"The Facts of Life" had six attempted spinoffs... here's why none of them happened

[Harry Hollywood]

Hello everyone. Been awhile. Quite busy with work since everything got started up again after our COVID shutdown.

I wanted to make an appearance here to talk a bit about beloved Gen-X sitcom The Facts of Life, which ran from 1979 to 1988.

This charming, durable show lasted for nine seasons, and consistently placed in the upper eschelon of ratings. While it was not a major hit at any point, it was reliably drawing a substantial audience, and was especially popular with kids and young adults. If you were a kid or a teen during the 1980s, it's very likely you saw a lot of The Facts of Life.

Perhaps you've seen the E! True Hollywood Story on The Facts of Life, or perhaps you've read some articles about it. Indeed you will learn some tidbits which weren't made totally public at the time. However, I am here with some inside information which former fans of the show might find interesting.



The Facts of Life was originally a spinoff from successful sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, which had a successful 2-year run on NBC at that point. On May 4, 1979, NBC aired the final season two episode of Diff'rent Strokes, entitled, "The Girls School", where Mrs. Garrett leaves the Drummond household to go take a job at all-girls boarding school Eastland. This was a backdoor pilot for The Facts of Life, which had not been officially picked up yet, as network execs wanted to feel out audience reaction to this story. Reaction was barely positive enough to go forward with it, and thus The Facts of Life was picked up and slated to be aired in late August of 1979.

The first season was an utter disaster. It was one of the lowest rated shows on TV, and NBC was certain to pull the plug. Producers begged NBC for another chance, promising to seriously retool the show. The then-struggling network surprisingly decided to give the failing show one more shot. Veteran executive producer Jack Eilinson was brought on board to help with the retool. Four of the young female characters, including Molly Ringwald, were terminated, and new tomboy character Jo (Nancy McKeon) was brought in to join the remaining three girls. The show was changed to focus more upon Mrs. Garrett and the four girls, and less upon their life at Eastland school. The new formula worked, and suddenly the show clicked with audiences. This was one of the very rare instances in TV history where a last-ditch attempt at changing a failed new show produced a hit.

I won't bother getting into the various changes which occurred during the show's run, as they were mostly minor, at least until Charlotte Rae left the show.

Mindy Cohn, who played Natalie, was annoyed somewhat with producers when she expressed a desire to lose weight. The producers told her that she was absolutely forbidden to lose weight, as her character was supposed to be fat. While Cohn and her parents were outraged by this, Mindy stayed quiet and indeed took no steps to control her weight. Finally at one point Cohn decided to lose weight anyway, and producers were furious. They dressed her in baggy clothes and attempted to make her still look fat, for "continuity", they claimed. At the same time, producers were very concerned about the weight of Lisa Whelchel, who played Blair. As Blair was supposed to be rich and beautiful, they were starting to notice Lisa was gaining weight as she aged. Note that Whelchel was in her 20s throughout the second half of the series run, and as her metabolism declined, her weight rose. They even sent Whelchel to weight loss camps over the summer, when she had gained too much for their liking. None of this would fly in the 2020s, but in the '80s, you did what the producers told you to do. Cohn was in a particularly weak position, as she was not conventionally beautiful, and she was unlikely to ever score another role as high-profile as the one she had on The Facts of Life. Indeed, that was the pinnacle of her career.

[Harry Hollywood]

Now I will tell you about the attempted spinoffs. I do not know of another show which had six attempted spinoffs, and I definitely don't know of one which had six attempted spinoffs where zero ever saw a pilot being aired.

Spinoffs were a big deal in the 70s and 80s. This was fueled by the success of All in the Family spinoffs Maude and The Jeffersons, as well as Good Times which spun off from Maude. This led network execs at the time to believe that every successful sitcom had spinoff potential. Recall that The Facts of Life itself was a successful spinoff, so this thinking wasn't necessarily incorrect.

The Facts of Life was considered a great starting point for potential spinoffs, because it was assumed by network execs that audiences wouldn't feel jarred by a different storyline being temporarily presented. Unlike other programs at the time, The Facts of Life had more of an ensemble feel, with no one character being the center of most of the plots. Therefore, it seemed easy to introduce audiences to new characters, said to be loosely associated with one or more Facts of Life characters, and potentially draw interest to these new stories.

Unfortunately, most of these attemted spinoffs were extremely poorly conceived, and had little chance of exciting audiences. The first was called "Brian and Sylvia", which starred a pre-Macgyver Richard Dean Anderson, as the male half of an interracial couple. The female half was Tootie's never-before-seen aunt. The episode was a dull and clunky introduction to these two characters, who were uninteresting aside from being an interracial couple in the early '80s. It was aired as the final episode of the second season in 1981 (just as Facts of Life's backdoor pilot was aired as the final episode of Diff'rent Strokes' second season), and audience response was highly negative.

"The Academy" was aired near the end of the third season in 1982. It attempted to introduce an all-boys school to audiences, two of whom Jo and Blair were dating. Audiences saw it as a cheap male knockoff of The Facts of Life, and it was not picked up. However, they figured perhaps this one needed another shot, so they shot a second backdoor pilot, to be aired the following season! In December 1982, another episode called "The Big Fight" was presented to audiences, again featuring the same military academy and the same cast of boys. Once again, audiences weren't warm to it, and this sitcom idea was permanently trashed. There was a belief around NBC at the time that John P Navin Jr, then 14, had the potential to be a breakout star. He appeared in several NBC shows in the early 80s, and he was one of the boys in this attempted spinoff. Navin finally got his shot in 1983, in the bizarre Jennifer Slept Here, starring him and Ann Jillian. That show flopped, and didn't make it through a full season. Navin's career basically cratered after that, and he faded from TV once his teen years were over. It's too bad, because I liked John and I hoped he would succeed.



The very next episode in 1982 was also a spinoff attempt, called "Jo's Cousin". Jo went back to New Jersey and helped soften her tomboyish 14-year-old cousin, who was the daughter of an auto mechanic. Does this sound like a sitcom you'd want to watch? Amazing that this was even considered as a standalone series.

After these three failed attempts, there were some arguments between Facts of Life producers and NBC execs regarding the distraction these spinoffs were causing. There was some fear that these weird backdoor pilots might irritate and alienate audiences, especially given that three episodes were devoted to this within a short period of time in 1982. Believe it or not, it was the network execs who were frustrated with the numerous spinoff attempts, as these spinoffs were the brainchild of existing Facts of Life producers. Jack Elinson was behind "Jesse and Sylvia", Jerry Mayer wrote and created the boys academy idea, and Linda Marsh created the woeful story about Jo's cousin. Eventually a compromise was worked out, to where the backdoor pilots would cease for at least a year, and then future backdoor pilot attempts would be considered, but veto power would be given to network executives if the idea seemed marginal.

At the end of season #4 in 1983, there was an hourlong episode regarding Jo and Blair graduating Eastland, called "Graduation". This was not intended to be a backdoor pilot, but it was a very popular episode, especially due to the fact that it depicted the two rival girls becoming more friendly with one another. Linda Marsh approached Nancy McKeon and Lisa Whelchel and asked if they would rather do a spinoff about going to college together than appearing on the 5th season of "The Facts of Life". There was some (incorrect) concern that The Facts of Life was going to steeply decline in ratings in Season 5, as it had already lost 2 points in market share from the prior season. Marsh proposed to NBC execs to capitalize on the momentum of that season finale to start a fresh new show. She also proposed a plan to refresh The Facts of Life with some new concepts and new characters, partially to replace the loss of Blair and Jo. Network execs disagreed, and stated that they felt the show had at least a few good seasons left, and that removing the two most popular characters would destroy it. Indeed, they were correct, as the show lasted five more seasons, and kept solid ratings throughout.

The writing was on the wall for The Facts of Life in 1988, as it was slipping in the ratings, and the show was in its final season. They attempted two more spinoffs near the very end. "Big Apple Blues" starred a then-unknown David Spade and Richard Grieco, who were both among several eccentric characters living in a NYC apartment. This was kind of a crude 1980s version of Friends. Viewers found Spade to be obnoxious and abrasive, and didn't like it. The spinoff never happened.

The final two episodes of the Facts of Life served as both series closure and an introduction for what was supposed to be a continuation series. Think Archie Bunker's Place when All in the Family ended. Blair bought financially-strapped Eastland, and became the head of it, now in charge of a new generation of kids needing guidance. Eastland was turned into a school for both boys and girls, and a group of new young characters were brought in. You can't fault the casting here, as unknown young actors Seth Green, Mayim Bialik, and Juliette Lewis were among the group of new kids at Eastland. Unlike the other spinoffs, which were a shot in the dark, this was considered a serious attempt at continuing the series in different form, and was expected to be picked up. Network executives were warm to the idea, and said there was a very good chance they would place it on the 88-89 fall schedule.

The show was given a very hard look. The two episodes were shown repeatedly to focus groups, and there was much debate whether or not to give it a shot. Ultimately, NBC passed on it. It was concluded that this was a poor man's version of the original show, and that the Blair character simply wasn't believable as any kind of authority figure. How do you go from a spoiled rich girl to the responsible, hardworking head of a boarding school? Network execs also thought the precocious kids were trying too hard to be cute, and it simply lacked the charm of the original show. They were probably correct. NBC was also doing well at that point, so they were no longer in the desperate situation they were when the three first spinoffs were attempted earlier in the decade.

I hope you enjoyed this little trip down memory lane. I will try to come around a little more often to post more inside Hollywood stuff, whether current or historical.

[tgull]

The very next episode in 1982 was also a spinoff attempt, called "Jo's Cousin". Jo went back to New Jersey and helped soften her tomboyish 14-year-old cousin, who was the daughter of an auto mechanic. Does this sound like a sitcom you'd want to watch? Amazing that this was even considered as a standalone series.

I cannot think of a worse recurring theme than this for a sitcom. I guess maybe for one episode, but how could you ever build a series around that plot line? This was the 80s right? I gotta assume they would have used Schneider from One Day at a Time as the burly auto mechanic father.

[Karen Nathan]

A Facts Of Life Fan on YouTube pointed out that the very first Season of Facts Of Life just had way too many girls(There were about SEVEN girls in the first Season) but cutting the core cast to just 4 girls and Mrs. Garrett was perfect.

[Harry Hollywood]

I was up late last night and was a bit tired when I did this writeup.

Unfortunately I skipped something important.

The Facts of Life was created by the male-female writing team of Jenna McMahon and Dick Clair. The two of them collaborated on a lot of writing projects in '70s and '80s Hollywood, and spent a lot of time alone together, but the married McMahon definitely wasn't cheating on her husband. How do I know? Clair was gay, and he unfortunately died of AIDS in 1988, permanently ending the partnership. McMahon lived to the ripe old age of 89, and died only 6 years ago.

McMahon and Clair had previously written for The Carol Burnett Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and The Bob Newhart Show (not to be confused with 1980s sitcom Newhart). It was actually Burnett herself who noticed the talent and creativity of these two writers, and she grabbed them for her show.

This, in turn, led to a semi-spinoff of The Carol Burnett show, known as Mama's Family. While The Carol Burnett show was a sketch comedy, many of the exact same characters were used for Mama's Family, which was a more traditional sitcom.

However, let's go back to late 1978. Producers asked McMahon and Clair to create a new show around Charlotte Rae's Edna Garrett character, and to write it as a Diff'rent Strokes backdoor pilot episode. This was the first original show created by the pair, though they had created some characters for The Carol Burnett Show. McMahon and Clair created The Facts of Life, originally slated to be called Garrett's Girls.

Don't give them too much credit, though. Recall that the original show they created was a failure. Had NBC not been in such a dire situation in 1980, they would have cancelled the show without a thought, as it was one of the worst rated programs on TV. Also, they only created the backdoor pilot and original concept for the show. They were not involved in any of the writing. The successful second-season retooling had nothing to do with McMahon and Clair.

The pair also created It's A Living, which had something in common with Mama's Family. Both shows mostly failed in prime time, but both were revived into successful first-run syndication, which was a weird 1980s fad.

McMahon was 63 years old when Clair died of AIDS. That put an end to her career, as well. Hollywood is age-obsessed, and it was hard to get work there in the 1980s (and somewhat even now) once over 60. Clair's death was seen as the equivalent of the death of half of a two-headed writing being, and nobody wanted to hire a 63-year-old half writer. So be it. She had a good run. Had Clair, who was 6 years younger than McMahon, not passed away, it is likely we would have seen one or two more shows out of them before they retired.

[country978]

thanks for this great thread Harry.

[gut]

I'm fairly certain there has been at least 6 proposed Game of Thrones spin-offs by now.

[Dan Druff]

In 1983, they took a poll in my 6th grade social studies class as to which were everyone's favorite TV shows. The results were very NBC heavy, which was interesting because this was before NBC had its 1984 comeback, anchored by The Cosby Show, Miami Vice, and others. But I guess they were already popular with the teenage set.

Diff'rent Strokes came in as #1, Silver Spoons #2, Facts of Life #3, and The A-Team was #4.

However, what was notable about Facts of Life was that, despite being the third most popular show in the class, it had zero "favorite show" votes, while the other three all had several. Everyone pretty much had it in their top 4, but nobody liked it best. This was accurate in general, as The Facts of Life had middle-upper echelon ratings for almost its whole run from the second season forward, but was never something anyone absolutely loved. It was something that a lot of people liked, however, and that was enough.

Seth MacFarlane, who is just a year younger than me, was obviously a fan, as he has had several Facts of Life references in "Family Guy".

[Dan Druff]

BTW I hope everyone appreciates Harry's presence here.

Not only has he batted almost 1.000 when it comes to release dates of new seasons of shows (long before being reported anywhere else), but he brings a lot of inside info from Hollywood which can't be found anywhere else.

Seriously. Google the stuff he writes about, and while some of it is public knowledge, much of it can't be found anywhere on the web. I believe all or most of it is correct, too. He's not making shit up.

I hope he does more.

[country978]

BTW I hope everyone appreciates Harry's presence here.

Not only has he batted almost 1.000 when it comes to release dates of new seasons of shows (long before being reported anywhere else), but he brings a lot of inside info from Hollywood which can't be found anywhere else.

Seriously. Google the stuff he writes about, and while some of it is public knowledge, much of it can't be found anywhere on the web. I believe all or most of it is correct, too. He's not making shit up.

I hope he does more.

I appreciate his presence and hope he posts more too. Having been born in 1970 I'm very well aware of the show and found Harry's post fun and entertaining.

[tgull]

BTW I hope everyone appreciates Harry's presence here.

Not only has he batted almost 1.000 when it comes to release dates of new seasons of shows (long before being reported anywhere else), but he brings a lot of inside info from Hollywood which can't be found anywhere else.

Seriously. Google the stuff he writes about, and while some of it is public knowledge, much of it can't be found anywhere on the web. I believe all or most of it is correct, too. He's not making shit up.

I hope he does more.

It begs the question, why is he posting here? I mean what is the angle? He just stumbled on this site or do you know him?

[Dan Druff]

BTW I hope everyone appreciates Harry's presence here.

Not only has he batted almost 1.000 when it comes to release dates of new seasons of shows (long before being reported anywhere else), but he brings a lot of inside info from Hollywood which can't be found anywhere else.

Seriously. Google the stuff he writes about, and while some of it is public knowledge, much of it can't be found anywhere on the web. I believe all or most of it is correct, too. He's not making shit up.

I hope he does more.

It begs the question, why is he posting here? I mean what is the angle? He just stumbled on this site or do you know him?

I got to know him, and asked him to post these stories when he has time.

There are several incorrect guesses out there, as to his identity. That's all I can say.

[nightmarefish]

It begs the question, why is he posting here? I mean what is the angle? He just stumbled on this site or do you know him?

I got to know him, and asked him to post these stories when he has time.

There are several incorrect guesses out there, as to his identity. That's all I can say.

It's well established that it's Harry Hamlin.

[Walter Sobchak]

A Facts Of Life Fan on YouTube pointed out that the very first Season of Facts Of Life just had way too many girls(There were about SEVEN girls in the first Season) but cutting the core cast to just 4 girls and Mrs. Garrett was perfect.

Seven girls sounds about right to me.

[Crowe Diddly]

I sometimes think that half of all sitcoms in this general time period were really just vehicles for Alan Thicke theme songs. Most great bands would kill for as many catchy hits (and residual payments) as this guy had.

I don't read a lot of people's threads here, but I read Harry's, every time. Wanna make sure he knows he's appreciated.

[Sanlmar]

In 1983, they took a poll in my 6th grade social studies class as to which were everyone's favorite TV shows.

What would be the results of Ben’s 6th grade class? That would be interesting. Do they even watch series television?

[Dan Druff]

In 1983, they took a poll in my 6th grade social studies class as to which were everyone's favorite TV shows.

What would be the results of Ben’s 6th grade class? That would be interesting. Do they even watch series television?

[Sidewinder]

Great thread..

Thanks Qanon/Harry/Druff

[limitles]

I sometimes think that half of all sitcoms in this general time period were really just vehicles for Alan Thicke theme songs. Most great bands would kill for as many catchy hits (and residual payments) as this guy had.

I don't read a lot of people's threads here, but I read Harry's, every time. Wanna make sure he knows he's appreciated.

I did not know this. If you look at his Wiki site it looks like he was in a dead heat race with Paul Williams.

[tbuck27]

It begs the question, why is he posting here? I mean what is the angle? He just stumbled on this site or do you know him?

I got to know him, and asked him to post these stories when he has time.

There are several incorrect guesses out there, as to his identity. That's all I can say.

Pffffff.......Everyone knows it's Bryan Micon obv