25 years ago; The Facts of Life airs its Final Episode

[simmytbone]

Hey guys,

25 years ago, The Facts of Life says goodbye to NBC

The series ended with a 2-part series finale

"The Beginning of the End/Beginning of the Beginning" — The two-part series finale sees Blair Warner buying Eastland to prevent its closing. Blair finds that the school is in such dire financial straits that she is forced to make the school co-ed. Blair then essentially adopts the Mrs. Garrett role as she presides over the school, and is forced to deal with the trouble-making students in a plot line that is highly reminiscent of the season two premiere.

The new Eastland students included Comedian/Actor Seth Green of Adult Swim's Robot Chicken, Mayim Bialik of the film Beaches and the NBC Series Blossom and the CBS Series The Big Bang Theory and future Oscar-Nominee Singer/Actress Juliette Lewis.

after 9 seasons and 209 episodes on NBC, the girls from Eastland Blair Warner, Tootie Ramsey, Natalie Green and Jo Polniaczek went their separate ways and the cast of the series decided that it was time to move on

and now, here it is:

The 2-part series finale of The Facts of Life

Check it out!

Part 1: "The Beginning of the End"

Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjmSPdQJO-c

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svJWTXm2DzY

Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqdGTca7MtI

Part 2: "The Beginning of the Beginning"

Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf8UIJEnXbU

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGHfI73iF3U

Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY4RE3RpdXw

[PrettyinPink55]

Thanks for posting the links!! Unfortunately, I don't think I ever got around to watching the finale.

[ABlairican Pie]

I thought the finale was rather disappointing. They tried to find ways to make it compelling, but they seemed to be running into the same problems when the show initially started as a spinoff of 'Diff'rent Strokes'. The cast, except for Blair, wasn't very identifiable.

[Latinoxtc]

The finale was so lackluster because it was a spin off attempt. The girls never really got a proper goodbye because NBC was more concerned with the show getting picked up. That's why Blair was the main focus & Jo, Natalie & Tootie hardly appeared. I wish the show would've had a proper send off.

[AnnaMarie]

So what are some ideas you all might have for a better finale? I just want Jo to get divorced from Rick, start a brand-new career--maybe be a teacher at Eastland, and Tootie and Natalie can help out too. I just want the girls to have stayed together.

[Mr. Television]

Originally Posted by Latinoxtc

The finale was so lackluster because it was a spin off attempt. The girls never really got a proper goodbye because NBC was more concerned with the show getting picked up. That's why Blair was the main focus & Jo, Natalie & Tootie hardly appeared. I wish the show would've had a proper send off.

You're right and I remember there was mention that Natalie and Tootie might have made guest appearances in the new show. Nancy McKeon wanted out of her role entirely. I was very disappointed that the spinoff wasn't picked up because we never really got closure. At least they did have a reunion movie though so that helped somewhat even though Jo wasn't in it.

[Latinoxtc]

Originally Posted by AnnaMarie

So what are some ideas you all might have for a better finale? I just want Jo to get divorced from Rick, start a brand-new career--maybe be a teacher at Eastland, and Tootie and Natalie can help out too. I just want the girls to have stayed together.

I always like a sappy ending. I wanted to be crying watching the finale of my favorite show FOL. Of course that didn't happen with the spin off attempt. I would have liked to have seen (and this is all based on what was going on at the end of season 9) all of the girls moving out of the house during the series finale. It would've been a tear jerker as the girls would reminisce about the past 9 years they shared & how they would never be together like this again. Jo, of course, would be getting her new life started with Rick as they searched for a new place to live & finally finding the perfect apartment. Natalie would be packing getting ready to move in with her new roommates in New York City & pursue her career in writing. Tootie would also be leaving the nest for the summer as she got accepted into acting school in London. That would just leave Blair. In the series finale she just randomly purchased Eastland abandoning any storylines she had earlier in the season. I would've liked to have seen Casey propose to Blair in the season finale, or go with what he had originally wanted to do, which was inviting Blair to move in together. That would've taken care of all 4 of the girls. Jo moving in with her new husband, Natalie moving to the Big Apple, Tootie going to London and Blair moving in with Casey. I would've liked to have seen very little Pippa & Andy. I could deal with Beverly Ann seeing them off. But ideally I'd like just the four girls in the final shot with their belongings walking out of the house to embark on a new chapter of their lives. Maybe add something corny like a shot of the 4 girls together during Season 2. This could've bought a tear to my eye. An extra bonus would've been Edna making a surprise final appearance when she hears that the girls are moving out the house.

[king of comedy]

Originally Posted by Latinoxtc

I always like a sappy ending. I wanted to be crying watching the finale of my favorite show FOL. Of course that didn't happen with the spin off attempt. I would have liked to have seen (and this is all based on what was going on at the end of season 9) all of the girls moving out of the house during the series finale. It would've been a tear jerker as the girls would reminisce about the past 9 years they shared & how they would never be together like this again. Jo, of course, would be getting her new life started with Rick as they searched for a new place to live & finally finding the perfect apartment. Natalie would be packing getting ready to move in with her new roommates in New York City & pursue her career in writing. Tootie would also be leaving the nest for the summer as she got accepted into acting school in London. That would just leave Blair. In the series finale she just randomly purchased Eastland abandoning any storylines she had earlier in the season. I would've liked to have seen Casey propose to Blair in the season finale, or go with what he had originally wanted to do, which was inviting Blair to move in together. That would've taken care of all 4 of the girls. Jo moving in with her new husband, Natalie moving to the Big Apple, Tootie going to London and Blair moving in with Casey. I would've liked to have seen very little Pippa & Andy. I could deal with Beverly Ann seeing them off. But ideally I'd like just the four girls in the final shot with their belongings walking out of the house to embark on a new chapter of their lives. Maybe add something corny like a shot of the 4 girls together during Season 2. This could've bought a tear to my eye. An extra bonus would've been Edna making a surprise final appearance when she hears that the girls are moving out the house.

That would have been a great finale.

[candycandy]

I would have loved to see MRS G making a final appearance to see that her girls were alright and i frankly believe the writers should have made an effort to see it happened