Diff’rent Strokes is an American television sitcom, which aired on NBC from November 3, 1978, to May 4, 1985, and on ABC from September 27, 1985, to March 7, 1986. The series stars Gary Coleman and Todd Bridges as Arnold and Willis Jackson, respectively, who are two boys from Harlem taken in by a wealthy Park Avenue businessman and his daughter. Phillip Drummond (Conrad Bain) is a widower for whom their deceased mother previously worked; his daughter, Kimberly, is played by Dana Plato. During the first season and the first half of the second season, Charlotte Rae also starred, as Mrs. Edna Garrett, the Drummonds’ first housekeeper, who ultimately spun off into her own sitcom, The Facts of Life, as a housemother at the fictional Eastland School. The second housekeeper, Adelaide Brubaker, was played by Nedra Volz. The third housekeeper, Pearl Gallagher, was played by Mary Jo Catlett, first appearing as a recurring character, later becoming a main cast member.
The series made stars of Coleman, Bridges, and Plato and became known for the “very special episodes”, in which serious issues such as racism, illegal drug use, alcoholism, hitchhiking, kidnapping, and child sexual abuse were dramatically explored.
History
Diff’rent Strokes was initially devised to serve as a vehicle for both Conrad Bain and Gary Coleman. Bain had recently finished a six-year run co-starring as Dr. Arthur Harmon on the hugely successful Maude. When that series ended production following star Beatrice Arthur’s decision to leave the show in the spring of 1978, Tandem Productions producer Norman Lear was keen to find a suitable sitcom for Bain to star in. Ten-year-old Coleman, meanwhile, had caught producers’ attention after appearing in a number of commercials and TV guest roles, and the previous year had starred in three pilot episodes by Lear that attempted to revive the Little Rascals film series of the 1920-40s. The pilots did not sell although they were later edited into a television film for some markets. Lear saw immense potential in Coleman and was determined to find him a suitable sitcom, and it was decided that Bain and Coleman would make a good, if unusual, pairing for the project.
With Bain himself having considerable input into the options available and directions they took, producers considered a number of settings and formats, including one in which Bain was a gumshoe, with Coleman as his young associate-cum-informant. The fictional detective Bulldog Drummond served as inspiration for what would have been Bain’s character, and although this concept was ultimately dropped, the surname “Drummond” was retained to become the surname of Bain’s character in Diff’rent Strokes.
Several such concepts were considered before a rough outline for the eventual series—in which Bain plays a wealthy businessman left to take care of his late housekeeper’s son, the orphaned Coleman—was settled upon and given the working title 45 Minutes from Harlem (even though Harlem is only ten to fifteen minutes away from the Upper East Side by subway or taxi). An alternate version of the basic scenario had a slightly harder-nosed Bain as a wealthy estate developer who finds that he can only purchase a potentially lucrative Harlem housing block for redevelopment if he also takes custody of the orphan, Coleman, who lives there; this version was nixed in favor of the former.
NBC showed immediate interest and felt the format had potential; at their request the pitch was developed, with Coleman’s character, Arnold, gaining an older brother, producers feeling Coleman would benefit from the addition of a second, slightly older child to interact with, and who could add a further dynamic to storylines. Producers immediately decided child actor Todd Bridges should play the older brother; he had appeared in a number of commercials and guest roles. The producers were also impressed by Bridges’ stint on the sitcom Fish, which had also been canceled earlier in 1978. Bridges was offered the role without needing an audition. The pitch meeting to NBC took place on Friday, May 9, 1978, with NBC immediately ordering an optional 26 episodes.
A daughter to Bain’s character and a housekeeper were added to the lineup. Producer Al Burton had spotted Dana Plato as part of a cheerleading team auditioning on The Gong Show and felt she had a spark about her, and recommended her for the role of Drummond’s daughter Kimberly. Producers were keen to cast Charlotte Rae as housekeeper Edna Garrett, feeling that her more “traditional sitcom” talents would work well for the unusual line-up and that as an older character, she would have good chemistry with Bain. As with Bridges, Rae was offered the role without audition, but was locked into a contract with CBS; however, Lear was determined to have Rae for the role and used his influence to convince CBS to release her from her contract, freeing her up to be available for the role.[8] The title for the series eventually became Diff’rent Strokes, inspired by the phrase “Different strokes for different folks”, popularized by boxer Muhammad Ali in 1966 (Ali himself makes a guest appearance in the second season).
The sitcom stars Coleman as Arnold Jackson and Bridges as his older brother, Willis, two children from a poor section of Harlem whose deceased mother previously worked for rich widower Philip Drummond (Bain), and on her deathbed asked him to take care of her sons, their father already being deceased. They live in a penthouse with Drummond, his daughter Kimberly (Plato), and their housemaid. At the outset of the series, the role of housemaid is filled by Rae as Mrs. Garrett; when Rae departed for the spin-off series The Facts of Life during the second season, she was replaced by Adelaide Brubaker (Volz), who in turn, was replaced by Pearl Gallagher (Catlett) from the fifth season until the end of the run. They lived in the penthouse suite at 697 Park Avenue in New York City. As Arnold, Coleman popularized the catchphrase “What’choo talkin’ ’bout, Willis?” with the ending varying depending on whom he was addressing. Early episodes mostly address typical family sit-com issues, but as the series progresses, it sometimes focuses on more serious topics, including drug abuse, alcoholism, hitchhiking, child abuse, and crime
Very special episodes
Nancy Reagan on the set of Diff’rent Strokes in 1983
Diff’rent Strokes was also known for its many “very special episodes,” most notably an anti-drug episode (“The Reporter”) that featured First Lady Nancy Reagan, who promoted her “Just Say No” campaign, and “The Bicycle Man”, a two-part episode that guest starred Gordon Jump as a pedophile who lures Arnold and Dudley into his bicycle shop and attempts to molest them. Another episode involved a con artist (played by Whitman Mayo) posing as a relative of Arnold and Willis in an attempt to get access to the inheritance they were left by a former neighbor.
Another episode (“Skin Deep or True Blue”) is about Kimberly’s new boyfriend, Roger Morehouse (played by Grant Wilson), not allowing his sister, Emily (Melora Hardin), to go to their school’s costume ball with Willis because he is black. A more humorous episode on pollution and the environment (“Green Hair”) had Kimberly’s hair turning green from acid rain.
In a two-part episode on the dangers of hitchhiking (“The Hitchhikers”), Kimberly and Arnold (who were out in the cold weather and didn’t have money for cab or bus fare) were abducted by a serial kidnapper-rapist (played by Woody Eney), who initially acted as a good Samaritan by giving the two of them a ride and inviting them to his apartment. After the man’s true nature became known, Arnold escaped to look for help and the man nearly raped Kimberly before the police arrived to arrest him. At the end of the episode, Bain (in an out-of-character PSA) spoke about what to do if real life situations as the one portrayed on the show were to occur.
Two notable episodes dealt with the consequences of alcoholism. In the first, season 5’s “A Growing Problem,” Willis moves out of the penthouse to live with Jerry (Lawrence Monoson) who abuses alcohol. In the second, season 7’s “Cheers to Arnold,” Arnold must deal with Ricky (Robert Jayne), a classmate whom he catches drinking a thermos of alcohol in the school bathroom.
In the final season (when the sitcom moved from NBC to ABC), the one-hour season opener (“Sam’s Missing”) revolved around Sam being kidnapped by Donald Brown (Royce D. Applegate), a bereaved father hoping to replace his own dead son, Tommy.
Other notable episodes included season 8’s “Bulimia,” in which the family discovered that Kimberly was suffering from bulimia. In season 7’s “A Special Friend,” Arnold and Sam met Karen, a street performer. After a performance, she has an epileptic seizure and Sam thinks she’s dying. The boys then feel uncomfortable around her and when they begin making jokes about her seizures, they find out that housekeeper Pearl herself has epilepsy but, unlike Karen, controls her seizures with medication.
Spin-off and crossovers
The Facts of Life (1979–1988) is a spin-off of Diff’rent Strokes featuring Drummond’s former housekeeper, Mrs. Garrett, who had accepted a job as the housemother for a dormitory at Eastland, an all-girls private school that Kimberly was attending. In a late first-season episode of Strokes (“The Girls School”, which served as the backdoor pilot of Facts), Mrs. Garrett took Kimberly to the school with the intent of helping her sew costumes for a school play. While there, Mrs. Garrett met Kimberly’s classmates and was offered the job as “dorm mother.” She declined, but come fall, she had a change of heart. The Diff’rent Strokes cast appeared in the first episode of The Facts of Life (at one point, Drummond asks Mrs. Garrett “Are you sure we can’t change your mind to come back to us?”). The success of the spin-off led to several Strokes/Facts crossovers in the ensuing years.
While not a spin-off, Hello, Larry (1979–1980) had a connection to Strokes as it was established in a crossover episode that Philip Drummond and Larry Alder (McLean Stevenson) were old Army buddies and Mr. Drummond had bought the company that owned the radio station where Larry worked as a talk show host.
The episode “Almost American” (aka “Night School”), was the pilot for a potential spin-off series, which ultimately was not picked up for a full series.
In addition, whilst not official in-universe cross-overs, two sixth season stories saw characters meeting stars of two of NBC’s other biggest shows: the episode Mr. T and Mr. t sees Mr. T guest starring when the apartment block is used to film a (fictional) episode of The A-Team; and in the two-part “Hooray for Hollywood,” Arnold and Dudley sneak onto the set of a (fictional) episode of Knight Rider in hope of meeting series star, David Hasselhoff. (Although Hasselhoff, in his costume as Michael Knight appears, the voice of K.I.T.T. is not provided by William Daniels, who voices K.I.T.T. in the television series, but by an uncredited voice actor who voiced the car for various Universal Studios promotions.)
Additionally, Arnold appeared in the Silver Spoons episode “The Great Computer Caper” and the Amazing Stories episode “Remote Control Man”.
Later appearances as the characters
In 1994, Coleman appeared in an episode of Married… with Children (“How Green Was My Apple”), playing a building code inspector whom Al Bundy (Ed O’Neill) called to report an illegal driveway. When Kelly (Christina Applegate) recognizes him, he denies any connection to Arnold Jackson, but utters his catchphrase to Al, “What’cha talkin’ about, Bundy?”
In 1996, Coleman and Bain reprised their roles for the series finale of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air entitled “I, Done Part II”, where they consider buying the Banks mansion. They reference Willis by name before meeting Will Smith’s character, leading to Coleman uttering a variation of his catchphrase, “What’cha talkin’ about, Will?”
Additional catchphrase references and appearances in popular culture
In 2004, Coleman appeared on the second season of The Surreal Life and was pressured to quote his famous catchphrase by Vanilla Ice. He also guest-starred as himself on The Wayans Bros., The Ben Stiller Show, Drake & Josh, The Jamie Foxx Show, The Parkers, Robot Chicken, and The Simpsons.
After Diff’rent Strokes ended
Following the cancellation of Diff’rent Strokes in 1986, Coleman, Bridges, and Plato encountered difficulty in finding other acting jobs. All three experienced various legal problems while Bridges and Plato also struggled with drug addictions, all of which were documented in the press. The press and fans of the series blamed the cast’s personal problems and faltering careers on what was eventually dubbed the “curse of Diff’rent Strokes” by various tabloids.
Gary Coleman
In 1989 three years after the series ended, Coleman sued his parents and his former manager over the misappropriation of his trust fund. Although he was awarded over $1 million in the decision, he filed for bankruptcy in 1999. In 1998, Coleman was charged with assault after he punched a woman demanding an autograph while working as a security guard at a shopping mall. In 2001, Coleman (still working as a security guard) was videotaped trying to stop a vehicle from entering the mall. The driver ridiculed him and released the tape to be broadcast on numerous television shows. In 2007, Coleman was cited for disorderly conduct in Provo, Utah, for having a “heated discussion” with a woman. On May 26, 2010, Coleman, who had battled health problems since childhood caused by congenital kidney disease, was admitted to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo after falling and hitting his head after suffering a seizure. Coleman was then placed on life support after suffering an intracranial hemorrhage and died on May 28 from complications of his injury at age 42.
Dana Plato
Main art
During the series’ sixth season, Plato became pregnant and her character was written out of the series (though she would go on to make guest appearances for the final two seasons). In 1984, she married the father of her child, musician Lanny Lambert, but the couple divorced in 1990. Due to financial difficulties and her growing addiction to drugs and alcohol, Plato relinquished custody of her son, Tyler, to Lambert. In an attempt to boost her faltering career, Plato posed for Playboy in June 1989, but her appearance in the magazine did not help her land acting jobs. By 1990, Plato was living in Las Vegas. Despite having made $25,000 an episode while on the series, she was often broke and was working as a cashier at a dry cleaning store. In February 1991, she was arrested after robbing a Las Vegas video store armed with a pellet gun. She was arrested the following year for forging prescriptions for Valium. In 1998, she appeared in a softcore pornographic film entitled Different Strokes: The Story of Jack and Jill…and Jill, which was intended to capitalize on her Diff’rent Strokes fame. After her arrests, Plato publicly admitted that she struggled with an addiction to drugs and alcohol. Plato died of a drug overdose in 1999 at age 34. Her death was ruled a suicide. Her son, Tyler, died by suicide in 2010.
Todd Bridges
After the series ended Bridges developed an addiction to cocaine. In February 1988, he was arrested and charged with the attempted murder of a drug dealer at a crack house in South Central Los Angeles. He was acquitted in November 1989. Bridges was also arrested on a concealed weapon charge and possession of cocaine. In 1994, he was arrested after allegedly ramming someone’s car after an argument. After years of battling drug addiction, Bridges became sober in the early 1990s. He has traveled across the United States, touring schools and discussing the dangers of drug use. Bridges has continued acting in films and television. Bridges’ more high-profile role was as Monk, a shell-shocked Vietnam veteran, conspiracy theorist, and nephew of Chris’s boss Doc on the sitcom Everybody Hates Chris.[33] Since Charlotte Rae’s death in 2018 at the age of 92, Bridges is the only living member of the original cast.
Docudramas
Two unofficial docudramas were produced about the show:
In 2000, Fox broadcast a one-hour television movie, After Diff’rent Strokes: When the Laughter Stopped. This film which starred unknown actors, focused on Plato’s life after the show, leading to her suicide. Bridges’ guest starred in this film as a drug dealer who sold drugs to a younger version of himself.
On September 4, 2006, NBC aired a television drama titled Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Diff’rent Strokes. This film, which chronicles the rise and decline of the sitcom’s child stars, also features recent interview clips with Coleman and Bridges. The two briefly appear in the movie’s final scene, standing by Plato’s grave
Home media
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (formerly Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment) has released Seasons 1 and 2 of Diff’rent Strokes on DVD in Region 1 & 4. Season 1 was also released in Regions 2 & 5 on October 6, 2008. On September 29, 2009, a “Fan Favorites” DVD was released. This is a one-disc compilation consisting of eight episodes from Season 2.
On April 6, 2012, it was announced that Shout! Factory had acquired the rights to the series; they subsequently released the third season on DVD on July 17, 2012. Season 4 was released on November 20, 2012. Season 5 was released on April 4, 2017. Season 6 was released on July 25, 2017. Season 7 was released on February 27, 2018. Season 8 was released on May 29, 2018.
On August 27, 2013, it was announced that Mill Creek Entertainment had acquired the rights to various television series from the Sony Pictures library, including Diff’rent Strokes. They subsequently re-released the first and second seasons on DVD on July 15, 2014.
The series had graded its audio tracks to AAC 2 Channels.
Main Cast
Conrad Bain as Phillip Drummond (1978-86)
Gary Coleman as Arnold Jackson (1978-86)
Todd Bridges as Willis Jackson (1978-86)
Dana Plato as Kimberly Drummond (1978–84, 1985–86 recurring)
Charlotte Rae as Edna Garrett (1978–79, 1984 guest)
Mary Jo Catlett as Pearl Gallagher (1982–86)
Danny Cooksey as Sam McKinney (1984–86)
Dixie Carter as Maggie McKinney Drummond #1 (1984–85)
Mary Ann Mobley as Maggie McKinney Drummond #2 (1985–86) and as Ms. Osborne (1980)