Really, really dreadful. From the awful acting (and not just the kids -- Conrad Bain and Charlotte Rae make my skin crawl), to the bad jokes, preachy writing and condescending racial attitudes, "Diff'rent Strokes" was just a terrible show.
I know some of you fans feel nostalgia for it, but try to see it through objective eyes.
Despite the sometimes lame jokes, "Diff'rent Strokes" was a good sitcom. The acting was decent, & this wasn't a sitcom that pandered to racial stereotypes. The storylines dealt with racial prejudicies head on. Certain episodes were quite educational as well, as "DS" was its own public service announcement @ times, dealing with serious subjects as child abduction, pedophilia, drugs/cigarette smoking, etc., etc.. The writing was just as good as any other sitcom of the era, better than that of any sitcom to date.
R.I.P., Gary Coleman, Dana Plato, Nedra Volz & Dixie Carter.
Larry Appleton: "I have..."
Balki Bartokomous: "Oh, God!"
Larry Appleton: "...a plan!"
Look, you've got to take the historical context into consideration. Schools in those days were very very nervous about teaching controversial subjects, except in the broadest sense. So they ended up turning to television shows to do the job for them. Unfortunately, turning to television for life lessons also tended to encourage a lot of absentee parenting, particularly among my generation (Generation X). As for some of the show's guest stars, I thought the intentions of Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" campaign were good, but Ms. Reagan really didn't have a clue. It's no wonder shows like "Intervention" etc. hit a nerve with viewers. The War On Drugs has clearly not worked.
shareI used to love the show when I was a kid. On seeing it as an adult, I was shocked at how awful it was.
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The main reason that Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live
Nonsense! DS is a great show! I admit I liked it more as a kid too but it's better than the garbage on today!
sharethis is one of the best shows of my childhood. looks old fashioned now but was great in the 80's
shareAs much as I hate to admit it, I agree with the OP. I never liked Conrad Bain, for one thing. I did like Charlotte Rae on the spin-off, "The Facts of Life." As far as the kids, I had no feeling about them one way or the other, but basically I felt the show was bland. Take away Gary Coleman's "cuteness factor" and you have a totally unwatchable sitcom.
But ... as a "Facts of Life" fan I have to thank "Strokes" for all the years with the girls at Eastland! :)
Last night at the dance, my little brother paid a buck to see your underwear.
I thought Conrad Bain as Phillip Drummond was one of the all time great TV dads. I thought Charlotte Rae was too hammy.
shareFacts of life sticks out as the spin off which did MUCH better than the original series. Wise decision to spin off Charlotte Rae. Think different strokes could have been more successful if 'Phillip Drumond' did not look like conrad bain.
shareThink different strokes could have been more successful if 'Phillip Drumond' did not look like conrad bain.
if they had cast Michael Landon or Burt Reynolds as the NY rich guy yes people would have watched
shareRae was a maid/staff she was not supposed to be 'attractive' Her job was making beds, doing laundry, cooking, and scrubbing toilets.
Even Adam West would have been an improvement over Conrad Bain. Would have rather seen him as the dad. Difficult to believe that 'Maggie' would have the hots for Bain. But then again, this was supposed to be the 1980's where rich people have it all.
sharePreachy writing is rarely easy to stomach. Only "All in the Family", "Boston Public", and "The Facts of Life" (seasons 2-5) work for me... the cast and writing manage to make miracles out of what could easily have been total flops... these shows still hold up very well today, especially "Facts" - I'd seen a number of episodes recently and expected to loathe them, but didn't. They hold up well, are well-told, and it's the sort of affirming TV that compensates for (the sort of rubbish television that's ubiquitous these days).
I loved "Strokes" as a kid, but rewatching some of these stories were utterly bad. Indeed, the late-70s and early-80s were more or less ghosttowns for sitcoms... only Three's Company, Facts of Life stood out (of which some still hold up today)... But life in sitcomland was pretty bad... until a certain NBC lineup (Cosby Show, Night Court, Golden Girls, et al) managed to revitalize a genre people deemed had been worn out.
I liked the actors in other shows, and - for the time this show was made - I've no complaints, but it has not aged well.
Family Ties excels primarily bc of Michael J Fox and Merideth Baxter Birney....the later seasons w Andrew added on are not as good. If Fox decided to bolt the series would have been pulled. He did not have to stay on. he was doing double duty w back to the future etc.
shareYou seen the Kardashians, and how wooden they are?? Give me "Diff'rent Strokes" ANY day!
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