According to the Diff'rent Strokes site here at Sitcoms Online, Gary Coleman had a dispute with the producers in 1981 over his pay. I'm guessing instead of halting production while they worked out their differences the producers just decided to write two episodes without his character. I guess Tootie was a 'fill-in" so to speak. The two episodes without Arnold were taped back to back, but they were mixed in with other episodes. Probably so he wasn't absent two episodes in a row.
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