Maude (TV Series) - Cancellation

Cancellation

In the fifth season, Maude unexpectedly plunged from #4 to out of the top thirty in the ratings. In 1978, late in the sixth season, CBS revamped the series. The final few episodes paved the way for Maude to be appointed to Congress as a Democrat during the 1978 U.S. midterm elections (she helped campaign for a congresswoman who unexpectedly died in her house). With this change, Maude and husband Walter would move to Washington, D.C., and the rest of the regular cast written out of the series. In the story, the Harmons moved to Idaho, where Arthur accepted a job offer, while Carol also got a new job offer and she and Phillip moved to Denver.

Those plans changed after just three episodes in the new format, when Bea Arthur decided she no longer wanted to continue the role of Maude. Thus, the Maude series ended. Lear still liked the idea of a member of a minority group in Congress, and it evolved into the pilot Mr. Dugan, about a black congressman. Mr. Dugan was judged below standard, and, in 1979, the same premise was reworked as the short-lived CBS sitcom Hanging In starring Bill Macy and several cast members from Mr. Dugan.