You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have THE FACTS OF LIFE...! A spin-off of the tremendously popular "Diff'rent Strokes," THE FACTS OF LIFE is the hilarious series that follows Mrs. Edna Garrett (Charlotte Rae) and her mission as housemother to instill values in the girls of Eastland School. The large first season cast included John Lawlor, Jenny O’Hara, Lisa Whelchel, Felice Schachter, Julie Piekarski, Kim Fields, Molly Ringwald, Jullie Anne Haddock, Mindy Cohn and Nancy McKeon. By the second season, the show focused on Mrs. Garrett and just four Eastland girls - spoiled Blair, gossipy Tootie, wise-cracking Natalie, and rebellious Jo. Under Mrs. Garrett's guidance, these four go from wide-eyed school girls to mature young women...all while learning THE FACTS OF LIFE! Guest stars include the cast of "Diff'rent Strokes," Helen Hunt and Richard Dean Anderson of TV's "MacGyver"! Includes all 29 laugh-packed episodes from Seasons One and Two!
Sony has issued a press release for the first and second seasons of the series, coming to DVD on
May 9. The press release doesn't mention the featurettes, but they've issued the information elsewhere. The two featurettes are "Remembering the Facts of Life" and "After Facts." The set can be
ordered from Amazon.com for $27.99.
Charlotte Rae, Nancy McKeon, Lisa Whelchel, Molly Ringwald, Kim Fields, and Mindy Cohn Star in...
Arriving on DVD May 9 in a Four-Disc Set
Guest Stars include Oscar Winner Helen Hunt, Gary Coleman, Todd Bridges
CULVER CITY, CALIF. (February 27, 2006) – Mrs. Garrett and the girls from Eastland Academy make their DVD debut on May 9 when Sony Pictures Home Entertainment releases The Facts of Life: The Complete First and Second Seasons. The collection of 29 episodes from the popular, long-running series featuring an outstanding ensemble cast of young women will be available in a four-disc set and priced at $39.95 SLP.
The Facts of Life stars Charlotte Rae (TV's "Diff'rent Strokes"), along with the young women who were every girl's ideal and every boy's first crush: Lisa Whelchel (Where the Red Fern Grows), Nancy McKeon (TV's "The Division"), Mindy Cohn (TV's "The Help"), Kim Fields (TV's "Living Single"), Molly Ringwald (Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink), Felice Schachter (Zapped!), Julie Piekarski (TV's "Best of Times"), and Julie Anne Haddack (The Great Santini).
Guest stars the first and second seasons include Conrad Bain, Todd Bridges, Gary Coleman and Dana Plato from "Diff'rent Strokes," Helen Hunt (TV's "Mad About You," As Good As It Gets, Twister), Richard Dean Anderson (TV's "MacGyver," "Stargate SG-1"), Zsa Zsa Gabor (Touch of Evil, Queen of Outer Space), Robert Alda (Rhapsody in Blue, Imitation of Life), Alex Rocco (The Wedding Planner), and comedienne Geri Jewell. Jewell is particularly notable because she was the first person with a visible disability to become a recurring character on a primetime sitcom. During her long run on the show, Jewell broke important new ground by addressing issues of disability awareness.
Set in an exclusive East Coast boarding school, The Facts of Life never shied away from tackling tough subjects facing teenage girls during its 209 episode run. In the first two seasons alone, the series included storylines that dealt with dieting, adoption, athletic competition, divorce, drugs, shoplifting, teenage marriage, gossip, teen suicide, and plagiarism.
The Facts of Life first aired on August 24, 1979, on NBC as a spin-off from the network's phenomenally-popular sitcom "Diff'rent Strokes" on which Charlotte Rae played Mrs. Garrett, housekeeper to Philip Drummond's household. On The Facts of Life, Mrs. Garrett becomes a dorm housemother at Eastland, an exclusive girl's boarding school, where she acts as confidante and surrogate parent to the girls in her charge. The first season involved Mrs. Garrett adjusting to her new job and featured storylines involving the numerous issues besetting 'tweens.
Needing to sharpen its broad focus, in the second season Mrs. Garrett became the school's nutritionist and the series concentrated its attention on four girls in Mrs. Garrett's charge: the wealthy and spoiled debutante Blair (Whelchel), the wisecracking Natalie (Cohn), the sassy Tootie (Fields) and the newly-introduced character of working class tough girl Jo (McKeon), who offered a dynamic counterpoint to the other upper-class teens and gave the series renewed energy and life.
After its somewhat slow start, The Facts of Life found its niche and became a success, ultimately becoming the longest-running sitcom of its time on television, despite numerous timeslot changes over the course of its nine seasons. The show also inspired the TV movies The Facts of Life in Paris (1982), The Facts of Life Down Under (1987) and The Facts of Life Reunion (2001).
DVD Special Features Include:
- Digitally Mastered Audio and Video
- Full Screen Presentations
- Audio: English (stereo)
- Bonus Previews
- Closed Captioned
The Facts of Life: The Complete First and Second Seasons episodes include:
First Season
- Rough Housing
- Like Mother, Like Daughter
- Return of Mr. Garrett
- The Date
- Overachieving
- Emily Dickinson
- Dieting
- Facts of Love AKA Sex Education
- Flash Flood
- Adoption
- Running
- Molly's Holiday
- Dope
Second Season
- New Girl I
- New Girl II
- Double Standard
- Who Am I?
- Cousin Geri
- Shoplifting
- Teenage Marriage I
- Teenage Marriage II
- Gossip
- Breaking Point
- Sex Symbol
- The Secret
- Bought & Sold
- Pretty Babies
- Free Spirit
- Brian & Sylvia
The Facts of Life: The Complete First and Second Seasons is from the broadcast years of 1979 – 1981, has a run time of approximately 707 minutes and is not rated. Visit Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on the Web at
www.SonyPictures.com.
About Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is a division of Sony Corporation of America, a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corporation. Sony Pictures Entertainment's global operations encompass motion picture production and distribution; television production and distribution; digital content creation and distribution; worldwide channel investments; home entertainment acquisition and distribution; operation of studio facilities; development of new entertainment products, services and technologies; and distribution of filmed entertainment in 67 countries. Sony Pictures Entertainment can be found on the World Wide Web at www.SonyPictures.com.
