The Christmas Show

 

It's Christmas in Peekskill and Mrs. Garrett has 82 fruitcakes to unload, but the paper got her ad  for Edna's Edibles mixed up with the Puppy Corral!

Edible Puppies!
Edna's Holiday Special, fresh Schnauzer only $8.95

Blair intends to spend Christmas on the ski slopes, or possibly a party in New York.  "Daddy's in Tokyo, he sent the fur coat.  Mother is in St. Maritz, she sent the ski boots.  My United Parcel truck runneth over!!"

 

Jo is excited about spending the holiday with her mother until she discovers her mother had to go to Florida for work, leaving Jo in Peekskill with Mrs. Garrett, as she can't afford a flight to Miami.  Blair buys Jo a ticket, but knowing she'd never accept it she and Tootie trick her into buying a "raffle ticket" which she would win... a ticket to Miami.  However, when Jo gives the raffle ticket away the gig is up and Blair comes clean.

"I'm not one of Peekskill's neediest families so would you stop trying to brighten my Christmas?!"




 

 Its Natalie's first Christmas (she's Jewish and celebrates Hanukkah instead) and Tootie, who's brimming with the Christmas spirit, is taking her home to Washington for the holiday.  But all Natalie can think about is getting a new stereo, "I've hinted, but sometimes parents think for themselves."   Tootie teaches her that if she sits on Santa's lap and tells him what she wants she'll get it.  Luckily the parcel comes before the girls have to leave.  With excitement Nat tears into the package to discover.... a warm coat.  In the pocket there is a poem, "If the coat didn't make you merrio, at home is a brand new stereo!"

Finally alone and the shop lights turned out, Mrs. Garrett and Jo settle in for Christmas Eve.  And then who sneaks back in to surprise them.... Blair!  "There's just no place like Peekskill for the holidays."

Thanksgiving

After more than a decade since we'd seen the Facts of Life girls back together, it is fitting that our reunion comes in the form of a Thanksgiving special.  Traditionally, it is the coming together of families and loved ones so they may give Thanks, while sharing a meal, usually of turkey and autumn vegetables.  And when old friends come together, it is also a time for drama, antics and nostalgia!

 

After so many years, would the characters be recognizable?  I felt they handled this well even showing them back in the cafeteria, a set we had not seen since season four.  There were many references to the original run of the show, which added credibility to some of the scenes.  Such as Blair in the mirror pulling a grey hair or Natalie as a reporter and still loving the boys.  And Tootie successfully bringing out such a classic line without sounding contrite, "There's gonna be trouubbblee!" 

Mrs. Garrett, now widowed is ready to come home and spend the holiday with her family.  And of course, she always has a date!!

Blair is happily married, a lawyer, and extremely wealthy.  She has long since sold Eastland, but nostalgic for Peekskill, bought an Inn where the girls go to stay for the holiday.  She soon finds herself facing the possibility of divorce.  Something she'd seen her mother go through far too often.

Tootie, now answering to Dorothy, is tired of the talkshow scene and longs for the theatre.  Her childhood sweetheart, Jeff, had died years earlier and she felt herself drifting away from their daughter.

Natalie became the reporter she always dreamed she'd be, and dating two men.  When they both fall in love with her she must decide who she really loves.

Of course there were things missing, like JO...  Some missing characters were mentioned or represented, such as Jo's daughter Jaime playing prominently, and others not at all.  What goes on offscreen, who can say?  Perhaps there were phone calls and letters from missing loved ones like Mrs. Garrett's sister Beverly Ann.  Nancy McKeon had once said she wouldn't do a reunion, however, that was not the reason for her absence.  She was working on THE DIVISION and could simply not get away.  Since she was playing a cop, it was written that Jo had become a cop and was working on a case she couldn't get away from, which looking at Jo's history seemed pretty believable!  And then there was mention of George, and how he ran off to seek his fame in a nod to his portrayer George Clooney, or Blair talking about her cousin Geri.  Characters aside, the reunion mostly just needed a better score.  The filler music in most of the scenes gave it too light a feel, almost goofy at times, and a better score could have given the plot more weight, perhaps akin to the series itself.

In the end, I was just Thankful to see them back together and to revisit those old times with nostalgia.  So Happy Thanksgiving!!

Lest We Forget

Whether today is Remembrance Day, in remembrance of the fallen soldiers, or Veterans Day in honour of those who served, this page is in dedication to all those who have fought or suffered for the freedoms of their countries.  The Facts of Life puts on the Uniform.

 

 

 



With the Stone Military Acadamy so close to Eastland, the Girls had the oportunity for social interaction with the Cadets. 

 

 















And later, Natalie joins the ROTC while tracking down a story.

While trapped in an elevator, Blair sees numbers on the forarm of the operator, Sam. He tells her about how he lost his family and ended up in a Concentration Camp. War rips families apart as he learned when he arrived home one night, "...the door was wide open. There was nobody there. Furniture broken. Papers strewn all over the floor. This I kept." It was a poem his brother had tried to read to him earlier, but Sam was too busy to hear it. "In Polish, it rhymes!" Now years later, he still searches for his brother. He reminds her to take the time, "Read the poem, even if it doesn't rhyme."

In Remembrance, Lest We Forget.