I really like watching sitcoms from the 70’s and 80’s, and The Facts of Life was one of my favorites. You never quite knew what to expect with Mrs. Garrett and her crew of girls from the Eastland Academy, but you could always count on a lot of laughs. Recently, The Facts of Life has been released on DVD (at least the first 3 seasons), and I’ve had fun re-watching all of my favorite memories from the show.
Today, I decided to do a search on YouTube to see if I could find any clips from The Facts of Life, not really expecting to find too much. Boy, was I surprised when over 1600 video results were returned. I took the time to watch some clips, and I’ve compiled this list of my five favorite video clips from YouTube about The Facts of Life.
5. The Facts of Life Theme Song – “You take the good, you take the bad. You take ’em both and there you have…” Ahh..who could forget the wonderful theme song from The Facts of Life? Many people aren’t aware that the theme song was actually written by Alan Thicke, who is probably best known for playing “Jason Seever” on the show Growing Pains.
4. Girls Just Want to Have Fun” Tribute Video – Featuring some absolutely great clips of Jo, Blair, Natalie, and Tootie from the show, this music video is a “fan tribute” set to Cyndi Lauper’s fabulous song Girls Just Want to Have Fun. I can’t think of a better song to sum up The Facts of Life…it really was about a group of great girl friends growing up and having fun together.
3. Blair and Mrs. Garrett Reunite – Throughout the years, it has been very rare for the cast of The Facts of Life to appear together in public. However, at the 2006 “TV Land Awards,” fans got a big kick out of seeing Lisa Whelchel and Charlotte Rae reunite on-stage to sing the theme song from the show. Watch this clip and see for yourself!
2. Facts of Life Parody by ITTV – Brought to you by the folks at It’s Twisted Television, this comedy sketch is absolutely hilarious. When the girls need to cook for a bake sale, Jo talks the gang into selling “pot brownies.” Things are looking bad for the bake sale, until Cousin Gerri saves the day. The actors in this sketch really nailed the idiosyncrasies of the original cast members, which makes this clip even funnier. And the top video is…
1. The Facts of Life Girls Get Stoned – Speaking of pot, most people don’t believe me when I tell them that in the first season, two of the show’s main characters got stoned. While I’m sure the show was considered very progressive and educational at the time, looking back at it is just down right laughable. (Oh, and if you’re curious to see the aftermath of the marijuana, you can watch this clip from later on in the same episode.)
The Facts of Life was a great show, and I’ll probably never get tired of watching the reruns. Now, thanks to YouTube, everyone can access these (and many more) great clips from this hit television program.
