Diff'rent Strokes: The Woman

Diff'rent Strokes: The Woman
NBC
January 19, 1979
Sitcom
DVD
B

This is the first episode of the series where everything clicks.  The kids unite to stop Mr. Drummond from marrying a woman who sends her own children to foreign boarding schools.  Elinor Donahue is of course best known for her role as Betty on Father Knows Best, but she had played Medley Blaine in Gidget Gets Married and would show up on Mork & Mindy a couple years after this.  She does well with the role of Diane Sloane here, showing us why Phil would be so infatuated after six weeks but also revealing why she would not be a good member of this close-knit family.  (And I have to wonder if she's influenced by Phil's money, since the audience audibly reacts to the huge engagement ring.)  There are a couple nice, more serious scenes between Mr. Drummond and Mrs. Garrett.  Sadly, the writer Ron Alexander has no other credit at IMDB.  It would've been interesting to see what else he was capable of.