Yes, I'm aware of the backstory beginning in Season 2 in which Blair and the other girls get into trouble after stealing the school delivery van to go to a bar. And Mrs. Garrett makes a deal that in order to keep them from being kicked out of Eastland, they have to live in close quarters with each other as well as work for her in the school kitchen to pay off their debts.

But we're lead to believe that Blair's family was so rich and powerful. So like I said, why did she have to work in the kitchen? I guess Blair's folks were using the "tough love" approach and felt that she needed to be taught some humility. But still, it wouldn't have been that out of reach or far fetched for the Warners to sizeable donation if it meant having all of that unpleasantness go away.

A better question was why wasn't Mrs. Garrett arrested for violating child labor laws and exploiting children? Especially someone Tootie's and Natalie's age.

As a set-up, it works. It doesn't need to be realistic. I think the real question is how they worked in the kitchen for over a year before the van was paid off. There's no way they could have caused that much damage to the van and if they did, the school would have just added the bill to what their parents already had to pay.

Then, after the van is finally repaired, they have the paint fight. There's no way they caused any damage to that room, but now they're suddenly in just as much debt again??? And this is where I saw Blair would have taken care of it, at least if she'd learned anything in the last year. They're not in legal trouble, she'd obviously have some access to a bank account, that's how she went shopping. She could pay off the debt and the others would pay her back whenever they could.

They were working of the cost damages to the van and the year of working during the probation. What was NY minimum wage back then and would they? Was there any body damage or just the starter from the hot wiring? I think it would have been $2.90-3.10/hr to $3.10-3.35/hr how many hours were they working? I think it also partly because it was a way to keep an eye on them for the period of their probation.

Whatever New York minimum wage was at the time, vehicle repairs were also much cheaper. If the four girls are working one hour at breakfast and one hour at dinner, Monday through Friday, that's 40 hours/week right there, since Eastland doesn't serve its students lunch or weekend meals.

Blair doesn't need the money, Natalie and Tootie probably get allowances from their parents for any real expenses, Jo would offer to fix the van for free. They're at a private school, they don't need to go anywhere or spend anything and if they do, their boyfriends will handle that. There's no way the van was seriously damaged unless a cement truck was speeding through the bar's alleyway and if something like that happened, the driver would have to pay for the damages.

I'm totally fine with the set-up for this but it's not remotely realistic.

Because the script told Blair she had to work in the kitchen.

It was mostly see that they stayed out trouble for what the period of time was supposed to be that they had to be in her custody and so the could remain at Eastland School.

Yeah, her parents, like all the others, were upset and disappointed at learning what "bad girls" they had been. So they all agreed to Mrs. Garrett's proposed retribution.

That's actually believable. A private school could have made that agreement with the parents. But there's no reason it would have continued past that one school year.

Yeah, her parents, like all the others, were upset and disappointed at learning what "bad girls" they had been. So they all agreed to Mrs. Garrett's proposed retribution.

My guess with Monica: She didn't so much as agree as she said something like "Whatever. I can't deal with this. I don't want to see her right now." She'd probably have some embarrassment if she brought Blair back home even if she found another school right away. How would she look to her alumni friends?

My biggest question would be Tootie actually. I know that the first season can be thought of differently, but her father did want to yank her out the previous year due in part to Mrs. Garrett (however wrongly). Somehow, I don't know how he'd feel about this. I could see her mother going along without an issue. Would have loved to see the discussion between them over this.

The paint fight bringing them back to square one: Silly contrivance. Maybe could have continued working it off in the kitchen for a short while. But no need to continue living separately from the rest of the student body.

My biggest question would be Tootie actually. I know that the first season can be thought of differently, but her father did want to yank her out the previous year due in part to Mrs. Garrett (however wrongly). Somehow, I don't know how he'd feel about this. I could see her mother going along without an issue. Would have loved to see the discussion between them over this.

Yeah, I'd always thought of how strict he was in season 1 and what Mrs. Garrett's conversation with him would have been like. I guess he realized that Mrs. Garrett had nothing to do with it and that Tootie tagged along with older "bad" girls, and that he probably liked realizing that with this punishment, Tootie would be under the watchful eye of Mrs. Garrett while having to work for her to pay for what she did. Maybe he thought that would make her "grow up" pretty quickly.

An interesting thing of note is that the girls only worked in the kitchen for 16 episodes before their debt was entirely paid off.

According to the FOL production guide posted here by hch (https://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=287307), while "The Four Musketeers" didn't air until February 1982, halfway through season 3, it was actually taped in September, the third episode of the season to be taped. So after it's taping it wouldn't air for another 5 months, close to half a year later.

Thanks for linking to the production guide. Definitely giving that a look.

Thanks for linking to the production guide. Definitely giving that a look.

It's so interesting. Sometime I'd love to binge the show in production order.