#The facts of life series#
#The facts of life tv#

Garrett agrees to help, the student body of Eastlake and the school's headmaster. Garrett help her sew costumes for a student play at East Lake School for Girls, the school Kimberly attended in upstate New York, as her dorm's housemother had recently quit. The pilot for the show originally aired as the last episode of Diff'rent Strokes' first season and was called 'The Girls' School (aka Garrett's Girls).' The plotline for the pilot had Kimberly Drummond requesting that Mrs. Nancy McKeon joined the cast as tough, streetwise Jo Polniaczek.

Garrett was promoted to school dietitian, and all the original cast members were dropped with the exception of Blair, Natalie, and Tootie. The girls included spoiled rich girl Blair Warner (Lisa Whelchel), the youngest gossipy Dorothy 'Tootie' Ramsey (Kim Fields), and overweight, impressionable Natalie Green (Mindy Cohn).

#The facts of life series#

Originally a spin-off of Diff'rent Strokes, the series featured the Drummonds' housekeeper, Edna Garrett, as the housemother of a dormitory at Eastland, a private all-girls school. Burton, Loring, and Thicke had previously composed the theme to Diff'rent Strokes, which was sung by Thicke.

The original lyrics eventually shifted to the closing credits before being dropped entirely. The well-known opening lyric 'You take the good.' came later as the first season lyrics, some of them performed by Rae, differed from those that followed. The show's theme was composed by Al Burton, Gloria Loring, and her then husband, Alan Thicke. In 1982, production moved to Universal City Studios and then to Sunset Gower Studios in 1985. Sony Pictures Television currently owns the distribution rights to the sitcom.įrom 1979 to 1982, the show was produced at Metromedia Square in Los Angeles, California. The Facts of Life was produced first by TAT Communications, followed by Embassy Television, and then by Embassy Communications (Norman Lear's production companies) and Columbia Pictures Television (through ELP Communications) on the series finale. A spin-off of the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, the series' premise focused on Edna Garrett (Charlotte Rae) as she becomes a housemother (and after the second season, dietitian as well) at the fictional Eastland School, a prestigious all-female boarding school in Peekskill, New York. The Facts of Life is an American sitcom that originally ran on the NBC television network from Augto May 7, 1988.

#The facts of life tv#

Ratings, History, and Information on The Facts of Life.Īrticle (Feb 2000): Tim's TV Tales With Tim Brooks Biel executive produces the USA Network anthology The Sinner, whose first installment earned her an acting Emmy nomination.Facts of Life Site: Show Summary/Information SHOW SUMMARY & INFORMATION TV and is currently looking for a writer.Īppian Way has produced a number of movies, including the Oscar-nominated The Wolf of Wall Street.

( Roseanne was canceled in May over star Roseanne Barr’s racial tweet and will be replaced by a spinoff series, The Conners.)Īdditionally, the 1980s ALF also is plotting a comeback at Warner Bros. There have been two revivals of 1980s multi-camera comedies to return to broadcast TV, Roseanne on ABC last season, and Murphy Brown on CBS this coming season. Sony TV recently successfully rebooted the Norman Lear classic One Day At A Time, which is heading into its third season on Netflix. The series starred Lisa Whelchel as Blair, Kim Fields as Tootie, Mindy Cohn as Natalie, and Nancy McKeon as Jo. The Facts of Life, created by Dick Clair and Jenna McMahon, was nominated for three Emmys over the course of its nine-year run, including lead actress in a comedy for Rae. She eventually leaves the school and opens her own business, with help from her girls. The series focused on issues that teenage girls face such as drug use, sex, eating disorders and peer pressure. Charlotte Rae starred as Edna Garrett, a housemother at the fictional Eastland School, an all-female boarding school in Peekskill, New York. Garrett later is promoted to school dietician, and four of the girls move into new quarters above the cafeteria. The Facts of Life, a spinoff of Diff’rent Strokes, aired on NBC from 1979-88, making it one of the longest-running sitcoms of the decade.