Backdoor Pilots: Diff'rent Strokes Spins Mrs. Garrett into The Facts of Life
Added 2023-07-23 00:40:09 +0000 UTC"The Girls School" (May 4, 1979)
Most of us grew up in a world where The Facts of Life was always a thing, but in retrospect, it’s really weird that NBC wanted to make a new show centered around the housekeeper from Diff’rent Strokes. But they did, and because The Facts of Life went on for nine years, this episode we’re discussing might be the most successful backdoor pilot of all time? What’s more, they did a really good job of having these shows set each other up, play off each other and exist alongside each other. It’s a masterful work of manipulating the broadcast network schedule, really.
Normally, we discuss the backdoor pilot and then the episode of the new series it led to, but we already discussed the first episode of The Facts of Life. It’s actually our sixth-ever episode, “Blair Warner Is a Homophobe.” And boy is she awful in it. Listen to other Facts of Life episodes here.
You can also watch this episode right here on Patreon!
The theme song to this series was composed and performed by Meika Grimm. The art for the series was designed by Ian O’Phelan.
