The series finale, "The Front Page" was not meant to be a definitive final episode. And it's natural to assume that when ABC picked the show up for the 1985-86 season, they figured that they could have it around for a few more years.

I said prior to this, that the series probably should've (or the perfect way to end it) ended w/ Phillip and Maggie's wedding. But, they were counting on the introduction of Maggie and Sam to save the show, so we were stuck with them.

With sitcoms revolving around families I can see where the writers can get stuck in coming up with a good series finale, they would usually have any of these scenarios:

- a wedding occurs
- a death occurs
- a graduation occurs
- a birth occurs
- mother/father get a job promotion in another city and have to leave town forcing entire family to move

There is no defining finite end to family sitcoms as these are normal everyday things that real families go through.

I think for Diff'rent Stokes since both Willis and Kimberly had left the nest and off to college and think the logical ending would have been for Arnold graduating HS and being accepted to a college therefore leaving home for good after a tearful goodbye to Drummond, Maggie and Sam