I just found it odd as to how many absences she had during the 1st Season.

She wasn't an important character from the get go. One of the writers mentions her absence in many of the earlier episodes in one of the audio commentaries. I don't remember his explanation to that though (if he actually explains it).

She wasn't supposed to be a regular character at the start of the show. It was only after people started writing in saying how much they liked the character that she was added to appear in every episode. She may have only originally signed a contract to appear in maybe 6-13 episodes the first season, but they later modified it. I think that was mentioned in one of the E! True Hollywood Stories.

She wasn't supposed to be a regular character at the start of the show. It was only after people started writing in saying how much they liked the character that she was added to appear in every episode. She may have only originally signed a contract to appear in maybe 6-13 episodes the first season, but they later modified it. I think that was mentioned in one of the E! True Hollywood Stories.

ONE of the E! True Hollywood Stories ? :eek: I thought there was only one.

There was the 2-hour Diff'rent Strokes one and then the one on Dana Plato that used some of the same footage and interviews.

Yeah. They say it on one of the Season 1 DVD Commentary trakcs. I believe it was that she was in every 4 episodes or something. And they knew from the start that she wouldn't be in all of them.

There was the 2-hour Diff'rent Strokes one and then the one on Dana Plato that used some of the same footage and interviews.

Oh man. How frustrating! The one i saw on french tv was a 60 minute long documentary on Diff'rent Strokes. So apparently they cut down half of the original programme to fit some airing time restriction or something :confused: It's really odd, and they must have cut pretty cleverly, as i could never tell it'd been edited. And i generally notice this kind of things.
Thanks for the info :wave:

How many episodes was Dana in Season 1

How many episodes was Dana in Season 1

I think around 18 or so, of the 24. She was out every 4th episodes.

The concept of her not being a regular character is very strange... i mean, come on, she is mr.drummond's DAUGHTER. Hell, i would think that a house keeper would be a role in which a character would'nt appear as often, and yet Mrs. Garrett was actually the opening character in the very first episode of diff'rent strokes.

They explained her absence by saying that she is away and boarding school but spends weekends and holidays at home. This is the same school Mrs. G left DS to go to on FOL.