"Bud" Grant later commented, "I think we conned ourselves into thinking Filthy Rich was a hot show." The network scrambled to find a place on the fall schedule for the show, ultimately opting to bump the new series Mama Malone off the schedule altogether (Mama Malone eventually aired in 1984). Although viewers initially tuned in, the series fared poorly with critics. "This is the most misunderstood show I've ever been associated with", said Bloodworth. Associated Press writer Fred Rothenberg commented in his widely circulated review, "It's called Filthy Rich and the slant is more toward the former than the latter." Bloodworth retaliated, "I think because the Southern accents are thick and the first shows were very theatrical and broad, the critics tuned out." She went on to defend the show against the Southern critics who'd bashed the series as well. "There are a lot of liberal-minded critics who consider themselves the keepers of the Southern flame. We're not maligning the South, we're celebrating it." While working on the show, Burke felt particularly pressured to maintain a slender figure. "That's when I discovered crystal meth, a powerful amphetamine that cut my hunger but made my heart race", she revealed in her autobiography. It had the side effect of paranoia and making her lapse into unconsciousness. Adding further woes to the troubled series, actor Slim Pickens, who played Big Guy Beck in the original hour-long pilot episode, was rushed to San Francisco Medical Center several days before the series premiered, and he underwent five hours of surgery to remove a brain tumor the day after the show's TV debut. Pickens was released from the hospital before production resumed on the series, but he was unfit to appear. Most subsequent episodes played without Big Guy, though Pickens was quickly replaced by Forrest Tucker, who didn't play the role with the same broad, comic zeal. Production soldiered on a little behind schedule. In the early weeks of September, scripts hadn't been completed for any episodes of the fall season, which began on September 26. "Every night I go home with notes on all the network suggestions and work on the scripts", Bloodworth said. "A messenger comes to pick up my rewrites at 1 a.m. I write in longhand and the scripts are typed and returned at 7 a.m. I'm sure my neighbors think I'm in some illegal business." Bloodworth quickly churned out some scripts,