The Facts of Life is a classic 1980s sitcom that was a spin-off from the popular series Diff’rent Strokes created by Dick Clair and Jenna McMahon. The series focused on a former housekeeper on Diff’rent Strokes, Edna Garett who became the housemother and later dietitian of a dormitory at an all-girls private school in New York.
The Facts Of Life Release Date And Then-Now Cast
The Facts Of Life aired for nine seasons between 1979 and 1988 starring Lisa Whelchel, Kim Fields, Mindy Cohn, and Nancy McKeon. ABC’s Live in Front of a Studio Audience series has decided to install, The Facts of Life Live on Tuesday with Diff’rent Strokes, 7 December at 8 pm.
The ABC Network and ABC.com both broadcast The Facts of Life while Hulu will begin streaming Live with a Studio Audience on 8 December. Both of the series came from Lear’s production companies during that era, Tandem Productions and T.A.T Communications in the late 1970s/1980s. Producer’s and Hosts Jimmy Kimmel and Norman Lear have managed to get Friends star Jennifer Aniston to play the role of rich girl Blair which was originally played by Lisa Whelchel and Gabrielle Union will play the role of Tootie, Allison Tolman as Natalie, Kathryn Hahn on the role of Jo Polniaczek. The Handmaid’s Tale star, Ann Dowd will play Ms. Garett, Eastland housemother.
Jimmy Kimmel had announced the casting during Monday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live saying, “I cannot imagine a better group than Jennifer Anniston, Allison Tolman, Gabrielle Union, Kathryn Hahn, and Ann Dowd, and I can’t wait to do their hair.”
Norman Lear also shared his sentiments saying, “Other than with my family, there’s no place I’d rather be in my 100th year than on a soundstage at Sony with these glorious actors reliving what our company had produced all those years ago and sharing it with the millions of viewers who could use a little laughter.”
The original cast of The Facts of Life is Charlotte Rae who played Edna Garett, Kim Fields, Lisa Whelchel, Nancy McKeon, Mindy Cohn, Molly Ringwald, Cloris Leachman, Mackenzie Astin, and George Clooney.
Charlotte Rae was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for her role in The Facts of Life. She died on 5 August 2018 at the age of 92.
Kim Fields played the youngest student at Eastland Academy named Tootie. The actress has since played many popular shows like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Martin. Recently, she has announced her reunion with co-stars of The Facts of Life in a movie called Light up My Christmas.
Lisa Whelchel who played the role of Blair Warner has now become a best-selling author leaving her acting career.
Nancy McKeon joined the Facts of Life as Jo Polniaczek and has now become a well-recognized actress having worked on shows like The Divison, Sonny with a Chance, Dancing with the Stars.
Mindy Cohn who starred as Natalie Green on the show has worked on a variety of shows like Charles in Charge, 21 Jump Street, Hot in Cleveland, and The Middle.
Why Was The Facts Of Life Almost Cancelled?
Norman Lear wanted Charlotte Rae to lead his show, The Facts of Life but it wasn’t that easy at first because she was still in a contract with CBS but Norman anyhow took care of it and made sure to get her in this show.
None of the girls' cast had much experience in showbiz. Moreover, Mindy Cohn had never acted a day in her life and was discovered by the producers while visiting private schools and interviewing real students. Mindy Cohn was cast at her own school when she was 13 years old. The first season of the show was not so good so in the second season, there were all new women writers who worked to make the characters more real.
The second season had only three girls Blair, Natalie, and Tootie but later they added Jo to the cast. After all the changes made in the second season, the show did well on ratings and gathered many fans. The show became the number one comedy on NBC by the third season. The Facts of Life showed viewers the character’s development in the girls and in their housemother, provided a lot of heartwarming moments over the years with having comedy as its backbone.
Many people are still fans of the Facts of Life that aired in the late 1980s. It was a big deal to have an all-cast female back in the 1980s therefore the show was considered quite progressive and impressive. The show earned multiple Emmy Award nominations and won the Pop Culture Icon award from TV land. The series conveyed serious topics through various episodes which tackled racism, abortion, rape and suicide, adoption, drug abuse, and alcoholism.
However, a sitcom with a similar storyline didn’t do so well which was titled, ‘Dorothy’. It came out in the same year as the Facts of Life where former Broadway star Dorothy Banks teaches at an all-girl school which is similar to The Facts of Life. However, the show was canceled after only four episodes.