The Jacksons move in with the Drummonds (Diff'rent Strokes)

Member Name: blissman70

Product:	Diff'rent Strokes
Date:	03/03/09 (150 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A great comedy for ALL the family

Disadvantages: none for me

This sitcom was first created by Jeff Harris and Bernie Kukoff back in November 1978 running until 1986, creating 189 half hour episode, split into 8 series.
It starred Gary Coleman, Conrad Bain, Todd Bridges and Dana Plato, together with others such as Charlotte Rae, Nedra Volz, Mary Ann Mobley and many more.


* THE SHOW...

Young Arnold Jackson (played by Gary Coleman) and his older brother Willis, (played by Todd Bridges) are two African- Americans who lived in the tough streets of Harlem, until there lives are turned upside down when their mother dies and they find themselves being adopted by her employer, Philip Drummond, (played by Conrad Bain).
The brothers are then sent to live in his New York penthouse as a family, together with Mr Drummonds daughter Kimberly, (played Dana Plato) and the maid....
As they try to settle in to their new lives they find themselves coming up against many hurdles, the main one being the fact that they are black and their adopted father is white..?? Which creates some rather brilliant results as the show progresses.


** A FEW INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE SHOW...(or right maybe not so interesting).

* Muhammad Ali makes an appearance in series 2
* In the third series Janet Jackson appears as Charlene DuPrey, Willis's girlfriend....
* An appearance by Nancy Reagan in a special episode about drug abuse in series 5.
* In series 6 Dana Plato became pregnant in real life and was fired from the show, although she did make some brief appearances in later series.
* Coleman and Bain have made cameo appearances in other sit-coms such as 'The fresh Prince of Bell Air' and 'married with Children'


** IN CONCLUSION...

I saw part of an episode recently and my mind suddenly flashed back to my childhood when this show was at its peak.
I mean, this really is a blast from the past for me as I remember watching this from the very beginning, thinking this was the best show ever made, and for its time it was.
I remember sitting back and laughing at the many disastrous adventures in which the brothers found themselves in...many times involving Kimberly, the clean cut daughter of the respectable Mr Drummond.
Even though some episodes did verge on the ridiculous side, they were all still funny regardless of how daft they became.

You have to remember that this was made in the late 70's and early 80's and many of the episodes were ground breaking... even the fact of a white family man adopting two black kids was probably frowned upon by some at the time... (remember, racism was quite widespread at the time so this show was opening the eyes of many people).
The stories were mainly comical, although some episodes did look into serious issues such as child abuse, drug abuse, eating disorders, stranger danger and the most noticeable being racism.
The all round acting was good, especially the rather small but very comical Coleman, with his chubby cheeks and funny expressions, who really settled into his role as the kid with attitude, adjusting into his new life, creating his world famous catchphrase... "" What'choo talkin' about..?". (ow come on...you know you want to say it don't you... "whatchoo talkin' about, Willis?"..)

There are no over the top special effects or CGIs so the entire series had to rely on good old fashioned acting and camera work... and this worked brilliantly in most episode, until the writers tried to go that little bit too far with some stories... ( I remember one episode in which a woman had a tug of war with a helicopter circling round the Drummond balcony... not so much funny but desperate writing).

In all, a great family orientated show covering many avenues of day to day life back around the turn of the 1980's.
For all those youngsters out there that have never seen this show you have missed out on a rather funny yet sometimes sitcom.... And for all those that remember the show, welcome to the world of reminiscing, it's getting busier in here each day.


** Brief series guide...

Series one is 24 episodes (1978/79)
Series two is 25 episodes (1979/80)
Series three is 22 episodes (1980/81)
Series four is 26 episodes (1981/82)
Series five is 24 episodes (1982/83)
Series six is 24 episodes (1983/84)
Series seven is 24 episodes (1984/85)
Series eight is 19 episodes (1985/86)

* Only series one is available to buy on region 2 DVD from www.amazon.co.uk for £11.98.

Summary: What choo talkin' about Willis..?