He was never seen. I just remember a dark-haired girl who was always talking about Roger, writing Roger, waiting for a letter from Roger, having too much homework to go on a date with Roger and so on. But I don’t remember her name.
I don’t remember the name of the blonde tomboy in braids and a ballcap either.
Apparently two. I thought I remembered a boy getting aggressive with Blair off screen after a dance, but a Google search shows that Jo and Natalie faced attempted rapes. I was probably thinking of the incident with Jo in an episode called “Double Standard.” I found the name of the episode with Natalie’s attack (“Fear Strikes Back”) and am watching it now. Natalie’s attack was not a date rape situation, but a stranger who had already raped a school employee. He grabbed Natalie while she was walking home, but was frightened away by some people approaching. The episode is about Natalie’s fear after the attack. She was dressed as Charlie Chaplin at the time. I’m not sure what that means, but I’m pretty sure it means something. This show was weird.
I remember Natalie being attacked when dressed as Charlie Chaplin, and always wondered if perhaps it was the ghost of the rapist clown from Walnut Grove who chased her due to some comedic costume fetish.
Trivia: the “take the good/take the bad” theme song was written by Alan Thicke and sung by his then wife Gloria Loring, mother of Robin Thicke. That was not the first theme song, which was sung by Charlotte Rae among others.
Trivia question: which of Michael Jackson’s brothers did Tootie sneak off to go see and what became of the sculpture she made of him?
Natalie always seemed to be the center of the “very special episodes”. She had a lot going on. Finding out she was adopted, and then chickening out when it was time to meet her mother (I think this is what happened, right?). Catching her father cheat on her mother, then dealing with the divorce. Almost getting raped. What was interesting was that Mindy was the only one who wasn’t an actress before the show. Yet, IMHO, she gave the most powerful performances.
I loved Tootie too. Remember how she was always on roller skates that first season? And like all black people on TV shows of that era, she had a catch phrase. “We’re in troubbbbble.” It still cracks me up even though I should know better.
Man I loved that show. I didn’t watch it when it was first on I don’t think, but I was a regular viewer by the time McKenzie Astin moved in. Then I watched all the reruns.
I loved both Natalie and Jo because I’m both the fat girl and the tomboy. I remember being scared shitless of an episode with the power going out and the girls being scared.
Didn’t know it’s on Netflix! Cool!
Jermaine, I think. The sculpture ended up destroyed by his bodyguards because of their concern that it was something dangerous (since Tootie barged into his dressing room and they weren’t taking any chances).
“Facts” definitely had its afterschool-special kind of moments, but some episodes really have stayed with me: one of the girls at the school (not a main character) committing suicide, Blair writing a fake abortion story in the school newspaper that turns out to match one of the students’ own experiences, Blair finding out that her grandfather was a Klansman, Jo taking revenge on a journalism teacher and getting him into trouble with the school. And the first episode, which dealt implicitly with homophobia when Blair criticized a girl for being a tomboy.
There were even made-for-TV movies featuring the characters visiting Paris and Australia in 1982 and 1987, respectively. They definitely provided some fodder for jokes on “The Golden Girls”.
She got stoned once, too, if memory serves.
When I was I think 7, I had a huge crush on Lisa from the New Mickey Mouse Club—I think she was 12. When I first saw her grown up on Facts of Life, I was mesmerized. I watched the show just to see her, but I have to say I didn’t really think the stories were top rank. And I always found myself agreeing with the other characters over her. Her subsequent life as a conservative religious activist has been a disappointment.
Fun Fact’s of Life: Lisa and **Julie **from the Mickey Mouse Club in 77’. 
Awkward word choice, but only because it was a split second substitution choice for “dead like Dana Plato”
Links don’t work for me. What are you trying to show?
Links to Mickey Mouse Club pictures and bios for Julie Piekarski and Lisa Whelchel.
Original links went directly to the pictures, via a Google search. My post has links to the pages the pictures came from, without Google. Maybe they’ll work for you.
Thanks.
Lisa Whelchel has claimed, especially in religious themed interviews, that she was offered the role of Rachel on FRIENDS but turned it down because the show conflicted with her beliefs and values. I don’t have any problem believing that she was offered the opportunity to audition for Rachel, but I have trouble believing that by the early 90s she was still a hot enough property to just be offered such a plum role. Does anybody know the truth of this?
While I disagree with pretty much every belief that she has (e.g. homosexuality is a sin, Romney Republican, women should be stay home moms if at all possible) and she can come across as a little bit of a holier than thou, unlike Kirk Cameron (who seems like a totally stupid total prick) she at least seems to be a genuinely nice person. Perhaps now that she has divorced (which she herself says she swore she would never do) she’ll loosen up a bit.
This thread made me poke around the net a bit - I remember watching the first season when I was about 11 or 12 and having a crush on Blair and bigger one on poor Sue Ann ( fired as a regular after season 1, along with half the cast ). Apparently Whelchel has recently walked back and/or clarified a bit her views on homosexuality. She may still believe it is a sin ( I assume so ), but she seems to be in the “unconditionally love the sinner” camp. I had no idea she was recently on Survivor ( I never have watched it ).
By the way it was Sue Ann that got stoned in season 1. But the “serious issue” episode I remember best was another somewhat disturbing one where Tootie was chosen ( over Blair ) to be a model and then was requested to model nude during the photo session, despite being very obviously underage :eek: ( Kim Fields would have been all of 11 or 12 herself ). Mrs. Garret was having none of that!
Why can I remember that more than 30 years later without even having to Google, but for the life of me I can’t remember the name of the next-door neighbor I see twice a week?
Hail, hail, fire and snow
Call the angel, we will go
Because pop culture saturates our very souls :D.
No, that was from the episode Tamerlane and Sampiro mentioned. First season, before Jo was on the show. It was some older girls who had the bongs, and IIRC, Blair was hanging out with them too. She had a joint hidden in a fake lipstick (I think you can still get those).
I also remember that when Molly Ringwald was at the height of her fame, the media kept harping on “She got fired off Facts of Life!!!” Except, it wasn’t personal. The showrunner/s decided they wanted a core cast of four girls and Mrs. G instead of an ensemble show. It may have been presented as “They didn’t know what they had!” but I’ve seen those early episodes, and there’s not such awesome potential there.
And missouri65, the Chaplin costume was significant because Natalie realized after the fact that she could have used the cane to defend herself.
And that was NOT Melvin Belli’s most pompous and despicable role, which would have been as Melvin Belli in real life.