With The Facts of Life and The Smurfs both having aired in the '80s, we can pretend that on Saturday mornings the Lost Girls came over to the lounge and watched The Smurfs with our regular gang. And they might gravitate toward these as their personal favorites:

Mrs. Garrett - Papa Smurf
Blair - Vanity Smurf
Sue Ann - Farmer Smurf
Nancy - Brainy Smurf
Cindy - Hefty Smurf
Natalie - Jokey Smurf
Molly - Sassette Smurfling
Tootie -Baby Smurf
Jo - Handy Smurf
There are 100 Smurfs so there are endless match-ups, but this is my personal view, lol.

I had completely forgotten about the FOL characters watching The Smurfs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9__iONsa_h0)! Thanks for bringing back some fond memories, '80s. I'm sure I saw this when it originally aired.

There were also the "One to Grow On" bumpers on Saturday mornings, with FOL characters. Kim (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_IQh0akvxQ), Lisa (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO8bbtd7KSc), Kim (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KObQo65j6Y), Nancy (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRFzn05VRcI), Nancy (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fv-IqUYntkc). I haven't found any with Mindy. It would have been cool to have had the Lost Girls, too. But that season was so short, and NBC in such a bad place that I don't think they even thought of cross-promoting their shows like that.

The only cross promotions I can think of during the first season were the DS/FOL crossovers, and Charlotte and Julie Pie appearing on Hollywood Squares.

Oo, good links, I never even knew there was a "Facts"/"Smurfs" connection! :lol:

Oo, good links, I never even knew there was a "Facts"/"Smurfs" connection! :lol:

I had completely forgotten until you mentioned FOL and Smurfs. I thought that's what you were referring to. Like, each character would mention her favorite Smurf during the bumper. That would have been cool.

I had completely forgotten until you mentioned FOL and Smurfs. I thought that's what you were referring to. Like, each character would mention her favorite Smurf during the bumper. That would have been cool.

No, it was a complete coincidence; I was just thinking about it because it's a Saturday morning, I've been feeling nostalgic for '80s childhood Saturday mornings, and our beloved "Facts" was going on at the same time. :)

No, it was a complete coincidence; I was just thinking about it because it's a Saturday morning, I've been feeling nostalgic for '80s childhood Saturday mornings, and our beloved "Facts" was going on at the same time. :)

Yeah, NBC finally figured out how to cross-promote their shows, but not before season one was long-gone. So the child stars of FOL, Cosby, Family Ties, ALF, Silver Spoons, and other NBC shows made appearances during Saturday mornings, to get kids interested in the evening shows. It's really a pity they didn't have this idea a couple of years earlier, or we'd be watching Julie Anne, Julie, Molly and Felice watching cartoons.

So the past couple of weekends, I've binged on my "Smurfs" season 1 DVDs from 1981. And ya know what, there really is some common ground between "Smurfs" and "Facts"!


Both shows feature an older character in charge of numerous younger characters two generations below
Both shows make the leader absolutely lovable, not only to fans, as an idealized grandparent figure but to all of their younger charges, as well
Both leaders butt heads with males with opposing views/agendas in positions of power
Both leaders are a gold mine of wise advice
Both leaders obviously love their charges, but are also quick to discipline them
Both shows feature charges doing chores under responsible supervision of their leader
Both shows feature personality hooks that make it very easy to tell who's who among the numerous charges
Both shows are extremely gender-heavy ("Smurfs" nearly entirely male, "Facts" nearly entirely female)
Both shows feature some of the leaders' charges getting a great deal of screen time, while other charges of theirs are seen much less
Both shows were on NBC
Both shows ran for nearly all of the 1980s
Both shows featured our heroes' sets burned down and rebuilt
Both shows feature a character who's tough
Both shows feature a character who's grouchy
Both shows feature a character who's a feminist
Both shows feature a character who's a jokester
Both shows feature a character who's a wonderful cook
Both shows feature a tomboy girl who wears braids
Both shows feature a character who's a musician who plays a signature instrument
Both shows feature a character who's living wallpaper (background Smurfs, and Nancy)
Both shows feature a feminine blond girl who goes from "bad girl" to "good girl", and quickly rises to the "second star" slot of the cast
Both shows feature a character who thinks their God's gift to their own kind, loves to gaze in a mirror, and abhors looking unseemly
Both shows feature a character who wears a flower on their head (Vanity in his hat, and Nancy in her hair)


Those are some off the top of my head, and there are probably more! Wow, no wonder I love the Smurfs! :lol:

I really am eager to get more seasons on DVD! :clap:

Now, all that said, again, both shows were on NBC.

Warren Littlefield was at NBC.

Warren Littlefield couldn't handle "Facts of Life" because it had "too many girls!", at a whopping 7, which was so boggling to him he was sure there were "10, 12 girls".

Now, "The Smurfs" had 98 Smurfs under the leadership of Papa Smurf (well, 99 once Vanity's mirror was hit by lightning and his reflection came to life in "The Hundredth Smurf" for the Dance of a Hundred Smurfs, but I digress). So if 7 girls on a show completely blew away Mr. Littlefield's mind, how on earth was he able to comprehend 98 "student" personalities in the Smurf Village??? :lol:

Okay, so we never really saw all 100 Smurfs distinctly personified, but they sure showed a heck of a lot more smurfs than characterized Eastland students---there were easily at least a couple dozen heavily featured/main Smurfs!

Maybe Mr. Littlefield was out of the office the day they decided there would be nearly 100 Smurfs. ;)

No, all that said, again, both shows were on NBC.

Warren Littlefield was at NBC.

Warren Littlefield couldn't handle "Facts of Life" because it had "too many girls!", at a whopping 7, which was so boggling to him he was sure there were "10, 12 girls".

Now, "The Smurfs" had 98 Smurfs under the leadership of Papa Smurf (well, 99 once Vanity's mirror was hit by lightning and his reflection came to life in "The Hundredth Smurf" for the Dance of a Hundred Smurfs, but I digress). So if 7 girls on a show completely blew away Mr. Littlefield's mind, how on earth was he able to comprehend 98 "student" personalities in the Smurf Village??? :lol:

Okay, so we never really saw all 100 Smurfs distinctly personified, but they sure showed a heck of a lot more smurfs than characterized Eastland students---there were easily at least a couple dozen heavily featured/main Smurfs!

Maybe Mr. Littlefield was out of the office the day they decided there would be nearly 100 Smurfs. ;)

GREAT points, '80s!

I mean, here he was, trying to make the case that a 22-minute sitcom couldn't handle 7 girls, and yet a 22-minute cartoon on the same network could handle 15-25 characters?! WTF?!

That was all total BS anyway. Head of the Class had 10-15 students, Saved by the Bell had 6 main students, Eight is Enough had 8 kids, Degrassi had 20+ students.

And "Cheers" had many characters and serviced them all wonderfully too.

At least all of FOL is on DVD. Sadly, only season 1 of the Smurfs are available fully in the US! Otherwise, there are only 15 episodes of a couple more seasons split up onto smaller DVDs, yet Region 4 (Aus/New Z) gets to have complete seasons 2 and 3...[sigh!]

And regarding my other post above, had you ever realized just how much in common "Smurfs" and "Facts" had?? :lol: :crazy:

(psst, also, I wonder if Lorsie's "too young" for the Smurfs? He's been conspicuously absent in this thread ;) :baby: :p )

So the past couple of weekends, I've binged on my "Smurfs" season 1 DVDs from 1981. And ya know what, there really is some common ground between "Smurfs" and "Facts"!


Both shows feature an older character in charge of numerous younger characters two generations below
Both shows make the leader absolutely lovable, not only to fans, as an idealized grandparent figure but to all of their younger charges, as well
Both leaders butt heads with males with opposing views/agendas in positions of power
Both leaders are a gold mine of wise advice
Both leaders obviously love their charges, but are also quick to discipline them
Both shows feature charges doing chores under responsible supervision of their leader
Both shows feature personality hooks that make it very easy to tell who's who among the numerous charges
Both shows are extremely gender-heavy ("Smurfs" nearly entirely male, "Facts" nearly entirely female)
Both shows feature some of the leaders' charges getting a great deal of screen time, while other charges of theirs are seen much less
Both shows were on NBC
Both shows ran for nearly all of the 1980s
Both shows featured our heroes' sets burned down and rebuilt
Both shows feature a character who's tough
Both shows feature a character who's grouchy
Both shows feature a character who's a feminist
Both shows feature a character who's a jokester
Both shows feature a character who's a wonderful cook
Both shows feature a tomboy girl who wears braids
Both shows feature a character who's a musician who plays a signature instrument
Both shows feature a character who's living wallpaper (background Smurfs, and Nancy)
Both shows feature a feminine blond girl who goes from "bad girl" to "good girl", and quickly rises to the "second star" slot of the cast
Both shows feature a character who thinks their God's gift to their own kind, loves to gaze in a mirror, and abhors looking unseemly
Both shows feature a character who wears a flower on their head (Vanity in his hat, and Nancy in her hair)


Those are some off the top of my head, and there are probably more! Wow, no wonder I love the Smurfs! :lol:

I really am eager to get more seasons on DVD! :clap:
I loved The Smurfs, too. At the time, it was Hanna Barbera's most well-animated cartoon, and the voice acting and scripts were usually top-notch.

I even own animation cells from the series, the gift of an animator friend.


Here are a few more connections:


Both series began with most of the characters wearing a uniform, but eventually, they mostly stopped wearing them.
Both series later introduced a couple additional main characters of the opposite gender, but originally only had one.
both series had characters who appeared for a while, but later disappeared without a mention

I loved The Smurfs, too. At the time, it was Hanna Barbera's most well-animated cartoon, and the voice acting and scripts were usually top-notch.

Yes, fantastically engaging stories, and so many of those voices were just perfect! (Allen Oppenheimer?? June Foray?? Frank Welker?? Don Messick?? Lucille Bliss?? Paul Winchell?? Yes, please!)



Here are a few more connections:


Both series began with most of the characters wearing a uniform, but eventually, they mostly stopped wearing them.
Both series later introduced a couple additional main characters of the opposite gender, but originally only had one.
both series had characters who appeared for a while, but later disappeared without a mention


Yup! So many comparisons!

Oo, and another one!

Both shows had characters that were too easily mislabeled "gay" by many who just didn't understand the characters' truth

Really? You don't think Vanity Smurf was gay?

Really? You don't think Vanity Smurf was gay?

Hey now, how would you like someone to say that about Cindy or Jo?? lol...but no, he wasn't gay, but extremely narcissistic. But you know that. ;)

Hey now, how would you like someone to say that about Cindy or Jo??

I wouldn't love them any less.

lol...but no, he wasn't gay, but extremely narcissistic. But you know that. ;)

Extreme narcissism doesn't explain the pretty stereotypical gay behavior. Even The Daily Beast called him out (https://www.thedailybeast.com/gay-characters-on-childrens-tv-from-bert-to-spongebob). Not that there's anything wrong with it.

Extreme narcissism doesn't explain the pretty stereotypical gay behavior.

It's stereotypical effeminate/narcissistic behavior, but people looking for "gay" like to interpret it as gay. I'm surprised you're going along with that, considering your broad-mindedness, and Cindy and Jo.

Even The Daily Beast called him out (https://www.thedailybeast.com/gay-characters-on-childrens-tv-from-bert-to-spongebob). Not that there's anything wrong with it.

No, there's not at all, but I support the integrity of a character's truth. If a character's gay, they're gay; if they're not, they're not. That article doesn't even say those characters are gay; in Vanity's case, they just equate his narcissistic behavior with being gay. But there's a big difference. I also find it very hard to take an article seriously that claims Bert & Ernie are gay (they're not either).

If some people need to see a certain character as gay (like Vanity, or Jo, or Cindy, or Bert & Ernie), and that's a comfort to them, or helps them identify, I understand that. It's just not how he was created/written to be.

-

It's stereotypical effeminate/narcissistic behavior, but people looking for "gay" like to interpret it as gay. I'm surprised you're going along with that, considering your broad-mindedness, and Cindy and Jo.

I think we need more representation of alternate sexualities in retro television and film, and to me, it almost feels discriminatory to declare, for example, that Snagglepuss or Floyd the Barber were clearly straight since we don't know for certain they were gay. I'd rather embrace C3P0 and Vanity Smurf and Bert and Ernie for what millions of people have already suspected for decades. It makes me feel easier to watch retro TV, knowing that writers were sneaking in gay characters and storylines before it would normally have been accepted, instead of this white-washed world from 1946 to about 1990, where gays and lesbians simply didn't exist on television.


No, there's not at all, but I support the integrity of a character's truth. If a character's gay, they're gay; if they're not, they're not. That article doesn't even say those characters are gay; in Vanity's case, they just equate his narcissistic behavior with being gay. But there's a big difference. I also find it very hard to take an article seriously that claims Bert & Ernie are gay (they're not either).

That's not what Sesame Street writer Mark Saltzman says (https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/bert-ernie-are-gay-couple-sesame-street-writer-claims-n910701). He says Bert and Ernie were based on Mark and Arnie, he and his partner.

Over the years it seems you enjoy debating, whereas I do not, lol (I like to relax/have fun online).

I think we need more representation of alternate sexualities in retro television and film

Yup, I agree.

and to me, it almost feels discriminatory to declare, for example, that Snagglepuss or Floyd the Barber were clearly straight since we don't know for certain they were gay.

And to me it feels discriminatory to declare a character has to be gay just because that's what one interpret's from a character's behavior or personality, etc.

I'd rather embrace C3P0 and Vanity Smurf and Bert and Ernie for what millions of people have already suspected for decades.

Well at least you embrace that though, whereas many throw the gay label out of degrading ignorance and insult.

It makes me feel easier to watch retro TV, knowing that writers were sneaking in gay characters and storylines before it would normally have been accepted, instead of this white-washed world from 1946 to about 1990, where gays and lesbians simply didn't exist on television.

I'm all for diversity too, I just stand up for a character's truth. You can't claim for fact something is something if it's been claimed otherwise, but if you (or others) need to believe it, I understand that. But I doubt "millions of people" have suspected Bert and Ernie were gay for decades. Some love the idea, but, like I said, sadly, many ignorant people say that from a place of contempt and ridicule.


That's not what Sesame Street writer Mark Saltzman says (https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/bert-ernie-are-gay-couple-sesame-street-writer-claims-n910701). He says Bert and Ernie were based on Mark and Arnie, he and his partner.

Again, Bert and Ernie are not gay. That writer came along 12 years after the characters were created and established. He based some of their sketches on he and his partner, yes (although nothing about sexuality, just what it's like living with another person in a shared space), and if he needs to believe they are gay, that's his prerogative. I felt kind of bad for him stating that though, considering the hate mail he'll get from haters and bashers. But the creators and performers of the characters, and the show itself, have said they are not gay, so they're not. I stand up for the truth of a character, no matter what the trait.