In the spring of 1971, after having appeared in numerous television commercials and having a great success on Broadway in the 1970 revival of The Boy Friend (which won her a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress In a Musical), Sandy Duncan's show business career was quickly ascending.
In Funny Face, Sandy Stockton is a young UCLA student from Taylorville, Illinois, majoring in education and making ends meet by working part-time as an actress in TV commercials for the Prescott Advertising Agency.
After screening the pilot, CBS picked up the show for the 1971 fall season, however the network requested there be some changes made in terms of cast and format.
However, when Funny Face premiered on September 18, 1971, the pilot was discarded as the first installment in favor of a later-filmed episode entitled "The Used Car".
The opening episode, with Miss Duncan's bachelor girl selling used cars in television commercials, didn't succeed.
During the filming of Funny Face, Duncan developed headaches that proved to be due to a brain tumor behind her left eye.
At that time, only 12 episodes had been filmed so, in order to complete the first 13-episode cycle, the pilot was dusted off and finally shown as the last show of the series on December 11, 1971.
In the spring of 1972, Duncan was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Continued Performance By An Actress In a Leading Role In A Comedy Series for Funny Face.
This included renaming the program from Funny Face to The Sandy Duncan Show, as well as having new cast members, an additional producer, different writers, a slightly revised format, as well as filming it with three cameras in front of a live audience.
Motorcycle police officer Alex constantly worried about Sandy's status as a single woman living alone, which he saw as being inherently dangerous; and as such, appointed himself as her chaperone/protector.