Baby Talk (TV Series) - Reception and Cancellation

Reception and Cancellation

Baby Talk spent most of its life on ABC's TGIF, having bounced around, at one period or another, between the latter three time slots (between 8:30 and 10:00 EST) of the Friday lineup. From April to May 1991, the show even occupied Tuesdays at 8:30/7:30c in an effort to help the show's performance. The latter time slot was where it was supposed to be placed on the fall 1990 schedule, before the delays in production occurred (when it became clear that Baby Talk would not be ready for its fall premiere in the wake of Connie Sellecca's departure, ABC put Head of the Class, which was originally on mid-season status that year, in its Tuesday time slot).

The show was initially a ratings success finishing the season ranked 27th among all programs with a 14.3 average household share, mostly due to the curiosity that had long surrounded the project, stemming from its movie influence and the behind-the scenes issues. However, from its premiere, critics derided the show heavily. They criticized the simple writing, overplayed character traits and the fact that the show centered around "a talking baby that happened to have a single mother", instead of Look Who's Talking, which was a success due to its centering around a "single mother who just happened to have a talking baby".

The ratings alone for Baby Talk granted its renewal for the fall 1991 schedule, but in light of the scathing reviews, personnel and storyline changes were inevitable. Julia Duffy itched to vacate the starring role, as she struggled to deal with the negative critical reception. When ABC renewed the show, Duffy was released from her contract, and was soon hired to replace Delta Burke on Designing Women. Duffy, therefore, became the second actress in less than a year to relinquish the role of Maggie Campbell. Ed. Weinberger was let go from the show by Columbia Television, who installed veterans Saul Turteltaub and Bernie Orenstein as the new showrunners. This led to the cast and concept changes noted above.

Prior to the second season beginning, the new stars of Baby Talk were interviewed about their decisions to join a show that was so loathed by reviewers. Mary Page Keller claimed to have an indifference over the reputation of the show among critics, since she had never seen the show prior to replacing Julia Duffy. Scott Baio, who had watched the first season, agreed with some of the critics' views, but justified his joining the show by comparing it to Happy Days, of which he starred on as a teenager. "I did a show for 11 years (Happy Days) that never ever got a good review," said Baio. "So we hope you guys will love it, but we're just going to do the best we can, and it's what the people like that's going to stay on."

When the series returned, reviews of the show were little better, and the mostly-continued poor reviews finally caught up with viewers; ratings began to decline considerably during the second season. Numerous time slot adjustments, and the massive cast and setting overhaul for season two could not even defy the marginal ratings and the critical panning Baby Talk received. In fact, results of the 1991 Electronic Media Critics' Poll voted Baby Talk the Worst Series on Television. The series was cancelled in the spring of 1992.