Okay, so in one of the FOL documentary look-backs, Mindy Cohn praises the show for how "in 9 seasons there was never a fat joke about Natalie. Not one!"

The question is, is she right?

Okay, the characters do not out-and-out joke about Natalie being fat or heavy, but the show does have plenty of references to Natalie being fat or heavy.

First of all, there's the whole episode of "Dieting":


She answers Tootie about fighting flab, "Toot, I'm a lover, not a fighter."
She's horrified at herself when she gets on the scale
She calls Blair Miss New York and herself "Miss The-Rest-of-the-Country"
Steve assumes the diet breakfast food is for her
She says she'd rather be "a happy Magic Marker!"


And the fat references even start out as early as the very pilot itself, "Rough Housing":

Natalie [to Cindy]: "You can have the dress my sister gave me! I grew out of it before I grew into it."

In "The Return of Mr. Garrett", she is munching on a PB&J sandwich while sitting on the bed playing poker---the only girl eating something while playing. This could be a very minor one, but I mean, what did the script say? "Tootie, Cindy, Molly, Nancy, and Natalie are playing poker on a bed. Natalie is eating a PB&J sandwich." ??

"Emily Dickinson" (really, couldn't the writers have come up with more creative titles for season 1? lol) - In the pizza scene, when Mrs. Garrett says it's cold, Natalie heartily volunteers to take it into the kitchen to warm it up, and when she takes off Molly goes "I'm coming with you!" and Nancy says, "Yeah, we don't trust you!"

At the end of "Dope" when Tootie says they have "all these jellybeans and nowhere to put 'em" (that they bought to store in bongs, lol) Natalie eagerly suggests, "Oh, I'm sure we'll find a place" and digs into the bag.

In "The New Girl", she self-deprecatingly jokes to Jo, "I wear flared jeans myself. In fact, all of my clothes are flared!"

Perhaps it's not actually stated, but in "Sex Symbol" it seems implied by the other girls that Natalie's bad reputation is such a joke because she's "homely" and/or heavy (i.e., "I guess Saturday night isn't the loneliest night of the week anymore for girls like Natalie" [my emphasis]).

And there's some episode in season 3 or 4 where the girls are in their room, the writers have Natalie and Tootie leave the scene by having Natalie say with a jolly grin, "Come on Tootie, let's go down to the kitchen and get something to eat!"

"Take My Finals, Please" - When the girls oversleep and are all out of sorts about it, and Natalie yells at Tootie, Tootie yells back "I was makin' the hot cocoa for you! What was I supposed to, let you eat through the walls?!"

A lot of these are off the top of my head. So I guess I can see why Mindy says there was never a fat joke about Natalie, per se, but it sure seems like writers referenced her weight/appetite many times over the years.

I never noticed any fat jokes, but the one thing that actually attracted me to 'Facts Of Life' in 1979, even before I saw an episode, was the commercial trailer on NBC where Natalie referred to herself as a "happy Magic Marker" in contrast to the pencil-thin types. So she had a sense of humor about her size. That was the one thing that made me want to watch it. A show with characters who could laugh at themselves.

I think that's a good point: they were jokes where Natalie was laughing/making the jokes, rather than being the butt of the jokes.

Though that line starts to be crossed in "Sex Symbol", even though those jokes aren't at all about weight.

I think that's a good point: they were jokes where Natalie was laughing/making the jokes, rather than being the butt of the jokes.

True, though that's debatable with the examples from "Emily Dickinson" and 'Take My Finals, Please!"


Though that line starts to be crossed in "Sex Symbol", even though those jokes aren't at all about weight.

I think it can be interpreted differently by viewers. It could be about her looks, her weight, her personality, or any combination thereof. The girls just all talk about how "ludicrous" it is that Natalie could be "that kind of girl".

Would it be considered a "fat joke" if I thought of Natalie as being like a pillow? 'Cause I always thought so myself.

Natalie was beautiful no matter what size she is.

Natalie was beautiful no matter what size she is.

Yeah, it bothers me when I hear people refer to her as "the fat one".

Mindy says there was one season or one time period when she was actually the thinnest of the girls. I wonder if that's true? We know Lisa did gain some weight, but I don't remember her being heavier than Mindy.

Another thing, people and documentaries talk about the girls all gaining weight, implying all of them, but Nancy never seemed to really gain much.

Very unrealistic that at a snooty all-girls private boarding school that she was never bullied for her size. All of the girls were bullied for their looks at one point by each other but not Natalie?

- Tootie for her braces
- Blair for her bleach bottled hair and overall appearance by Jo
- Jo for being manly and masculine

Also of note for this thread: in "The New Girl Part 1", the show opens on Natalie starting to reach for an orange on a fruit tray on the cafeteria table, but then she changes her mind and gleefully grabs a big cinnamon roll instead.

Not a "fat joke" per se, but something I noticed recently (though most young teens would prefer a sweet over a fruit, lol).

Very unrealistic that at a snooty all-girls private boarding school that she was never bullied for her size. All of the girls were bullied for their looks at one point by each other but not Natalie?

- Tootie for her braces
- Blair for her bleach bottled hair and overall appearance by Jo
- Jo for being manly and masculine

- Sue Ann for having a supposedly big posterior
- Cindy for looking like a boy

Also of note for this thread: in "The New Girl Part 1", the show opens on Natalie starting to reach for an orange on a fruit tray on the cafeteria table, but then she changes her mind and gleefully grabs a big cinnamon roll instead.

Not a "fat joke" per se, but something I noticed recently (though most young teens would prefer a sweet over a fruit, lol).

This I think is funny, but as a part of Natalie's personality: it's not a fat joke, it's a statement of who Natalie is. She's not going to starve herself like Sue Ann, and she isn't going to torture herself over what Steve the Younger says.

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Did Lisa Whelchel (https://www.biography.com/video/cast-confessions-the-facts-of-life-lisa-whelchel-32935898) take the most heat for her supposed weight gain because Blair was supposed to be the main female heartthrob (i.e. the main girl that guys wanted to see who may have otherwise not cared much for the show) among the group?

Did Lisa Whelchel (https://www.biography.com/video/cast-confessions-the-facts-of-life-lisa-whelchel-32935898) take the most heat for her supposed weight gain because Blair was supposed to be the main female heartthrob (i.e. the main girl that guys wanted to see who may have otherwise not cared much for the show) among the group?

She probably did, yes. But I think she is mis-remembering (which actors often do after 30, 40 years [!] ). She did not put on "20 pounds" and "outgrow her Eastland Academy uniform" between seasons 1 and 2. I wonder if instead, she means seasons 2 and 3.

Dairy Queen'll do that to you, whether it's Season 2 or Season 3.

Dairy Queen'll do that to you, whether it's Season 2 or Season 3.

:lol:

Yup!

I don't think there were any direct fat jokes towards Natalie, but there were jokes about her liking fatty foods, especially in season 1:


Molly gives Natalie a piece of cake in "Adoption" and Nat says, "And you're giving me gifts already" and Molly said "It's your cake."
Tootie exclaims that she doesn't know what to do with all the jelly beans in "Dope," and Natalie says "Oh, we'll find a place for them."

That's true. And as '80s pointed out, Natalie also decides against a piece of fruit in favor of a less healthy option.

I don't think that's a joke as much as it's a truth about her character. It's also incredibly endearing.

Okay, so in one of the FOL documentary look-backs, Mindy Cohn praises the show for how "in 9 seasons there was never a fat joke about Natalie. Not one!"

The question is, is she right?


I think she is. There were never any fat jokes like the ones Mama's Family used about Roseanne. Remember the joke in Mama's Family when Mama said she had a nightmare Roseanne was trying to sit on one of her kids or asked Bubba if he was on the Roseanne diet? Those are spiteful, insensitive jokes about someone's weight. They're not funny and can be taken as mean. I'm glad The Facts of Life was a show with class and dignity when it came to stuff like this.

I don't think there were any direct fat jokes towards Natalie, but there were jokes about her liking fatty foods, especially in season 1:

Molly gives Natalie a piece of cake in "Adoption" and Nat says, "And you're giving me gifts already" and Molly said "It's your cake."


That's not a joke about Natalie and food. The joke is Natalie "proving her point" by pointing out they're giving her gifts already, and Blair pointing out the item offered her was already hers to begin with.


Tootie exclaims that she doesn't know what to do with all the jelly beans in "Dope," and Natalie says "Oh, we'll find a place for them."


Yes, now that is a great example, lol.

I think she is. There were never any fat jokes like the ones Mama's Family used about Roseanne. Remember the joke in Mama's Family when Mama said she had a nightmare Roseanne was trying to sit on one of her kids or asked Bubba if he was on the Roseanne diet? Those are spiteful, insensitive jokes about someone's weight. They're not funny and can be taken as mean. I'm glad The Facts of Life was a show with class and dignity when it came to stuff like this.

That's different though, because she's Mama; she can get away with saying things most anyone else couldn't. Like Vicki Lawrence says, Mama is kind of like Archie Bunker in that respect.

That's not a joke about Natalie and food. The joke is Natalie "proving her point" by pointing out they're giving her gifts already, and Blair pointing out the item offered her was already hers to

Well, I guess with that first example, it was a bit of a stretch. I guess I was trying to find something that wasn’t really there.

But I mean I can’t think of any direct fat jokes per say, but I definitely think the writers did draw attention and hinted at her weight issue and her looks in general. They often just deal with it in a comedic way, and not in the form of an insult really but in the form of self-deprecating humor and back door compliments.

For example, like that time in “A Friend in Deed” when Natalie said she was going to get an “everything job” when she saves enough money. This was in reference to Blair’s mother’s new facelift. Or there was that time when said she needed a pack of Oreos to get her through the night to take care of the baby in the episode “A Baby in the House.” The cast also poked at her weight a little in the episode “Sex Symbol.” In the first scene, Neil gives her a kind of a back door compliment saying she’s not like the other girls, because she “doesn’t care about her looks.” It was a little insulting but Natalie just brushed it off and laughed. The cast also, rather cruelly and uncharacteristically might I add, laughed at the thought that Natalie is a sex symbol because Neil went around saying she was easy, which we know isn’t true. They were kinda saying that she wasn’t good looking enough to be easy or slutty? Which I mean could be considered a backdoor compliment in a way, I suppose, but again, that could be a stretch too.

So yeah, the fat humor is kinda there. It’s just hidden as subtle nuances throughout the show. I’m sure there’s more examples that I could pick over but I think I addressed a few of them from the first three seasons, which I’m currently rewatching now that I have the full series on DVD.