Basically, ABC was going to renew Three's A Crowd, the retooled version of Three's Company, but were only willing to commit to 13 episodes. John Ritter said that he wouldn't come back (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three%27s_a_Crowd#Ratings_and_cancellation) unless ABC committed to a 22 episode order. So ABC finally gave Three's A Crowd the boot and now with a slot open, gave it to Diff'rent Strokes after NBC dropped it.

The last episode was so bad. Like, the smallest amount of cast members in a single episode. Sam, Mr. D. and Arnold, along with long time guest star Dudley and some guest/ co-stars who had lines as high schoolers. When you look at this series and Gimme A Break! Their final episodes are pretty similar, cast-wise. Smallest amount of cast to ever appear in either series and it was in the series finale of both.


Diff'rent Strokes needed one more season on ABC. Or, at least, a better ending to season 8. A 2 part finale. Willis could have married Charlene. I forget if they were still together or if they phased her out, but that's how it could have ended.

Basically, ABC was going to renew Three's A Crowd, the retooled version of Three's Company, but were only willing to commit to 13 episodes. John Ritter said that he wouldn't come back (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three%27s_a_Crowd#Ratings_and_cancellation) unless ABC committed to a 22 episode order. So ABC finally gave Three's A Crowd the boot with a slot open, gave it to Diff'rent Strokes after NBC dropped it.
I sure wish I could see proof that John Ritter ever said that. I've heard that over the years but I don't remember reading anything about it at the time and I used to collect everything on Three's Company.

The last episode was so bad. Like, the smallest amount of cast members in a single episode. Sam, Mr. D. and Arnold, along with long time guest star Dudley and some guest/ co-stars who had lines as high schoolers. When you look at this series and Gimme A Break! Their final episodes are pretty similar, cast-wise. Smallest amount of cast to ever appear in either series and it was in the series finale of both.


Diff'rent Strokes needed one more season on ABC. Or, at least, a better ending to season 8. A 2 part finale. Willis could have married Charlene. I forget if they were still together or if they phased her out, but that's how it could have ended.

To my knowledge, the last time Charlene was ever seen was at Mr Drummond’s wedding. After that, she’s never seen or spoken of again.

In my opinion, I wish they could have worked something out to allow both an eighth season of Diff’rent Strokes and still have a second season of Three’s A Crowd.

I liked DS and Ritter, but I think both shows were past their prime. They both needed to go.

The last episode was so bad. Like, the smallest amount of cast members in a single episode. Sam, Mr. D. and Arnold, along with long time guest star Dudley and some guest/ co-stars who had lines as high schoolers. When you look at this series and Gimme A Break! Their final episodes are pretty similar, cast-wise. Smallest amount of cast to ever appear in either series and it was in the series finale of both.


Diff'rent Strokes needed one more season on ABC. Or, at least, a better ending to season 8. A 2 part finale. Willis could have married Charlene. I forget if they were still together or if they phased her out, but that's how it could have ended.

The crazy thing about DS moving to ABC is that shortly after NBC had canceled it the show's sets had already been torn down (which kind of explains why the Drummond's penthouse looks different in the last season). Then ABC had the bright idea to pick it up (http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/archive/index.php/t-225120.html) and try to build a Friday night comedy block (TGIF was still a few years away mind you) around it. They agreed to give Gary Coleman a huge raise and spent a fortune rebuilding the show's sets. It was a huge failure on ABC and was canceled after one season.

Mr. Belvedere was on the same night as the final season of Diff'rent Strokes? What about Webster? Or was that on another night?

It's sad that's how Diff'rent Strokes ended. We never even got a reunion movie in the early 1990s. The kids were all messed up then!

I sure wish I could see proof that John Ritter ever said that. I've heard that over the years but I don't remember reading anything about it at the time and I used to collect everything on Three's Company.
I think Ritter mentions it on the Three's Company THS episode, he jokingly goes on saying that while TAC was getting respectable ratings that it was Gary Coleman that won in the end by ABC renewing DS.