50 Fun Facts About The Facts of Life

In what New York town is the fictional Eastland School located?

The season-eight premiere was even titled 'Out of Peekskill,' the episode in which Mrs. Garrett marries and leaves for Africa.

How many seasons did The Facts of Life run on NBC?

It aired from August 1979 to May 1988, and NBC had planned a tenth season before Mindy Cohn and Nancy McKeon decided to leave.

Which future Brat Pack star was part of the large season-one cast before being written out?

She played budding social activist Molly Parker. Julie Anne Haddock, Julie Piekarski and Felice Schachter were dropped at the same time.

Jo Polniaczek arrives at Eastland in season two on what?

Jo is a Polish-American scholarship student from the Bronx, and her rivalry with the privileged Blair drove much of the retooled show.

Which New York borough is Jo from?

The season-three episode 'Jo's Cousin,' a failed backdoor pilot, sent her home to visit her family there, with Megan Follows as her cousin Terry.

Why did producers first put Tootie on roller skates?

The skates became one of her trademarks along with the braces and the gossip. Fields had earlier lost a Diff'rent Strokes role for being taller than Gary Coleman.

What is Tootie's real first name?

Kim Fields played Dorothy 'Tootie' Ramsey for all nine seasons, having first appeared as the character on Diff'rent Strokes.

How was Mindy Cohn discovered for her role on the show?

Rae and the producers were visiting Westlake School in Holmby Hills; the principal had assigned Cohn as tour guide and they were charmed by her comic timing.

Which cartoon character did Mindy Cohn voice from 2002 to 2015?

She succeeded B.J. Ward in the role and reprised it in Lego Dimensions.

Before Blair Warner, Lisa Whelchel was a cast member of what?

She auditioned at 12 and became a Mouseketeer, then played the preppy, wealthy Blair for nine years.

How was Nancy McKeon discovered for the show?

McKeon was tutored on set and, while on the show, was granted a private audience with Pope John Paul II with her parents.

Which sitcom gave Kim Fields her first fame before The Facts of Life?

She appeared as a friend of Penny, who was played by Janet Jackson.

In season two, Mrs. Garrett took on what additional job at Eastland?

The retooled second season, with the four girls confined to a spare room next to her bedroom as punishment, sent ratings up immediately.

What was the name of the gourmet food shop Mrs. Garrett opened in season five?

It was the show's way of keeping the girls under one roof after Blair and Jo graduated Eastland at the end of season four.

What replaced the food shop after it was destroyed by fire in the season-seven premiere?

The rebuild episodes 'Into the Frying Pan' and 'Grand Opening' all landed in the weekly top ten, and George Clooney joined the cast the same season.

George Clooney's character on The Facts of Life had what job?

George Burnett is hired to help rebuild the shop after the fire; it was one of several sitcom stops for Clooney before ER made him a star.

Who replaced Charlotte Rae as the girls' guardian for the final two seasons?

She played Mrs. Garrett's sister Beverly Ann Stickle, a character deliberately similar to her Emmy-winning Phyllis Lindstrom from The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

How was Mrs. Garrett written out of the show at the start of season eight?

The heavily promoted one-hour season-eight premiere sent her off with a Peace Corps husband; Rae felt she had done all she could with the character.

Which young shop worker did Beverly Ann legally adopt in the episode 'A Boy About the House'?

Mackenzie Astin, brother of Sean, played Andy over four seasons from 1985 to 1988.

Which of the four girls lost her virginity in the season-nine episode 'The First Time'?

The storyline was written for Blair, but Lisa Whelchel refused it on religious grounds and asked to be written out of the episode, which aired with a parental advisory.

In the two-part series finale, what does Blair do to save Eastland from closing?

The finale doubled as a backdoor pilot in which Blair, now headmistress, is forced to make Eastland co-ed; the new students included Seth Green and Mayim Bialik.

Which future Oscar nominee played one of Blair's troublemaking new students in the series finale?

Seth Green, Mayim Bialik and Meredith Scott Lynn were also among the students of the never-picked-up co-ed Eastland spin-off.

Who co-wrote the show's theme song with Al Burton and Gloria Loring?

Thicke and Loring, then married, had also written the Diff'rent Strokes theme; Loring sang the later 'You take the good, you take the bad' version.

Which pair of writers created The Facts of Life?

Clair and McMahon, a comedy-writing team, later created Mama's Family and It's a Living.

In the Diff'rent Strokes pilot for the spin-off, what does Kimberly ask Mrs. Garrett to help with?

The dorm's housemother had just quit; Mrs. Garrett puts on a successful play but, at the end of the pilot, chooses to stay with the Drummonds.

By its third season The Facts of Life was NBC's number two show overall, behind which program?

It had ranked 70th out of 105 shows in its first season; the season-two retool and a Wednesday 9:30 slot turned it into a top-30 fixture for the rest of the decade.

In September 1985 NBC moved the show to Saturday nights as a lead-in for which new series?

Facts aired at 8:30 ahead of the 9 p.m. newcomer; the following season it was pushed to the brutal 8 p.m. slot and still won its hour.

Where did Mrs. Garrett and the girls travel in the 1982 TV movie?

The Facts of Life Goes to Paris aired days before the season-four premiere and was later chopped into four half-hour episodes for syndication.

The 1987 TV movie The Facts of Life Down Under sent the gang to which city?

NBC scheduled it against the finale of ABC's miniseries Amerika and it still finished 13th for the week; the girls visit Eastland's sister school, Koolunga.

Which of the four girls was missing from the 2001 TV movie The Facts of Life Reunion?

Nancy McKeon was tied up with her series The Division. The reunion aired on ABC rather than NBC.

Which holiday brings Mrs. Garrett and the girls back together in The Facts of Life Reunion?

Mindy Cohn said one reason she did the 2001 reunion was that the actresses had been denied a share of syndication and DVD profits.

Geri Jewell's recurring character Geri Tyler was groundbreaking for portraying what condition?

Jewell, a stand-up comedian with cerebral palsy herself, played Blair's cousin across twelve episodes until 1984 and later appeared in Deadwood.

Which future MacGyver star played Tootie's uncle Brian in the failed 'Brian & Sylvia' spin-off episode?

The season-two episode sent Tootie to Buffalo to visit Aunt Sylvia; Ja'Net DuBois played Tootie's grandmother.

Which future SNL star appeared in 'Big Apple Blues', the season-nine SoHo loft backdoor pilot?

Richard Grieco was another of the loft's tenants. Like every other Facts spin-off attempt, it went nowhere.

After graduating from Eastland, where did Blair and Jo go next?

Blair later passes her LSATs there after a single weekend of studying, and delivers the graduation speech after Jo's is vetoed for its content.

Which Facts of Life episode was recreated in the 2021 Live in Front of a Studio Audience special?

The special paired it with the Diff'rent Strokes episode 'Willis' Privacy'; Mindy Cohn said its popularity prompted Norman Lear to suggest a revival that later collapsed.

For which award was Charlotte Rae nominated at the 1982 Emmys?

It was one of only three Emmy nominations the show received in nine seasons; the other two were for technical direction and hairstyling.

Which future Australian country singer joined the final season as exchange student Pippa McKenna?

Now known as Sherrié Austin, she had opened for Johnny Cash in Australia at 14 and later had a Nashville recording career.

Which future Californication star had a recurring role as Kelly Affinado in 1983–84?

Then billed as Pamela Segall, she is now better known for Better Things and as the voice of Bobby Hill.

What did Charlotte Rae reveal in 2015 that producers kept off-stage to monitor the young cast?

Rae said the pressure backfired: 'The more they tried to pressure them and weigh them and threaten them, the more they would eat.'

What was the show's Italian title, L'albero delle mele, in English?

'Apple' is a popular Italian euphemism for teenage girls. Brazil called it Vivendo e Aprendendo and France called it Drôle de vie.

How many episodes are in the complete series set released by Shout! Factory in 2015?

The 26-disc set also included both NBC TV movies, but not the 2001 ABC reunion film.

On which date did The Facts of Life premiere on NBC?

It ran until May 7, 1988, and though not an early hit it became NBC's highest-rated comedy by its third season.

In the Diff'rent Strokes backdoor pilot, what was the girls' academy called before it became Eastland?

Kimberly Drummond attended it in Upstate New York; the pilot episode was titled 'The Girls' School', also known as 'Garrett's Girls'.

Who played headmaster Steven Bradley during the first season?

He was dropped after season one and replaced by Roger Perry's Mr. Charles Parker, who lasted into season five.

Which cast member, a Christian since age ten, refused the storyline about losing her virginity?

She asked to be written out of 'The First Time', the only episode she missed, and the plot went to Natalie instead.

Which producer's companies, T.A.T. Communications and later Embassy Television, made The Facts of Life?

Sony Pictures Television now owns the distribution rights; production moved from Metromedia Square to Universal City and finally Sunset Gower Studios.

The Facts of Life Down Under was scheduled by NBC against the finale of which ABC miniseries?

The counter-programming worked: the movie placed 13th for the week with a 21.4 rating.

How was Jo's absence explained in the 2001 reunion movie?

Nancy McKeon was busy filming her series The Division at the time.

What was the show's French title, meaning 'Funny Life'?

It aired on La Cinq in 1987-88 and later on TF1's Club Dorothée block; in Brazil it was called Vivendo e Aprendendo.