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Dorothy "Tootie" Ramsey: She Used to Wear Roller Skates

maraleia

By maraleia
in The Facts Of Life [V]

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love21

love21

(edited)

I like Tootie. I think I probably liked her character best in the later seasons when she matured a bit and wasn't as hysterical. Around season 3-5'ish she was pretty annoying at times. Maybe even season 6. In "Working It Out" especially I think she was pretty annoying when Mrs. Garrett was trying to get through to Blair and Tootie was in her face whining about how Mrs. Garrett gives Blair more freedom.

 

I also liked how Jeff stayed in the picture for 4 seasons since the other girls pretty much had a rotating door of boyfriends. All of them had at least one steady boyfriend but I liked how we got to see Jeff a lot. I was happy they got engaged in the final season and it probably would have been better to marry them off instead of Jo/Rick.

Edited by love21
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SnarkySheep

SnarkySheep

Another good thing about Tootie was that she seemed to come from a happy, stable family - educated and caring parents, older siblings that were doing well, etc. The Cosby Show aside, I think the early '80s still tended to stereotype black kids pretty often (like, it wouldn't have surprised me to have Tootie be the scholarship kid instead of Jo). But no. Of course Tootie had her issues, like any human being, but they were more along the usual "coming of age" stuff that everyone has to go through, not "struggling to make it out of the ghetto" or whatever.

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psychoticstate

psychoticstate

Tootie was my least favorite character, mainly because she was whiny and butted into everything.  I think Kim Fields got much better as an actress but around season 3 her portraying a scene being upset consisted of her shouting; playing scared consisted of her shouting; playing happy consisted of her shouting; playing confused consisted of her shouting.  You get it. 

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ivygirl

ivygirl

She's not even on all that frequently! She is OK on the show. 

 

I gave up on the Atlanta housewives a while back, because I couldn't stand Nene's need to constantly shout over everyone else--it was exhausting. I started watching again because of Kim Fields. Now that I barely see her (as she seems to be backing out of nearly every event), and it appears that Nene is returning, I think I need to bow out again.

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GalvDuck

GalvDuck

On 5/27/2018 at 8:05 PM, Maherjunkie said:

I'm going by memory, but I thought she was tone deaf?

It's coming up in next season's reruns.  There's an episode where she experiences some hearing problems.

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GalvDuck

GalvDuck

Okay, so I was at work today and one of my coworkers made a comment about "stressess-ness." Another one laughed and said, "Okay, Tootie."  I was like, "Tootie?  A real Tootie?  I know you don't mean The Facts of Life's Tootie."  They said that was who they meant.  They said she would add an extra "ess" or "ness" or two to words that originally ended with "ess."  

I LOVE the show.  I mean, it is my all-time favorite show.  However, I simply don't recall Tootie doing that as a habit.  I remember "There's gonna be troooouubbble" followed by Natalie's "Make that a dooouuubbble!"  

Help me out.  Where and when did she do it?  Or did she?  

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Snow Apple

Snow Apple

(edited)

Kim did that on Good Times. She was in a few episodes playing Florida Evan's school bus passenger and Penny's (Janet Jackson!) friend.

Fun fact: Kim's mother Chip Fields played Penny's abusive mother.

Edited by Snow Apple
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GHScorpiosRule

GHScorpiosRule

9 hours ago, Snow Apple said:

Fun fact: Kim's mother Chip Fields played Penny's abusive mother.

I was gobsmacked when Chip Fields showed up on this show! I was still wee, and I was like: WHUUUT? Penny's abusive Mommie Dearest is TOOTIE's mom???!!!!

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GalvDuck

GalvDuck

10 hours ago, Snow Apple said:

Kim did that on Good Times. She was in a few episodes playing Florida Evan's school bus passenger and Penny's (Janet Jackson!) friend.

Fun fact: Kim's mother Chip Fields played Penny's abusive mother.

Thank you!  I thought I was right.  I was like, "Nope, no way...I'd remember something like that from FOL."  

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Snow Apple

Snow Apple

12 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

I was gobsmacked when Chip Fields showed up on this show! I was still wee, and I was like: WHUUUT? Penny's abusive Mommie Dearest is TOOTIE's mom???!!!!

Chip was Kim's mom on Living Single too. One time Kim's character was complaining about her mom and Queen Latifa joke how she was "as mean as Penny's mom from that show." ?

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CeeBeeGee

CeeBeeGee

On 5/27/2018 at 7:26 PM, Bupka P. said:

Natalie sang better, she should have been cast as Nellie Forbush.

 

On 5/27/2018 at 9:07 PM, Bupka P. said:

I guess Tootie was too. She butchered the hell out of those songs.

Neither were very good. The idea that Tootie just blew everyone out of the water by virtue of her being THAT much better at her audition is ridiculous. She had a modicum of surface energy but didn't connect with the character at ALL. You have to do more to sell "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair" than just walk around, pointing at people and bopping your mushroom haircut. And she wasn't good with the ballad "Some Enchanted Evening" either--where's the hope? Where's the sweetness? "You may meet a stranger..."--let's see the romance, see the coyness--you're singing this to the man who's courting you--is he the stranger? She just kept lurching around the stage. It drives me crazy because South Pacific is my favorite R&H musical, and Nellie is a fantastic role. She is sweet and likable but also genuinely FLAWED but turns it around. There's so much to play there--this is one of the few musicals that won a Pulitzer, after all--but Tootie touched on none of it.

And it has to be said--I am all for non-traditional casting but you can't do it with every show. You cannot cast Nellie with a black actor, because her entire arc is about her overcoming her Little Rock WHITE WOMAN racism. She can't handle that Emile has two non-white children and that's why she breaks it off. The show should've just chosen another musical--heck, they could've done Oklahoma, it would've been more appropriate.

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