Mrs. Garrett visits Kimberly's school and takes on its pushy principal with surprising results. (S01 E24 of Diff'rent Strokes)
The series opens with the Drummonds (from Diff'rent Strokes) visiting Eastland to see Mrs. Garrett (their ex-housekeeper). They arrive right in the middle of the Harvest Queen competition and Blair is sure she's going to win. So when Cindy considers running, Blair makes some snide comments about Cindy's femininity.
It's Parents' Night at Eastland and Blair's sophisticated but flirtatious mother arrives. When her mother then gets involved with a married man, Blair confronts her mother and expresses her outrage.
Mrs. Garrett is surprised by a visit from her ex-husband, Roger, who wants to remarry her. However, his gambling ways rub off on the girls who begin playing poker for money.
Tootie comes across a paper listing the girls' I.Q. scores. Nancy scored highest and Sue Ann lowest, which puts extra pressure on them just before midterm exams.
Tootie's father visits but doesn't like Tootie's activities, blaming Mrs. Garrett as a bad influence. Mr. Ramsey moves to have Tootie pulled out of Eastland but then has a change of heart.
Blair is so caught up with her latest boyfriend that she forgets to write a poem for English class. So at the last minute she plagiarizes a poem by Emily Dickinson and turns it in as her own. Things get worse when she's the only one who gets an A and Mr. Bradley enters her poem in a contest.
Sue Ann takes Blair's comments about her weight too seriously, and to prepare for a blind date that will involve swimming, Sue Ann goes on a starvation diet and collapses. Mrs. Garrett also diets to fit into a new dress.
Mrs. Garrett teaches a sex-education class, but her approach clashes with Mr. Bradley's more conservative ideas. Blair takes the ideas from class and experiments with her latest boyfriend, Steve.
A flood prompts Blair and Tootie to race out to the stables to save some animals. However, the dam breaks and Blair and Tootie are in danger of being washed away. Mr. Bradley comes to the rescue, causing Blair to develop a crush on him.
The girls have an assignment to show their family trees. But Natalie is reluctant to show hers because she was adopted, which prompts Blair to help Natalie find the name of her birth mother.
Mr. Bradley's pressure to win a track trophy causes best friends Sue Ann and Cindy to become bitter rivals.
Molly is sad over her parents' divorce, so the girls help her scheme to reunite them. But her father arrives with a new girlfriend instead.
Blair and Sue Ann befriend two new girls, who pressure them to try marijuana.
The new school year brings a new student, Jo, a tough girl who hotwires the school van and takes off to a bar with Blair, Natalie and Tootie to meet guys. However, one of the guys they meet happens to be an undercover police officer who hauls them off to jail.
Mrs. Garrett bails the girls out of jail, but to avoid expulsion they must move in with her and work in the cafeteria.
Blair is sure that an old friend is going to invite her to a cotillion, but she is surprised when he invites Jo instead.
Tootie's new love interest causes her to focus on her race, but she begins to shun Natalie, Jo and Blair and even backs out of a dance contest because her dance partner is white.
When Blair's cousin Geri, who has cerebral palsy, arrives for a visit, Mrs. Garrett thinks that Blair is ashamed of Geri. But Mrs. Garrett realizes that Blair is actually jealous of Geri, who is also a successful comedienne.
It's Edna's birthday and the girls want to buy her a shirt, but Jo steals it instead. When Mrs. Garrett returns the shirt, she discovers it was stolen.
Jo's boyfriend, Eddie, surprises her by making a sudden visit to Peekskill, but she gets even more of a surprise when he proposes marriage.
Jo is unsure about Eddie's marriage proposal but finally decides to accept, despite the feelings of Mrs. Garrett, Blair, Natalie and Tootie.
Gossip causes trouble all over Eastland. Tootie lets a secret slip, causing a fight, then mistakes Mrs. Garrett for being drunk, which threatens her job.
Blair is running for class president but things get out of hand when one of the candidates commits suicide.
Natalie hits it off with Neil, a boy she meets at a dance, and they later begin studying together. However, rumors spread that Natalie and Neil did more than just study, which brings on calls from a number of boys who want to "study" with Natalie. Natalie encourages these rumors when she goes out with the boys after teasing from Blair, Jo and Tootie.
Jo learns that her jailbird father is getting paroled and that he would like to attend her awards ceremony. But Jo tries to keep her father from attending and wants to hide the fact that her dad is an ex-convict.
Blair is selling Countess Calvet cosmetics and enlists Natalie's help and turns her into a walking billboard. Countess Calvet (Zsa Zsa Gabor) makes a surprise appearance at Eastland to meet Blair.
A top fashion photographer visits Eastland to find the "Face of the 80s". Tootie is selected and goes to New York for the photo shoot. However, Mrs. Garrett and the girls discover the less-than-glamorous downside to modeling.
Mrs. Garrett's musician son Alex visits, with tales of his encounters with various music celebrities. However, Blair smells a rat when she contradicts one of Alex's stories and learns that Mrs. Garrett is still supporting him.
Tootie and Natalie visit Tootie's aunt Sylvia. However, they show up in the middle of a fight between Sylvia and her husband Brian, who are an interracial couple: Sylvia has a job offer in New York and Brian is not too happy about moving.
When Blair, Natalie and Jo tease Tootie for being the youngest, she feels left out. Tootie responds by drinking an entire bottle of wine.
Natalie is attacked while returning from a party and develops a fear of going outside.
Ex-Eastlander Alison, now married with a baby daughter, visits. But when Alison leaves without her daughter, Mrs. Garrett and the girls must take care of the baby.
Blair discovers that her mother may have breast cancer.
Burned by her journalism teacher's scathing criticism, Jo turns out a front-page story linking him to a drug bust.
When Mrs. Garrett learns that her pension fund is gone, she fears for her financial security and takes on a second job.
Jo learns that she's growing apart from her boyfriend when she finds herself attracted to another guy.
Natalie's romantic escapade is cancelled when her meddling grandmother drops in unexpectedly.
To avoid a campout with boys, Tootie writes love letters to herself from an imaginary boyfriend.
Blair's cousin Geri dates the school's French teacher, but Blair suspects that Geri is headed for a romantic fall.
A large sum from Blair's grandfather's estate is being donated to build a new library. But Natalie uncovers a shocking secret about the benefactor.
Natalie and Tootie feud over the lead role in the school's production of South Pacific.
The strict father of new Japanese student Miko comes down hard on her for sneaking out to see a rock concert and causing $400 in damage with Jo's motorcycle.
A mysterious visitor from Mrs. Garrett's past appears, and when Tootie catches them kissing, Blair becomes determined to discover how serious the relationship is.
Tootie wins tickets to a Jermaine Jackson concert and meets him in person backstage.
Mrs. Garrett tells the girls that their debt has been paid and that they are free to move out. But the girls come to realize they don't want to change their living arrangements.
In a New York restaurant, Natalie sees her father romancing a woman who is not her mother and must face the prospect of her parents divorcing.
Tootie becomes lost in New York City and befriends a young prostitute in a coffee shop.
Blair and Jo visit old friends in New York but soon realize their own friendship is much more meaningful.
Natalie becomes furious with Blair when Blair discloses Natalie's interest in a boy.
Blair reads Natalie's diary and discovers that Natalie thinks Blair is an egotistical witch.
Jo fixes a friend up with Blair, but Blair thinks the military-school student dates wealthy women, such as Gloria Vanderbilt's daughter.
Jo's cousin, a 14-year-old lovesick tomboy, seeks her help, and others of Jo's family are introduced in this backdoor pilot attempt.
The girls take a stand against the banning of books believed to have negative influences.
The girls and Mrs. Garrett head to Paris. The girls are going to spend sometime in the French counterpart of their school while Mrs. Garrett attends a cooking school. The girls were hoping to spend some time in Paris but find themselves stuck in the school but during the last week of their stay when they go to Paris, so they decide to bolt. Jo decides to go to Le Mans and meets a French boy. Blair try to hook up with a French guy. Natalie and Tootie run into a writer who's been struggling whom they decide to help do his assignment. And Mrs. Garrett has a hard time trying to impress the French Chef in charge of the class.
Jo discovers that her scholarship funds are being cut. However, the one thing that could keep her at Eastland, she refuses to do. That is to apply for a scholarship through Warner Industries, which is Blair's father's company.
Natalie makes up a source for the topic of her newspaper article on abortion and if she doesn't reveal who the source is, she could be kicked out of school. However, little does she know, that their is someone at Eastland who could fill the shoes of the "made up source"
Natalie discovers that Tootie has a hearing problem. Tootie forces Natalie to keep quiet and refuses to get some help for her problem.
Jo interviews an Eastland alumna. After her interview Jo changes her mind about giving money to the school.
Blair makes a new friend in Leo, a young man whom she tries to mold despite the fact that he's mentally retarded. His mental retardation throws Blair for a loop and she has a hard time accepting his handicap.
Natalie is excited about a job offer to write a weekly column for a New York newspaper. The fact that the job would make her miss school as well as bring her unnecessary pressure causes her to get into an argument with her mother. During the argument, Natalie brings up the fact that she's adopted, this leads her adopted mother to give her the name of her birth mother.
Jo's got a great part time job as a mechanic working along side her boyfriend, Doug. However, when her talent of fixing motorcycles causes her to get a promotion to weekend service manager, Doug gives her the cold shoulder since she is now his supervisor.
The IRS invades Blair's life when they question her tax return. Little does Blair know that the title her dad has placed on her is a cover to get out of paying income tax. Blair is even more heartbroken when she discovers that all the personal vacations she has taken with her dad have been written off as business trips.
Yet another episode that revolves around the boys at a military academy. One of the young cadets, Alfred, invites Natalie to see him box in a tournament. However the only reason he gets into this situation is do the fact that his father suggested it. Later, Alfred learns that his father isn't even going to attend and is now faced with the possiblity of backing out on a fight against an opponent who intimidates him.
A Sadie Hawkins Day dance prompts Natalie to debate asking out a boy she's been eyeing. However, his ignoring of her prompts her to boycott the dance and plans on spending the evening with Blair and Jo. But when Blair and Jo get dates, Natalie is the odd woman out.
The latest man in Mrs. Garrett's life is Henry, her jogging buddy. However, their relationship could turn into a marriage when he proposes. Later, Henry hurts his back and the girls become nursemaids this gives Mrs. Garrett a quick taste of what living with Henry would be like.
A new student arrives at Eastland claiming to be a royal princess. All seems to go okay, but then Tootie catches her with a boy. Since it is against the rules to have an uninvited guest, Tootie starts to become suspicious.
Blair's latest boyfriend, Chad, means everything to her and she goes all out trying to please him. However, one evening when he takes her out to a dance, he leaves with another woman. This leads Blair to contemplate breaking off this "controlling" relationship with a man she claims to "love".
When the girls learn the Mrs. Garrett has high blood pressure, they do everything in their power to lessen the load. Their attempts include, getting Mr. Parker to plan his own party and take care of a banking problem. However the exploits only make matters worse when Mrs. Garrett wonders why Mr. Parker doesn't want her to plan the party and Blair's attempt at trying to fix the bank problem leads to Mrs. Garrett's car being stolen.
Jo has become close friends with her English teacher, Gail, even inspiring Jo to think about becoming a teacher herself. However, Jo is disappointed to learn that Gail is leaving Eastland presumably for a job that pays more but the real reason she's leaving is nothing Jo ever expected.
Tootie is excited about the impending visit of her brother Marshall, however is stay becomes one of fear when he invites the girls to a college party where beer is being served. After the party, a drunk Marshall, insisting that he isn't drunk, offers to drive Blair, Natalie and Tootie home. However, their trip home is interrupted by an accident.
Jo goes away for her first "college weekend" with her latest boyfriend Jason at Yale. Just after Mrs. Garrett leaves to take Jo there, Blair's sister, Meg, arrives for a surprise visit. Meg showing up unexpected is not the only surprise she has in store, she wants to become a nun. That fact is something Blair has a hard time dealing with. Meanwhile, Jo arrives back early after the car breaks down. She later has a spiritual experience and decides she too wants to become a nun.
Blair, Natalie and Tootie can't believe that Jo wants to become a nun and Blair accuses Meg of recruiting. However, the real reason Blair can't except Meg, comes to the surface when Jo and Meg begin talking about God which leads to violence between Jo and Blair.
Mrs. Garrett is expecting a visit from a French chef whom she once was an understudy for. However, when he arrives with some of his relatives and then quickly departs leaving his family at Eastland, Mrs. Garrett and the girls are forced to entertain the visitors who speak no English.
Natalie begins dating an attractive guy and begins spending all her time with him, which leaves Tootie out in the cold.
Jo has been accepted at Langley College along with Blair but doesn't tell anyone that she has since she doesn't plan on going due to her and her parents financial situation. However, when she takes a trip home for the weekend, she learns that her entire family found out the truth and are now counting on her to do well.
It's finals week at Eastland and the girls are planning an all night study session. They soon find out that studying is going to be hard with so many distractions, including Blair and Jo's fears of the future in college and Natalie's fear of an upcoming Chemistry exam in which she must memorize the atomic symbols.
Blair and Jo share a common feeling of disdain toward their graduation from Eastland.
As graduation day arrives, Monica is furious that Blair's father won't attend, Rose is furious at Charlie due to his sudden tranformation into a big spender and Natalie and Tootie are scared that they will lose Blair and Jo as friends when they leave for college.
Jo and Blair have a hard time adjusting to college.
Ms Garret decides to re-open an abandoned department store and turn it into her own.
Blair is dying to join the sorority that's she pledging and she volunteers Mrs. Garrett to be the caterer for a rush party. However, when Mrs. Garrett begins making Mexican before consulting Blair, who wanted Chinese, Blair fires her without a second thought.
Jo's been dating, Bill, a plain guy who attends the same college as she does, but when she learns that he's a rich kid, Jo becomes resentful and angry that he didn't tell her the whole truth about himself.
Tootie's new boyfriend, Jeff, is the star football player on the football team at Eastland. However, she learns a startling secret that he's been keeping, he's illiterate. She now must decide whether or not to encourage his behavior of having other kids do his work for him.
A strange man tells the girls that years ago a murder occurred in the shop. Later, when the girls see Mrs. Garret with a knife they assume that she's possessed by the murderer's spirit and is out to get them.
Natalie is allowed to enroll in a college course at Langley College and she quickly gets an overblown ego which quickly threatens her friendships with Blair, Jo and Tootie. Things get even worse when she learns that if she can keep her grade point average up she will be allowed to graduate early and enroll at Langley in the fall.
For a birthday surprise, the girls take Mrs. Garrett to a club featuring male exotic dancers, but the one who's in for the real surprise is Blair.
Streetwise Kelly alleges that the vandalism of Edna's Edibles was the work of a local gang, but Jo decides to investigate.
Mrs. Garrett is slowly losing business to a competitor, Pete Dawson. However, Natalie, with the help of her computer, breaks into his computer and alters his recipes.
Jo begins seeing sparks between her divorced parents and immediately hopes they get back together. However, her hopes quickly become dashed when she learns that her father is planning to marry another woman.
The holidays bring joy to the girls when they all plan on going home for Christmas but when Jo's mother temporarily moves to Miami, Jo is stuck in Peekskill.
While Mrs. Garrett frets over an inspection by the Board of Health, the girls get involved with a chain letter and ignore their responsibilities.
A young boy enters Edna's Edibles and Tootie befriends him and learns that he lives next door. She also learns that his mother works all day and leaves him home alone and tells him never to leave their apartment and when a gas leak is detected on the block the young boy won't budge.
Natalie starts dating a black guy, and Tootie thinks that Natalie hates him because of his color.
Newly elected board member Jo tackles the regents of Langley when they vote to cut academic scholarships in favor of a scoreboard nobody wants.
The girls are shaken by the sudden death of Natalie's father and wonder how to ease her pain.
Blair is distraught when she discovers that Jo has taken her place in popularity on campus. This leads to an argument between the two that ends with Jo refusing Blair's help for planning a party.
Blair and her boyfriend, Cliff, are serious at least Cliff thinks so but Blair pushes him away. Meanwhile, a movie star, Heather Hunt, is visiting Peekskill and quickly Blair finds herself competing with her for Cliff's attentions.
A marriage proposal from Blair's boyfriend prompts her to begin dreaming about the future for herself and her friends.
Tootie's mother comes to Eastland for a visit, and the fact that Tootie doesn't communicate with her mother becomes apparent. Her mother quickly realizes there are many things she doesn't know about her daughter and wants to have an open relationship with Tootie but will Tootie allow that?
Geri is in charge of organizing a charity auction but makes her first mistake by making Blair her assistant. Blair quickly takes over and begins doing things without consulting Geri. Geri in turn fires her and makes her second mistake, not accepting any help from from anyone.
Jo is surprised when her ex-boyfriend, Eddie, who just got out of the Navy, makes a surprise visit. However, Jo isn't the only one who's in for a surprise when Tootie discovers a shocking secret that Eddie's been keeping.
Mrs. Garrett's son, Raymond stops by Edna's Edibles for a visit and brings along his wife, Doris, whom he has been having marital problems with. This gets Mrs. Garrett and the girls worried about the future of the shop especially since Raymond and Doris have been talking about a divorce.
Another school year has come to an end and all the girls are preparing or their summer vacation. They each reminisce about the last six years they have spent together (via flashbacks). However, leaving one another on good terms is something that may not happen when an accident causes yet another rift between Jo and Blair.
Flashbacks and memories of the past continue as the girls finish getting ready for their summer vacations. However, saying goodbye to one another appears to be easy for all them especially since fights are brewing between Blair and Jo and Natalie and Tootie.
Mrs. Garrett and the girls share their summer vacations: Natalie and Tootie at a Cape Cod resort, Mrs. Garrett and Jo on a musical fling in Atlantic City and Blair down on a farm in Iowa.
Jo begins a pizza business with her mom's secret pizza recipe that has everyone's mouths watering, including a fraternity house that buys pizzas in bulk. However, the business begins running Jo and her workers, Natalie and Tootie ragged which leads Jo to make a business decision on how to make pizzas faster and cheaper.
With computer dating as the subject of her term paper, Natalie uses a computer dating service to find Blair and Jo "perfect dates" without their permission. Meanwhile, Mrs. Garrett targets Tootie as a bridge partner when her old one moves away.
Tootie's first date with Jeff since he started college leaves her feeling she must sleep with him to keep him.
On a dateless Saturday night, the girls cruise downtown Peekskill in hopes of finding Mr. Right. However, a string of bizarre events leads the girls to hideout in their car at a closed gas station.
Rumors spead about Jo's involvement with her professor and indeed, they just may be true when a romance develops between the two.
Jo and Sam's relationship grows more serious despite the fact that he has a young son from a previous marriage.
Mrs. Garrett enrolls in a Shakespeare class, but worries that she might neglect her business and have trouble fitting in with the college crowd.
Jo discusses her friendship with Blair...with a computer.
While working at the campus radio station, Jo finds herself needing to fill 5 hours of air time. Things start off on a bad note, when she can't find a key to the record cabinet, which leads, Natalie, Tootie, Blair and Mrs. Garrett to come to her rescue.
Natalie is nervous after an interview for a job she applied for with the town newspaper. However, after she learns she didn't get the job, her strange behavior threatens her relationship with her boyfriend.
Jo borrows one of Blair's watches and later breaks it. Jo's lack of remorse is what sends Blair to some serious action, she hauls Jo into small claims court. Meanwhile, Mrs. Garrett is having a hard time studying for her algebra class.
For the Christmas season, Blair and some of her snobby friends plan on putting on a Christmas show at a home for boys. Her Christmas spirit quickly changes when she discovers that the home for boys is really a home for convicts.
A no-win situation: Tootie asks Natalie for an honest opinion of her dreadful one-woman play about Eleanor Roosevelt.
Mrs. Garrett and the girls all become concerned about Blair's bizarre behavior, she's skipping class, dating nonstop and is out all night every night, all this just after a breakup with her first serious relationship, Cliff.
The death of a famous jazz singer brings back fond memories to Tootie and Natalie, who got to know him at a resort hotel where he worked as a waiter.
Mrs. Garrett receives a visit from the high-school sweetheart she ran out on, and she's swept off her feet all over again.
Blair is concerned when she discovers her date is doing cocaine.
The girls have no plans for spring break until Natalie learns that her grandmother's condominium is available in Fort Lauderdale, where the boys are.
On spring break in Fort Lauderdale and to the surprise of everyone, especially herself, Blair falls in love with a mere building manager.
Kevin, forced to leave his apartment, moves into the attic of Edna's Edibles and makes a move on Jo.
The local drive-in theatre is closing and the girls decide to pay it one last visit on the final night it's open. However, chaos reigns when people begin to loot the theatre and Blair gets into a cat fight.
During an alumni weekend at Langley, Blair's mother and Jo's father bond which leads to Blair and Jo's fears of becoming sisters.
With Mrs. Garrett out of town, Blair wants to be in charge of the shop so a reluctant Jo, Natalie and Tootie step aside and let her. Quickly Blair's handling of a competitor food shop goes awry.
Mrs. Garrett and the girls are all excited about Natalie's graduation and buy her a bookcase with a brand new set of encyclopedias on the assumption she's going to college. To her friends surprise, Natalie has a very different plan for life after high school.
A former Eastland girl, now an author, interviews the girls for her latest book she's writing. In the interviews the girls each open up about their friendships and school life.
After returning from their summer vacation, the girls discover that Edna's Edibles has burned down. This leads the girls to discuss rebuilding and opening up a new business.
The girls try to hire a contractor to rebuild Edna's Edibles into their new business. After interviewing a string, they hire George Burnett, who's inexpensive, but he soon proves to be easily sidetracked from his work.
The girls finally open their new shop, which is called, Over Our Heads, which sells a mixture of trendy, nostalgic memorabilia. However, the opening day may be the closing day, when they don't get quite the reception they were hoping for.
Jo is offered a job at a major company which is tempting but this causes her to reevaluate her dream of becoming a teacher.
Natalie's boyfriend appears in a popular beefcake calendar of the Langley swim team, a calendar that is frowned upon by the college board of regents.
Needing advice on her love life, Blair asks her mother to visit, only to learn that mom needs advice even more than Blair does.
Andy enters the girls in a contest through a teen magazine that if they win, they could sing backup to El DeBarge. First, however, they must produce a demo tape of their singing talent.
While waiting for a bus, Natalie thinks she could get some inspiration on something to write about in a diner. Failing to find anything of interest, she begins writing a wild story, that takes place in the diner involving, Blair, Jo, Tootie, Mrs. Garrett and George.
Tootie tutors seventh grader Andy for a role in "West Side Story," which turns him on to her more than to acting.
Blair and Jo argue over stories and editorials that are to be presented as a news report which is also going to include a behind the scenes look at the girls' shop, Over Our Heads.
Mrs. Garrett's old friend, Gwen comes to town for a visit with her old gossip buddy, but she also comes to town to confront Edna about the affair Gwen thinks she had with her late husband.
Jo takes up ballroom dance lessons and becomes determined to do a good job at an upcoming recital despite chaotic lessons and a clutzy dance partner.
A very pregnant Monica comes to the house on Christmas Eve, where she ends up in labor and gives birth to Bailey, her third child, on Christmas morning.
Tootie's learning to drive and she's driving everyone bananas.
The police want to stake out the shop to nab a few crooks but the girls, not wanting to worry Mrs. Garrett, insist she not be told about the operation.
Tootie and Blair give an aspiring comic a career boost by staging a performance attended by Jim McCawley, talent coordinator of "The Tonight Show."
George gets Blair to pose as his fiancee at his high school reunion in order to make an ex-classmate jealous that she never gave him the light of day. However, the unexpected prompts Jo to go in Blair's place.
On the day Blair is to accept an award, she encounters two burdens. First, she's stuck babysitting her baby brother and second she becomes trapped in an elevator, where she learns an important lesson from a concentration camp survivor.
The girls are in Atlantic City for a long weekend, where Blair gets gambling fever and Jo hopes to be reunited with Flyman, the rock star she met on spring break in Fort Lauderdale.
The girls surprise Blair on her birthday with a party featuring singer and dancer Betty Kean who, like "The Man Who Came to Dinner," stays on and on and on.
Natalie is furious with the mayor during an election when she learns he plans to build an amusement park. This prompts Natalie to consider running for mayor herself.
Jo's father shows up to announce that he's won a publisher's giveaway, and is determined to give Jo everything he could never give her before.
Tootie plans to join a road show after graduation despite her parents' objections, while Natalie plans to find an apartment where she can write in peace.
Natalie and Tootie find that privacy is at a premium in their one-room apartment, which doubles as a roach resort.
Mrs. Garrett must decided between her two loves, the girls or Bruce, a man she falls for and who asks her to go to Africa with him.
Beverly Ann is concerned that Tootie is getting much too serious about her new boyfriend.
Fed up with having no privacy, Jo considers moving out, until Beverly Ann suggests remodeling the attic into a room. However, the construction costs divided by the four girls cause Jo to make a sacrifice when she can't come up with her share.
Beverly Ann and the girls head for New York, when Tootie decides to audition for her first Broadway show. However, when she arrives, she quickly learns that she has plenty of competition working against her.
Blair, Tootie and Natalie organize a reunion with the girls from Eastland. This brings Nancy, Cindy and Sue Ann back to town each with successful lives. Cindy has become a model, Nancy is engaged and Sue Ann a vice president for a company. However, each also has a distinct downside to their success. Meanwhile, Jo feels left out of the reunion.
Blair's computerized date-rating system is the focus when she makes a bet with Jo dealing with whether or not the system really works. However, when Beverly Ann accidentally erases a disk, Jo tampers with some of the ratings.
Jo offers to marry an illegal alien in order to keep the man from being deported.
Natalie gets Blair a job at a Mexican restaurant where Natalie works. However, Blair snobby attitude gets her fired when she inadvertently insults the boss.
A disconsolate Blair locks herself in the bedroom after her father pleads guilty to charges of insider trading.
A furious Natalie is determined to identify and sue the plagiarist who sold her short story to a magazine.
In this fantasy episode, a cross between "The Twilight Zone" and a horror film, the crew finds themselves being murdered, one by one, until only Tootie is left to confront the killer. The episode is narrated by a Rod Serling lookalike.
Assigned by the paper to get the inside dirt on Pledge Week at Langley, Natalie crashes the rush party of the sorority Tootie wants to join.
As a post-Christmas gift, Natalie gets her first credit card, and promptly goes on a spending spree.
Cinnamon, who bested Tootie in the audition for a Broadway rock musical, shows up claiming she's been replaced but that's not the real story.
The girls are snowed in at a ski cabin with three guys preparing a bachelor party, but the groom is ready to call off the wedding when he gets a look at Blair.
Cupid can be perverse: all the girls old boyfriends happen to show up just before the Valentine's Day dance.
Blair, Tootie, Natalie, Jo, Beverly Ann, and Andy visit the land down under. Blair and Jo are warned of a planned jewel heist; Beverly Ann visits a beau from many years ago; Natalie is stranded in the outback; and Tootie meets a Yale student who pretends to be a young Aborigine.
Fabian and Bobby Rydell visit the girls, and together they recall the look and sound of the 1960s.
Beverly is sick of seeing Andy shuttled from one foster home to another, so she offers to adopt him.
Beverly Ann's ex shows up unexpectedly, hoping for a reconciliation.
Jo is unhappy that Blair is playing matchmaker for Jo's lonely father, but she's really upset with the final results.
Blair discovers that even she can't buy admission to law school if she doesn't pass a four-hour test she hasn't studied for.
After her commencement speech is rejected, Jo refuses to make a speech at all, but then learns that her grandfather has come all the way from Poland to hear it.
Summer offers a variety of options for everyone, especially Jo, who's offered a tempting job in Los Angeles.
Jo is jobless and apartmentless in Malibu, where Richard Moll just happens to need a house sitter.
Richard Moll returns to the home he left in Jo's care to find it's been flooded: someone left the water running in the hot tub.
Blair's after-hours visit with a professor reputed to be a womanizer stirs up a storm of vicious rumors on campus.
Natalie jumps at the chance to do an inside story on ROTC and then learns she'll also have to jump from a plane.
Jo takes a job in social work at a community center that, she learns, has no funds to pay her salary.
A new girl arrives at Eastland in the wee hours, claiming to be an Australian exchange student.
Tootie's boyfriend says he can't make it to town for the Winter Carnival so Tootie decides to go with someone else.
Blair is dumbfounded when an honor student she invited over ostensibly to study takes a shine to Beverly Ann instead of her.
Babysitter Blair leaves her sister with the others while she attends a tea, and returns to find they somehow misplaced her.
It's holiday time, and Beverly Ann feels unneeded, until a mysterious Santa shows her what Christmas in Peekskill would be like without her.
Imagine the whole gang the same people the same place, 40 years from now.
Andy latches on to a "big brother," who's living for today because tomorrow may never come.
It's not music to his ears when Jo's dad learns that her boyfriend plays piano at a dinner joint.
Blair interns at a law firm that's defending an accused murderer, who seems to be guilty until proven innocent.
The fat hits the fire when Natalie and Tootie's boyfriends meet, and Jo blows a gasket over the repair job on her bike.
Natalie deals firsthand with facts of life as she overnights with her boyfriend Snake, and faces the reactions of her friends and Snake.
A sponsor of a musical benefit invites Jo and Blair to visit his beauty spa, where they are transformed but not in the way they expected.
One evening, a tired Blair falls asleep at the wheel and has a car accident landing her in the hospital with a gash in her for-head. This leads her to begin worrying about how her once "perfect" self will recover from this tragedy.
Rick proposes to Jo in his own crazy way, and everyone anticipates a wedding everyone, that is, except Jo, who still hasn't accepted.
Tootie recieves a hideous pendant as an engagement present from Jeff's formidable grandmother, and it's pulverized at Andy and Pippa's wild party just before the woman arrives.
Jo's job at the social services center gets a bit hairy when her supervisor, a suicide prevention counselor, threatens to leap off a building.
Natalie's first bite of the Big Apple is hard to digest: she overnights in a Soho loft with "the four weirdest people I've ever met."
Blair buys Eastland to save it from bankruptcy, and then must find a new headmaster and lots of new students.
As the new headmistress, Blair starts whipping Eastland students into shape, and she's particularly challenged by one who seems determined to get expelled.
A widowed Mrs. Garrett is heading back to America on a cruise ship, ready for a new life and also looking forward to seeing her "girls" again, all of whom have grown into successful, independent women: Blair owns Warner Enterprises, which includes a stable of hotels, and is married to Tad Warner, without children. Natalie now serves as a behind-the-scenes producer at CNN juggling an active love life with a frenetic work schedule that takes her all over the world. Tootie, now preferring to be called by her real name, Dorothy, is a Hollywood-based talk show host and the mother of a 10-year-old girl, Tisha. Jo, now a police officer, is still married to Rick Bonner and they have a daughter, Jamie. Natalie has talked all the girls and Mrs. Garrett into spending the Thanksgiving holiday together back in Peekskill, NY. When Jo is unable to attend the reunion because of work, her teenage daughter, Jamie, comes instead in her absence. Trouble soon starts when Natalie receives two different marriage proposals, so it's up to the girls to help solve Natalie's predicament. Over the course of the holiday, the girls reveal to one another the personal troubles they face in their adult years and discover that, despite the time that has passed, they need each other's friendship more than ever.
Interviews with Charlotte Rae (Mrs. Garrett), Lisa Whelchel (Blair), and Mindy Cohn (Natalie) highlight this nostalgic look back at the popular 1980s sitcom set in an all-girls boarding school.
“This special takes you behind the scenes to reveal everything you never knew about one of our favorite sitcoms. Revisit this classic comedy as back-stage secrets and hidden drama are revealed through exclusive footage and interviews with original cast members, writers and network executives.”
Included on Facts of Life Season 1 & 2 DVD set released in 2006.
Included on Facts of Life Season 1 & 2 DVD set released in 2006.
Series cast reunites at the Paley Center for a Q&A about the show. Broadcast live on the Internet and also available on the Complete Series box set released in 2015.
