VSE: Teenage Suicide (Recap Epsiode 2-10 "Breaking Point")

Queen's "Don't Try Suicide" came out in 1980, and eight years later Heathers gave us Big Fun's "Teenage Suicide (Don't Do It)"

It's nearly 30 years later and teenage suicide is still a tragic societal problem. Our beloved Facts had a go at commenting on it in 1981 with a Very Special Episode that had potential but ultimately, sadly, falls flat.

We open with Natalie trying to put together her Visible Woman model. I had one of those! I never built it.

After Jo enters with laundry, Tootie, with great fanfare, announces the entrance of the new student council president, Blair Warner! Blair chooses an interesting political identity.

Lisa Whelchel's Book and Thoughts on Religion and Friendship

I decided that I couldn't be a proper Facts groupie without reading some of Lisa Whelchel's books. I'm not sure that her series for moms has much for me, so I'm reading Friendship for Grown-ups: What I Missed & Learned Along the Way. It's good. She and Nancy McKeon are still the closest of friends, although particular matters to do with Facts are not the book's focus. It is a memoir and discussion of something common to us all: friendship.

Friendship was on my mind this morning, so it was fitting that Lisa's book was in the backpack I picked up as I left the house. I've enjoyed it much more than I expected. The way in which she frames her journey and the lessons she learned have their foundation in her Christian faith, but the lessons and comments on friendship are sound and thought-provoking regardless of faith or lack thereof.

I have a rocky relationship with religion. I was born Catholic, but I left the Catholic Church at the age of six because I was uncomfortable with the part of the Missal in which we said, "We believe in one holy Catholic and Apostolic church." I asked my mom if I had to say that when I didn't really believe it - I believed that everyone who loved God and Jesus were OK even if they did things a slightly different way.

Make Love to the Camera (Recap episode 2-14, "Pretty Babies")

You know which one this is.

We open with Blair on the phone with this week's never-seen-boyfriend, Scott. He's obsessed with Blair's eyes apparently, you know, those "chestnut brown eyes with green and gold flecks." Jo is disgusted, Mrs. Garrett is amused, and Tootie comes into the room to declare:

"I'm tired of being underdeveloped."

Turns out she's talking about her photos. Apparently she's all into photography now, but her pictures just aren't coming out right (Blair: "I'm missing part of my head in this one!" Jo: "Yeah, just like real life.")

The Facts of Sexual Harassment in Hollywood: #NotThisShow

The floodgates have opened and women and children in Hollywood have finally been coming forward and being believed about the abuse they suffered at the hands of powerful grown men. Notably, Facts alumna Molly Ringwald wrote a powerful account in the New Yorker about her own experience as a young actress.

When I was thirteen, a fifty-year-old crew member told me that he would teach me to dance, and then proceeded to push against me with an erection. When I was fourteen, a married film director stuck his tongue in my mouth on set. At a time when I was trying to figure out what it meant to become a sexually viable young woman, at every turn some older guy tried to help speed up the process. And all this went on despite my having very protective parents who did their best to shield me. I shudder to think of what would have happened had I not had them.

When I read this, the first thing I did was the math. Could any of this have happened on the Facts of Life set?

Recap episiode 2-4 "Who am I?" or: Did you know Tootie is black?

Regular readers of this blog know that I constantly give props to the show for its progressive addressing of a number of controversial topics, while still recognizing when it is a product of its time and duly criticizing the damaging institutions it entrenched. There is also a third category of Facts of Life episodes: where the show's heart is in the right place and the message is a good one, but the execution is so ham-fisted that it's hard to watch it without chuckling a little bit, even as you feel guilty for chuckling about a really good effort in a time when not a lot of popular culture was making this effort. This episode is the epitome of that phenomenon.

At least that's how I feel. Perhaps I should get on with the recap and let you decide what you think.

This is the episode where Tootie deals with an identity crisis, which is a product of being one of very few black girls at Eastland and the only black girl in her circle of friends.

We open with Natalie and Tootie entering the dining room as Tootie tries to heckle Natalie into calling the boy she likes and inviting him to be her partner in Eastland's dance contest. They're interrupted by the entry of a delivery boy we've never seen before. 

Recap episode 2-3 "Double Standard" or Rich dick gets skewered

One of the best things that ever happened to me at law school was when I found out that one of my classmates reads this blog. It was his birthday last week, so, as I did last year, I shall recap the episode of his choice, and it's a doozy.

We open with the girls, minus Blair, playing Scrabble while Mrs. G looks on and sort of backseat Scrabbles, much to Jo's annoyance. Enter Blair, with one of her patented white-boy-with-chiseled-features boyfriends.

Recap episode 5-4: "What Price Glory" or Student athlete blog crossover

My husband has gotten used to the phrase, "There's a Facts of Life episode about that." Readers of this blog likely know that in its nine seasons in prime time, Facts covered a wealth of serious and poignant issues, including a number of Very Special Episodes generally of excellent quality.

Earlier this month, the New York Times ran a story on the front page of the Sunday sports section about a particular athlete and program whose academic abuses cost the basketball program their shot at the postseason and may have cost the student his education. 

There's a Facts of Life episode about that.

Jeff was the longest-recurring Facts boyfriend, making appearances in seasons five, six, eight and nine. By the end of the series, Tootie and Jeff were engaged, and other than some rando named "Rudy" who shows up for one episode, Tootie doesn't date anyone else after she meets Jeff.

But do you remember that when they first met, Jeff was illiterate?

Recap episode 5-20 "Dream Marriage" or marriage critique

Last week I wrote about the two weddings that took place on Facts, Mrs. Garrett's almost-wedding, plus a bonus sneak peek into mine. I was remiss in not including Jo's almost-wedding, that to Enrique in episode 8-8. Enrique was an undocumented immigrant whom Jo was going to marry to keep in the country.

So, Jo was almost married once (twice if you count the "Teenage Marriage" episodes) and married on the show. Mrs. Garrett was almost-married once and married on the show. Tootie was engaged at the end of the series to pretty much the only guy she ever dated during the run of the series. Natalie ain't the marrying kind, but she was the first to lose her virginity (to be linked when I write that recap). That leaves Blair.

Blair dated a lot; she's often reduced to the title of "the slutty one," even though I'm pretty sure Natalie dated more (but those are topics for other columns). The point is, Blair "Harvest Queen three years in a row" was the only one to not be engaged, married, or deflowered during the course of the series. And I bet this episode is why.

We open with Blair looking very Cinderella-y.

Recap episode 6-13: "CHRISTMAS IN THE BIG HOUSE"

Greetings, dear readers. I have been MIA for two months, and for that I apologize. In the future, I may just schedule November and December as vacation months.

The last two months have been interesting; I passed the bar exam and became a practicing lawyer as an associate in a small law firm. I am also volunteering with the county's juvenile services division on their restorative justice effort. I got engaged and will be getting married at the end of the month. Plus I got a comment on this post which encouraged me to write something a little more in depth on the topic, but that will take a bit longer. And I am reading Charlotte Rae's autobiography, and there are some good bits in it that deserve coverage. It should be a great 2016!

In any case, I owe you a holiday gift. A Christmas episode recap, of course. My favorite Christmas episode ever. The one with this.

This is such a good episode for so many reasons. So rather than blither and blather and blubber about it, let's just get to the recap, shall we?

We open at Edna's Edibles, where Mrs. Garrett is giving away product to her customers.

Recap episode 2-8 "Teenage Marriage, Part 2 or: Then Jo Ran Off with Eddie

Previously on The Facts of Life:

When we last saw Jo and Eddie 
They was runnin' off to wed
Blair 'n' Edna tried to stop 'em
But they pushed 'em close instead
Jo said, "Only Eddie gets me!"
Eddie said, "Babe, say 'I do!'" 
And they rushed right out of dinner
And so now I bring to you...

...the conclusion of "Teenage Marriage."

Recap episode 2-7 "Teenage Marriage, Part 1 or: The Ballad of Jo and Eddie

Last week while catching several Facts episodes on Logo with my sister (more on how Logo hacks up the episodes in another post), we ran across all but one episode featuring Jo's first true love: Eddie Brennan.

C'mon, isn't he a heartthrob? Those eyes! That gentle, loving face! That precious overbite! In 1981, this was exactly the dude whose picture we ripped out of Tiger Beat and hung on our walls. He's way hotter than anyone Blair ever dated. I had a hell of a crush on him. I also had a crush on Mike Reno of Loverboy at the time. 

And this is my dude/boyfriend/partner whatever is one's preferred term for an unmarried committed opposite-sex bedfellow.

What can I say, I like cute, friendly-looking white guys with blue eyes.

Eddie was the first of the girls' boyfriends to recur, and I know I wasn't the only one pining for him. Facts gave us Eddie as a great character whose stagnation helped to highlight Jo's growth, and then whose own growth broke all of our hearts. Even as we knew that their lives were heading in different directions and that it was best for them to go their separate ways, we wanted Jo and Eddie to work out. We wanted an Eddie of our own, who would come back after a separation and just explode with chemistry, and we were devastated when it became clear that it just was not going to work out.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Because this was such a poignant saga, and because it's one of very, very few continuing story arcs in the series, I've decided to recap the arc's episodes back to back, and take you with me on the painful journey that is: The Ballad of Jo and Eddie.

Recap Episode 3-18: "Runaway" or Tootie gets recruited by a pimp

After my last post, I polled people on Facebook as to which episode I should recap next, but since I only have seasons three and four with me right now up in my mountain paradise, the options were limited. From the choices I gave, my respondent chose the one where Tootie goes to New York alone and a pimp attempts to recruit her.

But I also thought I'd try something different for this recap. I'm going to recap it from memory first, then go back and, as I watch it, make additions or corrections in this color. So let's see just how much I can do from memory, shall we?

We open with Jo, Blair, and Natalie getting ready to head out the door so Mrs. Garrett can drive them to the train, which they are taking to New York City to see a Broadway show.

Recap episode 3-2: "Fear Strikes Back" or Dear victim-blamers: suck it.

There was a phenomenon in the '80s: The Very Special Episode (VSE). Every show, and particularly sitcoms, would occasionally have a dramatic episode dealing with a serious issue. Examples include the Diff'rent Strokes episode where Kimberly and Arnold are held captive by a sexual predator, and a different Diff'rent Strokes episode where Arnold and his friend Dudley are lured into a sexual predator's home. Saved by the Bell's "I'm so excited! I'm so excited! I'm so...scared" episode falls into the category as well (you know, I've known about that episode for a long time but the first time I ever saw the actual footage was just a few minutes ago).

Due to the conversation I had with a friend the other day, I now bring you one of many Facts of Life VSEs. With a nod to my friend, who remembered this one as a great example of the show being progressive in what it shows, not tells, I bring you the one where Natalie is the victim of an attempted sexual assault.

Activism in The Facts of Life (inspired by Federal court)

Some of you may have noticed that I've been posting much more regularly in 2015. Indeed, I intended to have a weekly post, and the way my schedule works out, it's on Thursdays. I have quite intentionally reserved my Thursday  mornings to work on Cousin Geri, so I can get new posts up by Thursday afternoon.

on Wednesday night, however, I learned that there were oral arguments in federal court this morning for United States v. Johnson a case regarding the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act. As an animal rights activist, I find the AETA to be completely overbroad, antithetical to the purposes of the First Amendment, and the product of big agri-business money going after unpopular activist groups, but this isn't a political blog.

The point is, since I went to the oral arguments in this case yesterday morning, I've been delayed. But only temporarily. I've also been inspired.

Welcome to our discussion of activism in The Facts of Life.

Inspiring a generation of lesbians? More on Jo's sexual orientation via speculation about Nancy McKeon's.

For some reasons that are not relevant but I'm happy to share if anyone is interested, I showed up at work this morning with my Facts of Life Seasons 1 and 2 DVDs in my backpack. I believe that this shows how very awesome I am, so I showed them to a coworker of similar age, who I thought might be entertained that I was carrying them around. She was, and we had a bit of a chat about the show.  Some other coworkers overheard and, also thinking that the show is awesome, joined in. It quickly became apparent that if you have a vague memory of the show, I can help fill in details, and if you have a question about the show, I can answer it. One high-ranking official in our office said, "Hey, did Nancy McKeon ever come out?"


As I acknowledged in a previous post, the speculation regarding Jo's sexuality is nothing new, and I suppose it's not surprising for someone to extend that speculation to the actress portraying Jo. Nevertheless, I was quite taken aback by the question. It certainly implies that it's a fact known to the asker that Nancy McKeon is gay, and that's problematic unto itself. We're not talking about a comment from a member of the potentially ignorant masses here. We're talking high-level management of a famously liberal organization, one deeply involved in the Why Marriage Matters marriage-equality campaign.


I wondered, then, whether he knew something I didn't. While I am the most knowledgeable person about the Facts of Life and its actors that I know, the possibility certainly exists that there's something I missed. So I took to Google.

You take the black, you take the white...

Yesterday, an old friend, one I haven't really talked to since college, send me this timely link.

Go ahead. Click here. I'll wait.

Did you click? If you were afraid, it was just a photo of Lisa Welchel (Blair) with Busta Rhymes, posted yesterday at some kind of Sirius XM festival? I don't know. I don't really know how this Instagram thing works. If anyone can tell me more about where and what this event was, that would be rad.

More importantly, I just realized that I freakin' saw Busta Rhymes back in '02 at the Area 2 Festival! I don't know much about hip hop; I went to Area 2 'cause of David Bowie. But I remember "Pass the Courvoisier," during which Busta indeed passed the Courvoisier. I didn't get any. :(

And so I've decided that this is an excellent time to talk about how The Facts of Life addressed race.

Tootie.