Yearly information about the Facts of Life and it's cast members after the show ended in 1988.
Premieres in Reruns
The Facts of Life gets new life for the first time after it ended in 1988. The series joins the nationwide cable station, USA Network for re-runs. The show between 1993 and 1995 aired for awhile at the 4:00-5:00 pm time slot (central time).
Facts of Life Edited
With a new communications act passed by president Bill Clinton, show air-time was reduced by 2 minutes every half an hour. All shows made before 1995 do not air in their full broadcast but rather edited to fit time for more commercials. The Facts of Life is now shown with 2 minutes cut from each episode as well as other shows made prior to this year.
16 Year Anniversary Special
As stated in the 16 Year Anniversary Special, "Can You Believe it's 16 years later!" In August of 1995 USA Network celebrates The Facts of Life's 16 year anniversary with a weekend long marathon featuring Charlotte Rae, Lisa Whelchel, and Mindy Cohn's favorite episodes from the show, 14 episodes in all. The marathon also featured trivia questions about the show each hour and interviews with Charlotte, Lisa, and Mindy on what it was like on the series and what they're up to now. Below is a mini photo gallery containing 14 photos of the marathon.
Facts of Life Pulled
After airing almost a decade on USA Network The Facts of Life is pulled in September of 1998. The show aired in the morning in 1997 during the 7:00-8:00 am time slot, which moved to the 9:00-10:00 am time slot in later quarter of 1997 and 1998.
A NEW Facts of Life Webpage
After the show virtually fell out of the publics eye, I decided to start this site, which was first called A New Facts of Life Webpage in November of 1998, two months after the shows demise on USA Network. The first site contained blue background behind a basic show description, one picture, and links. After over half a decade this site is now the longest running and most detailed Facts of Life related website on the net. Below is a mini gallery of how the past sites looked.
E! True Hollywood Stories
In November of 1999 E! True Hollywood Stories aired a documentary called The Facts of Life Girls. The tone for most of these documentaries are about scandal, and tragedy; but since there was nothing negative to reveal it was mostly a 'love fest'. E! concentrated on a storyline of how the girls became successful women after The Facts of Life, unlike most child stars. This special featured Irma Kalish, Charlotte Rae, Lisa Whelchel, Mindy Cohn, Felice Schachter, Al Burton, Greg Sims, Margie Peters, MacKenzie Astin, Geri Jewell, Michael Starr, Asaad Kelada, Eve Brandstein, Hamilton Cloud, Tim Brooks, John Bowab, and John Lawlor. Pictures of this event can be viewed throughout six galleries in our photo galleries. A script for this special can also be read at our transcripts page.
Truth Behind The Sitcoms
In May of 2000 Fox Television aired another truth behind the sitcoms special including Welcome Back Kotter, The Facts of Life, and Roseanne. Cast members discuss very personal issues they faced while being on the series such as; breast reduction surgeries, fat camps, arguments, drama, and more. Photos can be seen in our photo galleries. And a script for the show can be read under the transcripts section.
Unhidden Mysteries
After two years The Facts of Life gets a primetime slot on Nick At Nite the network at the time known for 'The Place for TV Hits.' Jim Burns, Senior Vice President of Nick at Nite Programming and Creative says "'The Facts of Life' was a pop-culture icon from the 1980s as well as one of the most requested shows for Nick at Nite. Americans have become nostalgic for that decade and this is the perfect sitcom to help satisfy their appetites. The Facts of Life premiered on Nick At Nite September 4th, 2000; with a weeklong marathon called the Unhidden Mysteries Marathon, hosted by AJ Benza and appearances made by Charlotte Rae and Lisa Whelchel. To find photos of this event please visit our Photo Galleries.
Encore! and More!
The Facts of Life Unhidden Mysteries Marathon was a huge success for Nick At Nite. A spokesperson for the cable network says it began airing the sitcom in September with a marathon — the highest rated marathon of the year. The episodes picked up 41 percent more viewers than its typical evening lineup. Since it was a highly rated show, Nick At Nite decided to air the marathon once again in an Encore Presentation. This is the first and the only time Nick At Nite repeated a marathon. The station also featured more marathons such as The Blair and Tootie Project starring Lisa Whelchel, and The Brat Pack Marathon featuring Anjelica and Blair from The Rugrats and The Facts of Life.
And Lastly, in March of 2001 Nick At Nite aired a Revenge of the 80's Marathon featuring The Facts of Life, Diff'rent Strokes, 227, ALF, and Silver Spoons.
The Facts of Life Reunion Rumors started circulating of a Reunion movie a year and a half before production even began. It was mentioned in the early stages that Nancy McKeon's character Jo would die because Nancy didn't want any part of the reunion. Only Lisa Whelchel and Charlotte Rae were to star while Kim Fields and Mindy Cohn were only admitted to cameos. All of this changed and Charlotte Rae, Lisa Whelchel, Mindy Cohn and Kim Fields starred in the 2001 reunion movie. Production began September 2001 and ended in October. The movie aired on the ABC Network in November 2001. The production lasted longer than expected because of the delays of the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center. In addition to this American tragedy, the 'Peace on Earth' line was added at the request of Charlotte Rae after the September 11th attacks. Visit our Facts of Life Reunion Movie Site to get more information and view pictures.
The Hallmark Channel
After life on Nick At Nite and USA Network The Facts of Life starts airing on the former Odyssey Channel which is now known as The Hallmark Channel. The Facts of Life aired Monday thru Friday at 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time Zone. The Hallmark Channel aired the Facts of Life from July 1st to November 1st, 2002. This was the last time the Facts of Life has aired nationwide in the states.
A&E Biography Premieres
The Facts of Life Biography finally premieres after being in the A&E Television Studio Vault for nearly two years. The Facts of Life Biography was produced in and was rumored to air January 2004, but was cancelled and finally premiered Sunday, July 25, 2004 one month before the show celebrates it's 25th Annversary. Interviews with Charlotte Rae (Mrs. Garrett), Lisa Whelchel (Blair), and Mindy Cohn (Natalie) highlight this nostalgic look back at the popular 1980s sitcom set in an all-girls boarding school. Pictures of this special will be posted shortly after the premiere (Mid-August 2004).
Facts of Life Airs on Comcast On Demand
Suscribers to Comcast On-Demand were able to watch certain episodes of The Facts of Life on television (regularly) for the first time since the Hallmark Channel cancelled the series in 2002.
Facts of Life Announced to DVD
In a compilation Christmas DVD set; The Facts of Life, Maude, Benson, Bewitched, Barney Miller and others were to have one holiday episode on DVD. This item was originally scheduled for September, later moved to November, and disappeared altogether. The set announced by www.dvdempire.com was never released by Sony at the end of 2005. Many people hope this item will release in 2006.
Facts of Life Announced to DVD
On January 21st, 2006 Sony mentioned the release of The Facts of Life to DVD. They announced on releasing both the first and second seasons together since the show became more successful the second year (after many changes). The Complete First and Second seasons of The Facts of Life was released to DVD on May 9th, 2006. The set includes all original 29 episodes (13 from the first season, and 16 from the second). Bonus Features include previews and two exclusive featurettes. The DVD is presented in full screen ratio (1.33:1), and digitally remastered.
DVD SETS ARE A BIG SELLER FOR SONY
The Complete First Season and Second Seasons sets were in surprising number sellers at Sony. The sales rank at Amazon reached an all time high ranking of #30, showing that Facts of Life still has a very large fan base after many years. Most older shows do not sell as well as today's shows because of media attention with the current day shows and stars. The Facts of Life set's sold in high numbers as comparable to the classic and beloved sitcoms Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie. High sales numbers has made Sony decide to release The Complete Third Season very early, on October 24th, 2006 with Bewitched: The Complete Fourth Season. Sony is a production company that is known for releasing their TV DVD sets very slowly, high sales numbers has pushed Facts of Life for quicker releases.
THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON ON DVD
The Facts of Life: The Complete Third Season was released on October 24th, 2006 with Bewitched: The Complete Fourth Season. High sales have pushed an earlier date. There are no special features and The Facts of Life Goes To Paris Movie, which ran at the end of Season Three, was not released with this set. Run time is 606 minutes, all episodes will be released in their un-cut, original broadcast versions.
Good-bye Comcast
The Facts of Life was taken off of Comcasts on demand schedule. The show is no where currently airing in the USA.
Minisode Network
Get the whole show in less time (under 5 minutes). Sony has launched a network containing minisodes of The Facts of Life from various episodes through all nine seasons.
Full Episodes Online
Hulu, Joost . com websites are now airing full episodes to view for free. Courtesy of Sony Pictures. Available is Complete Seasons One, Two, Three, and Nine.
30th Year Anniversary
The Facts of Life celebrates its 30th anniversary on August 24th, 2009. The debut was on August 24th, 1979.
THE COMPLETE FOURTH SEASON ON DVD
Shout! Factory struck a deal with Sony Pictures and gained rights to release The Facts of Life on DVD. The Complete Fourth Season (including the 2 hour tele-film: The Facts of Life Goes To Paris) was included on this set released on MAY 4, 2010.
THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON ON DVD
Continuing the series, Shout! Factory released The Complete Fifth Season on DVD: November 2, 2010. This set also included a rare segment of the cast thanking fans for making the 100th episode of the show possible. Unseen since the original 1984 broadcast.
Shout! Factory DVD Releases
An unusual lag time between DVD releases of the 5th and 6th season prompted us to call Shout! Factory in early March 2011. They responded that they do not have the rights to release the rest of the series on DVD. TVSHOWSONDVD.COM's Gord Lacey states this is usual as studios acquire only season by season rights. Shout! did inform us they would love to continue releasing the series and things could change in the future.
TV LAND AWARDS
The Cast of The Facts of Life joins other iconic starts at the TV Land Awards 2011.
More of television’s most beloved and iconic stars will be honored at the TV Land Awards 2011, it was announced today by TV Land. The wildly popular ‘80s comedy series The Facts of Life will receive the Pop Culture Award at the annual awards show which tapes for the very first time in New York City and aired on TV Land on Sunday, April 17, 2011 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Mindy Cohn, Kim Fields, Nancy McKeon, Lisa Whelchel and the beloved Mrs. Garrett, Charlotte Rae, will reunite for the first time in over 20 years to accept the Pop Culture Award for The Facts of Life, a coming-of-age sitcom that ran on NBC from 1979-1988. Set in Peekskill, NY, The Facts of Life ran for nine seasons and was a spin-off of the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes featuring the Drummonds' housekeeper Edna Garrett (Charlotte Rae) as she becomes a housemother at Eastland School, a prestigious all-female boarding school.
The house of live-in girls included the wealthy and beautiful Blair Warner (Lisa Whelchel), the gossipy roller-skating Dorothy "Tootie" Ramsey (Kim Fields), innocent Natalie Green (Mindy Cohn) and streetwise Joanne “Jo” Polniaczek (Nancy McKeon). The friends share the ups and downs of growing up – from teenagers to young women – all while leaning on each other.
Later in the series, the girls go on to help Mrs. Garrett open her own dessert shop and are introduced to Garrett’s contractor George Burnett (George Clooney). After a devastating fire, the business is remodeled into a gift shop and ultimately Mrs. Garrett’s divorced sister Beverly Ann Stickle (Cloris Leachmen) moves in to look after the girls and eventually adopts a young man who works at the gift shop, Andy Moffet (Mackenzie Astin).
(SOURCE: THE FACTS OF LIFE SITE/TELEVISIONHITS.COM)
Can you believe it, TV Land almost had it right when they said 20 years ago!!!!! It was nearly 25 years ago today that The Facts of Life cast was all together. To clear up some confusion where you think we may have made an error in our calculations, lets take a look back when the cast was reunited. You may be thinking, what about that telefilm 'The Facts of Life Reunion Movie?' Well, there was a telefilm in 2001 on the ABC Network reuniting the cast for The Facts of Life Reunion Movie, but as you all remember, Nancy McKeon "Jo" was unable to attend due to her series The Division.
You still may be thinking, the calculations are not right, The Facts of Life ended in 1988, it hasn't been 25 years! The Facts of Life's last episode aired on May 7th, 1988; but as you recall, Charlotte Rae (Edna Garrett) who had starred and started the series had made her last appearance on September 26th, 1986 as special guest star in the 1-hour episode "Out Of Peekskill."
This will be truly a remarkable event for all fans as the entire main cast (Rae, Whelchel, Cohn, Fields, and McKeon, Leachman, Jewell) reunited on stage together for the FIRST TIME since September 26th, 1986 and be presented to accept the TV POP CULTURE ICON AWARD from TVLAND.
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