After a couple of seasons on Diff'rent Strokes, NBC executives saw something in the characterization of Edna Garrett (Charlotte Rae, ex-The Rich Little Show) that made them decide to spin her off into her own series. Thus, in August 1979, The Facts of Life made its debut, more than a month ahead of the rest of the fall premieres. In fact, the series lasted almost a decade, outlasting Strokes.
Mrs. Garrett left the employ of Phil Drummond (Conrad Bain) and moved on to Eastland School, a private academy for women. Drummond and his adopted sons, Arnold (Gary Coleman) & Willis (Todd Bridges), visited Eastland in the series opener, which we'll show shortly. Not all of the girls would remain through the course of the show's run. In fact, Molly Ringwald left the show early on, and would resurface in films like "Sixteen Candles". It would be more than 20 years before Molly would try TV again (the short lived Townies). Nancy McKeon (Jo) wasn't there at the beginning, but would arrive soon enough.
Toward the end of the series' run, another future film star, George Clooney, joined the show, a few years before E. R. made him a household name. As for the rest of the regulars:
Lisa Whelchel (Blair) made a triumphant return to television several months ago, this time as a contestant on Survivor.
Kim Fields (Tootie) returned to series TV in Living Single.
Nancy McKeon "moonlighted" doing cartoons for Ruby-Spears & ABC, particularly the Weekend Special spin-off, The Puppy's Great Adventures, while continuing with Facts. Post-Facts, Nancy's last series was the cable drama, The Division.
Mindy Cohn (Natalie) is in cartoons these days. Since 2002, she is the voice of cerebral sleuth Velma Dinkley in the Scooby-Doo DTV series, as well as the three TV series (What's New Scooby-Doo, Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue!, & Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated) produced during this period.
Like Strokes and other series under the Norman Lear/Bud Yorkin family tree, Facts dealt with more mature issues, including alcoholism, during the course of its run. Instead of being a Tandem Production, like Strokes, Facts was one of the first series produced by Embassy Television.
Now, here's the first episode, "Rough Housing". The theme song is performed by actress-singer Gloria Loring (Days of Our Lives):
Sony owns the rights to the series, and is in no hurry to put it on cable television, at least as far as I can see.
Rating: B.
My sister and I used to watch this show regularly - but the theme song is a true ear worm! Alan Thicke wrote it - who was married to Gloria Loring at the time.
ReplyDeleteI think it was the "very special episodes" that ultimately turned me off. While "Facts" wasn't the first, nor last to utilize the trope, viewers like me hated being preached to one time too many.
IIRC, Drmmond's daughter Kimberly was a student at Eastland (I remember her wearing the uniform in the pilot) until she decided to go to local public schools. What moronic rich girl in NY would do that???? Oh, right - the one who didn't get to co-star in the ensemble cast.
I do remember Ringwald getting started here and vividly remember Jo's first appearance. That girl should have been in prison ages ago! It took a while for her to mellow out. I thought it was great Mindy Cohen was doing voice work - I think she makes a great Velma (hey, I love snarky nerd girls!) and is probably the best VA to voice her since Nicole Jaffe. Of course, I'm biased.
Lisa Welchel did pretty well while out of the spotlight. At least she didn't implode like other young actresses of the period.
I also remember George Clooney (I think he went to "Roseanne" after leaving "Facts") but he looked so different with that glossy long black hair he had back then.
I think Mindy studied the old Scooby-Doo tapes to get Velma's voice down pat, which would explain why she sounded so close to the original. BTW, turns out she'd done one other voice job before signing on for Scooby---The Chimp Channel in 1999. Oy!
ReplyDeleteAs for Kimberly being at Eastland, I think she transferred out because Dana wanted to remain on Diff'rent Strokes or something.