All 9 Season of Facts of Life to be released on DVD

[Bachu]

Have just watched the episode where it is revealed that Blair and Chip have split up. Funny as he never even appears in the episode. A decent one though.

I find it curious just how popular this show is. This section of this forum is so busy all the time. A lot of you just cannot get enough of the show. Not knocking it. I am enjoying the show but doubt whether I would ever watch it all again. Perhaps the odd episode. I have found myself thinking that I would like to watch the first season after season nine is done as I miss the lost girls.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by Bachu

I find it curious just how popular this show is. This section of this forum is so busy all the time. A lot of you just cannot get enough of the show.

I enjoy most seasons of this show very much. Even some of the crappier seasons have some great individual episodes. And there's something very comforting about Mrs. Garrett and her advice, which has held up over the past 40 years: Be kind. Be true to yourself. Stand up for what you believe in. These words are powerful, and have meaning in our times, today. Charlotte Rae has left us, but her words still echo out to us to this day.

There was something a little special about The Facts of Life. They were better about continuity than most 1980s sitcoms (although admittedly that started to slide towards the end of the series). Of course, by the end, there had been so many changes that it felt like a different show. Despite that fact, different eras of the series appeal to different people.

Not knocking it. I am enjoying the show but doubt whether I would ever watch it all again. Perhaps the odd episode. I have found myself thinking that I would like to watch the first season after season nine is done as I miss the lost girls.

For me, the first seasons of the show were magical. Watching them takes me back to a time when I was still learning the lessons on the show. Watching the show feels like comfort food. And talking about the show, even when we disagree about different aspects, it really nice: we all notice different things, and come to different conclusions. That alone is a lot of fun.

The characters of Cindy, Sue Ann, Nancy, and Molly were wonderful, and it is a real shame we saw them less and less as the years went along. Getting a reunion with three of them in Season 8 was a dream come true for a viewer like me. We, as viewers, miss seeing characters we liked, and there was a lot to like about the Lost Girls, unlike, say characters like Brenda or Emily, who had no meat to their characters.

['80sSitcoms]

Originally Posted by Bachu

I find it curious just how popular this show is. This section of this forum is so busy all the time. A lot of you just cannot get enough of the show.

Right? It's strange. It's not like "The Golden Girls" which is extremely popular all over the world and has all kinds of merchandise going on today. You're proud to say you're a GG fan, but don't feel people would react well if you proudly said you're a FOL fan. You would expect stares and "Oh...okay"s. It's just never had that pop culture embrace by the public in a way that shows like GG have. FOL has always seemed like a "guilty pleasure" show whereas GG was SO popular it became cool to love it.

I myself was floored about 20 years ago to see that GG wasn't one of the highest '80s shows on this board, but FOL was. I would have definitely expected the opposite.

['80sSitcoms]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

...there was a lot to like about the Lost Girls, unlike, say characters like Brenda or Emily, who had no meat to their characters.

I dunno Retro, I think Brenda's character is...

adequate.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

I dunno Retro, I think Brenda's character is...

adequate.

Haha! I'm glad someone said it!

[Sitcommania]

Hi, I’m Sitcommania, and I’m a FOL fan.

I’ve notice Golden Girls is the reigning show with 4 (or more) female leads. Sex and the City comes close, but it can be polarizing.

So, why GG? I think it’s because it’s the most consistent. Besides the great writing and acting, there were no new sets, no new characters, no cast changes, no new theme songs. They also never got bogged down with ancillary long term boyfriends and husbands. They just had Stan and Miles, you didn’t have much of I hate the episodes with ____”. FOL, Designing Women, Sex and the City, even Cheers, had some or all of those changes.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by Sitcommania

Hi, I’m Sitcommania, and I’m a FOL fan.

I’ve notice Golden Girls is the reigning show with 4 (or more) female leads. Sex and the City comes close, but it can be polarizing.

So, why GG? I think it’s because it’s the most consistent. Besides the great writing and acting, there were no new sets, no new characters, no cast changes, no new theme songs. They also never got bogged down with ancillary long term boyfriends and husbands. They just had Stan and Miles, you didn’t have much of I hate the episodes with ____”. FOL, Designing Women, Sex and the City, even Cheers, had some or all of those changes.

Good point about GG not having any major cast changes. Stan and Miles were never in the opening credits, so it's not like they were introducing new dynamics.

(I did dislike the GG episode where it turned out Miles wasn't Miles and was actually someone else, but that was just one episode I have to ignore.)

[Bachu]

Any show with folk under the age of about 20 has got to change quite a bit as characters age.

TGG is unique in that the cast was the same for all 7 seasons with hardly any changes.

I think something I may have been getting at is that FOL isn't that well known abroad I don't think, yet it is just so active on this board. Mind you, lots of popular shows at the time have little fan action a few years after their time.

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts on the show.

I find myself very tempted to buy a single season set of the show to see if the picture quality is different to what I have but everything about my set, other than the poor PQ, says it is not a bootleg. Sturdy cardboard box, booklet, proper pressed looking disks.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by Bachu

Any show with folk under the age of about 20 has got to change quite a bit as characters age.

It's true: you can't have the same story-lines that you had when the characters were seven years younger.

TGG is unique in that the cast was the same for all 7 seasons with hardly any changes.

Yep. And the thing is, you could watch the episodes of The Golden Girls completely out of sequence and they would still make sense.

You can't do that with The Facts of Life. Watch "IQ" and then watch "Something in Common" and you will be screaming, "Who are these people?!" It's a completely different cast.

I think something I may have been getting at is that FOL isn't that well known abroad I don't think, yet it is just so active on this board. Mind you, lots of popular shows at the time have little fan action a few years after their time.

Here in the US, it's on Pluto TV, Antenna TV, and a while back, a few select episodes were on METV. Many episodes are also on the Daily Motion video streaming site. But of course, the best way to watch, IMO, are the DVDs (which mostly unedited).

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts on the show.

I find myself very tempted to buy a single season set of the show to see if the picture quality is different to what I have but everything about my set, other than the poor PQ, says it is not a bootleg. Sturdy cardboard box, booklet, proper pressed looking disks.

Good luck with your quest for a better picture quality! I had no issues with the first four seasons.

[Bachu]

I impulse bought either season 7 or 8 today as it was the cheapest of the seasons I have yet to see and cheapest over all. Part of me hopes the PQ is the same and that it is all of you with bad eyesight.

I have watched many a dvd were folk have complained about the picture and I think, what are they on about, it looks fine.

TGG is a show where you could quite easily swap episodes about and it wouldn't be as obivios as it would be with FOL.

[valentina warner]

Originally Posted by Bachu

Any show with folk under the age of about 20 has got to change quite a bit as characters age.

TGG is unique in that the cast was the same for all 7 seasons with hardly any changes.

I think something I may have been getting at is that FOL isn't that well known abroad I don't think, yet it is just so active on this board. Mind you, lots of popular shows at the time have little fan action a few years after their time.

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts on the show.

I find myself very tempted to buy a single season set of the show to see if the picture quality is different to what I have but everything about my set, other than the poor PQ, says it is not a bootleg. Sturdy cardboard box, booklet, proper pressed looking disks.

You're very right about FOL, Bachu:it isn't well known abroad (or at least not in so many countries).
In fact, i grew up watching DS, but had never heard of FOL until i discovered by pure coincidence on a PEOPLE's magazine!
To tell you the truth, i find it very odd that such a wonderful and life teaching show like FOL isn't know everywhere: characters such as MRS G and the 'Core of 4' are hard to forget, and once you get to know them, they remain buried in your heart and a part of you...
The same goes with the 'LOST GIRLS', who were the root of this show to begin with lol!



PS: you guys must think of me as cheesy, right?

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by valentina warner

PS: you guys must think of me as cheesy, right?

Not at all! In fact, I'd trust you to bring in the cheese dip, when Cindy would not!

[valentina warner]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

Not at all! In fact, I'd trust you to bring in the cheese dip, when Cindy would not!

Thank you Retro!

[Bachu]

A lot of American shows made it to the UK but only had the first season or show screened only to never be seen again until Satallite Television came along. We had ALF and Small Wonder but only the first seasons were shown from memory which with ALF is odd as we also had toys and comics and posters.

I am not sure if all of Diff'rent Strokes was shwon by the BBC who I think showed it originally.

Facts was screen on Sky, possibly from start to finish. I only recall seeing the odd Over Our Heads opening as I thought the theme tune catchy. I would imagine that they showed the whole thing.

[valentina warner]

Originally Posted by Bachu

A lot of American shows made it to the UK but only had the first season or show screened only to never be seen again until Satallite Television came along. We had ALF and Small Wonder but only the first seasons were shown from memory which with ALF is odd as we also had toys and comics and posters.

I am not sure if all of Diff'rent Strokes was shwon by the BBC who I think showed it originally.

Facts was screen on Sky, possibly from start to finish. I only recall seeing the odd Over Our Heads opening as I thought the theme tune catchy. I would imagine that they showed the whole thing.

Did you watch ALF???? I thought it was the most boring thing that ever came on TV and that it was for babies!!! (maybe i was too old for it back then lol, cos my younger sister did watch it and even had the cassettes)