The first version of the Facts of Life theme song

Co-written by Alan Thicke. Who also sang the Diff'rent Strokes theme song

Yeah, that sounds like Mrs .G. all right.

Must have been tough on those girls who were all cut after the first season when they decided to focus on Blair, Tootie, Natalie, and and add Jo.

Whatever happened to Molly Ringwald?

No, Rose, it's Leontyne Price

Then why are her high soprano notes at the end so (comparatively) confident and true, r3, when her voice is so wobbly when she sings the lyrics?

It’s actually a castrato. She was born with a dingus.

R2, the FOL girls who were cut after the first season got their revenge when they guested on S8, all looking thinner and prettier than their former co-stars, who had begun spending too much time at Kraft Services.

Felice Schachter, especially, was a babe. Beautiful hair.

R6, cool - I'll check that out; I can't say I could pick them out of a lineup, but I love when long-running shows revisit characters from the past

The revival of DALLAS, ultimately was a big DUD for me -- no Pam, no Donna, sporadic Ray and Lucy...there was SO MUCH they could have done.

But I did love when Sue Ellen said to Afton, who bitched about something horrible JR had done, "No, Afton, the worst thing my husband ever did -- was YOU."

Charlotte Rae is one of those actresses like Bea Arthur who started in musical theater and as such believed that they were good singers, when in fact, they were just playing roles in which the voice wasn’t important or a stranger voice was better for the character.

Her voice suits the character of Ms. Peachum from the Three Penny Opera which was her first major role, but she isn’t a good singer.

Wouldnt surprise me however if she demanded she sing the theme song.

I loved this version of the theme song.

[quote] at Kraft Services.

Oh, dear!

[quote] Then why are her high soprano notes at the end so (comparatively) confident and true,

When she was in the studio recording it, that part alone took many takes. The producers were finally getting fed up when Gary Coleman rammed a finger into her cooter. That did it.

True story.

I grew up with those shows but until today I did not realize that Mr. Drummond kidnapped those two boys from a playground.

He did NOT kidnap them!

He lured them with candy and nude Polaroids of Kimberly.

Live and learn, r12.

Live and learn.

There were no such things as Amber Alerts back then.

Song could be used for Torture

R6 Felice was actually 1) up for the part of Kimberly (was between her and Dana Plato), and was then 2) the first person hired for FoL and then the first person fired (she had some contract with Tandem at the time). She was also the prettiest of the girls. If I were her I would be as a bitter as fuck. No wonder she became a total asshat MAGat (which is what seems to happen to bitter celebrity has beens or “what-ifs.”

[quote] Wouldnt surprise me however if she demanded she sing the theme song.

It was actually a weird thing at that time (@1979-1981) that several sitcoms would have the stars sing the theme song.

The most memorably awful was';t even this one--it was for "Love Sidney," which premiered in 1981, and had its three stars (Tony Randall, Swoosie Kurtz, and little Kaleena Kiff) sing the theme song. Randall's voice is almost okay, but Kurtz's is hilarious--she sounds like a wobbly soprano in a small town church choir. And Kaleena Kiff cannot hit the high notes they have given her, but she was only about six.

Fortunately this trend ended very soon thereafter.

R17 is that the same set as the Odd Couple apt?

Bullshit, R6. By season 8 Welchel was a knockout.

r6 = Felice Schachter

Nancy was such a boring, one note character. All she did was pine after Roger. Sue Ann was a poor man's Jo without the rebellious edge. Cindy was a more down to earth Blair and Molly was just a mouthpiece for feminist lectures. A mini Julia Sugarbaker.

Watching the first season years later, it's obvious that they kept the right people. Though I never realized there was tension between Jenny O Hara and Charlotte Rae.

I don't know.

Actually, when the show started out, Lisa Whelchel was prettier than Felice Schachter.

Whelchel was really pretty the first season. Then she puffed up.

[quote] Sue Ann was a poor man's Jo without the rebellious edge. Cindy was a more down to earth Blair

???

You're mixing them up. Cindy was like Jo--she was the tomboy whom Blair started telling everyone was lesbian in one episode the first season.

[quote] Though I never realized there was tension between Jenny O Hara and Charlotte Rae.

Sexual?

R23 I agree she was definitely much prettier the first season vs later , but she always had a very pug face - she certainly wasn’t “beautiful.”

That said, even by the second or third season when she guested, Felice didn’t look as pretty, and she had lost a lot of her looks by the “reunion” (she was a lot heavier too, she probably starved herself when she was actively in the biz).

In the shot of Charolette, as her credit appears, she looks seriously stoned.

[quote] she certainly wasn’t “beautiful.”

I agree. But I didn't say she was beautiful--I said she was pretty.