Keeping tabs on their appearance
As any show catering to a female audience is bound to do, the matter of body issues eventually arises. The teenage girls fluctuated in their weight throughout the series, with Natalie’s character having the opposite problem. Producers didn’t want her to lose weight because being overweight was part of her role, so when she did lose over 40lbs later on, they had to dress her in baggy clothes to hide it.
Lisa Whelchel was expected to return for season two as the tall leggy blonde, but after a summer of fun with friends, she came back having gained weight, and producers were not happy.