# The Cousin Oliver Effect (spoilers possible) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 5, 2005, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cousin-oliver-effect-spoilers-possible/315783 "2005-08-05T21:02:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cousin-oliver-effect-spoilers-possible/315783/61 "2005-08-06T22:39:12Z")
> [@lhovis73](#): > > … because the show seems to suck more as it adds more plot twists and secondary characters, and gets away from the original formula that worked so well (i.e., focused more or less exclusively on Tony Soprano, commenting to his shrink about how crazy his mobster life is…). Well, that may been the result of scrambling after the sudden death of Nancy Marchand. Once Tony’s mother was dead, talking to the shrink seemed far less relevant. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cousin-oliver-effect-spoilers-possible/315783/62 "2005-08-06T23:30:10Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > Jan Hooks as Carlene Dawber, Charlene’s sister. Who’s a replacement rather than an addition so she doesn’t count, but does get honorable mention since in the episode “Odell” we meet and are introduced to all of Charlene’s siblings by name and there’s no Carlene. And Julia Duffy as Julia and Suzanne’s cousin Alison. Also a replacement rather than an addition. Not really apropos to the OP, but in Delta Burke’s spin-off series as Suzanne, the shortlived [Women of the House](http://imdb.com/title/tt0112228/) (made years after Delta was fired from _Designing Women_ and after the show subsequently tanked), Suzanne had picked up two relatives. One was explicable: an Asian daughter she had adopted while married to the elderly Congressman who died in office (the plot of the show was that she was filling his seat), but the other not so much: her retarded brother Jim (played by Jonathan Banks), who had never once been mentioned on _Designing Women_ (in which she and Julia had a half-brother, born between them and played by Atlanta humorist Lewis Grizzard, by their father’s brief marriage to another woman). ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cousin-oliver-effect-spoilers-possible/315783/63 "2005-08-07T04:05:45Z")
What about the constantly changing children of Murray and Marie (at one point including a juvenile Helen Hunt) and Ted and Georgette (let is never speak of the Cambodian baby again…) on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”. Kids came in an out with sweeping dramatic licence. mm ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cousin-oliver-effect-spoilers-possible/315783/64 "2005-08-07T04:13:40Z")
Voyager wasn’t bad until they ran into (yawn) the Borg and Seven of Nine joined. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cousin-oliver-effect-spoilers-possible/315783/65 "2005-08-07T04:21:00Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Evidently Pam got hooked on the pipe and wound up dead at a party in Queens as she disappeared after a few episodes and was never seen again. She never made it to the opening credits so to this day she probably hasn’t danced with Bill (though maybe he at least drugged and groped her boobs). Actually, she did make it to the opening credits; I saw it. Only that was the season that they used the background mural that the show didn’t want to pay for, so after the first few episodes, they went back to the prior season’s credits, and just tagged a tiny “Erika Alexander as Pam” line of text onto the end of those. ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cousin-oliver-effect-spoilers-possible/315783/66 "2005-08-07T04:35:50Z")
On \*\*Three’s Company \*\* after Suzanne Sommers left, the brought in a chick that was susposed to be a relative on Chrissy named Cindy Snow, but I can’t remember how she was related. I think the show lasted at least three years after that. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cousin-oliver-effect-spoilers-possible/315783/67 "2005-08-07T08:25:21Z")
> [@mamboman](#): > > Mel Brooks joined “Mad About You” as a semi-regular in the last two seasons or so as as Uncle Phil. Wasn’t a good move for the show, but hey, he’s Mel Brooks. You gotta love that… > > mm There were many bad things about the last couple of seasons of _Mad About You_, but Mel Brooks wasn’t one of them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cousin-oliver-effect-spoilers-possible/315783.md?page=3)