narrator: after the groundbreaking television comedy diff rent strokes was canceled in the spring of 1986, the lives of its three child stars todd bridges, dana plato and gary coleman began to unravel. wolf: the diff rent strokes kids are the poster kids for, you know, young actors gone wrong. you ll interview actors just starting out today, and they ll kind of tell you, i ve read those stories. i m not gonna to be like todd bridges. i m not gonna be like dana plato. narrator: the immediate problem for all three stars was the fact that diff rent strokes had been such a hit. after eight years of being so closely associated with the beloved characters of kimberly, willis and arnold, casting agents had trouble seeing the actors as anyone else. weiss: all these kids were pigeonholed into these characters that we had seen for
nbc s diff rent strokes number-one-ranked abc fought back by airing the hit show happy days against the new sitcom. mcilwain: i mean, you re seeing sort of the opposite of american life. one show, happy days, that s obviously a sort of throwback, a longing for the supposed good old days. on the other hand, you got diff rent strokes, that is about now. it s about life in the 70s at that time, about the circumstances, the problems, the struggles, that are going on for this sort of very weird, different-kind-of-looking family, and so in a way, you have the sort of competing ideals, if you will, on the two networks, you know? and it s sort of like, you know, what do i want america to be like really? narrator: americans fell in love with kimberly, willis, and little arnold, and diff rent strokes gained even more viewers as the first season rolled along. the jokes on the family-friendly show weren t as biting as past
all in the family. and i figured the combination of norman lear and gary coleman in this concept very, very family- friendly early evening concept was a ideal combination. narrator: silverman was confident viewers would fall in love with coleman and theall in show s unique family. weiss: mr. drummond, his wife dies. he has this daughter, and then his black housekeeper dies. and her dying wish is to have him adopt her sons. arnold and willis go to live at this park avenue apartment, and automatically have a built-in family of mr. drummond, a sister named kimberly and a maid named mrs. garrett. hi, fellas. (laughter) she got it right. mrs. garett, are you passing?
Detailed text transcripts for TV channel - MSNBC - 20140109:14:23:00 comparemela.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from comparemela.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
and i think there was, along with all of the other crazy pressures of fame, kind of a sibling resentment. narrator: in addition to behind-the-scenes squabbles, diff rent strokes viewership was eroding. in an attempt to right the ship, producers interjected new characters, a move that backfired almost immediately. weiss: mr. drummond metly. dixie carter s character. he ended up marrying her, and sam, dixie carter s character s son from another relationship, became the, like, third the third son all of a sudden, and, you know, he became the center of all the plot lines. they basically brought in, like, a new cute ringer that everyone could just kind of like coo over, and that s sad because arnold obviously didn t posses the charms that he did when he was a couple of years younger. i think the show probably jumped the shark with sam. don t you step on my blue suede shoes yeah