the movie I thought this must be an edited version.

I remember she and an old friend have a reunion and sing "Sonny Boy" like troupers.

I love Maude and enjoyed it way more than GG.

Sometimes I'm taken aback at how utterly different Bea looks between the two.

Loved the musical numbers, but even a general episode could be really great. They did a good job of outlining the characters so that it was a real conversation. And they really showed how she and Walter struggled in their marriage.

My favorite episode is a party that the Harmons are having and somehow Maude isn't invited or gets uninvited......they have a knock down drag out verbal fight which is filled with delicious insults. Almost Frasier-esque in its deliciousness. Watch Mrs. Naugatuck, and Maude's big moment around 20:30 and after.....

Mrs Naugatuck was in an old Disney movie with Roddy McDowell called “Bullwhip Griffin”. We watched it in elementary school in the 90s and I was of course the only kid who said “Oh look it’s Mrs Naugatuck!” I never had to come out.

Another gem was “Viv’s Dog”. Viv’s dog dies in Maude’s care and Maude has to pay for the funeral. Terri Garr plays the undertaker who comes to plan the funeral.

Maude was by and large a very smart show for adults.

Golden Girls was solidly low brow, and not very good. Common gays love it.

Staff Sgt Bea Arthur, USMC

I watch the reruns on FE but not in order.

I'm a bit confused on the shows cast. So Vivian and Arthur weren't married in the beginning? Sometimes Rue's name comes up at the end so she wasn't even a regular.

Was Florida on from the beginning?

Why did the recast Adriene Barbeau's son? The first kid was better.

I always liked Barbeau in her horror movie phase. She should have had a better career.

I love both Maude and GG. It’s possible!

Rue wasn’t a regular cast member in the beginning. She started seeing Arthur and then they married making her a regular. Adrienne’s part got whittled down as the show progressed which was a shame.

I liked Marcia Rodd a lot in the AITF backdoor pilot and she really held her own with Bea and the AITF actors, but I agree that she was too much like Bea. They needed someone softer like Barbeau to contrast Bea.

Why was Barbeau's role whittled down?

R61 that is obviously not Bea Arthur

Vera Charles, Maude Findlay and Dorothy Zbornak are so different in my mind that I sometimes forget Bea plays them all. I can watch a GG and then a Maude and not see Bea. Which is a rare thing really for an actor. Other actors who had several shows like Valerie Harper or Bob Newhart couldn’t do that.

I loved Maude as a young gayling during its original airing. In the third grade when we started diagramming sentences I would always propose “Mrs. Naugatuck” as the subject or objects in my sentences.

r23 did you study English at Cambridge in the mid-80s, and was Lisa Jardine your supervisor? Asking for a friend.

Gays who like Golden Girls are usually fat and grew up in Ohio. Ross Matthews comes to mine. Very common.

Gays who like Maude are trim and well read. More of a Gore Vidal type. Above it all.

I like both and I’m trim with a fat cock so not a bad theory.

Can’t not include this

[quote]How Maude and Walter exchanged subservient and dominant roles was pretty revolutionary.

I liked it when Walter said, "Maude your clitoris is bigger than my penis"

Like all Norman Lear shows it was too loud and screamy at times but the good episodes are REALLY good. They really do play like exceptional once act plays.

Bea looks considerably different between the two series because....they were 7 years apart. And, she lost weight and had a lot of plastic surgery after her husband left her, which apparently devastated her.

She was 50 when Maude began and 62 when they shot the Golden Girls pilot.

R74 I liked Maude the best on AITF when she was going toe to toe with Archie. Which brings me to my main point: Bea needs to be around people - both characters and the actors themselves - who are or who are close to her equal. The shows need that balance. The problem on Maude was that none of the characters or actors were close to being her equal. Bea might have loved that because she got to 100 percent dominate every scene with no challenges, but the Golden Girls dynamic and how all the actresses brilliantly complimented each other made for a much better overall show - in my humble opinion.

R68 MARY!

Why did they need a housekeeper? Neither Maybe nor Adrian had a job. They didn't live in a mansion. Was the housekeeper full time?

R77: Carol worked, from job to job. Maude didn't at that start but when you're an activist with a degree in romance languages, you don't have time to clean things. So you hire a black cleaner from Harlem.

Seriously, I love the show but it was strange in the Florida years that she didn't work even though she studied romance languages and had to have a maid. Later on, she became a real estate agent.

R52, Lord, that was a joke in a Mad Magazine. You got every word right.

Once Maude and Walter were in a hotel room having a knock down, drag out fight and someone bangs on the wall and yells "will you two fags knock it off. We're trying to sleep".

Another great episode, although inverted for Dailymotion. Walter has a dream where he kisses Arthur and both begin dreading going on a camping trip together.

Agreed, R63, “Viv’s Dog” is a hoot, with several laugh-out-loud moments.

[quote]but it was strange in the Florida years that she didn't work even though she studied romance languages and had to have a maid.

CAROL! We call them housekeepers now!

The interesting thing is how the Vivian character changed. In Season 1, she has a grey silver hairdo, a lower voice and she's more forceful. When she starts courting Arthur after she divorces Chuck, (and becomes a regular cast member) her hair goes blonde, her voices is lighter and she's ditzy ala Rose. Character redo in real time.

R83: Oh, yeah? "Colored Folk work on the Mississippi, colored folk work will the white man plays" -- Florida's New Words

Why do all the women on TV become real estate agents. Phyllis, Carol Brady, Maude, etc etc

Because they couldn’t handle a real job. ^

"I can't deal with being in menopause, Walter. Terrible things will happen to me! My voice will change." (A delicious beat goes by with Walter looking at Maude) "God'll get you for what you're thinking, Walter."

R79 I'm so glad someone got that.

Pathetic that I remember this exchange from “Viv’s Dog”, when pet funeral consultant Teri Garr interrupts a squabbling Maude and Viv:

Garr: “Ladies, please! In a situation like this, emotions run very high!”

Maude: “So do your prices!”

The great “backup black” episode.

R84, the change happened to the character after she gets a face life. I don't know if McClanahan really had one but the character looked completely different. The face lift episode was written by Susan Harris and had some brilliant lines. Maude: You'd never get your face lifted. Florida: We don't even straighten our hair anymore.

Teri Garr: Our beautiful ceremony will come to only $250 dollars. Maude: ONLY $250? Teri: And we're on the Diner's Club.

The episode with her mother, Mrs. Chadburn, is fantastic too. In a previous YouTube posting, I remember commentators getting upset it wasn't Estelle Getty. Silly gaylings...

"There's no way that the Bea Arthur we saw in Maude is the same lady who did Golden Girls. They don't look or act anything alike. They're simply not the same woman."

One big reason for the change: BOOZE. Bea kicked the habit, or drank way less.

On her local WOR NY radio talk show over 20 years ago, Joan Rivers described Bea Arthur as being a big sloppy drunk at one point. This was when Arthur was still alive; Joan could say anything on that show since few people were listening. I believe her.

Maude was before my time, and it's odd for me to see Bea and Rue as characters other than Blanche and Dorothy.

Joan said it somewhere else too because I never heard her radio show but I heard her say Bea liked the bottom of a glass. Some interviewer said he went to Bea’s home to interview her and she was knocking ‘em back before noon.

R95: It's interesting how all 3, aside from Estelle, had one well known TV role and one lesser known role before GG.

Bea Arthur --> Maude Findlay to Amanda Cartwright to Dorothy Zbornak.

Rue McClanahan --> Vivian Harmon to Fran Crowley to Blanche Devereaux.

Betty White --> Sue Ann Nivens to Ellen Jackson to Rose Nylund.

I loved how much they drank and pill popped. Walter's alcoholism and slapping Maude while the two are decorating Philip's cake was terrifically done. They also did a suicide episode that didn't scream "a very special episode". They were great at that. Nothing like the shit that was done in the 80s when we were all going to learn something. "Maude" just went there and made it funny.

Maude vs. Right-winger John Wayne was terrific as well.

[quote]Mrs Naugatuck was in an old Disney movie with Roddy McDowell called “Bullwhip Griffin”. We watched it in elementary school in the 90s and I was of course the only kid who said “Oh look it’s Mrs Naugatuck!” I never had to come out.

She was also in "Mary Poppins".

Still holds up!

So ahead of its time. Bea loved Maude and liked to talk about it but disliked GG. Maude is good but you need to remember the context when it was filmed. No way any network would risk doing something so liberal today.

They had an episode where Walter became all religious to network and sell merchandise. Maude is appalled and republican neighbor and doctor Arthur bets her $5 that she can't name one church that doesn't have doctors who go to church to get patients. "Christian Science."

I think Maude was really funny, which is important as it was a comedy but it came perilously close to being bipolar/manic depressive because they would so quickly switch from comedy to drama. The episode where Maude and Walter ruin the cake only to have Walter hit her is a prime example.

One performer who was simply great was Mother Dexter herself, Judith Lowry. She was on twice, once as Aunt Polly during the Come as Your Favorite Year episode and another as a volunteer worker during the election episode. Maude advocates premarital sex in an interview and a snippy volunteer says she lost the vote of decent people. Lowry responds "that's a lot of bull. My motto is, you don't buy a shoe unless you try it on first." Later, Barboobs is leaning over the table and Lowry asks if she's wearing a Maidenform bra. Barboobs says yes and Lowry says that she's going to have to switch to Maidenform.

Bea sings Hard Hearted Hannah. She was wonderful.

I love cock more than anyone else in the world, but Adrienne Barbeau’s tits are iconic.

Tons of guys in the 70s must've been beating off to those tits.

R104: The classics work on both shows.

I am happy that Bill Macy is still with us at 96. I found this little nugget. After Maude was cancelled, none of the cast ever got in touch with him.

[quote]Ross Matthews comes to mine.

Ross Matthews comes to your WHAT, dear?

R108 That's why it's called show business. When Dick York was forced to leave Bewitched due to illness, his wife said no one from the cast ever called them, including Agnes who they had grown very close to.

The reason they switched Phillips is because the kid who originated the role eventually got too old and even too tall. They got another actor who was far more likable but because he didn't originate the role, he never caught on. Also, his season was the worst.

"Why, Mrs. Dubonnet!"

Were Maude and Edith Bunker supposed to be first cousins? Maude and Edith were supposedly very close, I wonder why Lear didn't do any crossover episodes throughout the years. Even Sherman Hemsley and Isabel Sanford made some AITF appearances several years after The Jeffersons were spun off.

R113 a shame since as I said upthread I really enjoyed her best when she was sparring with Archie.

"I often wonder if they would be permitted to air in prime time today!"

"Maude" would. But "All In The Family?" I don't think so. I don't think bigotry is considered funny anymore.

Yes it's too bad there weren't more crossovers with Maude and the Bunkers. They should've done one each season.

Could you imagine the abortion episode on CBS today? Maude: I need a double. I'm drinking for two.

Archie and Maude were comic gold. As a poster alluded to upthread, one of "Maude"'s flaws was that the writers never gave her an equally brash sparring partner. Archie had Mike, but Maude was such a strong OTT, overwhelming character and there was no one on the series to really go toe-to-toe with her.

Arthur, r118. He drove her nuts and also outed her hypocrisy.

What happened to the original Philip? What does he look like today?

"Were Maude and Edith Bunker supposed to be first cousins?"

That connection was invented so they could establish the Maude character on number 1 All in the Family before spinning the already planned "Maude" show off. Maude and Edith as close cousins and buddies is totally implausible, and I was shocked that they even tried to pull it off when I first saw it in 1972.

they were lesbian lovers

I think there was one brief mention of Maude on the AITF after the "Maude" series had been established. I don't recall Maude ever mentioning any of the AITF characters on "Maude." "The Jeffersons" seemed more closely tied to AITF, which is kind of odd AITF was closer in tone to "Maude" than it was to the more slapsticky "Jeffersons."

Edith is a very lovable character. Maude also probably felt sorry for her that she was married to Archie.

[quote] That connection was invented so they could establish the Maude character on number 1 All in the Family before spinning the already planned "Maude" show off.

No.

If Lear and others are to be believed, Arthur was hired to play one episode of AITF, and the president of CBS (or head of programming) called him halfway through the airing of that episode and said, "We need to give this woman her own show."

So Maude, as well as Walter and the first Carol, appeared in a second AITF episode that served as the back door pilot for Maude.

R119 I wouldn’t really consider Conrad Bain close to Bea’s equal - and certainly Rue as Viv wasn’t either.

Bea needed a Carroll O’Connor or a Betty White, or Rue (as Blanche) or “Ma” to play off of. She may not have liked it because she wasn’t the only STAH but it made for a far better dynamic and better television.

The concept of an equal partner to Maude is interesting. Remember Bill Macy's "Maude.....SIT" He had lots of quiet moments like that and he definitely had the upper hand but because Arthur was such a commanding presence, it was hard to think anyone could spar with her. In truth, everyone in the household had their victories against Maude but they're difficult to remember.

There was the one AITF episode where "Cousin Maudie" came in to take care of everyone because the whole family including Edith was sick. And then Archie and Maude interact for a few minutes in the backdoor pilot.

The fact is Carroll O'Conner likely couldn't stand having "two chiefs" around. He was the head cast member, and that was it. I doubt Bea Arthur would've been too comfortable with it either, which may be the real root of his dislike of Betty White.

R127: Correct. R126 just wants to shit on Bea cuz he's a Betty White fangurl. That's very obvious now...

Rue was 10 years younger than Bea, and in her first episode (I think the abortion episodes) they tried to make it as if she were Maude's age. She wore a grey wig, and acted matronly. After those episodes, they decided to make her kooky. That was the reason for the drastic change. She's only the older version of Vivian in that two-parter.

R129 if my saying that the other Maude cast members weren’t on (or anywhere near) Bea’s level talent wise is “shitting on her,” then ok. They couldn’t possibly compete.

Beware if you buy the Complete Series on DVD from Amazon. It's only available from third party sellers and is fulfilled by Amazon. Anyhow, they sent me a fucking BOOTLEG.

R131: That's why you opined that Bea didn't want competition so she cold be a "STAH". If that's a compliment, it's worded very strangely...

I think Bill Macy was a great foil for her because they were believable together. One of the better moments of the series was where Maude wants to run for office only to realize that everyone was against her doing so because it might jeopardize her marriage.

Generally, the rest of the cast never yelled. They discussed and Arthur pulled up the volume. I don't think she steamrolled anyone through the script but through her acting, which the character required.

Rue was 13 years younger than Bea.

In what, r135, dog years??

Sorry, Rue was 12 years younger than Bea. Rue was born in 1934 and Bea was born in 1922.

Maude and Viv were sorority sisters in college. One episode had them going to a reunion.

Viv started the rumor about Maude having a penis.

I liked it when Philip had a part and Maude invited Mary and Joseph and they brought along their friend Jesus.

I liked the long duster sweaters she wore on Maude.

How come Maude never showed her neck, yet Dorothy did?

Because Maude was a vampire, Rose.

Bea lost a ton of weight and had a facelift between Maude and Golden Girls, that's why she looked different.

Walter showed quite a lot a few years before "Maude".

Alan Rachins, from "LA Law " and "Dharma and Greg" was gorgeous when he wore his wig, almost looking like Louis Jourdan.

Bill Macy's real name is Wolf Martin Garber!

Rachins said his dad saw Oh Calcutta and told him that some people may call it a hit but he spelled it with an "s".

Actually, the hottest looking guy in those photos is the guy on the left on the top photo, Mark Dempsey with the beard; it's not the best photo of him, but he was really gorgeous.

Hottest guys I saw in "Oh! Calcutta" were this guy Bill Bass, who opened in the revival, but was a very happy and beaming understudy when I saw him go on, and a truly hot guy with a moustache, Nick Mangano, who I think is now a theater professor.

I don't know the dynamics of why the cast didn't contact Bill Macy post-Maude, but seeing him on a 70s game show was likely more than enough. He came across like a manic ham.

As for Dick York, I think he also was a bit much offscreen, and made Elizabeth Montgomery uncomfortable more than once with suggestive remarks. Don't think Bea Arthur had to worry about that aspect, but Bill Macy did appear to lack a filter.

A friend of mine was in the cast of "Oh! Calcutta" when Bill Macy was in it, and he did not find Macy to be a generous colleague on stage; he said he frequently tried to upstage him when my friend had gotten laughs in their scene together.

Wow, Rachins was quite the fit hairy stud when he was younger. Yum!

Didn't Mark Dempsey become a soap opera mainstay?

He certainly had the looks for it. I think he passed away some years ago though.

Her feet!!!!

The Maude dvd set is great. It includes never-before-aired episodes and a book by Norman Lear on the show. One disc has a bunch of interviews done recently, too.

I love the purple carpet and drapes that they added to the set in the final season.

In an interesting twist, unaired versions of the season two episode "The Double Standard" and the season five episode "Maude's New Friends" exist. In "The Double Standard", originally shot as episode 116, Maude debates whether daughter Carol Traynor (Adrienne Barbeau)'s boyfriend Chris (Fred Grandy) should sleep in the same room as Carol, or in the guest room. In "Maude's New Friends" (not to be confused with the season three episode "Maude's New Friend"), which was originally 315, the Findlays are introduced to a couple (James Coco and Helen Page Camp) who express interest in wife-swapping. The episodes were later reshot with cast changes, but tapes for both were found in Sony Pictures' vaults and included on Shout! Factory's 2015 complete-series box set.

I just saw the Fred Grandy episode on FE. Is that the reshot version?

I thought that one was funny since Maude is so liberal but when it comes to her own daughter she can't carry thru with her liberal views. (Plus she keeps going into the kitchen every time the conversation gets too stressful for her and Bea does wonderfully physical comedy frantically cutting celery and other cooking.

R84, in that episode, Florida is singing while she dusts. Maude comes in the room and hears her. Florida is singing the lines from "Showboat"; "Darkies all work on the Mississippi, darkies all work while the white folks play."

Maude scolds her and says, "No, Florida, we sing it this way now: Here we all work on the Mississippi, here we all work while the captain plays." She has a smug smile on her face, as if she thinks she has just taught Florida how to rise up from Jim Crow.

Florida looks at Maude, slightly raises her eyebrows, waits a beat or two and responds, "Ms. Findley, the only problem is we're still working and you're still playing." At which point, Carol laughs, Maude looks crestfallen, Florida returns to dusting, and the audience erupts in laughter.

It was a perfect example of how the show could make the social justice point and skewer Maude for her smugness and hypocrisy in just a few lines.

As others have said, Maude was brilliant at skewering how clueless and condescending white liberals could be. It was brilliant. If Maude were re-made today, that element would be gone and no poking fun would be allowed.

I think Lear wants to reboot or redo all of his shows.

Big mouth woman on a subway train!

Words come out like a splattering rain!

She always used to make me those molasses cookies.

fuck aunt Tinky!

The Broken Punchbowl was good, it allowed Bea some opportunity for physical comedy and those facial expressions when Mrs Naugatuck empties the broken glass out into the trash can.

In another episode, though it’s done to death, Bea managed to make me laugh out loud when she drops an urn and has to vacuum the ashes.

R162 I miss that on TV, from both sides. Everything now is a lecture or just dark and mean.

Mauwwwwwde!

R161: :That's not how the scene goes down. Maude isn't smug in it, she's exasperated that Florida would use the word (looks around) "darkies". And that exasperation continues as she tells Florida the new words. Florida cracked her one liner than Maude has her answer the telephone.

I love watching Bea’s interviews. She is so glamorous and above it all.

I'm surprised no more comment's on Macy's naked bod.

I love Maude and it still holds up, but it's Golden Girls that makes me cringe now.

To each his own.

It was Carol's ample bosom that made the show a success.

It was my comic timing that drew in audience to not one but TWO hits

Now the world don’t move to the beat of Judy one drum.

just, not Judy.

r159 huh?

Everyone raves about the writing on GG and how it was superior. IT WASNT...and the inconsistencies were obvious and sometimes reckless.

Has anyone seen Amanda By The Sea with BA? It’s on YouTube.

R180: Yeah I watched the first episode and that was enough. It doesn't work because the American director has her say the Basil Fawlty insults out loud to her guests' faces. Basil always does it under breath or in the finest passive-aggressive British tradition. It just doesn't translate over. I don't think it's Bea's fault, it's in the writing and directing.

I just watched ABTS and it’s dreadful

All of a sudden, TGG is awful and lousy to the DLs. Sure, Jan.

Maude's theme was unbeatable.

Florida was great, but I didn't like Maude with a black maid. I detested Mrs. Naugatuck. Also couldn't stomach Bill Macy. Just couldn't accept that Maude would marry and make love to that guy.

Bea was not chunky. She was healthy. Some of you douchebags. Explains why OP prefers that damned Mrs. Naugatuck. She didn't even want to do housework and had a gambling problem. That's probably considered chic or trendy. BTW, I only know "Maude" from occasional reruns - - before my time.

Was this the first color TV show whose female star had grey hair? I think it was and that is pretty radical, and something I still find jarring.

Maude had good posture.

I loved her grey hair.

Interesting that Maude's house was supposed to be an upper-middle class dwelling. I guess that's what well-off looked like in the 70s but today it looks pretty dumpy.