Blair and Cliff - what happened? - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

dheian · 03-16-2015, 03:32 PM

The missus and I are watching Facts of Life on Netflix. I saw a few episodes back in the day but now we're enjoying the whole enchilada.

A little confused about Blair and Cliff. In the season 5 episode where he proposed to her, they said they'd remain committed despite him going to Dallas.

Season 6 episode 1 - Blair tells the girls about meeting his parents and working on the farm

Season 6 episode 2 - Jo's pizza business - Blair is getting all handsy with a random frat boy and they're feeding each other slices

Season 6 episode 3 - Natalie's computer matchmaking - Natalie says that neither Blair nor Jo have "found the one"

Um...what happened to her committed "we're still going together despite the distance" relationship?

Did the writers "Chuck Cunningham" him and suddenly act like he never existed? I mean how did she go from "meeting the parents" to swapping pizza and physical affection with a frat boy in the space of one episode?

Squeaky Clean · 03-16-2015, 03:52 PM

I think 'Working it Out' was originally supposed to be right after the season premiere in season 6 to explain what happen to them. If you remember, NBC aired The Facts of Life out of order during the last few years. In season 6 you'd see an episode where Tootie has braces and then they're off the next episode, only to be back on in another later episode.

Season 8 is another example of episodes being out of sequence. Beverly Ann's piano would make random appearances in the first few episodes and then be gone in other episodes. I don't understand why NBC couldn't air this show in order back in the 80's.

dheian · 03-16-2015, 03:56 PM

Bizarre. You'd think someone like Netflix would correct the airing order. Are the DVDs out of order too?

Thanks for the reply.

Squeaky Clean · 03-16-2015, 04:02 PM

Yes. They're in air date order on the DVDs.

The Obsolete Man · 03-17-2015, 02:13 PM

Yeah, seasons 6 and 8 are way out of production order.

Wiki has the production order listed along with the airdates

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._Life_episodes

For example, Working It Out (the episode where Blair went "wild" after breaking up with Cliff) was aired 15th in the season, but was shot third. And the Interview Show was shot 12th in the season, but aired at the end.

Season 8 had some episodes shown way out of order, but not as many as S6.

'80sSitcoms · 03-17-2015, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Obsolete Man

Yeah, seasons 6 and 8 are way out of production order.

Wiki has the production order listed along with the airdates

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._Life_episodes

the Interview Show was shot 12th in the season, but aired at the end.

I heard that "The Interview Show" was actually aired in season 5 but aired as the season 6 finale?

dheian · 03-17-2015, 03:16 PM

Sorta funny that Shout Factory ddn't put them in production order on the DVD. They're usually very good with catching/fixing stuff like that.

The Obsolete Man · 03-17-2015, 04:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dheian

Sorta funny that Shout Factory ddn't put them in production order on the DVD. They're usually very good with catching/fixing stuff like that.

It's very rare shows are put on DVD in production order. It's always been airdate.

Even Star Trek: TOS was arranged by airdate, even though that makes no sense.

The sets Image did, Twilight Zone and The Dick Van Dyke Show, are exceptions. Those are in production order (with the exception of flipping the final two episodes of TDVDS, so the episode The Final Chapter is the final episode).

But everyone else? Airdate order, no matter how little sense it makes.

mets82 · 03-17-2015, 05:06 PM

Actually, I thought didnt Blair catch Cliff at a strip club and Cliff was a stripper? I thought they broke up based on that.

80schild.com · 03-18-2015, 06:49 AM

this may have been a contributing factor to the season 6 air order. Nancy Mckeon didn't show up for work a the beginning of the season because she was re-negotiating her salary, which is why we don't see her in SMILE, or MY BOYFRIENDS BACK. They had to start production without her.

Squeaky Clean · 03-21-2015, 12:06 PM

I don't think it was anything with the show in particular that caused the episodes to be shown out of order. I think NBC wanted it that way because they did the exact same thing to Mama's Family a year earlier than season 6 of The Facts of Life. The first season of Mama's Family had Vint getting married to Naomi in the fourth episode that aired and then at the end of the season Vint is wanting to participate in an illegal alien marriage for money.

I'm surprise the website lists Out of Peekskill as the first episode produced in season 8. That's one of the episodes that had the piano in the background before it was delivered in Write & Wrong.

80schild.com · 03-22-2015, 08:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squeaky Clean

I don't think it was anything with the show in particular that caused the episodes to be shown out of order. I think NBC wanted it that way because they did the exact same thing to Mama's Family a year earlier than season 6 of The Facts of Life. The first season of Mama's Family had Vint getting married to Naomi in the fourth episode that aired and then at the end of the season Vint is wanting to participate in an illegal alien marriage for money.

I'm surprise the website lists Out of Peekskill as the first episode produced in season 8. That's one of the episodes that had the piano in the background before it was delivered in Write & Wrong.

Not true, the piano wasn't in the ep Out Of Peekskill

Squeaky Clean · 03-22-2015, 09:53 AM

When Natalie is walking around trying to think of a story to write about, the piano is in the background. You can see it clearly when Beverly Ann walks down the stairs telling Natalie she's up way past her bed time, which is weird because Natalie is a grown adult and shouldn't need a bed time LOL

'80sSitcoms · 03-23-2015, 09:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squeaky Clean

I don't think it was anything with the show in particular that caused the episodes to be shown out of order. I think NBC wanted it that way because they did the exact same thing to Mama's Family a year earlier than season 6 of The Facts of Life. The first season of Mama's Family had Vint getting married to Naomi in the fourth episode that aired and then at the end of the season Vint is wanting to participate in an illegal alien marriage for money.

Mama's Family was a special case. They filmed "Alien Marriage" and "Mama's Silver" first, but Vicki Lawrence felt the show wasn't "right"; it wasn't coming off like she thought it should. So she brought in Harvey Korman to co-direct (with Roger Beatty), and the show went much better in her opinion, so they showed the episodes filmed after that first. And they couldn't just scrap 2 episodes, and aired AM and MS as "flashback" episodes as explanation (as evidenced by the Alistair Quince introductions).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squeaky Clean

When Natalie is walking around trying to think of a story to write about, the piano is in the background. You can see it clearly when Beverly Ann walks down the stairs telling Natalie she's up way past her bed time, which is weird because Natalie is a grown adult and shouldn't need a bed time LOL

Those "book-ending" scenes take place a little while after Beverly Ann had moved in, so the piano could be there then, but not in the flashbacks of when Mrs. Garrett was still there.

And as far as Natalie's bed time, Beverly Ann felt that the girls were her "charges" and just thought it was better for to not up so late (wasn't it around 3 a.m.?) and was looking out for her to get some sleep.

Squeaky Clean · 03-23-2015, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

Those "book-ending" scenes take place a little while after Beverly Ann had moved in, so the piano could be there then, but not in the flashbacks of when Mrs. Garrett was still there.

I'm not talking about the flashback with Mrs. Garrett. I never was and clarified that in my last response. I'm talking about the scenes with Natalie in the beginning of the episode where she's walking around the living room thinking of a story to write and again when Beverly Ann comes down the stairs. You can see the piano in the background so obviously that wasn't the first episode that was produced in season 8. In episode Write & Wrong, they made it a point to address that Beverly Ann's piano was delivered in that episode. There's also 3 episodes where Beverly Ann's piano is not there. Ready or Not, Another Room, and Where's Poppa? do not have the piano so they were obviously produced before Write & Wrong and before Out of Peekskill.

03-16-2015, 03:32 PM	#1
dheian Member Forum Hawk Join Date: Mar 16, 2015 Posts: 3	Blair and Cliff - what happened? The missus and I are watching Facts of Life on Netflix. I saw a few episodes back in the day but now we're enjoying the whole enchilada. A little confused about Blair and Cliff. In the season 5 episode where he proposed to her, they said they'd remain committed despite him going to Dallas. Season 6 episode 1 - Blair tells the girls about meeting his parents and working on the farm Season 6 episode 2 - Jo's pizza business - Blair is getting all handsy with a random frat boy and they're feeding each other slices Season 6 episode 3 - Natalie's computer matchmaking - Natalie says that neither Blair nor Jo have "found the one" Um...what happened to her committed "we're still going together despite the distance" relationship? Did the writers "Chuck Cunningham" him and suddenly act like he never existed? I mean how did she go from "meeting the parents" to swapping pizza and physical affection with a frat boy in the space of one episode?

03-17-2015, 02:13 PM	#5
The Obsolete Man Member Forum Regular Join Date: Nov 18, 2000 Location: Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, Earth Prime Posts: 567	Yeah, seasons 6 and 8 are way out of production order. Wiki has the production order listed along with the airdates http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._Life_episodes For example, Working It Out (the episode where Blair went "wild" after breaking up with Cliff) was aired 15th in the season, but was shot third. And the Interview Show was shot 12th in the season, but aired at the end. Season 8 had some episodes shown way out of order, but not as many as S6.
	__________________ Nothing to see here. Move along.

03-17-2015, 05:06 PM	#9
mets82 Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Mar 14, 2011 Location: Connecticut Posts: 5,058	Actually, I thought didnt Blair catch Cliff at a strip club and Cliff was a stripper? I thought they broke up based on that.
	__________________ http://www.superbowlgreatness.blogspot.com/ Please check out my blog. I vent on all things. TV, sports etc. you name it. Its also a work in progress. Check out and see what you think.

03-18-2015, 06:49 AM	#10
80schild.com Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Oct 23, 2002 Location: Toronto Canada Posts: 354	S6 air order this may have been a contributing factor to the season 6 air order. Nancy Mckeon didn't show up for work a the beginning of the season because she was re-negotiating her salary, which is why we don't see her in SMILE, or MY BOYFRIENDS BACK. They had to start production without her.

03-16-2015, 03:52 PM	#2
Squeaky Clean Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Jun 05, 2006 Posts: 36	I think 'Working it Out' was originally supposed to be right after the season premiere in season 6 to explain what happen to them. If you remember, NBC aired The Facts of Life out of order during the last few years. In season 6 you'd see an episode where Tootie has braces and then they're off the next episode, only to be back on in another later episode. Season 8 is another example of episodes being out of sequence. Beverly Ann's piano would make random appearances in the first few episodes and then be gone in other episodes. I don't understand why NBC couldn't air this show in order back in the 80's.

03-16-2015, 03:56 PM	#3
dheian Member Forum Hawk Join Date: Mar 16, 2015 Posts: 3	Bizarre. You'd think someone like Netflix would correct the airing order. Are the DVDs out of order too? Thanks for the reply.

03-16-2015, 04:02 PM	#4
Squeaky Clean Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Jun 05, 2006 Posts: 36	Yes. They're in air date order on the DVDs.

03-17-2015, 03:16 PM	#7
dheian Member Forum Hawk Join Date: Mar 16, 2015 Posts: 3	Sorta funny that Shout Factory ddn't put them in production order on the DVD. They're usually very good with catching/fixing stuff like that.

03-21-2015, 12:06 PM	#11
Squeaky Clean Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Jun 05, 2006 Posts: 36	I don't think it was anything with the show in particular that caused the episodes to be shown out of order. I think NBC wanted it that way because they did the exact same thing to Mama's Family a year earlier than season 6 of The Facts of Life. The first season of Mama's Family had Vint getting married to Naomi in the fourth episode that aired and then at the end of the season Vint is wanting to participate in an illegal alien marriage for money. I'm surprise the website lists Out of Peekskill as the first episode produced in season 8. That's one of the episodes that had the piano in the background before it was delivered in Write & Wrong.

03-22-2015, 09:53 AM	#13
Squeaky Clean Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Jun 05, 2006 Posts: 36	When Natalie is walking around trying to think of a story to write about, the piano is in the background. You can see it clearly when Beverly Ann walks down the stairs telling Natalie she's up way past her bed time, which is weird because Natalie is a grown adult and shouldn't need a bed time LOL