Paul Haggis, writer and exec producer of Facts of life Season 6-8 has had a Golden Globe and now an Oscar nomination for the screenplay Million Dollar Baby (starring Clint Eastwood and Hilary Swank).

Paul is a native to Canada and started writing for FOL - After a couple of years, he was promoted to Executive Producer - and promptly fired - perhaps because he suggested that they make the show funny. However, he does not regret the experience. In the time spent on the series, he learned how to edit, to produce, to work with writers; in essence, how to put all the elements together to create a TV series.

I think he was the best writer FOL had from its entire run - he was behind episodes like Tootie Drives (http://www.80schild.com/tootiedrives.htm), Out of Peekskill (http://www.80schild.com/outofpeekskill.htm), Crusin (http://www.80schild.com/crusin.htm), Last Drive In (http://www.80schild.com/lastdrivein.htm) , A Man in the attic (http://www.80schild.com/amanintheattic.htm), and more...

Its terrible that he was fired because he told the truth about the show not being funny, i think he could have made it a much stronger sitcom if he had stayed on.

Wow! The man behind the screenplay behind one of the biggest movies all year! That is an accomplishment!

What? Wasn't the Facts of Life funny before? Or did it happen to be stuck in serious story lines in the first few seasons? :confused:

That doesn't make sense; the show had some very funny episodes in its first few years. For example, "Shoplifting", anyone? ;)