"Diff'rent Strokes" (1978)TV series 1978-1986

Creators:

Jeff Harris
Bernie Kukoff

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

Release Date:

3 November 1978 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Family

Plot:

The misadventures of a rich Manhattan family who adopted the children of their late African American maid.

Plot Keywords:

African American | Sitcom | Adoption | Millionaire | New York City

Awards:

2 wins & 30 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Tue. July 29	9:00 AM	BET	Parents Have Rights, Too	#5.14
Tue. July 29	9:30 AM	BET	Independent Woman	#5.15

Cast

Conrad Bain	...	Philip Drummond / ... (183 episodes, 1978-1986)
Gary Coleman	...	Arnold Jackson (178 episodes, 1978-1986)
Todd Bridges	...	Willis Jackson (164 episodes, 1978-1986)
Dana Plato	...	Kimberly Drummond / ... (141 episodes, 1978-1986)

Also Known As:

45 Minutes from Harlem (USA) (working title)
Arnold (Spain) (Venezuela) [es]
Arnold bouya wa ninkimono (Japan) (literal title) [ja]
Arnold et Willy (France) [fr]
Blanco y negro (Argentina) [es]
Harlem contro Manhattan (Italy) [it]
Mio amico Arnold, Il (Italy) (rerun title) [it]

Runtime:

30 min | USA:30 min (189 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Australia:G | USA:TV-PG | Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

5746 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Embassy Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

When Conrad Bain signed on to do "Maude" (1972), the production company promised him his own show when that one ended. By then, 'Gary Coleman' was also signed to the company. When the planned updating of the "Our Gang" comedy series, which Coleman would have been in, was aborted, they paired them and decided to come up with a suitable premise.

Quotes:

Arnold Jackson: Be careful with my goldfish. His name's Abraham.
Philip Drummond: I've never seen a black goldfish before.
Arnold Jackson: That's okay. He never saw a rich white man before either.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Stranded in Space (#4.5)" (1991)

Soundtrack:

Diff'rent Strokes

Gary Coleman made this show......

During my days as a kid,and partly through my high school years as well,this show was just that: The brainchild of Gary Coleman. Coleman made millions off this series,and when the show left the airwaves in 1986(and its repeats in syndication),it was totally discarded forever,never to be heard from again,despite of what the people may say about this show and the fate of its cast including Todd Bridges(who played brother Willis),and the sudden death of Dana Plato(who played big sister Kimberly),and also from Conrad Bain(who played the widower Mr. Drummond) who was a regular on TV's Maude before coming to this series.

If someone would come up to you on the street,they would asked "What you talking about?" in the form of that question.

Interesting point about this show: It started off as a show called "Milk" on the NBC network before it became a series,and that is when during its run on NBC, "Diff'rent Strokes" became one of the network's biggest hits scoring in the top ten of the Nielsen during its astounding six year run on the Peacock Network and made Gary Coleman a huge megastar. NBC cancelled the show in 1984 when the series made the switch from NBC to ABC in September of 1984 for its final episodes which ended in 1986. A total of 189 episodes were produced. The years on NBC were from 1978-1984. The last two seasons of the series were on ABC from 1984-1986. The series ran for an astounding eight seasons on two major television networks.

Also Mr. Drummond would get married in the show too during the 1984-1985 season to Maggie McKinney(played by Dixie Carter before going on to "Designing Women",which was on a rival network),and also bringing in her son Danny as Arnold's other brother(played by Danny Cooksey-who would go on to star opposite Scwarzenegger in Terminator 2,and also do voice-overs for children's shows). Also,Janet Jackson would appear as Willis' girlfriend Charlene during the 1981-1983 season(which during this time Miss Jackson did have a hit album out along with this series at that time). Shavar Ross was Arnold's best friend Dudley.

This was a grand series that spawned two spin-offs,the short-lived situation comedy series "Hello,Larry",and another successful series "The Facts of Life",which would go on to become NBC's longest-running and successful series from 1979-1987.

If it comes back on the air,its worth seeing.