Facts of Life Anecdotes You Haven't Read Before

[kadeliah]

I don't think I've seen anyone post this so I though I'd share. I have no idea how I happened to find this link, but I am glad I did!

Facts of Life Anecdotes You Haven't Read Before

[RetroGuy2000]

Wow! Thanks for sharing, Kadeliah!

This is great! I thought the original piece was great and very thorough. Getting these "deleted scenes" is incredible.

Some of the best commentary:

Originally Posted by Julie Piekarski

It’s funny that there was that concern about how many characters were on the show, because you look at a show like Friends, and look how many they had! [Laughs.] Part of me feels that whatever was meant to be was meant to be, but I do think that they needed to give it more time, to let people settle in and get more of a definite identity for each character, because I feel like they touched upon it, but they were still trying to find their way.

Julie says what some of us have been saying for years: if some sitcoms managed to have a lot of characters, why couldn't FOL? I'm glad to know Julie's had that thought herself, realizing that maybe the "too many girls" thing was BS.

Originally Posted by Julie Piekarski

When they changed the show and my character was cut, I’m not going to say I was actually shocked, but I was surprised. “Blindsided” might be the right word for how I felt, though, because I did feel like Sue Ann was getting more opportunities and more storylines where I was a main character. I will say that, if there had been any sort of rumor going around the set like, “Oh, I hear they’re gonna cut a couple of the girls,” then I probably would’ve thought, “Well, probably not me.” But there was no hush-hush rumor going around. It was just, “We’re cutting the cast.”

This just confirms what I've always suspected about The Cut: that Julie was caught off guard, because they used her character frequently before cutting her out of the show.

She also confirms what some of the other girls have said: they never heard a rumor about the show being re-tooled. Which is good to know.

Originally Posted by Julie Pie

When Felice, Julie Anne, and I came back (for the Season Eight episode “The Little Chill”), oh my gosh, that was so much fun. It was a blast. But, you know, looking back, that’s another one of those episodes where my character kind of took the lead, and it provided a little bit of closure for me, I think, because it was, like, “Okay, they still like to use Sue Ann.” It was great to come back and see everyone and to see how much we’d all changed, but I remember that I got married just a few months before we did that, so when they said, “You have to take your wedding ring off,” I was, like, “Not my ring! I can’t take my ring off!” [Laughs.] But the whole thing felt very much like we were picking up where we left off, in terms of the kindness and the friendships that had been there.

I absolutely love this backstage anecdote!

Originally Posted by John Bowab

When they added Nancy, they cut three of the girls. They were all delightful girls – Molly Ringwald was one of them – but they just couldn’t make it work with all of them, so they had to bring it down. Lisa Whelchel was never in question, and I don’t think Kim Fields was ever a question. Mindy Cohn was new to the game, though. And, of course, she had no experience, but they still kept her on after the first season, and she turned out to be a very integral part of the show.

Three? Heh.

This also confirms what I've long suspected: Lisa and Kim were never in jeopardy.

Originally Posted by Sally Sussman Morina

In the first season, when Jerry was running things, I think it was a group effort: the writers sat and broke the stories together. I remember specifically working on one…well, more than one, but there was one in particular about losing weight, and Natalie was upset, and somebody was anorexic. I think Julie Ann Haddock wasn’t eating?

I want to see this long-lost episode!

But seriously, it's funny what people remember (or, in this case, misremember).

Originally Posted by John Lawlor

First we did four shows, then we did another nine, and then they fired four of the girls and me. It was brutal. In my opinion, anyway, as someone who was a lot older than they were. A lot of the girls were pretty damned good. They were good actors, and many of them had some kind of a career prior to The Facts of Life, but they were at a pretty delicate age. That’s show biz, of course, but they took apart half of that cast and just dropped them. Molly Ringwald made a career afterward – the show ended up just being kind of a stopover for her before John Hughes saw whatever everyone else saw, which was that she was really quite brilliant – but those other girls, they were talented, too. They weren’t just ciphers. Each had their own individual talent. One who was especially good was the girl who played Cindy, Julie Ann[e ] Haddock. She was very good. She played the tomboy, but she was quite a serious actress.

Well, John and I agree on that, for sure.

Originally Posted by John Lawlor

And the other blonde girl, Julie Piekarski, I think she came up through Disney with Lisa. They all had a certain something. They didn’t just fall off the turnip truck. They were all serious about making a career and doing what they were doing, and the more you gave them, the harder they worked. And if they didn’t get stuff to do, then they were sad…like I was!

Great insight from someone who was there, behind the scenes.

Originally Posted by Nancy McKeon

There were quite a few girls on the first season, so they wanted to sort of pare that down, but they also wanted to bring on another character to be sort of be an opposite to the Blair character, if you will, so they’d opened the auditions up. I just did my best, did the best that I could, and finally got to a screen test between myself and one other girl (Kari Michaelson), who ended up being a really great friend. She ended up on another show, and she’s terrific.

I never knew that Kari Michaelson, the oldest girl from Gimme a Break, was considered for the role of Jo/Foxy. I sure can't imagine another blonde on the show!

[Bronson]

Very interesting information. Thanks for posting it.

[80s Dude]

If John Bowab say that he didn't think (notice that he didn't say he knew) that Kim Fields was in jeopardy, then why has Kim Fields say so many times over the years that she thought she would be one of the ones fired?

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by 80s Dude

If John Bowab say that he didn't think (notice that he didn't say he knew) that Kim Fields was in jeopardy, then why has Kim Fields say so many times over the years that she thought she would be one of the ones fired?

Because she was The Black Girl in an era (the 1970s and 1980s) when African Americans didn't last long in the horror films.

Heck, Samuel L Jackson gets killed in Jurassic Park while all the blonde cast members survive, and that was from 1993!

['80sSitcoms]

"One who was especially good was the girl who played Cindy, Julie Ann[e ] Haddock. She was very good. She played the tomboy, but she was quite a serious actress."

Wow! So awesome for John to say this!

So now we know Julie Ann and Julie can also be called "the one especially good blond and the other blond". (just kiddin', farmgirl fans )

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

I never knew that Kari Michaelson, the oldest girl from Gimme a Break, was considered for the role of Jo/Foxy. I sure can't imagine another blonde on the show!

Oh that's funny, you thought you never knew this until I revealed it last year, but you did know about it 4 years prior!

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

Heck, Samuel L Jackson gets killed in Jurassic Park while all the blonde cast members survive, and that was from 1993!

True, but that's late in the film, and that's after the white lawyer and the white fat guy and right around the time of the white "raptor wrangler". So at least he wasn't stereotypically one of the first ones or early on.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

"One who was especially good was the girl who played Cindy, Julie Ann[e ] Haddock. She was very good. She played the tomboy, but she was quite a serious actress."

Wow! So awesome for John to say this!

Yes indeed! I mean, *we* know Julie Anne was a talented actress, but it's always nice when she gets a special shout-out from one of her co-stars. And to think: John worked with hundreds of other actors during his decades in television and film. And yet, Julie Anne stuck out to him as a serious actress of note. One worthy of calling attention to decades later.

So now we know Julie Ann and Julie can also be called "the one especially good blond and the other blond". (just kiddin', farmgirl fans )

Where is the "groan" emoji when we need it?

Oh that's funny, you thought you never knew this until I revealed it last year, but you did know about it 4 years prior!

Yeah, cleanly I forgot!

True, but that's late in the film, and that's after the white lawyer and the white fat guy and right around the time of the white "raptor wrangler". So at least he wasn't stereotypically one of the first ones or early on.

Yeah, "progress"!

[FOL-FAN-ITA]

Thanks! So, producers believed season 5 would have been the final year? I guess they weren't too sure about the success of Edna's Edibles as the show's new setting. And Seth Green auditioned for the role of Sam on Diff'rent Strokes, interesting!

[valentina warner]

Well i'm surely glad FOL didn't finish after season 5: just imagine all the great episodes and more bonding of the casts we would have missed lol! (especially how close BLAIR and JO become by season 6).

Of course the departure of MRS G will always leave an empty space in my heart.....

By the way, it's been such a long time i haven't watched JURASSIC PARK, that i just don't recall Samuel Jackson being on it and even dying lol! (interesting fact, that he also gets killed in DEEP BLUE SEA, when the shark bites his head off!!!!)

[Lorimar Television]

Seth green auditioned for Sam on DS? Did they want redheads for him?

['80sSitcoms]

Originally Posted by valentina warner

By the way, it's been such a long time i haven't watched JURASSIC PARK, that i just don't recall Samuel Jackson being on it and even dying lol!

Well it happens off screen. Ellie finds his arm in a dark power shed underground. Since the rest of him is not attached to his arm, the audience just safely assumes he is no longer all in one piece.

['80sSitcoms]

Originally Posted by Lorimar Television

Seth green auditioned for Sam on DS? Did they want redheads for him?

Silly Lorsie, Seth is a redhead!

[Lorimar Television]

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

Silly Lorsie, Seth is a redhead!

That’s my point Eights they went with redhead Danny Cooksy, and redhead Seth Green auditioned for him as well. It sounds like they went in planning on Sam being a red head, I would’ve thought they just auditioned boys regardless of hair color and gave the part to the best one.

['80sSitcoms]

Originally Posted by Lorimar Television

That’s my point Eights they went with redhead Danny Cooksy, and redhead Seth Green auditioned for him as well. It sounds like they went in planning on Sam being a red head, I would’ve thought they just auditioned boys regardless of hair color and gave the part to the best one.

Oh! Sorry Lorsie, I misread your post: I thought you said "Didn't" they want redheads for Sam?

Pardon me as I reach for my Angela Bower Super-Sized Glassses!

[Lorimar Television]

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

Oh! Sorry Lorsie, I misread your post: I thought you said "Didn't they want redheads for Sam?

Pardon me as I reach for my Angela Bower Super-Sized Glassses!