The actual pilot episode, used to sell the show to NBC, was the Diff'rent Strokes first season finale, "The Girls' School (aka) Garrett's Girls". The cast of Diff'rent Strokes guest star only for this episode. Note: This was the show's first episode, but is not the pilot. Cindy (Julie Anne Haddock) decides not to attend the Harvest Ball, until Mrs. Garrett ( Charlotte Rae) at Eastland School and during the Harvest Queen competition, Blair ( Lisa Whelchel) makes a comment about tomboyish competitor Cindy not being feminine enough and even tries to insinuate that she's a lesbian. (The initial episode was a special presentation on Wednesday night after Diff'rent Strokes the show then moved to Fridays.) After a month off, the series moved back to Wednesday nights for the season's two final episodes in June. Then the show was off the air for six months, returning in March through early May for a run of seven episodes. The show aired four weekly episodes on Wednesday nights in August and September, technically before the 1979/80 TV season actually began. Though counted as a single season, the show aired in discrete blocks of episodes. O'Hara's character was dropped after the fourth episode. The first season begins with ten main characters: housemother Edna Garrett ( Charlotte Rae), headmaster Steven Bradley ( John Lawlor), teacher Emily Mahoney ( Jenny O'Hara), and seven students: Blair Warner ( Lisa Whelchel), Cindy Webster ( Julie Anne Haddock), Molly Parker ( Molly Ringwald), Nancy Olsen ( Felice Schachter), Natalie Green ( Mindy Cohn), Sue Ann Weaver ( Julie Piekarski), and Tootie Ramsey ( Kim Fields). Garrett helps out the girls of the chaotic dormitory at Eastland. Story by : Dick Clair & Jenna McMahon and Howard Leeds & Ben Starr The Diff'rent Strokes season 1 finale served as the backdoor pilot for The Facts of Life. See also: List of Diff'rent Strokes episodes § Season 1 (1978-1979)
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