Facts of Life: Season 5 DVD News

According to this TVShowsonDVD article, Facts of Life fans will have much to be happy about as the fifth season of the show will be released before the end of the year, just months after season four’s release. And personally it really makes me happy because my personal favorite seasons are 5-8. I can't wait to revisit the Edna's Edibles era.

This is very nice. At this point, knowing Shout! Factory, the show will actually be completed on DVD in our lifetimes. I am so glad Sony leased the rights of the show to a company that will release it in a timely manner. Hopefully the same will happen with other classics.

Facts of Life: Season 4 Artwork!

The artwork for the DVD cover is now being released for the season 4 DVD of The Facts of Life, which is set to come out in May. It’s pretty consistent with the previous DVD sets by Sony. Though the pictures of Kim Fields and Mindy Cohn are obviously from later on in the run and not from around the season time period. Kim still had the bowl cut in the fourth season. I’m still very excited though, only a few more months till this comes out! It’s so nice to see more of a true classic get out on DVD! Thanks again, Shout! Factory!

Facts of Life: Season 4 FINALLY Coming to DVD!

I could not have been more excited to hear this week that Shout! Factory has picked up the DVD rights to Diff’rent Strokes spin-off The Facts of Life and will be releasing season 4 this May!

What I really love about this is that they're really going to be getting into my absolute favorite years of the show if they keep releasing the seasons after 4. I love seasons 5-8. Knowing the Paris movie will be a part this release is another plus. I have the feeling it wouldn't have been included if Sony released it.

Knowing that they've picked up Designing Women and now this show, maybe it could mean good things in the future for many other abandoned Sony classics like Maude, Diff'rent Strokes, The Jeffersons and All in the Family. There are too many classic hits with still very large and supportive fan bases today that should have been completed by now, many of which belonging to Sony Pictures Television.

I've been waiting so long for this. Thank you Shout! Factory!

Online Pick of the Week (7/17): The Facts of Life

The pick this week goes to an episode of one of my favorite shows, The Facts of Life, which is the type of program that I’ve mentioned before. The type of show that I grew up watching in some form, in this case, reruns, that is as still as enjoyable today as it was when I saw it back then. And honestly, I’ve noticed something. Now as most sitcom fans know, The Facts of Life is a spin-off of the show Diff’rent Strokes. And after having the opportunity to see that show in reruns again after so many years I’ve come to the conclusion that this is a case I prefer the spin off much more than the parent show.

Over the years, both shows moved on into the decade of the 1980’s and both shows had their share of cheese and questionable hairstyles. But I think Facts aged much better. I’ve grown to dread a lot of the later episodes of Strokes, due to the overabundance of very special episodes and characters like Sam. Now, Facts of Life had their share of “episodes to remember” too and unlikable characters; for instance, I’m not really a fan of Roy. But looking at things, I really thought that this show in particular did a much better job overall at introducing new characters and starting new eras. Andy is one of the few young characters that are added to shows in later years that I actually liked. There were a few episodes where Andy was the focus, but he never really took over the show like Sam did. And I know it was a lot to take when Charlotte Rae left, but I think Cloris Leachman’s character Beverly Ann was very likable and I think it helped that a relationship was not forced on with her and the girls at the beginning. Also Facts wasn’t really much of a “lesson” show anymore by the later years. It was more about the girls living their lives.

The episode chosen is “Grand Opening,” the episode where the shop Over Our Heads is first open for business. I would have selected the first two parts to start season 7, but the first half is no longer online. It’s my online pick of the week!