did anyone else see this special on "fol" back in 2009? it wasn't the actual biography, it went a little deeper into the show. i, personally, liked this better than the bio. because they didn't sugar coat anything. like when they talked about the girls in the first season and how provocatively they dressed near the beginning of the show. when i watch the first season, i always think to myself that the girls tended to wear really tight clothes and the shorts are wayyyyyy to short, especially for the winter. and then when they talked about the producers talking about the girls' clothing was creepy. then, when they talked about releasing some of the first year girls, i felt bad for them. and i had no idea that kristy mcnicholl's character in "little darlings" was the inspiration for jo. and i really loved how they delved deeper into the subject of premarital sex on the show and how mindy cohn thought it would be better for her to loose her virginity rather than "the pretty girl". the only part that bothered me was when they talked about the girls' weight. i thought it was really unfair how the girls were ostrisized for putting on a little weight through the years. makes me wonder if the guys on "welcome back, kotter" ever got flack for putting on weight. and i had no idea the cast had any backstage fights, because lisa whelchel used to read during her scenes. they made it seem in the bio that the girls all got along and one of the castmembers even said that there was never any infighting or ego trips, then this program says that lisa often clashed with the other girls. wow. anyway, all in all, this has to be the most insightful program i've ever seen about "fol".

did anyone else see this special on "fol" back in 2009? it wasn't the actual biography, it went a little deeper into the show. i, personally, liked this better than the bio. because they didn't sugar coat anything. like when they talked about the girls in the first season and how provocatively they dressed near the beginning of the show. when i watch the first season, i always think to myself that the girls tended to wear really tight clothes and the shorts are wayyyyyy to short, especially for the winter. and then when they talked about the producers talking about the girls' clothing was creepy. then, when they talked about releasing some of the first year girls, i felt bad for them. and i had no idea that kristy mcnicholl's character in "little darlings" was the inspiration for jo. and i really loved how they delved deeper into the subject of premarital sex on the show and how mindy cohn thought it would be better for her to loose her virginity rather than "the pretty girl". the only part that bothered me was when they talked about the girls' weight. i thought it was really unfair how the girls were ostrisized for putting on a little weight through the years. makes me wonder if the guys on "welcome back, kotter" ever got flack for putting on weight. and i had no idea the cast had any backstage fights, because lisa whelchel used to read during her scenes. they made it seem in the bio that the girls all got along and one of the castmembers even said that there was never any infighting or ego trips, then this program says that lisa often clashed with the other girls. wow. anyway, all in all, this has to be the most insightful program i've ever seen about "fol".

I saw this program not too long ago and it's probably my favorite of all the "Facts of Life" bios. I, too, was shocked to learn that the girls had differences because of Lisa's refusal to rehearse scenes and because she liked to read on the set, and also agreed about the show being close to "kiddie porn" during the first season. The weight controversy was ridiculous. These were normal girls, and not the stick figures we see on TV today. And the first season girls getting fired was sad, even though it was a decision that ultimately saved the show. I agree that this was much better than the other biography on the Biography channel, because it was more insightful, not to mention the other biography was full of errors and inaccuracies.

i was also shocked to learn that the reason nancy mckeon wasn't in a few of the episodes during the 6th season was because she was on strike for more money, or something like that. i always wondered why she wasn't in those couple of episodes.

Lisa Whelchel once said that all the girls got huge raises thanks to Nancy McKeon. When McKeon got bumped up in salary, they all did.

Lisa Whelchel once said that all the girls got huge raises thanks to Nancy McKeon. When McKeon got bumped up in salary, they all did.

that's really cool.

okay so I have heard Nancy went on strike during Season 5 and Season 6 and miss the taped of some episodes. What episodes were they, I believe she appeared in almost every episode. I think the Bio and Cast Confessions may be confusing some seasons up. I know John Bowab stated that in TV world it is easy to cover up and that she was stated as going to visit her mom, but what episode was she actually missing while on strike. Totally confused.

i wish they'd air this again on the bio channel. it was really a good special.

okay so I have heard Nancy went on strike during Season 5 and Season 6 and miss the taped of some episodes. What episodes were they, I believe she appeared in almost every episode.
She is not in season 6, episode 4 "My Boyfriend's Back." It's the episode where Tootie feels like she needs to sleep with Jeff in order to hold onto him. I believe Blair makes a comment in the episode about Jo going home to help her mother who had thrown her back out or something like that.

Off the top of my head, I can't really think of any other episodes without her (other season 1 of course.)

i wish they'd air this again on the bio channel. it was really a good special.
It is the best biography on the show I've ever seen. I have it saved on my DVR. :)

...there's this program called "Sitcom Scandals", or something like that, where they talked about not wanting to be around each other sometimes, or of course that "time-of-the-month" thing. The thing about Lisa reading during her scenes and not wanting to rehearse her lines in the "Cast Confessions" was also a bit shocking to me.

what did it say about Lisa and reading and such? Is there a transcript for this?

I see the reading issue with Lisa like this:
Lisa was a shy girl and not used to really having any true friends after dealing with bullies in school. So in turn, since she loved reading, she would use it to avoid any problems on set. She basically used reading as a safety blanket.

However, the other girls were frustrated because they saw her reading as saying 'I don't need to rehearse because I already know my lines' etc etc. Basically its just a misunderstanding. Lisa didn't know how to state her feelings and the other girls didn't understand.

She was bullied? Is there like a transcript or something of this stuff?

Also, she actually refused to rehearse as someone said?

Well I watched an interview of Lisa with Joyce Meyer (i think that's her name). Lisa was talking about her friendship with grownups book and said that in school she was bullied.

Also, Lisa didn't really refuse to rehearse she just didn't want to or feel comfortable which is why she would read instead

Ah okay, thanks!

bumps