"Smurf Saturdays" at Eastland

['80sSitcoms]

With The Facts of Life and The Smurfs both having aired in the '80s, we can pretend that on Saturday mornings the Lost Girls came over to the lounge and watched The Smurfs with our regular gang. And they might gravitate toward these as their personal favorites:

• Mrs. Garrett - Papa Smurf
• Blair - Vanity Smurf
• Sue Ann - Farmer Smurf
• Nancy - Brainy Smurf
• Cindy - Hefty Smurf
• Natalie - Jokey Smurf
• Molly - Sassette Smurfling
• Tootie -Baby Smurf
• Jo - Handy Smurf

There are 100 Smurfs so there are endless match-ups, but this is my personal view, lol.

[RetroGuy2000]

I had completely forgotten about the FOL characters watching The Smurfs! Thanks for bringing back some fond memories, '80s. I'm sure I saw this when it originally aired.

There were also the "One to Grow On" bumpers on Saturday mornings, with FOL characters. Kim, Lisa, Kim, Nancy, Nancy. I haven't found any with Mindy. It would have been cool to have had the Lost Girls, too. But that season was so short, and NBC in such a bad place that I don't think they even thought of cross-promoting their shows like that.

The only cross promotions I can think of during the first season were the DS/FOL crossovers, and Charlotte and Julie Pie appearing on Hollywood Squares.

['80sSitcoms]

Oo, good links, I never even knew there was a "Facts"/"Smurfs" connection!

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

Oo, good links, I never even knew there was a "Facts"/"Smurfs" connection!

I had completely forgotten until you mentioned FOL and Smurfs. I thought that's what you were referring to. Like, each character would mention her favorite Smurf during the bumper. That would have been cool.

['80sSitcoms]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

I had completely forgotten until you mentioned FOL and Smurfs. I thought that's what you were referring to. Like, each character would mention her favorite Smurf during the bumper. That would have been cool.

No, it was a complete coincidence; I was just thinking about it because it's a Saturday morning, I've been feeling nostalgic for '80s childhood Saturday mornings, and our beloved "Facts" was going on at the same time.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

No, it was a complete coincidence; I was just thinking about it because it's a Saturday morning, I've been feeling nostalgic for '80s childhood Saturday mornings, and our beloved "Facts" was going on at the same time.

Yeah, NBC finally figured out how to cross-promote their shows, but not before season one was long-gone. So the child stars of FOL, Cosby, Family Ties, ALF, Silver Spoons, and other NBC shows made appearances during Saturday mornings, to get kids interested in the evening shows. It's really a pity they didn't have this idea a couple of years earlier, or we'd be watching Julie Anne, Julie, Molly and Felice watching cartoons.

['80sSitcoms]

So the past couple of weekends, I've binged on my "Smurfs" season 1 DVDs from 1981. And ya know what, there really is some common ground between "Smurfs" and "Facts"!

• Both shows feature an older character in charge of numerous younger characters two generations below
• Both shows make the leader absolutely lovable, not only to fans, as an idealized grandparent figure but to all of their younger charges, as well
• Both leaders butt heads with males with opposing views/agendas in positions of power
• Both leaders are a gold mine of wise advice
• Both leaders obviously love their charges, but are also quick to discipline them
• Both shows feature charges doing chores under responsible supervision of their leader
• Both shows feature personality hooks that make it very easy to tell who's who among the numerous charges
• Both shows are extremely gender-heavy ("Smurfs" nearly entirely male, "Facts" nearly entirely female)
• Both shows feature some of the leaders' charges getting a great deal of screen time, while other charges of theirs are seen much less
• Both shows were on NBC
• Both shows ran for nearly all of the 1980s
• Both shows featured our heroes' sets burned down and rebuilt
• Both shows feature a character who's tough
• Both shows feature a character who's grouchy
• Both shows feature a character who's a feminist
• Both shows feature a character who's a jokester
• Both shows feature a character who's a wonderful cook
• Both shows feature a tomboy girl who wears braids
• Both shows feature a character who's a musician who plays a signature instrument
• Both shows feature a character who's living wallpaper (background Smurfs, and Nancy)
• Both shows feature a feminine blond girl who goes from "bad girl" to "good girl", and quickly rises to the "second star" slot of the cast
• Both shows feature a character who thinks their God's gift to their own kind, loves to gaze in a mirror, and abhors looking unseemly
• Both shows feature a character who wears a flower on their head (Vanity in his hat, and Nancy in her hair)

Those are some off the top of my head, and there are probably more! Wow, no wonder I love the Smurfs!

I really am eager to get more seasons on DVD!

['80sSitcoms]

Now, all that said, again, both shows were on NBC.

Warren Littlefield was at NBC.

Warren Littlefield couldn't handle "Facts of Life" because it had "too many girls!", at a whopping 7, which was so boggling to him he was sure there were "10, 12 girls".

Now, "The Smurfs" had 98 Smurfs under the leadership of Papa Smurf (well, 99 once Vanity's mirror was hit by lightning and his reflection came to life in "The Hundredth Smurf" for the Dance of a Hundred Smurfs, but I digress). So if 7 girls on a show completely blew away Mr. Littlefield's mind, how on earth was he able to comprehend 98 "student" personalities in the Smurf Village???

Okay, so we never really saw all 100 Smurfs distinctly personified, but they sure showed a heck of a lot more smurfs than characterized Eastland students---there were easily at least a couple dozen heavily featured/main Smurfs!

Maybe Mr. Littlefield was out of the office the day they decided there would be nearly 100 Smurfs.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

No, all that said, again, both shows were on NBC.

Warren Littlefield was at NBC.

Warren Littlefield couldn't handle "Facts of Life" because it had "too many girls!", at a whopping 7, which was so boggling to him he was sure there were "10, 12 girls".

Now, "The Smurfs" had 98 Smurfs under the leadership of Papa Smurf (well, 99 once Vanity's mirror was hit by lightning and his reflection came to life in "The Hundredth Smurf" for the Dance of a Hundred Smurfs, but I digress). So if 7 girls on a show completely blew away Mr. Littlefield's mind, how on earth was he able to comprehend 98 "student" personalities in the Smurf Village???

Okay, so we never really saw all 100 Smurfs distinctly personified, but they sure showed a heck of a lot more smurfs than characterized Eastland students---there were easily at least a couple dozen heavily featured/main Smurfs!

Maybe Mr. Littlefield was out of the office the day they decided there would be nearly 100 Smurfs.

GREAT points, '80s!

I mean, here he was, trying to make the case that a 22-minute sitcom couldn't handle 7 girls, and yet a 22-minute cartoon on the same network could handle 15-25 characters?! WTF?!

That was all total BS anyway. Head of the Class had 10-15 students, Saved by the Bell had 6 main students, Eight is Enough had 8 kids, Degrassi had 20+ students.

['80sSitcoms]

And "Cheers" had many characters and serviced them all wonderfully too.

At least all of FOL is on DVD. Sadly, only season 1 of the Smurfs are available fully in the US! Otherwise, there are only 15 episodes of a couple more seasons split up onto smaller DVDs, yet Region 4 (Aus/New Z) gets to have complete seasons 2 and 3...[sigh!]

And regarding my other post above, had you ever realized just how much in common "Smurfs" and "Facts" had??

(psst, also, I wonder if Lorsie's "too young" for the Smurfs? He's been conspicuously absent in this thread )

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

So the past couple of weekends, I've binged on my "Smurfs" season 1 DVDs from 1981. And ya know what, there really is some common ground between "Smurfs" and "Facts"!

• Both shows feature an older character in charge of numerous younger characters two generations below
• Both shows make the leader absolutely lovable, not only to fans, as an idealized grandparent figure but to all of their younger charges, as well
• Both leaders butt heads with males with opposing views/agendas in positions of power
• Both leaders are a gold mine of wise advice
• Both leaders obviously love their charges, but are also quick to discipline them
• Both shows feature charges doing chores under responsible supervision of their leader
• Both shows feature personality hooks that make it very easy to tell who's who among the numerous charges
• Both shows are extremely gender-heavy ("Smurfs" nearly entirely male, "Facts" nearly entirely female)
• Both shows feature some of the leaders' charges getting a great deal of screen time, while other charges of theirs are seen much less
• Both shows were on NBC
• Both shows ran for nearly all of the 1980s
• Both shows featured our heroes' sets burned down and rebuilt
• Both shows feature a character who's tough
• Both shows feature a character who's grouchy
• Both shows feature a character who's a feminist
• Both shows feature a character who's a jokester
• Both shows feature a character who's a wonderful cook
• Both shows feature a tomboy girl who wears braids
• Both shows feature a character who's a musician who plays a signature instrument
• Both shows feature a character who's living wallpaper (background Smurfs, and Nancy)
• Both shows feature a feminine blond girl who goes from "bad girl" to "good girl", and quickly rises to the "second star" slot of the cast
• Both shows feature a character who thinks their God's gift to their own kind, loves to gaze in a mirror, and abhors looking unseemly
• Both shows feature a character who wears a flower on their head (Vanity in his hat, and Nancy in her hair)

Those are some off the top of my head, and there are probably more! Wow, no wonder I love the Smurfs!

I really am eager to get more seasons on DVD!

I loved The Smurfs, too. At the time, it was Hanna Barbera's most well-animated cartoon, and the voice acting and scripts were usually top-notch.

I even own animation cells from the series, the gift of an animator friend.


Here are a few more connections:

• Both series began with most of the characters wearing a uniform, but eventually, they mostly stopped wearing them.
• Both series later introduced a couple additional main characters of the opposite gender, but originally only had one.
• both series had characters who appeared for a while, but later disappeared without a mention

['80sSitcoms]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

I loved The Smurfs, too. At the time, it was Hanna Barbera's most well-animated cartoon, and the voice acting and scripts were usually top-notch.

Yes, fantastically engaging stories, and so many of those voices were just perfect! (Allen Oppenheimer?? June Foray?? Frank Welker?? Don Messick?? Lucille Bliss?? Paul Winchell?? Yes, please!)

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

Here are a few more connections:

• Both series began with most of the characters wearing a uniform, but eventually, they mostly stopped wearing them.
• Both series later introduced a couple additional main characters of the opposite gender, but originally only had one.
• both series had characters who appeared for a while, but later disappeared without a mention

Yup! So many comparisons!

Oo, and another one!

• Both shows had characters that were too easily mislabeled "gay" by many who just didn't understand the characters' truth

[RetroGuy2000]

Really? You don't think Vanity Smurf was gay?

['80sSitcoms]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

Really? You don't think Vanity Smurf was gay?

Hey now, how would you like someone to say that about Cindy or Jo?? lol...but no, he wasn't gay, but extremely narcissistic. But you know that.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

Hey now, how would you like someone to say that about Cindy or Jo??

I wouldn't love them any less.

lol...but no, he wasn't gay, but extremely narcissistic. But you know that.

Extreme narcissism doesn't explain the pretty stereotypical gay behavior. Even The Daily Beast called him out. Not that there's anything wrong with it.