Jennifer Aniston, Gabrielle Union, Kathryn Hahn, and Allison Tolman have joined the cast of ABC‘s Live in Front of a Studio Audience that’ll see characters from Facts of Life and Diff’rent Strokes brought back to life on Dec. 7 starting at 8 p.m.
The quad will portray private school teens from the Facts of Life‘s fictional Eastland School who at times crossed over to Diff’rent Strokes.
Aniston will play the role of Blair (originally played by Lisa Whelchel), Union will play Tootie (Kim Fields), Hahn will play Jo (Nancy McKeon), and Tolman will play Natalie (Mindy Cohn).
They join the previously announced Ann Dowd who will play Mrs. Garrett (Charlotte Rae), the girls’ housemother.
Diff’rent Strokes (created by Bernie Kukoff and Jeff Harris) follows the lives of an unconventional family brought together by circumstance. Arnold (Gary Coleman) and his older brother Willis (Todd Bridges) were two Black brothers from Harlem who moved to a Park Avenue penthouse to live with their mother’s rich employer after her demise.
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Arnold and Willis oftentimes struggled to fit in with their new white family—a successful businessman, Phillip Drummond (Conrad Bain), and his daughter Kimberly (Dana Plato). Mr. Drummond not only kept his promise to the boys’ mother to raise them, but he grew to adore them as his own.
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Mrs. Garrett joins the family as the new housekeeper to help Mr. Drummond care for his growing family. When she grows tired of the monotony of daily life, she leaves the Drummond family for the Diff’rent Strokes spin-off The Facts of Life (created by Dick Clair and Jenna McMahon) in search of new dreams.
The cast for the Diff’rent Strokes re-do includes John Lithgow as Mr. Drummond, Kevin Hart as Arnold, and Damon Wayans embodies Willis.
The teaser above reveals surprise guest appearances. The only surviving lead castmember from Diff’rent Strokes is Bridges. However, The Facts of Life‘s lead cast are all still alive except for Rae who died in 2018.
Live Before a Studio Audience‘s executive producers Norman Lear, Jimmy Kimmel, Brent Miller, Kerry Washington, Will Ferrell, Justin Theroux, and Jim Burrows are returning for this round.
It’s produced by Kimmelot, ACT III Productions, Gary Sanchez Productions, D’Arconville, Simpson Street, and Sony Pictures Television. Burrows and Andy Fisher are set to direct the live show.
The first two installments of Sony Pictures Television’s Live in Front of a Studio Audience re-created episodes of Lear classics All in the Family and its spinoff The Jeffersons in spring 2019, and a different All in the Family episode was remade along with another of its groundbreaking spinoffs, Good Times, that winter.
The special will air one night only on ABC, then will stream on Hulu the following day.
Why wasn’t Nancy McKeon on with the other 3? Strange! Is she okay?
I dont see anywhere mentioned who will be playing Kimberly Drummond? It is sad that she is not being cast, so disrespectful.
I love both shows and can’t wait to watch this. Yes, a younger cast for the kids would have made sense but “LIFOASA” is about casting stars in these roles. It’s supposed to be fun not a documentary. The one thing that irks me from the promo is that they credit Damon as Willis Drummond and Kevin as Arnold Drummond. Their last name remained Jackson throughout the series. In fact they even had an episode late in their run where Willis and Arnold offered to change their name to Drummond to continue the family legacy. In the end Mr Drummond said they were already his legacy and should keep the Jackson name.
Wow! Looks like nobody in the comments section has a sense of humor at all. This sounds hilarious to me! I’ve enjoyed the first 2 installments of these specials but when I heard it was going to be Facts of Life and Different Strokes I was skeptical because while I watched sometimes when they were on I wasn’t the biggest fan, but seeing as adults are playing the roles it should be pretty interesting.
It’s difficult to recreate the chemistry that the original cast of both of these shows had.
That being said: I’d like to see “Live In Front Of A Studio Audience” do the “Good Times” episodes “The Evans Get Involved”!!! The 4 episodes that introduced Penny (played by Janet Jackson).
In fact, they could also have either Kim Fields, or Alexis Fields play Linella Gordon (the same role that was played by their mother Chip Hurd)!!!
Might as well have the original cast. These actors are way to old. The point of the show is to express children problems not adults. I am hoping Robin Thicke will sing the theme songs with his mother Gloria Loring.
Today’s proof-positive that Hollywood hasn’t an original bone in its body.
Agreed. Less of Jen and Kathryn.