The Facts Of Life Premiered August 24, 1979

[quote] I had no social life at 13 years old in the summer of 1979

I see little has changed.

Well hon, you really do reach for the stars don’t you.

There's a place ya gotta go for learning, all you ought to know about

The Facts of Life

The Facts of Life

When the books are what you're there about but looks are what you care about

The time is right to learn the Facts of Life

Well, the world never seems to be living up to your dreams

And suddenly you're finding out what everything is all about

When the boys you used to hate you date

I guess you best investigate

The time is right

To learn the Facts of Life

The Facts of Life

The Facts of Cunt

The least realistic thing about this show was how long these undersupervised rich girls held onto their virginity. Wasn't Natalie the first to lose it, and they were already twentysomethings?

If only sex tapes had been around back then. Just think, a sex tape of fat Natalie losing her virginity. HOT!!

I love Natalie best.

Yeah man, take that Natalie. Yeah, you like that dick? Yeah Natalie take it.

This was back when the networks would do an early start to the season with a couple early fall premieres.

R9, it was considered a “summer replacement” trial series - it was 4 episodes and it was later renewed for another nine which didn’t even begin filming until the following January, beginning airing in March 1980.

Then the fall of 1980, there was an actors’ strike and almost all series had delayed starts and smaller orders - FOL’s new season began in November and was only 16 episodes. FOL didn’t have a full season until the 1981-‘82 season, when they had 24 eps.

The Fall of 1980 was when everybody was waiting to find out "Who Shot JR?" and as season finale back was in March and the writer's strike kept the reveal until the end of November. It may have actually helped the frenzy.

I remember seeing the backdoor pilot on "Diff'rent Strokes" but as I was only 7 1/2, didn't get that is was a pilot for a new series. I caught the second episode - the one with Blair's mom who was not played by Marj Dusay yet but a blonde who looked as if she was ready to go boogie down and snort coke at Studio 54.

I watch the reruns they show on Logo now, and I love it. I even think the clothes that the girls wore circa 1980-83 look fantastic, especially Blair's blouse-prairie skirt and boots combo, preppy but still kept the early 1980s Ralph Lauren aesthetics. Also like how all the girls had developed personalities and back stories unlike shows about teens in the 2000s onwards, and that they look like average teens not a cast full of Hollywood child actor clones. It also stands out that FoL had storylines that showcase issues or events that were serious in nature or gave deeper glimpses into main characters' lives and personalities. I guess that was an '80s thing to do because I don't remember teen shows in the '90s or now doing things like that unless we're talking about coming out/ suicide/ drug-taking.

Boy, did I dodge a fuckin' bullet!

It's weird that Lisa is the poorest of them. Mindy is the richest (she came from money, plus lots of voice-over work), then probably Nancy (who had a lot of regular work after the series and who has a money-making husband, but almost never works now), then Kim (a second 5-season series, plus regular acting and directing gigs, but has a stay-at-home-mom-husband dragging her down), then poor Lisa, who's making a few dollars hosting a collectors' show on ME-TV and is reduced to making a couple hundred bucks + expenses travelling around to speak at churches and has been bankrupt in the past.

Blair's a poor!

Oh and by the way, that celebrity net worth site is bullshit -- there's not a single factual thing on there.

Mindy Cohn was actually attending Westlake School (the model for Eastland) when she was cast- one of her best friends there was Tracey Bregman aka Lauren on YR.

"You must be Jo, the new student."

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Easy, I've never had a motorcycle in my marigolds before."

Molly insists that she was supposed to be the 4th girl when they revamped and that she was let go at the very last minute, but I call bullshit.

Lisa wasn't the first Blair. When casting the back-door pilot (as a DS ep), Geri Reishl (aka "fake Jan") was selected and attended the table read that week. Unfortunately some cereal company that she'd signed a commercial deal with would not allow her to do FOL so Lisa was brought in mid-week to replace her.

We're all the better for not having Molly stay on - as is she.

Only 11 more days until the 40th anniversary! How will you be celebrating?

I'll be wearing oversize novelty sunglasses and eating Edna's famous apple strudel while watching South Pacific and fingering Clark Brandon.

Blair and Jo were the best lesbian couple in tv history.

In Peekskill, r21?

^No, Rose, in St Olaf.

R24, don’t be silly. St. Olaf is a landlocked city.

We’re nowhere near the South Pacific.

When you hear it from your brother, better clear it with your mother.

Better get it right. Call that bitch late at night!

Only one day left to plan your celebrations!

WHY IS THIS NOT A NATIONAL HOLIDAY?!?!

YAY!

Happy FOL Day everyone!

I'm going to celebrate by burning down my local bakery and then suggesting they re-open as a Spencer's Gift Shop rip-off!

They should reboot the show with Edna's Edibles selling marijuana-laced baked goods. The episodes and wacky hihjinks write themselves.

I wish I had a Facts of Life flag to raise in front of my house today. I’ll bet the neighbors will.

You take the black You take the white You take the fat You take the dyke The Fats of Life...

The backdoor pilot that aired on Diff'rent Strokes sucked. And it ended with Edna turning down the job of headmistress.

I remember there was a time when Charlotte Rae was on both shows. On Diff'rent Strokes, she never mentioned she was also working at Eastland, and at Eastland she never mentioned still working for the Drummonds.

When she left Diff'rent Strokes, it hurt the show. It was interesting that Kimberly Drummond supposedly attended Eastland, but after the first year she was never seen or spoken of on Facts of Life.

Was Kimberly supposed to be a day student at Eastland? The daily commute to and from the City to Peekskill would have been a bear, but at that time she was a regular on Different Strokes so she was supposed to be living with her family.

R34

Yes

Dana Plato is absent from a good many Diff'rent Strokes episodes. She doesn't seem to be at Eastland!

I love to sing the theme song while doing a Cher impression. Once you do it you’ll never stop.

Kimberly was too busy throwing up, getting kidnapped or dying her hair green.

Interestingly, the backdoor pilot on Diff’rent Strokes heavily featured Felice Schachter (a former contender for the role of Kimberly Drummond) as Nancy, who was lead to believe she would have a major role on Facts of Life. She was confused when her character was made less significant in S1, and understandably bummed when the role was demoted to recurring in S2.

I thought Felice was the prettiest of the original group of girls. She and Julie Piekarski both had beautiful hair.

Lisa was by far the most beautiful of all the girls...

Who was the girl who was always on about her boyfriend Roger?

I was an avid viewer of The New Mickey Mouse Club in 1978. It seems like half the cast came from that, including Molly Ringwald.

The first couple years were good. I was around the same age as the kids. I used to love those 25 min. one-act plays sitcoms used to be. My favorite episode was when Tootie got lost in the big city and met a teen prostitute who tries to recruit her for her pimp!

Then they all got fat and cranky, cast changes, etc. Sitcoms have short life spans.

R41, that was Nancy. When the character returned along with Sue Ann and Cindy for a guest appearance on a late season, it was revealed she was engaged to Roger and three months pregnant with his baby (in the mid-80s, a pregnant bride-to-be on television was fade-to-commercial level scandalous).

The first season opening credits offers up various riddles and enigmas.

Just what is so fuckin' funny to Blair and Nancy?

Why are Sue Ann and Tootie bouncing and jiggling like that? Tooties has no tittues.

Where did Cindy get those awful suspenders?

I always wondered at the very end of the episodes where the audience applause started and you can still see the characters talking and laughing, what they were saying.

FOL had one of the worst series finales of all time. A backdoor pilot which basically only featured Lisa Whelchel. Mindy Cohn wasn't even with the group in the closing scene.

[quote]I always wondered at the very end of the episodes where the audience applause started and you can still see the characters talking and laughing, what they were saying.

"Can you believe they are applauding this shit?"

"No fuckin' way...the decline of American taste."

"FUCK! I think I bled through my pad."

"Christ I gotta take a shit...when is he gonna call cut already?"

"That retarded bitch drooled on me again."

"She's not retarded, she has CP."

"I thought I was the only colored person on this set?"

"CUTTTT!!!!!!"

R48 is having a “teaching moment” bless her heart

It premiered in August? I thought fall shows always premiered in Sept-Oct?

A couple of years ago I watched the entire series on one of the substations, from episode one right to the end.

Although I enjoyed it, once was enough.

[quote]FOL had one of the worst series finales of all time. A backdoor pilot which basically only featured Lisa Whelchel. Mindy Cohn wasn't even with the group in the closing scene.

Yeah who ends a series with a backdoor pilot?

I liked the Edna’s Edibles years the best

[quote]Yeah who ends a series with a backdoor pilot?

Outrageous, right?

I would never think of doing something so heinous!

They should've had Eastland close in the final episode, the first season girls come back (Molly probably would've since her career was in the shitter by spring '88) and more importantly, Mrs. Garret come back from Peru of wherever the fuck they sent her off to.

Can anyone think of a series finale that doubled as a backdoor pilot for another show since FOL/Blair Warner Runs Eastland? Or did that trend end with the 80s?

r57

That and the clip show.

The first season was completely unwieldy. There were 8 girls and Mrs. Garrett and Jenny O'Hara and John Lawlor. It was impossible to have that many people on a 30 minute sitcom.

There were numerous back door pilots on the Facts of Life. There was one where Tootie's cousin was married to a white guy. There was a few about life at boys schools. There was one where Natalie went and hung out with bohemians in New York City.

I fucking loved the Facts of Life and am not ashamed to admit it.

Regarding Edna Garrett's commute and Kimberly not actually going to Eastland ever.

TV didn't care about continuity back then. Recall Denise Huxtable didn't attend Spellman on Different World and that Florida Evans somehow commuted from the housing projects in Chicago to work in Maude's home. People cared less.

I hated Pipa.

[quote]I fucking loved the Facts of Life and am not ashamed to admit it.

The Facts of Life is the only family-oriented 80s sitcom I can still watch in adulthood. Of course there's the kitsch factor, but the show really had a certain charm.

The other 80s family sitcoms like Growing Pains, Different Strokes, etc. are absolutely unwatchable today.

Fuck Pipa. She ruined my childhood with her debut on this show 😰

There were 7 girls, R59, not 8.

[quote]The Facts of Life is the only family-oriented 80s sitcom I can still watch in adulthood. Of course there's the kitsch factor, but the show really had a certain charm. The other 80s family sitcoms like Growing Pains, Different Strokes, etc. are absolutely unwatchable today.

Family Ties also holds up pretty well, imo. Of course it's dated, but the writing was generally of a decent standard. Diff'rent Strokes...I think a few of the earlier episodes were not bad, but it got more treacly and nauseating as it went on. Never much liked Growing Pains, so there's no nostalgia around that show for me.