TMC
04-29-2024, 05:46 AM
Specifically, the Over Our Heads/Beverly Ann years (Seasons 7 (https://www.televisionofyore.com/the-facts-of-life---season-7.html)-9 (https://www.televisionofyore.com/the-facts-of-life---season-9.html)). Ray Colcord (https://thescl.com/in-memoriam/ray-colcord-2/) composed the music (http://www.filmmusicsociety.org/news_events/features/2016/020816.html) much like he did for many other sitcoms (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0170392/) of the era like Silver Spoons, 227, My Two Dads, and later on, Dinosaurs and Boy Meets World (https://variety.com/2016/tv/people-news/ray-colcord-dead-boy-meets-world-composer-1201699530/). I'm assuming that this was an attempt at "modernizing" the show and making the presentation look more polished.
This however, is something that I found while going through the old Jump the Shark website (https://web.archive.org/web/20061031122720/http://www.jumptheshark.com/f/factsoflife.htm) about The Facts of Life (https://web.archive.org/web/20140330010016/http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/topic/2625067-the-facts-of-life/?view=getnewpost):
I loved the Facts of Life and my favorite seasons were #3 and #5. This show actually improved when they dumped four of the original girls from the first year. The addition of Jo in 1980 was a wise move because the tension between her and Blair was one of the most entertaining aspects of this series. During Season 4 the stories were not as funny and memorable as they had been but they managed to bounce back even when they changed locale and opened Edna's Edibles in Season 5. I'd have to say Season 7 was the beginning of the end. The season debuted with a new, hipper version of the familiar theme song but the most irritating aspect of this season was the background music that accompanied the scene changes and the fake laughter that was used on so many of the insipid sitcoms of this time (Alf, Who's the Boss, Growing Pains, etc.) During the early years, the audience laughter and applause was spontaneous and realistic (like All in the Family and Maude) and this change hurt the show, but it was probably necessary since there weren't many good laughs in the scripts. The cast began to stray from their original interpretations of the characters. All of these changes were for the worse and ironically its the last couple seasons that look the most dated now, even though they were hip and contemporary in the mid-80's when they originally aired. All the fantasy and dream sequences during the last few years were also a clue that the writers were running out of ideas. I think the Facts of Life should have stopped after six years. If they could have compressed the best scripts of the last three years into one it would be ended up a much better show. Having said all this, I really am a fan of FOL and am glad Nick at Nite has decided to show it again.
This however, is something that I found while going through the old Jump the Shark website (https://web.archive.org/web/20061031122720/http://www.jumptheshark.com/f/factsoflife.htm) about The Facts of Life (https://web.archive.org/web/20140330010016/http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/topic/2625067-the-facts-of-life/?view=getnewpost):
I loved the Facts of Life and my favorite seasons were #3 and #5. This show actually improved when they dumped four of the original girls from the first year. The addition of Jo in 1980 was a wise move because the tension between her and Blair was one of the most entertaining aspects of this series. During Season 4 the stories were not as funny and memorable as they had been but they managed to bounce back even when they changed locale and opened Edna's Edibles in Season 5. I'd have to say Season 7 was the beginning of the end. The season debuted with a new, hipper version of the familiar theme song but the most irritating aspect of this season was the background music that accompanied the scene changes and the fake laughter that was used on so many of the insipid sitcoms of this time (Alf, Who's the Boss, Growing Pains, etc.) During the early years, the audience laughter and applause was spontaneous and realistic (like All in the Family and Maude) and this change hurt the show, but it was probably necessary since there weren't many good laughs in the scripts. The cast began to stray from their original interpretations of the characters. All of these changes were for the worse and ironically its the last couple seasons that look the most dated now, even though they were hip and contemporary in the mid-80's when they originally aired. All the fantasy and dream sequences during the last few years were also a clue that the writers were running out of ideas. I think the Facts of Life should have stopped after six years. If they could have compressed the best scripts of the last three years into one it would be ended up a much better show. Having said all this, I really am a fan of FOL and am glad Nick at Nite has decided to show it again.