Customer Reviews:
 Edna's Edibles January 22, 2010
Harry Ohsiek (Salt Lake City, UT)
This season marks another change in the series. First of all the set & Mrs. Garret's career change. The season premier picks up where season 4 ended. Blair & Jo have graduated & moved out of the Eastland cafeteria. Natalie & Tootie are enjoying more bedroom & bathroom space. No more Eastland uniforms on Lisa Whelchel & Nancy McKeon, in fact you see less Eastland wear on Mindy Cohn & Kim Fields as well.
The season premier sets the tone for what the series will be like for the remainder of its run (no one knew at the time it would be cancelled 5 years later) with the girls entering adulthood & dealing w/single career women issues & finding Mr. Right, instead of adolescence. We see the familar Eastland cafeteria set from seasons 2-4 most of us thought would be used throughout until Tootie graduates, for the last time in the series. Now instead of the yellowish background cafeteria set the cast is moved to a new oak-brown stained delicatessen & gourmet store along w/an adjacent 2-level home or condo w/dark green-like wallpaper. Instead of the staircase that goes into the cafeteria kitchen we see Mrs. Garrett & the girls going up & down a different staircase in the living room of their new home attatched to the new Edna's Edibles deli. Instead of relaxing & spending time w/each other in the rec center section of the Eastland cafeteria & also sharing w/other Eastland students passing through, the girls now have their own private living room with a door & doorbell. And the girls share another bedroom & bathroom, only this time the bedroom is bigger, split level, & Natalie & Tootie each have their own bed now.
At first you think the series will not show all 4 living together & show Blair & Jo off at college in the dorms while going back to Mrs. G, Natalie, & Tootie still at Eastland. But in the season opener we learn Jo was not able to get into the college dorms & has been sneaking in & out of Blair's room sleeping in a sleeping bag. Meanwhile Mrs. Garrett is tired of the same old hassle as Eastland's dietician, Mr. Parker is driving her nuts, & is delighted when her son gives her an old vacated diner for her birthday. (Was that right? I haven't seen this 1 hour turned 2 part episode in over 15 years.) This is a big opportunity for her & w/help from the girls the dusty old joint is turned into a fancy, expensive yet homestyle feeling delicatessen & bakery. Natalie & Tootie are excited to move off Eastland Campus & actually work part-time & earn instead of paying off the Eastland van & all the wasted paint (why all 4 ended up working in the cafeteria in seasons 2 & 3). Jo now has a place to stay & also a job to work around her college schedule. All in all, everyone's excited, even Blair, to be together again all under one roof.
As the series progressed further into the '80's, styles & hairdos would get more sophisticated. Mindy's & Kim's hairstyles have changed dramatically since we last saw them in season 4 finale. Mindy has shorter hair now & no more short braids-turned-pigtails off the top of her head. Midway through season 6 her hairdo would change a little bit more to resemble her do for season 7 & you'll notice coloring & styling spritz or hairspray used more. In Season 8, her bangs have grown out, she parts her hair in the other direction (her natural calick?), & above all it's dyed a coppery '80's red. Midway through the 9th & final season she goes back to her natural light brown color & has bangs cut again (she apparently had bangs cut during season 2, or pinned her bangs to the side w/the rest of her hair for the first 1-1/2 seasons.)
Kim's hair looks so different now. Her hair is also altered & changed. The sides are cropped up a little & permed as well as her bangs. She no longer has the bowl-cut natural look she sported since midway season 3. But in the season 5 opener, the producers should've shown a new image of her, instead of repeating what's been used since late season 3, especially now that her hair looks different & Kim is older. (I wonder if Miss Fields had anything to say about that?) Kim would have her hair trimmed & cropped a little more & permed to look more curly by the end of the season. Season 6 would start out w/her hair parted to the side. She had kind of a mullet at the beginning of season 8 & midway would all be grown out, same length, spiral permed, & no bangs. By the end of the series her haircolor would be lightened but also letting the perm go away, getting bangs again, & going back to her more natural bowl-like look.
In fact throughout the series' run all of the girls' haridos changed, and I mean totally changing the way their hair naturally styles.
Lisa would be the first. For season 3 her hair has more body & volume. She has bangs for season 4 & also it's bleached lighter. For season 5 her hair is shorter & darker (either dyed or Lisa's natural color). It get's a little lighter for season 6 & midway she has it cut shorter on the sides, almost like a mullet. For season 7 the mullet is grown out, more body throughout, & a little shorter. It gets shorter midway & into season 8. And for the final season the Blair Warner precious head of hair is a little more straighter, longer, & permed bangs.
Nancy had the late '70's-early '80's parted in the middle w/sides pulled back, and of course the rest in a pony tail. The producers should've had more shots w/her hair out of the ponytail with or without sides pulled back, especially for formal scenes & when she's in her pajamas & goes to bed. (I figured Miss McKeon at the time usually wore her hair w/sides pulled back but I wouldn't be suprised she usually had the ponytail too most of the time, because in a 3rd season episode of "Love Boat" before "Facts" she has her trademark Jo Polniaczek pony tail look)Her big hair change came in season 6. More fuller, bangs fuller & expanded, full of body, & parted on her left. Then midway she would get it cut shorter, almost spike the bangs, & part on her right. Season 8 would be shorter, more body on the bangs, & frosted. Then grown out, no more frosting, & still sprial permed & parted on her right.
Changing sets & the tone of the series (again, remember the first format in season 1?) was a good idea & added excitement. But sadly the Michael Jackson Thriller era set would get a major facelift again, right when we all got used to the warmth of Edna's Edibles & the new adjacent home. Season 7 starts out w/the girls returning on the same train from vacation & returning to a charred gutted out Edna's Edibles & home. Instead of restoring the deli & the old time decor of the home, the girls & Mrs. G (& the show's creators)pool their money together & create a more trendy '80's looking trend & fad shop called Over Our Heads & make the entire home look more modern. Over Our Heads would only be seen once during the final season whereas it was seen frequently along w/the remodeled house during seasons 7 & 8.
So now just like other commentators & amazon.com critics are asking, when?! How much longer before the rest of the seasons for "Facts" & it's mother show "Diff'rent Strokes" are released?! Or better yet, how much longer before season 4 of "Facts" & season 3 of "Strokes," & how much longer after that for seasons 5 & 4 respectively?! Face it people! The only way to see these shows anymore, if not on BET or satellite, is to make sure while in prime time or recent reruns (as in late '80's-early '90's)on local channels that you videotaped & look in your old, dust covered VHS tapes.
Impatient fan August 7, 2009
Jacquelyn M. Hardy (Kissimmee, FL USA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I have the first 3 seasons and I'm growing impatient for the rest of the seasons to be available on dvd. Any chance that's goiong to be soon?
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