14
As a group, the Go-Go’s all agreed to end the series after six seasons. Each member of the band had her own personal reason for wanting to end it, but the overriding opinion was pretty universal among the five of them— it was just too fucking hard. The days were long, the shooting schedule was erratic, and the time spent in the recording studio was overwhelming. None of them could believe they had time to do anything else during the taping season. They barely had time to take care of simple, personal tasks. It was just too much, and the decision to have a predetermined ending was an easy one. Discussing the difficulties was something they would never say in public or tell to the press, of course, but they certainly had no problem bitching and moaning about it amongst themselves.
And, it wasn’t just leaving the show that was deemed necessary for everyone. The Go-Go’s knew they could all use a break from each other as well.
Six years of working on a project of that magnitude was more than enough time being spent together. Plus, they were a band and they were all friends with each other; They all hung out together on a fairly regular basis. In order to be and stay ahead of the game, they knew what they had to do. The girls all worried that they would end up hating each other if the whole thing went on too long. Planning a preemptive break-up was the smart thing to do, both personally and professionally. It would only strengthen their ties and expand their creativity down the road. Besides, they would never plan on breaking up permanently. That was something they knew they could never do.
Their bond was as strong as life itself.
From a timeline standpoint, it seemed like six years was the perfect duration. By the time the series would end, it would have established a foundation for them that could easily carry them for the remainder of their professional careers. Hell, it could carry them if they just sat around and did nothing for the rest of their lives.
When it was all over, Charlotte calculated that the show would have provided well over one-hundred songs for the Go-Go’s catalog and be responsible for at least a dozen albums, as well as the Christmas album that was released in December of 1982.
Every time Charlotte thought of that album, she always had to smile to herself when she thought of the very first, one-hour Christmas Special that the Go-Go’s were obligated to do for the network of that same year. It was the usual, holiday, television fanfare: the girls all came out in a variety of Yuletide dress-wear and did various singing renditions of the traditional Christmas songs, performed in some sketches, and made everybody feel warm and toasty.
The highlight was when Jane came out in her little, green, elf costume and tap-danced to “Jingle Bell Rock.”
Jane had only minor dancing experience at the time, but she crammed hard for three weeks straight in preparation and managed to fake her way through it thanks to some creative overdubbing. It was priceless.
All of those songs and albums were more than enough material in Charlotte’s mind to complete the Go-Go’s legacy. With all that ammunition, the Go-Go’s concerts would be certifiable, chart-topping extravaganzas. They would be raucous and crowd-pleasing. Every song would be recognizable, even to the most casual listener, and the encores would absolutely bring down the house. The audience would leave feeling they got every penny’s worth. Charlotte could only sit there and imagine how awesome it was going to be.
The calculated ending of their sitcom seemed to work out well for all the members of the band. Most of them were anxious to get on with other projects or just take some time off. Charlotte knew that she would be thirty-four years old at the time of the cancellation, allowing her to get on with the next phase of her life. The timing all seemed pretty ideal to her. She could continue to work in the corporate sector, get married, and start a family. She could write songs at her own leisure and play live shows with the Go-Go’s any time she wanted. She had learned to love the business world almost as much as performing, but now she could concentrate on just the business half for a while.
It was hard for her to believe that she was becoming such a structured, premeditated woman.
Sometimes it made her wonder if she was doing the right thing.