Cousin Oliver Syndrome is real, and it reeks of desperation.
Sitcoms, even the most popular of them, have a certain shelf life. After a while, the premise either gets stale or is nearing its end date rapidly. When this occurs, the creative team has a number of options. First, they can simply go out on top, like Seinfeld. They can spin off a character from the show into their own sitcom, an option that has seen its shares of success and failures . Sometimes they bring a new character in, like Randy in the final season of That '70s Show.
We Have 'The Brady Bunch' to Blame The TV trope, known as the "Cousin Oliver Syndrome" hearkens back to the fifth and final season of The Brady Bunch and the introduction of eight-year-old Brady cousin Oliver Tyler . While not the first, Oliver is the quintessential example of the trope that bears his name. It was 1974, and The Brady Bunch ratings were in decline. The six Brady children were all older, no longer the cute rapscallions of the earlier episodes.
One of the oddest "cute kid" additions was the introduction of 9-year-old Stephanie , the niece of Archie and Edith Bunker in the final season of All in the Family. Stephanie, abandoned by her father at the Bunker's doorstep, was introduced to keep Archie surly after Gloria and "Meathead" Mike moved to California. The goings-on around the Bunker household throughout its run to that point would hardly be one that seemed appropriate for a child to become part of.
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