since I was born during DS's run, I was more used to the show when Pearl was in the cast as a kid and Mrs. Garrett being on Facts Of Life instead. I've seen some season 1 episodes before but not a whole bunch (whereas I've seen a lot of seasons 4-6 from reruns).

I completely forgot what a wonderful comedic actress Charlotte Rae was as Mrs. Garrett on Diff'rent Strokes. I always remember her as the overbearing maternal figure on Facts Of Life so seeing just how hysterical she was on DS took me by surprise a bit. I liked her on FOL, but the character was so different.

Anybody else also think that Charlotte was much funnier on Diff'rent Strokes than on Facts Of Life? I actually do like FOL better as a whole (IMO, the last two seasons of Diff'rent Strokes should've never happened), but now I really see why NBC believed in Charlotte so much that they were willing to give her her own spinoff.

i think your right. she was zanier on ds she did som wacky things in the drummond household whereas on fol. she had to be more serious sometimes of coruse on fol she was dealing with teenage girls and ther problems wich can be very trumatic sometimes

yeah, maybe because on ds, she was a supporting character, and on fol, she was the main character and had to play straight.

I was about 10 or 11 then. I found Pearl to be more a grandmotherly figure as Mrs G was more a friend to the boys.