The missus and I are watching Facts of Life on Netflix. I saw a few episodes back in the day but now we're enjoying the whole enchilada.

A little confused about Blair and Cliff. In the season 5 episode where he proposed to her, they said they'd remain committed despite him going to Dallas.

Season 6 episode 1 - Blair tells the girls about meeting his parents and working on the farm

Season 6 episode 2 - Jo's pizza business - Blair is getting all handsy with a random frat boy and they're feeding each other slices

Season 6 episode 3 - Natalie's computer matchmaking - Natalie says that neither Blair nor Jo have "found the one"

Um...what happened to her committed "we're still going together despite the distance" relationship?

Did the writers "Chuck Cunningham" him and suddenly act like he never existed? I mean how did she go from "meeting the parents" to swapping pizza and physical affection with a frat boy in the space of one episode? :)

I think 'Working it Out' was originally supposed to be right after the season premiere in season 6 to explain what happen to them. If you remember, NBC aired The Facts of Life out of order during the last few years. In season 6 you'd see an episode where Tootie has braces and then they're off the next episode, only to be back on in another later episode.

Season 8 is another example of episodes being out of sequence. Beverly Ann's piano would make random appearances in the first few episodes and then be gone in other episodes. I don't understand why NBC couldn't air this show in order back in the 80's.

Bizarre. You'd think someone like Netflix would correct the airing order. Are the DVDs out of order too?

Thanks for the reply.

Yes. They're in air date order on the DVDs.

Yeah, seasons 6 and 8 are way out of production order.

Wiki has the production order listed along with the airdates

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Facts_of_Life_episodes

For example, Working It Out (the episode where Blair went "wild" after breaking up with Cliff) was aired 15th in the season, but was shot third. And the Interview Show was shot 12th in the season, but aired at the end.

Season 8 had some episodes shown way out of order, but not as many as S6.

Yeah, seasons 6 and 8 are way out of production order.

Wiki has the production order listed along with the airdates

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Facts_of_Life_episodes

the Interview Show was shot 12th in the season, but aired at the end.

I heard that "The Interview Show" was actually aired in season 5 but aired as the season 6 finale?

Sorta funny that Shout Factory ddn't put them in production order on the DVD. They're usually very good with catching/fixing stuff like that.

Sorta funny that Shout Factory ddn't put them in production order on the DVD. They're usually very good with catching/fixing stuff like that.

It's very rare shows are put on DVD in production order. It's always been airdate.

Even Star Trek: TOS was arranged by airdate, even though that makes no sense.

The sets Image did, Twilight Zone and The Dick Van Dyke Show, are exceptions. Those are in production order (with the exception of flipping the final two episodes of TDVDS, so the episode The Final Chapter is the final episode).

But everyone else? Airdate order, no matter how little sense it makes.

Actually, I thought didnt Blair catch Cliff at a strip club and Cliff was a stripper? I thought they broke up based on that.

this may have been a contributing factor to the season 6 air order. Nancy Mckeon didn't show up for work a the beginning of the season because she was re-negotiating her salary, which is why we don't see her in SMILE, or MY BOYFRIENDS BACK. They had to start production without her.

I don't think it was anything with the show in particular that caused the episodes to be shown out of order. I think NBC wanted it that way because they did the exact same thing to Mama's Family a year earlier than season 6 of The Facts of Life. The first season of Mama's Family had Vint getting married to Naomi in the fourth episode that aired and then at the end of the season Vint is wanting to participate in an illegal alien marriage for money.

I'm surprise the website lists Out of Peekskill as the first episode produced in season 8. That's one of the episodes that had the piano in the background before it was delivered in Write & Wrong.

I don't think it was anything with the show in particular that caused the episodes to be shown out of order. I think NBC wanted it that way because they did the exact same thing to Mama's Family a year earlier than season 6 of The Facts of Life. The first season of Mama's Family had Vint getting married to Naomi in the fourth episode that aired and then at the end of the season Vint is wanting to participate in an illegal alien marriage for money.

I'm surprise the website lists Out of Peekskill as the first episode produced in season 8. That's one of the episodes that had the piano in the background before it was delivered in Write & Wrong.

Not true, the piano wasn't in the ep Out Of Peekskill

When Natalie is walking around trying to think of a story to write about, the piano is in the background. You can see it clearly when Beverly Ann walks down the stairs telling Natalie she's up way past her bed time, which is weird because Natalie is a grown adult and shouldn't need a bed time LOL

I don't think it was anything with the show in particular that caused the episodes to be shown out of order. I think NBC wanted it that way because they did the exact same thing to Mama's Family a year earlier than season 6 of The Facts of Life. The first season of Mama's Family had Vint getting married to Naomi in the fourth episode that aired and then at the end of the season Vint is wanting to participate in an illegal alien marriage for money.

Mama's Family was a special case. They filmed "Alien Marriage" and "Mama's Silver" first, but Vicki Lawrence felt the show wasn't "right"; it wasn't coming off like she thought it should. So she brought in Harvey Korman to co-direct (with Roger Beatty), and the show went much better in her opinion, so they showed the episodes filmed after that first. And they couldn't just scrap 2 episodes, and aired AM and MS as "flashback" episodes as explanation (as evidenced by the Alistair Quince introductions).


When Natalie is walking around trying to think of a story to write about, the piano is in the background. You can see it clearly when Beverly Ann walks down the stairs telling Natalie she's up way past her bed time, which is weird because Natalie is a grown adult and shouldn't need a bed time LOL

Those "book-ending" scenes take place a little while after Beverly Ann had moved in, so the piano could be there then, but not in the flashbacks of when Mrs. Garrett was still there.

And as far as Natalie's bed time, Beverly Ann felt that the girls were her "charges" and just thought it was better for to not up so late (wasn't it around 3 a.m.?) and was looking out for her to get some sleep.

Those "book-ending" scenes take place a little while after Beverly Ann had moved in, so the piano could be there then, but not in the flashbacks of when Mrs. Garrett was still there.



I'm not talking about the flashback with Mrs. Garrett. I never was and clarified that in my last response. I'm talking about the scenes with Natalie in the beginning of the episode where she's walking around the living room thinking of a story to write and again when Beverly Ann comes down the stairs. You can see the piano in the background so obviously that wasn't the first episode that was produced in season 8. In episode Write & Wrong, they made it a point to address that Beverly Ann's piano was delivered in that episode. There's also 3 episodes where Beverly Ann's piano is not there. Ready or Not, Another Room, and Where's Poppa? do not have the piano so they were obviously produced before Write & Wrong and before Out of Peekskill.

Ah, I thought you were talking about episode chronology. Or, there is the odd possibility they could have brought the piano in on "Out of Peekskill" as foresight to show the time differentiation, and decided to have it delivered in a later episode. A slim chance, but possible, lol.

About the piano, my post will explain everything but it seems as though in looking at the episodes, the piano was in "Out of Peekskill" but only in Natalie's late night living room scene only it's hidden in the dark. It wasn't there in "Ready or Not" (#803, 10/04/1986), "Where's Poppa" (#804, 12/06/1986) or "Another Room" (#805, 10/11/1986). In all those episodes, there is a white desk or something where the piano should have been. All of those were taped before Sept 09, 1986 when "Write or Wrong" (#806, 12/13/1986) was taped. Scenes from these preceding episodes appear in the opening credits, including the cast around the piano. After episode #807 ("Off Broadway Baby", 11/01/1986), the piano remains.

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=287307

I read your post and I still don't think Out of Peekskill was the first episode produced in season 8. It's possible the flashbacks with Charlotte Rae were produced first but I believe the scenes with Natalie were filmed after Write & Wrong. Another thing I noticed was The Facts of Life Down Under. The copyright year says 1986 but it was aired in 1987 after Cupid's Revenge. Judging from the hairstyles, I'm gonna say it was probably produced within the first 6 episodes of season 8. Not sure why NBC had to wait until the following year to air it. They aired the Paris movie in order with season 4. It would be nice to know what their reason was for not airing Down Under in order with the rest of season 8.

I read your post and I still don't think Out of Peekskill was the first episode produced in season 8. It's possible the flashbacks with Charlotte Rae were produced first but I believe the scenes with Natalie were filmed after Write & Wrong. Another thing I noticed was The Facts of Life Down Under. The copyright year says 1986 but it was aired in 1987 after Cupid's Revenge. Judging from the hairstyles, I'm gonna say it was probably produced within the first 6 episodes of season 8. Not sure why NBC had to wait until the following year to air it. They aired the Paris movie in order with season 4. It would be nice to know what their reason was for not airing Down Under in order with the rest of season 8.

In September 1986 Facts of Life went into syndication in over 85% of markets. This is a huge boost for the show, and NBC knew it. Coupled with the Freshness of Cloris Leachman and season 7's ratings strength, the network had a new confidence in the show.

Production for Out Of Peekskill started the end of July 1986. I suspect they wanted to get Rae's part overwith first, and give time if needed to retool - as producers didn't know exactly how Leachman would appear on screen when meshed with the others.

NBC strategically created the family friendly "DOWN UNDER" movie to air a opposite the very serious nuclear war Mini Series "AMERIKA". Production began early October 1986. there are many articles available on this story, i can post if you wish. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkcOzoYfN8c

I've found that many shows were shot out of order (not sure if that is still the case). On shows like the Facts of Life, there was very little continuing story line, so it really didn't matter. Also, I doubt the producers ever thought people would notice things almost 30 years later, like whether or not the piano was there or not.

I've found that many shows were shot out of order (not sure if that is still the case). On shows like the Facts of Life, there was very little continuing story line, so it really didn't matter.

Perhaps not, but it does show a truer progression of character development, which is very interesting to me; next time I watch the series I want to watch my DVDs in order of production, not order of broadcast.