The Facts Of Life - General Discussion

[bluegirl147]

33 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

I stayed away from the BIG HAIR, though. And so did the girls on this show.

Well, Lisa's hair wasn't exactly small but yeah none of the girls had that kill the ozone layer type of hair.

Upon my rewatch every once in awhile I will see something that rings very true for me.

Like the boat shoes similar to this.  I had a pair

40 minutes ago, Snow Apple said:

even Mallory from Family Ties than TFOL. 

I loved Mallory.  She had a great wardrobe.  

I don't remember the show ever doing leg warmers or off the shoulder sweatshirts or if they did I blocked them out.

[Bort]

The style I saw a lot growing up in the 80s was the leggings worn with a gigantic button down shirt. Usually worn with Reebok high tops.

PS: Both my mother and I had big shoulders so we were also ripping the shoulder pads out of our shirts during that decade. Otherwise we’d look like linebackers.

[psychoticstate]

49 minutes ago, bluegirl147 said:

Well, Lisa's hair wasn't exactly small but yeah none of the girls had that kill the ozone layer type of hair.

Upon my rewatch every once in awhile I will see something that rings very true for me.

Like the boat shoes similar to this.  I had a pair

I loved Mallory.  She had a great wardrobe.  

I don't remember the show ever doing leg warmers or off the shoulder sweatshirts or if they did I blocked them out.

I used to have the boat shoes (I think we called them Docksiders too).  And Dr. Scholls.  And Jellys.  The 80s were awesome.  

I loved Family Ties.  Years later, I had a friend who had worked on Family Ties.  He told me some interesting tidbits.  He said that the show was initially a star vehicle for Meredith Baxter (then) Birney, who was the only "name" in the cast.  Michael J. Fox exploded as Alex P. Keaton but MBB had been in the biz long enough to know that no matter who was the official "star," everyone on the show benefitted.  My friend said that both MBB and MJF were really cool, nice people to everyone.  

HOWEVER, not so with Justine Bateman, who played Mallory.  He said out of all the people he's EVER met in his life, she was one of the most vile.  Condescending, talked down to people on set and had a really inflated head.  He said she was thoroughly disliked by basically everyone on the FT set.  He mentioned that once the show ended, she basically disappeared (at least for a few years) because her reputation very much proceeded her.

That is one thing I will say for the "girls" on FOL.  Nothing bad was written about them during the run of the show (outside of the terrible "Fats" of Life jokes) and they all apparently had real friendship on and off set.  And they all went on to do other things in the industry.

[psychoticstate]

13 hours ago, Maverick said:

 Jo had a big change in look at the start of season 6 without an explanation.  In season 5 she still has here pony tail and wears camo/jeans/vests, etc.  All of sudden she's got big 80s hair and sweater dresses.  The change in clothing style I could maybe buy (but it was such a big change it warranted at least a passing comment about why/to acknowledge it) but I just didn't buy Jo having a hairstyle that was that much work.   

 And also on the subject of her fashion choices, WTF with the red thing she was wearing in the Ft. Lauderdale episode?  Did she mug Nena and steal 30 of her 99 luftballons?  Did no one tell her it's parachute pants, not an actual parachute?   Did she lift it from the set of the Tomorrow People episode where bubble suits were taking over the people of Earth?    

I'm wondering if Jo (Nancy) had a perm?  EVERYONE had a perm back in the 80s.  Or a body wave.  But yeah, the bigger, fluffer hair would be more work than the ponytail (although I think Nancy looked gorgeous with it).  

Jo's wardrobe was very schizophrenic at times.  She'd be in a t-shirt and jeans or camo pants one minute and the next, she was wearing the big boxy 80s blazer and shirts with buttoned up collars.  

Blair definitely could have tossed out a comment about how Jo's wardrobe was improving at least SOMEWHAT since she was finally choosing clothing that she couldn't purchase from the same place she bought her wrenchs .  Or osmething like that. 

The Fort Lauderdale episodes are totally bizarre.  I'm going solely on memory right now with the other girls but Blair was dressed like a bank manager and even Tootie was outfitted as if she were interviewing for a position in Blair's bank (were she an actual bank manager).  It just seemed odd choices for college students on spring break.  

And then we get to Jo.  I never thought of the Nena comparison, although apt.  I always felt like Willy Wonka sent FOL some enlarged Oompa Loompa costumes in red.  I remember people wearing stuff like this but I've always wondered if Nancy put on a little weight and wardrobe gave her the Lisa treatment but with an Oompa Loompa suit instead of western shirts and denim skirts.  It's a completely weird choice and doesn't go with what she had been wearing -- or the fact they were in Florida on spring break.  I mean, temps should have been in the 80s at least, if not hotter.  Which fact alone makes me wonder why Blair (and possibly Tootie) would be wearing pantyhose and heels.  

The main thing I remember about the Fort Lauderdale episodes is Michael Damian as Flyman.  I used to LOVE him way back in the day on Young & the Restless! 

3 hours ago, aquarian1 said:

I never saw that as a lot of work - do one side pony tail, do the other, now gather all the hair (including them) in the third at the back.  Done.  In fact, I may have tried it in my youth.  :D

I plead guilty to wearing the three-part ponytail like Jo did.  

[bluegirl147]

28 minutes ago, psychoticstate said:

HOWEVER, not so with Justine Bateman, who played Mallory.  He said out of all the people he's EVER met in his life, she was one of the most vile.  Condescending, talked down to people on set and had a really inflated head.  He said she was thoroughly disliked by basically everyone on the FT set.  He mentioned that once the show ended, she basically disappeared (at least for a few years) because her reputation very much proceeded her.

This saddens me but does explain why she didn't do a ton of stuff after FT.

29 minutes ago, psychoticstate said:

That is one thing I will say for the "girls" on FOL.  Nothing bad was written about them during the run of the show (outside of the terrible "Fats" of Life jokes) and they all apparently had real friendship on and off set.  And they all went on to do other things in the industry.

This is true. Didn't seem to be any divas on that set.  I remember when the show was cancelled and I was genuinely sad.  I mean I get sad when a lot of shows are cancelled but this one hit hard.  I had known these characters for almost 10 years.  I know they did that TV movie Facts of Life Reunion back in 2001 but Jo wasn't there and I think they need to do another one.  They would be in their 50s now.  I would love to see what they are doing now.

[GHScorpiosRule]

40 minutes ago, psychoticstate said:

The main thing I remember about the Fort Lauderdale episodes is Michael Damian as Flyman.  I used to LOVE him way back in the day on Young & the Restless! 

And both Nancy and Michael hosted Friday Night Videos (for those of who remember!) and Nancy talked about how she and "Kimmie" were best friends.

Whaaat? That show was AWESOME! We'd get actual singers and groups hosting! Like Simon LeBon and Nick Rhodes from Duran Duran!

[Bort]

1 hour ago, psychoticstate said:

And Jellys

I hated Jellies. It was like a sweaty slip and slide inside your own shoe. 

[bluegirl147]

34 minutes ago, kariyaki said:

I hated Jellies. It was like a sweaty slip and slide inside your own shoe. 

How about Candies or La Gears?  

I don't ever remember seeing a simple white shoe on any of the girls.

[CeeBeeGee]

1 hour ago, bluegirl147 said:

How about Candies or La Gears?  

I don't ever remember seeing a simple white shoe on any of the girls.

Fashion dictates that white shoes are only worn between Memorial Day and Labor Day, and all their seasons were set during the school year. (Except perhaps the Paris and Australia movies.)

[Bort]

4 minutes ago, CeeBeeGee said:

Fashion dictates that white shoes are only worn between Memorial Day and Labor Day, and all their seasons were set during the school year. (Except perhaps the Paris and Australia movies.)

You know, I always hear that bit about white shoes and Labor Day but I have never met a person in real life who actually cared.

[CeeBeeGee]

Just now, kariyaki said:

You know, I always hear that bit about white shoes and Labor Day but I have never met a person in real life who actually cared.

Oh trust me, among a certain set it matters.

[ljenkins782]

On 2/21/2022 at 12:52 AM, Mrs. Landingham said:

And Natalie’s dad’s death was somehow about Tootie, too, because she doesn’t know what to sayyyyyyyy to Naaaaaaaat!!! Poor ME! 

I was thinking about Mrs. Garrett’s talks just recently. I loved what she said to Jo in the episode where Jo showed up to meet her boyfriend’s wealthy parents wearing camo and being totally obnoxious. Mrs. Garrett told her the “I’m just a kid from the Bronx” attitude doesn’t cut it anymore and she knows better. And, nobody thinks of her as a “Bronx Barbarian” anymore, rather, she thinks that of herself and reverts to that persona whenever she feels uncomfortable. I’m doing a bad job at paraphrasing but that was one of Mrs. G.’s best lectures.

My favorite Mrs. Garrett speech was in the suicide episode, "when you're at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on because life is always changing." I also liked the way she didn't sugarcoat the news that Cynthia had died, her matter of fact manner seemed oddly soothing.

Quote

I hated Jellies. It was like a sweaty slip and slide inside your own shoe. 

Yes! And there was a weird gray slush left behind by sweating in them in summertime, they were kinda gross. 

Quote

And then we get to Jo.  I never thought of the Nena comparison, although apt.  I always felt like Willy Wonka sent FOL some enlarged Oompa Loompa costumes in red.  I remember people wearing stuff like this but I've always wondered if Nancy put on a little weight and wardrobe gave her the Lisa treatment but with an Oompa Loompa suit instead of western shirts and denim skirts.  It's a completely weird choice and doesn't go with what she had been wearing -- or the fact they were in Florida on spring break.  I mean, temps should have been in the 80s at least, if not hotter.  Which fact alone makes me wonder why Blair (and possibly Tootie) would be wearing pantyhose and heels.  

Nancy did look like she'd put on a little weight during that season, so perhaps the jumpsuit was the wardrobe people's attempt to cover that. It seemed a bit flamboyant for Jo, along with the giant mullet that while I'd never thought of it before, it doesn't make sense that Jo would have such a high maintenance hairstyle. Tootie was wearing a similar jumpsuit in white, but it looked better on her and suited her personality more. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

34 minutes ago, ljenkins782 said:

Nancy did look like she'd put on a little weight during that season

They all did. I think it was Lisa or Mindy who said the show made them go on a diet or some “fat farm” but it didn’t work and so they left them alone, because they looked like real girls.

Hell, I gained weight in my first year and two of college. So seeing them was realistic for me and relatable. I did love how Jo mostly kept her Bronx accent, except for the last two seasons when she suddenly started calling Charlie “Dad” instead of “Pop” which was jarring to me.

[Egg McMuffin]

Somebody mentioned in an earlier post that none of the season 1 girls have a NY accent. You’re probably not going to find a strong NY accent at an upper crust school like Eastland, but if you listen closely, Nancy (Olson, not McKeon) speaks like a New Yorker, and the actress was from NY as well. The clue: the California-born actresses on the show pronounce “Garrett” with a long A (“Gare-ett”) and Nancy says Garrett with a short A, like people from the Northeast would.

Also, Charlotte Rae was really marvelous. They did a good job making her character more sophisticated between seasons 1 and 2, so she could more credibly handle the serious moments. And she had such a rubber face that she could get laughs out of lines that had no right to be funny.

[Maverick]

 It was a boarding school and the girls were from all over the country so it made sense they wouldn't all have the same and/or NY accents.  Blair was supposed to from Texas, I think Tootie's family was from Washington DC.  

[Bort]

33 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

They all did. I think it was Lisa or Mindy who said the show made them go on a diet or some “fat farm” but it didn’t work and so they left them alone, because they looked like real girls.

Actually, Lisa came down. She was rather svelte in the last few seasons of the show.

[ljenkins782]

23 minutes ago, kariyaki said:

Actually, Lisa came down. She was rather svelte in the last few seasons of the show.

Nancy also slimmed down again in the last season or 2, she was skinny by season 9, it was probably just a puberty thing when they all put a little weight and they grew out of it. 

Quote

Somebody mentioned in an earlier post that none of the season 1 girls have a NY accent. You’re probably not going to find a strong NY accent at an upper crust school like Eastland, but if you listen closely, Nancy (Olson, not McKeon) speaks like a New Yorker, and the actress was from NY as well. The clue: the California-born actresses on the show pronounce “Garrett” with a long A (“Gare-ett”) and Nancy says Garrett with a short A, like people from the Northeast would.

Blair also pronounced Garrett like Gare-ett, most notably in The Four Musketeers when Mrs. Gare-ett catches them in the paint fight. That pronunciation always stuck with me for some reason.

I came across this Lisa Whelchel article where she claims she turned down the role of Rachel on Friends due to the sexual innuendo and content on that show. It's not entirely clear whether she was actually offered the role or if she just read for it and then excused herself from the process. It's too hard to separate Rachel from Jennifer Aniston at this point, but I think Lisa probably could've pulled it off, Rachel isn't that different from Blair. But I think Lisa was already out of the business and married by then too.

[Snow Apple]

12 minutes ago, ljenkins782 said:

 

I came across this Lisa Whelchel article where she claims she turned down the role of Rachel on Friends due to the sexual innuendo and content on that show. It's not entirely clear whether she was actually offered the role or if she just read for it and then excused herself from the process. It's too hard to separate Rachel from Jennifer Aniston at this point, but I think Lisa probably could've pulled it off, Rachel isn't that different from Blair. But I think Lisa was already out of the business and married by then too.

Nancy McKeon was almost Monica. I guess Hollywood really is, or was, a small world.

[ljenkins782]

17 hours ago, Snow Apple said:

Nancy McKeon was almost Monica. I guess Hollywood really is, or was, a small world.

Oh wow, I'm trying to picture that and can't. 

[Egg McMuffin]

Yeah - I’ve heard all kind of “so and so was up for Friends” stories. But in the case of Nancy, it’s legit. It came down to her and Courteney Cox. NBC was happy with either and deferred to the producers’ choice.

[Katy M]

I can't see NM as Monica.  Or Rachel. Or Phoebe.  If she had to play one of them, I think Monica would make the most sense, though, for whatever that's worth.

Edited February 25, 2022 by Katy M

[ljenkins782]

2 hours ago, Katy M said:

I can't see NM as Monica.  Or Rachel. Or Phoebe.  If she had to play one of them, I think Monica would make the most sense, though, for whatever that's worth.

I honestly think it would have been jarring for people to see former FoL girls in the Friends roles. Having watched them grow up on TV, the racier material of Friends would have seemed weird. 
 

I think it was a smart choice to go with the lesser known (at the time) actresses. 
 

Typecasting is unfortunately powerful, especially in such iconic roles as Blair and Jo and long running shows.

[GHScorpiosRule]

3 minutes ago, ljenkins782 said:

I honestly think it would have been jarring for people to see former FoL girls in the Friends roles. Having watched them grow up on TV, the racier material of Friends would have seemed weird. 
 

I think it was a smart choice to go with the lesser known (at the time) actresses. 
 

Typecasting is unfortunately powerful, especially in such iconic roles as Blair and Jo and long running shows.

I don’t think that Courtney was a less known actress, though. She was the fan who danced with Bruce Springsteen in his video “Dancing in the Dark” and on Family Ties as Alex’s girlfriend. And Lisa Kudrow was on Mad About You as the recurring ditzy waitress. 
 

Nancy had that short lived sitcom, Can’t Hurry Love and a slew of movies and mini-series after this show ended.

[Egg McMuffin]

Oh I think Courteney was lesser known at the time. Yeah, she did the Springsteen video and guest starred on TV series here and there and had a recurring role on Family Ties, doing 19 episodes in its last couple of years. But Nancy had been one of the leads on a TV show for eight years and had headlined a number of TV movies. I vaguely remember either David Crane or Marta Kauffman, the creators of Friends, saying they liked that none of their cast members were really well known. But don’t quote me. 😀

[Snow Apple]

I've seen all six of the friends as guest stars or canceled shows before Friends, but I agree Nancy might be too well known as Jo for us to separate the character from Monica. I guess we'll never know though.

Ironically, the six is probably having this issue now. Even when doing good jobs on other projects, like Courtney in Scream or Rachel in romcoms, I still associate them as their Friends characters.

[GHScorpiosRule]

I guess it depends on the actor. I’d have no problem. On the flip side, when new actors are cast to play iconic roles, I dig my heels in. ONLY RATMOND BURR is Perry Mason/Ironside. ONLY Larry Hagman is JR Ewing.

[ljenkins782]

On 2/26/2022 at 8:25 AM, Egg McMuffin said:

Oh I think Courteney was lesser known at the time. Yeah, she did the Springsteen video and guest starred on TV series here and there and had a recurring role on Family Ties, doing 19 episodes in its last couple of years. But Nancy had been one of the leads on a TV show for eight years and had headlined a number of TV movies. I vaguely remember either David Crane or Marta Kauffman, the creators of Friends, saying they liked that none of their cast members were really well known. But don’t quote me. 😀

Yeah, Courteney's Springsteen thing was basically a modeling job (fun fact, she was also a model for YA novels so if you're a Girls of Canby Hall fan, you'll notice that "Shelly" is Courteney with blonde hair on several covers) and the Family Ties gig was nice, but minor.

The Facts of Life was a huge show and Jo and Blair were arguably the most memorable of the characters. And Friends debuted only a few years after FOL ended.

Quote

I've seen all six of the friends as guest stars or canceled shows before Friends, but I agree Nancy might be too well known as Jo for us to separate the character from Monica. I guess we'll never know though.

Besides Lisa's Mad about You gig, I can recall Matthew Perry being Carol's boyfriend who died on Growing Pains, Matt LeBlanc as Kelly Bundy's boyfriend on Married with Children, a character which I think they tried to spin off with him as Joseph Bologna's son in some setting, and Jennifer Aniston as a character on the ill-fated TV version of Ferris Bueller's Day Off, but again, none of those roles could stack up against the recognition of Nancy and Lisa after a decade of FoL.

[Bort]

Also, I think one of the things they were going for when casting Friends was that they wanted it to be an ensemble with nobody being a huge standout. If any of the characters there had ended up being played by a well-known actor, then it would’ve ended up being structured more like Frasier: with one main character and everybody else as supporting. Nancy being well known was probably a strike against her.

[bluegirl147]

10 hours ago, kariyaki said:

. Nancy being well known was probably a strike against her.

She would have been a completely different Monica than the one CC portrayed.  

Nancy did comedy well on FOL but I think her best roles were dramatic ones.  She was excellent in the Tracy Thurman story and on the Lifetime series the Division.  

I'm sure there were a lot of people in Hollywood who had a hard time separating the actors from their FOL roles.  I remember a documentary about child stars and Kim Fields saying there was a producer (I think) who took a meeting with her because he wanted to fuck Tootie.  She was not amused.

[Snow Apple]

14 hours ago, ljenkins782 said:

Yeah, Courteney's Springsteen thing was basically a modeling job (fun fact, she was also a model for YA novels so if you're a Girls of Canby Hall fan, you'll notice that "Shelly" is Courteney with blonde hair on several covers) and the Family Ties gig was nice, but minor.

The Facts of Life was a huge show and Jo and Blair were arguably the most memorable of the characters. And Friends debuted only a few years after FOL ended.

Besides Lisa's Mad about You gig, I can recall Matthew Perry being Carol's boyfriend who died on Growing Pains, Matt LeBlanc as Kelly Bundy's boyfriend on Married with Children, a character which I think they tried to spin off with him as Joseph Bologna's son in some setting, and Jennifer Aniston as a character on the ill-fated TV version of Ferris Bueller's Day Off, but again, none of those roles could stack up against the recognition of Nancy and Lisa after a decade of FoL.

I also remember Matt in a ketchup commercial. I don't remember if it overlapped with Friends.

Matthew was in a show where the main character died and went back in time to fix his teenage mistakes (played by Matthew).

I guess I was one of the few people who watched Courtney in Misfits of Science.

[Egg McMuffin]

When Friends started, I recognized David Schwimmer from his recurring role on LA Law during its last season. He also played a character who married the daughter on The Wonder Years, and had a recurring role on NYPD Blue the year before doing Friends.

[bluegirl147]

17 minutes ago, Egg McMuffin said:

When Friends started, I recognized David Schwimmer from his recurring role on LA Law during its last season. He also played a character who married the daughter on The Wonder Years, and had a recurring role on NYPD Blue the year before doing Friends.

I remembered him from Wonder Years and NYPD Blue.   He was also on the short-lived series Monty with Henry Winkler. Which I watched and liked.

I think Kim Fields has had a pretty good career since FOL.  While I found her character Regine annoying on Living Single I thought she did really well in the role.  I haven't watched the Upshaws but I have heard good things.

 

[RealHousewife]

2 hours ago, bluegirl147 said:

I think Kim Fields has had a pretty good career since FOL.  While I found her character Regine annoying on Living Single I thought she did really well in the role.  I haven't watched the Upshaws but I have heard good things.

I haven't seen a lot of her work since FOL, but I thought she did a wonderful job on there. She was such a cute little girl, and she became a gorgeous woman. 

[ivygirl]

I basically watched Living Single for Kim/Regine 🤣 
 

Regarding the earlier conversation about 80s fashion: I don’t remember my friends or me dressing in a complicated way, but I certainly DO remember magazines (both the photo spreads and ads) showing teens in super-complicated outfits. Lots of layers, scarves, belts, doubled-up shirts, and so on. It always seemed like a bit too much for school and whatnot, but I liked the style. (In fact, I was just looking at some ads from the late 80s and came across an ad that said “you don’t have to suffer to be beautiful” and the “non-suffering” girl was wearing LOTS of layers and puffy sleeves and such. I thought to myself “dang, that’s still quite an outfit…”) 

And yeah—the shoulder pads! I always cut them out because I have short shoulders and they’d be more on my bicep than my shoulder, LOL. Not to mention, that if you were wearing a shirt under a sweater (looking at YOU, Forenza and Contempo Casuals!), you’d be wearing double the puff. 

Anyway… yeah I saw the style of those seasons of FOL as perhaps more… uh… stylish, but I took it to be the nature of the show. It kind of went along with the style of Ovwr Our Heads, to me. Colorful, pattern-filled, and quite a bit of Esprit in the mix. I loved Esprit.

[bluegirl147]

I'm watching season four and Blair with the yo yo is one of the funniest things I have ever seen.

I'm really enjoying my rewatch.  

And for anyone who is interested both Facts of Life movies are on Crackle.

Edited March 4, 2022 by bluegirl147

[Kristi800]

On 2/23/2022 at 1:17 PM, bluegirl147 said:

Like the boat shoes similar to this.  I had a pair

I was so into The Preppy Handbook and I think I still have my boat shoes somewhere. Later on I was less into it, and had a few "prairie" clothing pieces and more avant clothing (Esprit).

Lisa Whelchel is going to be at an autograph show & I can't wait to see her (& Christina Ricci & Christopher Lloyd)!! I need to ask how she still looks the same!!!

[RealHousewife]

1 minute ago, Kristi800 said:

I was so into The Preppy Handbook and I think I still have my boat shoes somewhere. Later on I was less into it, and had a few "prairie" clothing pieces and more avant clothing (Esprit).

Lisa Whelchel is going to be at an autograph show & I can't wait to see her (& Christina Ricci & Christopher Lloyd)!! I need to ask how she still looks the same!!!

That sounds so fun! Yeah, Lisa is still beautiful. I think she'll be beautiful forever. 

[CeeBeeGee]

9 hours ago, Kristi800 said:

Lisa Whelchel is going to be at an autograph show & I can't wait to see her (& Christina Ricci & Christopher Lloyd)!! I need to ask how she still looks the same!!!

OMG I'm so jealous. I've met Mindy Cohn but none of the others and Blair was always my favorite.

[Jan Spears]

On 8/17/2021 at 7:17 PM, JAYJAY1979 said:

Of the girls dumped after season 1, which one would you have spared for season 2 to be a 5th lead?

Coming late to this question but I would answer: none

The revamp was perfect unto itself. NBC kept the 3 strongest performers from the original cast and added Nancy McKeon to create the 'Core Four,' which powered the show to another 9 seasons. Even within that foursome, you had the 'Older Pair' (Blair and Jo) and the 'Younger Pair (Natalie and Tootie). There was no room for a fifth member in the foursome as a whole or in the two subpairings.

Edited March 11, 2022 by Jan Spears

[GHScorpiosRule]

BOO! Rewind took the show off its daily rotation! It's only airing on Saturdays now.

[Egg McMuffin]

On 3/10/2022 at 7:53 PM, Jan Spears said:

Coming late to this question but I would answer: none

The revamp was perfect unto itself. NBC kept the 3 strongest performers from the original cast and added Nancy McKeon to create the 'Core Four,' which powered the show to another 9 seasons. Even within that foursome, you had the 'Older Pair' (Blair and Jo) and the 'Younger Pair (Natalie and Tootie). There was no room for a fifth member in the foursome as a whole or in the two subpairings.

Great points. Plus, most of the first season girls who left were…not great in the acting department. I didn’t see any evidence of comic timing from the actress who played Nancy; the actress who played Cindy lacked charisma, and the actress who played Sue Ann was overacting on the level of a high school play. Obviously Molly Ringwald did well later in her career, but I found her character annoying.

[Jan Spears]

On 3/15/2022 at 3:41 PM, Egg McMuffin said:

Obviously Molly Ringwald did well later in her career, but I found her character annoying.

It's interesting to think how The Facts of Life ran for so many years that the Molly Ringwald boom could come and go in the middle of it. Really, Ringwald's "major phase" was fairly short: 2+ years (1984-86) and three movies. By the time Facts of Life was ending in 1988, Ringwald was reverting back to being a regular working actress not that dissimilar from any of the 'Core Four' on Facts.

 

Edited March 18, 2022 by Jan Spears

[Prairie Rose]

FOL is now appearing on GAC Family. They had an all-day marathon yesterday (S1 and about half of S2). As much fun as S1 was/is to watch, they really did do the right thing by retooling the show ahead of S2.

Easily the best move they made was eliminating Mr. Bradley. I don't know how the character was received in 1979, but watching today he is downright creepy, misogynistic, skeevy, petty and incompetent. No way would he make it in reality as the head of a prestigious girls school. ICK.

[SusanM]

14 minutes ago, Prairie Rose said:

Easily the best move they made was eliminating Mr. Bradley. I don't know how the character was received in 1979, but watching today he is downright creepy, misogynistic, skeevy, petty and incompetent. No way would he make it in reality as the head of a prestigious girls school. ICK.

It's been awhile since I saw this show and now I am wondering - did they ever have a new head of the school?  If they did I am guessing it wasn't a regular part but was it at least a woman?

[Prairie Rose]

Just now, SusanM said:

It's been awhile since I saw this show and now I am wondering - did they ever have a new head of the school?  If they did I am guessing it wasn't a regular part but was it at least a woman?

There were a couple of subsequent headmasters - Harris and Parker - but they were more referred to than actually seen.

[GHScorpiosRule]

7 minutes ago, SusanM said:

It's been awhile since I saw this show and now I am wondering - did they ever have a new head of the school?  If they did I am guessing it wasn't a regular part but was it at least a woman?

No, they never had a female headmistress until the series finale when Blair bought the school in the most lamest of storylines.

5 minutes ago, Prairie Rose said:

There were a couple of subsequent headmasters - Harris and Parker - but they were more referred to than actually seen.

Both Harris and Parker were seen and even had dialogue. Parker was shown a LOT. Even after Mrs. Garrett left Eastland. 

[Prairie Rose]

Facts of Life: Behind Closed Doors will be airing on the REELZ Channel this week, here are the dates and times:

https://www.reelz.com/show/behind-closed-doors/

It's interesting to note that this special, released in 2020, featured no new interviews with the Main Four. It does have a lot of perspective on S1 and the retooling of S2 since Felice Schachter, Julie Piekarski, Julie Anne Haddock, John Lawlor and Jenny O'Hara were all interviewed. 

The other best change from S1 to S2 was revamping the theme song. I don't know who sang it (other than Charlotte Rae herself on a few bars), with one of the session singers harmonizing gospel-style at the end. Good move getting Gloria Loring to sing it with the piano.

[Egg McMuffin]

I think Gloria Loring sang on the season 1 theme too, with Charlotte Rae doing a few lines here and there. There’s a chorus of other singers in there doing the refrain but I think you can clearly hear Loring on the first verse and a few others.

100% agreed on Mr Bradley. He was way too intimately involved with that particularly group of girls in season 1, and was way too regressive to be the headmaster of a girls school.

Edited April 3, 2022 by Egg McMuffin

[JAYJAY1979]

I was a child in the 80s, but I do recall some very late 80s styles worn by myself and my peers in grade school such as La Gear, Converse, Ocean Pacific, Bugle Boy, and slap bracelets.  

Lots of teased bangs, punkish mullets, and mousse/hair spray used to high degree.  I figured all that was done by kids because what adult would do all that.. until I was older and saw pics of men/women in the 80s doing the exact same things.  My mom used to wear camis with a blazer, plus teased bangs and/or a french braid with teased bangs.

In regards to the show, I do recall Natalie doing the 80s thing more than the other three especially in the 1985- 1986 season with the side ponytail, over sized tops, and heavier make up... even Mrs. G went full on 80s with her hair teased and sometimes out of the bun.

[Prairie Rose]

1 hour ago, Egg McMuffin said:

100% agreed on Mr Bradley. He was way too intimately involved with that particularly group of girls in season 1, and was way too regressive to be the headmaster of a girls school.

Plus, he seemed to really enjoy when the girls feuded with each other ("IQ", "Running"). Nothing at all against actor John Lawlor, who was playing the role as written and directed. It's just that Mr. Bradley was one of the most unlikable main characters on a sitcom that I can remember.