The Facts of Life (1979)

Watchseries; Once in a while I'll watch The Facts of Life on Nick at Nite. This isn't a show that I would go out of my way to see, but it's still a good comedy to watch when there's nothing else on.

I think that all of the girls do a good job in their own different way. This show has a good cast that works well together. The writing isn't bad but nothing too funny for it being a comedy. Most of the topics discussed on the show are very well played out. They cover everything that could possibly be up for discussion. A couple of the episodes are good for the whole family to watch.

Maybe one of the reasons this isn't one of my most favorite shows, is because it dealt with topics that were big in the 80's, but not too important now. It's not like the show could change throughout the years, but it lacks something in order for it to be a great TV series.

Once in a while I'll watch The Facts of Life on Nick at Nite. This isn't a show that I would go out of my way to see, but it's still a good comedy to watch when there's nothing else on.

I think that all of the girls do a good job in their own different way. This show has a good cast that works well together. The writing isn't bad but nothing too funny for it being a comedy. Most of the topics discussed on the show are very well played out. They cover everything that could possibly be up for discussion. A couple of the episodes are good for the whole family to watch.

Maybe one of the reasons this isn't one of my most favorite shows, is because it dealt with topics that were big in the 80's, but not too important now. It's not like the show could change throughout the years, but it lacks something in order for it to be a great TV series.

The Facts of Life watchseries. Unlike many people on here, I never really liked the first season. It was downright bad. They got it right when the show was drastically overhauled for the second season and shifted the focus to a much smaller group of girls. Charlotte Rae was a great asset to this talented cast and her character grounded everyone but also evolved far from being the Drummond's maid. This show is superior from it's predecessor. The series seemed to loose focus again when they shifted the location from Eastland to running a specialty shop. It should have ended upon the girls graduating from the school. A good show for it's time with many fond memories.

If you want to see another example of why the 80's were the greatest decade of the 20th century, here's a prime example. Although I was a male, me and my brothers loved this show. I don't why, I guess it was a "what were we thinking" kind of deal. I guess as fans of "Diff'rent Strokes", we would watch the spin-offs. Granted, no one in the cast of females would cause the S Club 7 girls to lose sleep in the beauty department (sorry Lisa), but the character development was superb. Natalie Green, Jo Polnochek, Tootie Ramsey, Blair Warner, and the young girls that would come and go were all so appealing. You cared about them all. Charlotte Rae's Mrs. Garrett was the kind of women we all wish we could have known and befriended. Heck, I even miss Pippa, she was a cute, headstrong kind of girl. The acting was always good, it felt like it was real life instead of an act. I would like to check this show out again, just to see why I watched it. Oh, and Mrs. Garrett, Oingo Boingo's music is still very cool.

I did see a couple of episodes of the show, and nobody in my family was impressed. Yes, it was a sitcom and not intended to be too realistic, but there are limits.

What went wrong? Basically, all the characters were stereotypical, with the school's headmaster simply being an obvious fake. I wasn't sure of that was the idea, but even a sitcom requires credible characters. I realize there are people here who find this show wonderful, but I cannot figure out why. Sorry.

Like a lot of other people, I thought this show was better in its first season than it was in its later years. In fact, does anyone even remember that future "Brat Packer" Molly Ringwald was a member of the original cast? The character I thought was mildly interesting from the later years was Jo. Nancy McKeon at least played her like a real character and not like a charicature like the other girls were, and the most annoying of them was Tootie. I wonder how Kim Fields, who has gone on to become a successful director and producer, has been able to live down that role. In the beginning she was just an annoying little girl and as the show wore on she became more of a whiney spoiled brat. Thank God this show is not being shown in reruns anymore.

FOL was really a cheesy spin off to what was a fine t.v. sitcom. That's the sad failing about this show of talentless and an unattractive cast. If you can get this, they didn't think George Clooney was eye catching at the time, when he did a stint in the show, which was a waste of that guys talents. Apart from Nancy Mckeon's feisty character Jo, the rest of the characters, you couldn't care one stink about. Lisa Whelchel's character, the bossy and prissy Claire was fun too, bit there were moments I really wanted to strangle her. The show was low on laughs too, each episode forgettable as the last. The show was set in a boarding school, run by, guess who, the popular Mrs Garrett. The show dealt with a lot of dramatic issues, the blows we suffer, of teen angst, that sort of thing, but none really that caught our attention. One show, I distinctly remember was Kim Field's character, trying to make it as an actress. The show had of course, good intentions, one plus for me was, it made boarding school look like a holiday. I myself, was in boarding school for a little while, and it wasn't. Please, take my advice, learn the facts of life from not watching The Facts Of Life.