Diff'rent Strokes: The Girls [sic] School

Diff'rent Strokes: The  Girls [sic] School 
NBC
May 4, 1979
Sitcom
C+

This episode written by Leeds & Starr with Dick Clair & Jenna McMahon (who had done an early Bob Newhart Show episode) is more interesting than entertaining.  It is of course the pilot for the spin-off Facts of Life.  The main flaw here is that there are just too many characters, including girls who wouldn't make it to the Fall.  And, although I certainly watched FoL, it, like DS, isn't a series I feel much nostalgia over.  (And so I won't be tagging the  cast, although Julie Piekarski, AKA Sue Ann, at least would guest on Three's Company, while Kim "Tootie" Fields would appear on Mork & Mindy.)

Peter Hobbs, who has two M*A*S*H credits, has his first of two DS roles here, as Mr. Robinson.  This time Jack Riley plays the headmaster, Mr. Crocker.

Diff'rent Strokes in its first season ranges from  a C+ to a B, with the exception of the premature flashback episode, and the overall average is a high  C+.  It's a pleasant show and I kept  watching it to the end, as I did FoL, through my adolescence, but you can see why I haven't  followed up on it as an adult.  It doesn't have the campiness of The Brady Bunch or the solid cast of the first season  or two of Welcome Back, Kotter, and Gary Coleman just  isn't enough .