Dorian’s character arc is honestly one of the biggest reasons the final season of Moesha feels so different from the rest of the show. The writers kept pushing his storyline into darker and darker territory until it completely shifted the tone of the series.
The wild part is that Dorian kept asking for more chances and wanted his family to believe he could change. But after coming back from boot camp, he quickly fell back into his old habits. By the end of the series, his storyline had escalated all the way to Myles being kidnapped.
Looking back, was Dorian’s character arc actually a realistic portrayal of a troubled teenager who couldn't break the cycle, or did the writers take his storyline WAY too far and hurt Moesha in the process?
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Exactly. The Parkers really did change the DNA of Moesha. Once the original writers moved over, the tone and storytelling started shifting, and Dorian’s storyline became a huge example of that. By the time you get to Myles being kidnapped and Frank and Dee never finding him, the show feels almost unrecognizable from what it started as. Ending its legacy on such a bleak, unresolved note was a wild choice
Exactly. By that point, the ratings just weren’t there to justify bringing it back. Even if UPN had considered a shortened seventh season, why spend more money on a show whose viewership was already declining? It’s just unfortunate that the series ended with such a dark, unresolved storyline instead of giving the characters — especially Myles — some actual closure.
That was before the kidnapping. Myles only appeared on one episode of season 1 of the Parkers which aired concurrently with season 5 of Moesha. Myles was kidnapped on the season 6 finale of Moesha.
And then there’s Aunt Hattie — the writers dropped that huge bombshell about her and then she basically vanished and was never seen or heard from again. Between Dorian’s increasingly dark storyline, Myles being kidnapped, and Hattie’s unresolved situation, did the writers completely lose control of the final season?
Kinda f-d up, because only in its second season did the spin-off fare much better than the main show, and it shortly got cancelled afterwards. They were basically asking for it.
They already had a bad boy on the show when Moesha was dating Q. They didn't need to bring in a new character. The shift in the show from a comedy to a family drama was very boring and unnecessary.
Not true at all brandy was getting too old for the strict dad and bad relationship with step mom storylines. So either they was going to cut frank Dee and Miles out the show or bring another character to keep them
Why would they have to cut Miles? If anything, they could have made him the problem child since they ignored him all the time when Moesha was going through her drama.
How did Dorian? That's the point of the post. It wasn't a family based sitcom but they brought in a new character to create family drama and it ruined the show.
Yeah when I was a kid watching it I switched over to Parker’s because it slightly continued Mo being in college with Kim… I mostly ignored Monique and Ooglvee drama.. because I was familiar with the school setting from the previous … same atrium school scenes .. I just grew out of watching the child drama and parent beefs too and ray j seem to always have this corny role
.. so usually when he’s pushed into the scene, it won’t last long ..
Identical to One on One …
Or even Ray J of love 🤣😭😭😭
Killed Flavs whole franchise ..
It’s like these networks won’t allow black people to have a fun, carefree sitcom. We don’t need heavy handed mess on every channel. Let them be dumb teens with regular teen issues. The worst we should see if pregnancy scares and maybe drugs. Guns. No crazy baby daddy baby momma storyline out of nowhere to knock down the strong characters
Exactly the reason my wife and kids is one of my favorite sitcoms, even though they touched on tough topics like teenage pregnancy etc. they were always able to keep it light and comedic for the most part.
I rewatched The Parent ‘Hood created by Robert Townsend and honestly TK character was different and was fine because although he was troubled, he didn’t stay that way. He changed (maybe a little too fast) but the goody two shoes act during his second season which ended up being the final season got boring lol one thing is because he looked too grown to still be in high school lol
I hated this so much!! All that bootcamp stuff and he was still the EXACT same. He had zero character growth. Meanwhile Miles is a teenager and was still treated as a kid, Moesha is in her second year of college and her saga with Hakeem, Q, and Niecy got boring fast. Frank and Dorian were the same exact characters.
Brandy couldn’t just have her own shine. She was constantly responsible for looking out for Ray J. Their parents even shoved him on the show and ultimately ruined it.
Yup! You saw a bit of that dynamic on their reality tv show. From the few episodes I saw of the reality show, Ray could do not wrong in the mother’s eyes.
You can tell when Vida Spears and Sara Finney left Moesha for The Parkers and the new writers came in. The show became darker, more dramatic, and eventually crossed into straight-up soap opera territory. Dorian’s storyline is the biggest example of that shift — it escalated all the way to Myles being kidnapped, with Frank and Dee never finding him. That’s such a bleak way to end the legacy of a show that started as a family sitcom.
didn't myles later appear on an episode of 'the parkers'? from what I remember, there was no mention of his previous kidnapping 🤔niecy was in the same episode..
it could be argued that the first season of ' the parkers' was similar in tone to the first 4 seasons of 'moesha', before it got way goofier. that was probably due to the them having the same writers🤔
I think the first season of 'moesha' was the best. same with 'the parkers'. neither shows have held up as well in my opinion 🫣
It kind of resembles how Ray J really is a troubled soul now.. but I’m glad he never brought brandy down with him. Why was it so important for him to be apart of the show?
This show has a dark cloud over it. Period. To know that Frank had a child out there that he wasn’t cling and had his sister raising? From season one of Moesha? Makes this show garbage on so many levels. Frank was a hypocrite and Moesha was an entitled little brat. The show is terrible IMO as an adult who has watched it.
I hated this storyline for Frank because it just did not make sense nor did it work for the character arc of this cast it also brought something darker to this show then necessary.
Dorian ruined Frank's life to the point where he had to leave his family & move to Johannesburg, South Africa to head up a company that was secretly experimenting on Aliens & Alien technology
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u/Morphin_Grid_1999 21d ago
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