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.