We all know that The Facts of Life was a spin-off of Diff'rent Strokes (http://www.poobala.com/diffandfacts.html) and Kim Fields even guest starred as Tootie on DS. Well, Silver Spoons was actually set in the same universe as TFOL and DS since Gary Coleman once guest starred (http://www.poobala.com/diffandsilver.html) on Silver Spoons as Arnold Jackson. But as the title question states, how come the characters from TFOL never crossed paths with the characters from Silver Spoons, assuming that it would've been hard to organically come up with a plausible way for them to meet?

They did meet up, but it never appeared on air.

They could have had Andy meet Ricky. Then Andy would have had at least one friend. For whatever reason, Andy was not depicted as having anyone outside of the Core Four in his sphere... until Pippa was created.

In retrospect, it was odd that they never showed any of his friends coming over. Ricky could have been a friend.

It seems the producers weren't interested in crossovers. Aside from DS, the characters never met other shows. It's odd, considering that DS had crossovers with Silver Spoons, Facts, Hello, Larry, Amazing Stories and The Fresh Prince

It seems the producers weren't interested in crossovers. Aside from DS, the characters never met other shows. It's odd, considering that DS had crossovers with Silver Spoons, Facts, Hello, Larry, Amazing Stories and The Fresh Prince

It really is odd.

It's not as though the girls didn't do guest appearances on others shows -- they all did -- it's just that when they did, it was not as their FOL characters, outside of DS.

It doesn't seem odd to me. Characters have never really crossed over much, certainly not more than two other shows in their production family? That's the feeling I get anyway. There were some crossovers back in the '60s among Green Acres, Petticoat Junction, and maybe another show?

Then in the early '90s, you had the production family crossovers of The Golden Girls, Empty Nest, and Nurses all appearing on each other's shows (which really was an event!).

But crossing over characters seems largely a rare affair, certainly crossing over onto more than one show. And especially since Facts was never a Top 10 show or anything, I wouldn't have expected crossovers beyond DS.

And I'm sure glad there was never a SS crossover. We don't need Facts of Life tainted with him on their videotape. (phew)

It doesn't seem odd to me. Characters have never really crossed over much, certainly not more than two other shows in their production family? That's the feeling I get anyway. There were some crossovers back in the '60s among Green Acres, Petticoat Junction, and maybe another show?

Then in the early '90s, you had the production family crossovers of The Golden Girls, Empty Nest, and Nurses all appearing on each other's shows (which really was an event!).

But crossing over characters seems largely a rare affair, certainly crossing over onto more than one show. And especially since Facts was never a Top 10 show or anything, I wouldn't have expected crossovers beyond DS.

I wouldn't call crossovers a largely rare affair: IMDB has a list of 107 TV crossovers from the 1950s to the late 1980s (https://www.imdb.com/list/ls056977892/), not including soap operas. I do think they are done more often now than they used to be, with producers more into continuity, but they never seemed all that rare.


And I'm sure glad there was never a SS crossover. We don't need Facts of Life tainted with him on their videotape. (phew)

:lol: I'm glad it didn't happen, what with Ricky Schroder's RWNJ beliefs. It would be like seeing Kirk Cameron on FOL! :lol:

It really is odd.

It's not as though the girls didn't do guest appearances on others shows -- they all did -- it's just that when they did, it was not as their FOL characters, outside of DS.

And Charlotte never made a crossover with the girls on DS. She did return for the wedding episode but that was a special return appearence, not really a crossover. I've also noted that FOL was the only Tandem show to have two TV movies during its run

I wouldn't call crossovers a largely rare affair: IMDB has a list of 107 TV crossovers from the 1950s to the late 1980s (https://www.imdb.com/list/ls056977892/), not including soap operas. I do think they are done more often now than they used to be, with producers more into continuity, but they never seemed all that rare.

It did to me. I didn't watch every television show, so I couldn't see the whole spectrum. :lol: But it didn't happen often on the shows that I watched. It seemed like it was mostly between parent and spinoff shows at the time, and only then, occasionally.


:lol: I'm glad it didn't happen, what with Ricky Schroder's RWNJ beliefs. It would be like seeing Kirk Cameron on FOL! :lol:

Yes. Whom, sadly, Julie Pie was so excited to see pass her in a religious event line last year.