narrator: todd bridges played willis, the streetwise skeptic to arnold s wide-eyed innocent. we don t belong in no penthouse. we ain t the right color. i ll get me a skin transplant. narrator: dana plato s kimberly was the privileged prep-school teen who learned life lessons from her stepbrothers. this is arnold, and this is willis, kimberly. hi there. hi. hi, metal mouth. daddy, isn t this delicious? we just met, and already he s insulting me like a real brother. narrator: on november 3, 1978, silverman s faith in lear and coleman paid off. diff rent strokes premiered in the family-friendly 8:00 p.m. time slot. silverman: and that was actually the first show that i put on the air in at nbc, and it was an immediate success. drew: when diff rent strokes came out, it was such a massive phenomenon. brown: it dealt with life
oh, hello! who s the little fellow? it s my uncle george! narrator: everyone who saw the guest spot fell in loveaw with the kid from chicago, including the president of abc and longtime lear ally, fred silverman. silverman: when i first saw gary coleman, you just looked at him and you smiled. he had very, very strong audience appeal. he obviously was a television star, and there was something that was very engaging about this little guy who opens his mouth and sounded like he was 60 years old. narrator: silverman and abc made a deal with lear to create a show for coleman. lear came up with 45 minutes from harlem, a sitcom about an inner-city orphan who s adopted by a white millionaire to be played by hollywood veteran conrad bain. silverman: conrad bain had worked for norman on maude d and seemed to be a natural choice. he was kind of aristocratic in