Sandy Duncan was a very talented performer but for some reason the show never really kick off with the public. It is a show that you want to enjoy but the cast of characters surrounding Ms Duncan were uninteresting as yesterday's jam. It really came down to the show being too vanilla. But that is not all to this show.---
The big wigs at CBS, that actually approved the show for airing, begin to see that the show was just not needed on the CBS Saturday night line-up. The show followed the popular 'All in the Family' which was touching on hot topics while 'Funny Face' was having washing machine problems. The two did not go together and CBS was looking for a way to move the show or rid themselves of the production. But something happened that helped the big wigs and their situation. Ms Duncan began having headaches to the point of not being able to work. She found out that she had a tumor behind one of her eyes. Production stopped after 12 episodes were filmed to let Ms Duncan have surgery that resulted in losing one of her eyes. When the news got out to the public, there was nothing but sympathy for Ms Duncan and hopes for her return to the series. This left the big wigs having to rethink the show since they did not want to appear to have cancelled because of sickness to a very talented person. They even went so far to broadcast the pilot, which had a different cast, because the public was behind Ms Duncan and her fight against the tumor. But this only led to more confusing since the pilot was shown at the end of the season instead of at the first. It was very confusing to see a different cast.
The next season, CBS wanted changes. They changed the name of the show to "The Sandy Duncan Show' and a new cast was again introduced. Even though the show had very good ratings the first five weeks, the show began to fade with less viewers each week. In fact the only thing that really changed was the shows titled. It was 'Funny Face' redone.
There was many to blame for the series failure but most important was the writing. Silly scripts with a lack of interesting characters does not make for an entertaining show. And some of the fault may have been with Ms Duncan's sickness. Her character was never compelling. At times, her character appeared bored as wanting this nightmare to end. But that may again have to do with the sickness and emotions of the tumor. It was a show you want to like but was not to be.
