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 2004, Coleman appeared on the second season of The Surreal Life and was pressured to quote his famous catchphrase by Vanilla Ice. Also introduced in the third season is Philip's dotty and eccentric sister Sophia (Dody Goodman), in the episode "Junk Food Junkie". QUIZ: How Well Do You Remember "Different Strokes"? When Arnold finds out, he is angry at what Willis did, but it turns out the girl likes Arnold for real. Oranda Goldfish. They also come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes and with some very different physical characteristics. Arnold is writing a report on athletes at his school who are using anabolic steroids. www.tvguide.com. A *spanking*? Arnold and Willis try to get into Mr. Drummond's health club, but are turned away because they are black. Arnold witnesses a robbery and goes to the police, although a threatening phone call forces Mr. Drummond to prevent Arnold's involvement. 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. Mr. Drummond tries to turn around Sam's losing baseball team; in order to do so, he has to leave Sam on the bench. ", "Diff'rent Strokes 'The Complete 4th Season' is Scheduled by Shout! Why are you still in bed, Arnold? [42] They subsequently re-released the first and second seasons on DVD on July 15, 2014. Yet the more Arnold practices, the worse he sounds; after a couple of rehearsals, his friends are ready to throw him out of his own band. "In The Swim" also saw the move of Kimberly from her private school, to the one attended by Willisa move brought about in part at Plato's suggestion, with it being felt it might open up potential new storylines. : Willis gets the sister of one of his old girlfriends (Robin Givens) to go out with Arnold by giving her concert tickets. After her guest appearance at the end of the previous season, Plato returned making several further guest appearances in the final season and billed with the guest cast. 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. When Kimberly submits a candid picture of Arnold with his butt exposed to a photo contest, he is infuriated and demands that Kimberly withdraw it, but the picture remains in the contest by mistake and almost ruins Arnold's chances of winning the class election. Ted Ramsey (Le Tari) was Dudley's adoptive father, who turned up occasionally. A proper white man adopts two street-wise black boys. With Conrad Bain, Gary Coleman, Todd Bridges, Dana Plato. On-screen this was explained with her character often said to be away at her private school; in reality the producers were still undecided whether the character was extraneous to the format, with the option that she could simply be faded into the background and written out as away studying should they choose to drop her. A fast-talking baseball coach woos Willis for a high school team and uses expensive gifts and deception to attain his goal. Watch Diff'rent Strokes Season 2 Episode 49 - Ep 49 - The Will Online Now Meanwhile, Arnold and Dudley try to meet the star of Knight Rider (David Hasselhoff) and sneak into a car on the set that's about to be blown up. Arnold struggles to find a subject for the school's journalism contest. Mr. Drummond and Willis end up surprising her by paying an unannounced visit, but get surprised themselves when they see the boys. But the idea was dropped, both due to producers not wanting to water down the character's appeal in the main series, and deciding that the additional workload would be too much for Coleman. Arnold wants to help a young doorman (Tommy Aguilar) get started in business, so he loans him some money to bet on a sure thing in a horse race. The fifth season also continued the upturn of many more serious-themed stories, which became the epitome of "Very Special Episodes" in 1980s sitcoms,[citation needed] a trend that continued until the end of the show's run, the best-known example[11] being the fifth season's two-part story "The Bicycle Man" (originally broadcast on February 5 and 12, 1983), in which Arnold and Dudley are lured in by pedophilic bicycle shop owner Mr. Horton (Gordon Jump) who attempts to molest them. Arnold gets blamed when food starts disappearing from the house, but he soon discovers that Kimberly, who has developed bulimia, is the one who has been eating all the food in the house. Arnold and Lisa get stuck working together on a school assignment and get locked in their school's darkroom. Philip Drummond : I've never seen a black . , 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. This is a one disc compilation consisting of eight episodes from Season 2. Mr. Drummond and Maggie return from their honeymoon and find out that Arnold had been taking advantage of Sam while they were away. STANDS4 LLC, 2023. Drummond's building project is discovered to be on the site of an Indian burial ground, which leads to a conflict with a member of the Indian tribe. This leads to a reunion with the woman (Nobu McCarthy) and the truth about who the father really is. Once the story is submitted, the principal confronts Arnold, demanding that the boy reveal his sources. [25] Plato died of a drug overdose in 1999 at age 34. Arnold takes a toy store owner to small claims court over a faulty train engine. Taking this especially hard is Dudley's father Ted, a long-time smoker from whom Dudley has been sneaking packsand who, more recently, has lost a lung to cancer. When Arnold sees that Dudley isn't doing things the way he wants him to, he decides to run against him. This page was last edited on 5 February 2023, at 02:11. 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. Although he was awarded over $1 million in the decision, he filed for bankruptcy in 1999. Arnold: Be careful with my goldfish. - Diff'rent Strokes - Facebook with the ending varying depending on whom he was addressing. Amazon.com: Diff'rent Strokes - The Complete First Season : Mary Jo Catlett, Danny Cooksey, Mary Ann Mobley, Dixie Carter, Leslie H. Martinson, Ellen Falcon, Dolores Ferraro, Lee Lochhead, Selig Frank, Barbara Schultz, Tony Singletary, Mel Ferber, Lee Shallat Chemel, Jeremiah Morris: Movies & TV Movies & TV Studio Specials Philip Drummond: I've never seen a black goldfish before. Note: Basketball player Meadowlark Lemon guest stars. In 2001, Coleman (still working as a security guard) was videotaped trying to stop a vehicle from entering the mall. Arnold Jackson In the seventh season, Carter and Cooksey were added to the opening credits (with Carter getting special "and" billing, last in the order) and many new areas and ideas were explored, as viewers now got to see Philip as a happily married man. Sam calls his family and gives them the Browns' phone number, which the police trace to Sam's location. Diff'rent Strokes The Will Comedy . After Willis is hospitalized for trying to stop the bullies, Arnold is asked to participate in a. Willis lets his potential membership in an exclusive club go to his head, but falls hard when he alienates the club members. The driver ridiculed him and released the tape to be broadcast on numerous television shows. When she becomes hall monitor, she rules with an iron fist and doles out demerits to everyone except Arnold. [20] In 2007, Coleman was cited for disorderly conduct in Provo, Utah, for having a "heated discussion" with a woman. After being selected to play Abraham Lincoln in his school play, Arnold develops a case of stage fright. In this take-off on Ghostbusters, Arnold and Sam explore a haunted house. A more humorous episode on pollution and the environment ("Green Hair") had Kimberly's hair turning green from acid rain. Comedy Drama Family The misadventures of a wealthy Manhattan family who adopted the children of their late African American housekeeper from Harlem. Willis finds out he has very high stress levels, so Mr. Drummond wants him to lay off on his extracurricular activities, much to Willis' chagrin. The first season dealt with common topics such as various growing-up and adjustment issues experienced by Arnold and Willis, and mild culture clashes. A new landlord tries to have the Drummonds thrown out of their penthouse apartment because he doesn't like children. Diff'rent Strokes: Season 1 - amazon.com Arnold, I'm afraid there's just one solution. The fifth season also introduced a new recurring character in Arnold's class at school, that of Lisa Hayes (Nikki Swasey). His name's Abraham.Philip Drummond: I've never seen a black goldfish before.Arnold Jackson: That's okay. List of Diff'rent Strokes episodes - Wikipedia [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). A computer error leads to Arnold getting mail to sign up with the, Kimberly finds out she'll be getting a trust fund on her 18th birthday and has plans to travel to. Kimberly impresses professional skater Dorothy Hamill with her ice skating and is taken under her wing. The P.I. This same episode introduces wheelchair-aided Melanie Watson, born with osteogenesis imperfecta, as Kathy Gordon, who continued to guest-star one episode per season until Season 6. His name's Abraham. When Arnold becomes suspicious, and happens to notice Mr. Drummond's will, he jumps to the wrong conclusion. He later confesses to Arnold what happened and Arnold is angry when he finds out the truth. [2] The series stars Gary Coleman and Todd Bridges as Arnold and Willis Jackson, respectively who are two black boys from Harlem taken in by a rich white Park Avenue businessman and his daughter. [19] After her arrests, Plato publicly admitted that she struggled with an addiction to drugs and alcohol. . I'm too young for Wonderwoman. Plots focusing on Arnold and Sam also continued to feature prominently, with Willis by this stage appearing on a secondary, semi-regular basis. After a performance, she has an epileptic seizure and Sam thinks she's dying. Mr. Drummond's mother (Irene Tedrow) visits and is surprised when she sees that his new sons are black, so he tries to make her get over her racial prejudices. Factory had acquired the rights to the series; they subsequently released the third season on DVD on July 17, 2012. Mr. Drummond states that Arnold complained that his goldfish bowl was too small. Arnold Jackson Each different swim stroke uses different muscles to varying degrees. [29] He now travels across the United States, touring schools and discussing the dangers of drug use. The son of a woman Mr. Drummond knew during the Korean War (Keone Young) shows up claiming that Mr. Drummond is his father. Philip Drummond Sam later learns that Kurt is a foster child, and is very jealous of what Sam has. Some of these were important or serious storylines under the "very special episode" heading, which Diff'rent Strokes popularized. [30] Bridges has continued acting in films and television. Despite what the name suggests, goldfish sport a wide range of colors and aren't just gold. For some swim strokes, kicking is more powerful than others. Phillip Drummond (Conrad Bain) is a . Meanwhile, Mr. Drummond is enthusiastic about seeing. ", 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. Awww Willis, please don't say anything to him. However, Arnold never made such a statement. See production, box office & company info, KTTV/Fox Television Center - 5746 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA. Arnold's always under my feet. Diff'rent Strokes is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from November 3, 1978 to May 4, 1985 and ABC from September 27, 1985 to March 7, 1986.