Whereas Seasons 6 and 7 were "okay", by the time that Seasons 8 and 9 came along, did The Facts of Life go from (https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/iconic-classic-television-shows-with-the-most-noticible-drop-in-quality-by-the-end.5298404/post-93350195) being sitcom that handled real issues to a teeny bopper, late '80s show with a storyline that was all over the place?

The Eastland years were way better. The Edna’s Edibles era was ok, but the Over Our Heads years were bad.

In my opinion season 8 was even better than several of the previous years. Seasons 6-7-9 are the weakest

Charlotte Rae started missing shows in season 6, which continued into season 7- so that was a loss for those seasons. Plus, Edna's Edibles became less relevant to the plot in season six, outside of a handful or less of shows.

Over Our Heads was pretty... ridiculous. lol

Even Cohn and Fields said the OOH’s years were dumb. They also said that there’s no way in real-life that the women would still be living together at their ages.

Charlotte Rae started missing shows in season 6, which continued into season 7- so that was a loss for those seasons. Plus, Edna's Edibles became less relevant to the plot in season six, outside of a handful or less of shows.

Over Our Heads was pretty... ridiculous. lol

This incidentally, was around the same time that Margie Peters and Linda Marsh left as producers.

To be fair, most if not all sitcoms are not great after 5 seasons. They are mostly finding ways to keep the show going. As they got so much older, graduated high school, then college, it must have been tough. Of course the first 4 seasons are excellent. Sitcoms start to die after season 4. Happened in All In The Family, Threes Company, Golden Girls, and all the best sitcoms. The later seasons still had some gem episodes but most of them were meh. When the young and annoying Andy came, it officially jumped the shark.

Season 1 was my least favorite. However the seasons after that were great.