The Facts of Life

The Facts of Life
Premiere	August 24, 1979
Finale	May 7, 1988
Creator	Dick Clair & Jenna McMahon
Developed by	Howard Leeds & Ben Starr & Jerry Mayer
Network/Provider	NBC
Style	30-minute sitcom
Company	TAT Communications Company (seasons 1-3), Embassy Television (seasons 4-7), Embassy Communications (season 8-first half of season 9), Columbia Pictures Television (second half of season 9)
Distributor	Embassy Communications (1986-88) Columbia Pictures Television (1988-94) Columbia TriStar Television (1994-2002) Sony Pictures Television (2002- )
Seasons	9
Episodes	201 + 3 TV movies
Origin	USA

The Facts of Life is a sitcom that aired on NBC.

A spin-off of Diff'rent Strokes, the series featured the Drummonds' housekeeper, Edna Garrett as the housemother of a dormitory at Eastland School, a private all-girls school. The girls in her care included spoiled rich girl Blair Warner; the youngest, gossipy Dorothy "Tootie" Ramsey; and overweight, impressionable Natalie Green. In the second season, Mrs. Garrett was promoted to school dietitian, and all the original cast members were dropped except for Blair, Natalie, and Tootie. Nancy McKeon joined the cast as tough, streetwise-but-vulnerable Jo Polniaczek.

In the show's first season, episodes focused on the troubles of seven girls, and the action was usually set in a large, wood-paneled common room of a girls' dormitory. Also appearing was the school's headmaster, Stephen Bradley. Early episodes of the show typically revolved around a central morality-based or "lesson teaching" theme.

After the first season, the show was retooled extensively. The producers felt that there were too many characters given the limitations of the half-hour sitcom format, and that the plotlines should be more focused to give the remaining girls more room for character development. Four of the original actresses — Julie Anne Haddock (Cindy), Julie Piekarski (Sue Ann), Felice Schachter (Nancy), and Molly Ringwald (Molly) — were written out of the show (although the four did make periodic appearances in the second and third seasons, and one "reunion" in the eighth season). Mr. Bradley's character was also dropped and replaced with a generally unseen headmaster named Mr. Harris. (Mr. Harris actually appeared in an early second season episode, "Gossip", played by Kenneth Mars) and Mr. Parker for the rest of the series. In addition to being housemother to the remaining girls, Mrs. Garrett became the school dietitian as the second season began. Jo Polniaczek, a new student originally from the Bronx, arrived at Eastland on scholarship. A run-in with the law forced the four to be separated from the other girls, and work in the cafeteria, living together in a spare room next to Mrs. Garrett's bedroom.

In 1983, Jo and Blair graduated Eastland Academy in the season four finale "Graduation.". To keep the four girls under one roof, Mrs. Garrett went into business for herself and opens a gourmet food venture named Edna's Edibles. The four girls come to work for her and live in one of the rooms in the house attached to the store.

The show became part of NBC's much-watched Saturday night lineup in 1985, but by this time, the main actors were now in their late teens and early twenties, and public interest was beginning to wane. In an attempt to increase ratings, Mrs. Garrett's store Edna's Edibles was burned to the ground in the season seven premiere "Out of the Fire." The follow-up episode "Into the Frying Pan" had the girls band together to rebuild the store with a pop culture-influenced gift shop that the girls ran together, called Over Our Heads.

Charlotte Rae initially reduced her role in seasons six and seven, and later decided to leave the series altogether. In season eight's heavily promoted one-hour premiere "Out of Peekskill", Mrs. Garrett married the man of her dreams and joined him in Africa while he works for the Peace Corps. Mrs. Garrett convinces her sister, Beverly Ann Stickle (Cloris Leachman), to take over the shop and look after the girls. Beverly Ann later legally adopted Over Our Heads worker Andy Moffett (Mackenzie Astin) in the episode "A Boy About the House."

In the final season, even though the series still usually won its time slot, it placed last among the programs in NBC's Saturday night lineup (which, at the time, had Top 20 hits in The Golden Girls and 227). At 8 p.m. it was now in TV's most unforgiving time slot. NBC still had confidence in the series, however, and placed it as the 8 p.m. anchor, kicking off one of the network's highest-rated nights (second to The Cosby Show on Thursdays).

Cast

Actor	Character	Duration
Main Cast		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	M
Charlotte Rae	Edna Ann Garrett	*	*	*	*	*	*	*			*
Lisa Whelchel	Blair Warner	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
Mindy Cohn	Natalie Green	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
Kim Fields	Dorothy "Tootie" Ramsey	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
John Lawlor	Steven Bradley	*
Jenny O'Hara	Emily Mahoney	*
Felice Schachter	Nancy Olson	*	o						o
Julie Piekarski	Sue Ann Weaver	*	o						o
Julie Anne Haddock	Cindy Webster	*	o						o
Molly Ringwald	Molly Parker	*	o
Nancy McKeon	Joanne "Jo" Marie Polniaczek Bonner		*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
Pamela Segall	Kelly Affinado					*
George Clooney	George Burnett							*	o
Mackenzie Astin	Andy Moffett Stickle						o	*	*	*
Cloris Leachman	Beverly Ann Stickle								*	*
Sherrie Krenn	Pippa McKenna									*
Orange/Red/o indicates a recurring or guest role during that season. Dark Green indicates top billing during that season.

Seasons

Season	Premiere	Finale				#
NBC
Season One	August 24, 1979	June 11, 1980				13
Season Two	November 19, 1980	March 25, 1981				16
Season Three	October 28, 1981	May 5, 1982				24
Season Four	September 29, 1982	May 4, 1983				24 + 1
Season Five	September 21, 1983	May 9, 1984				26
Season Six	September 26, 1984	May 15, 1985				26
Season Seven	September 14, 1985	May 10, 1986				24
Season Eight	September 27, 1986	May 9, 1987				24 + 1
Season Nine	September 26, 1987	May 7, 1988				24

TV Movies

Title	Network		Airdate
The Facts of Life Goes to Paris	NBC		September 25, 1982
The Facts of Life Down Under	NBC		February 15, 1987
The Facts of Life Reunion	NBC		November 18, 2001

In-Depth

• At a Glance: Additional information about the series

DVD Releases

Title			Release			Discs
Season Sets  (Region 1)
The Complete First and Second Seasons			May 9, 2006	purchase		4
The Complete Third Season			October 24, 2006	purchase		3
The Complete Fourth Season			May 4, 2010	purchase		4
The Complete Fifth Season			November 2, 2010			4
The Complete Sixth Season			June 9, 2015			4

External Links

• The Facts of Life on IMDb

• opening credits for season 2on YouTube