Arnold et Willy

Watching the true Hollywood story on E! about the cast of Different Strokes was heartbreaking, after all, two of the three cast members had substance abuse problems and the star, Gary Coleman, had problems with his parents that he sued them. It's sad to watch the show, I wish I didn't know Dana Plato's problems because now I see how much she wanted her life to be like Kimberly Drummond. Conrad Bain was great as the father figure of the show. Of course, he was supposed to only be acting but I think he became a paternal figure to those youngsters. We went Mrs. Edna Garrett played by the wonderful Charlotte Rae who got her own show without all the drama of Different Strokes. She escaped it. I never approved of them dissing Dixie Carter for Mary Ann Mobley. I like them both in the role as the second Mrs. Drummond. Of course, there was the guest appearances of First Lady Nancy Reagan preaching against drugs. How little did we know the truth? Gary Coleman never escaped the image of the chubby cute kid on Different Strokes. Dana Plato who is gone to a better place never did get to experience the life of Kimberly Drummond except when she was on the set. I only wish Todd and Gary best for their future. I only wished that the off-screen drama was cut down for their sakes. I feel guilty getting laughs knowing that they went home and cried or faced abuse.

It's hard to believe, but 2003 marks 25 years since Gary Coleman asked Willis what he was talking about.

Norman Lear, who broke a lot of ground heretofore with All in the Family, Maude, The Jeffersons, and Good Times, continued his magic touch with Diff'rent Strokes. A 25th anniversary marathon on any given television station would be a great way to remember this show, notwithstanding that Miss Dana Plato is no longer of this earth.

This show made Gary Coleman Gary Coleman, and he truly made the show what it was.

I watched this show as a child and I enjoyed it for what it was. However, as the show got older even I could see that Gary Coleman was getting a bit to old for the role and that is of course when they did what every show featuring children who age do. Do they simply end the show gracefully...No! They try to keep the show alive, by interjecting a younger kid to try and bring the cute factor the show once had and lost when the children grew up. They did this on numerous shows, this is one of the few that I actually saw that did it. I watched Brady Bunch a bit when I was a kid, but I have never seen an Oliver episode. This show is about a wealthy guy who takes in the children of a former maid or something. That is about all there is to it. He has a daughter of his own and he raises the children the best he can as they go out in the world and face all of life's little challenges, including a guy who kidnaps young Arnold (Gary Coleman) and Kimberly (Dana Plato) in an episode that was a bit much considering this show was aimed at the family market. I mean you want your child to be safe and all, but you also do not want them becoming fearful and paranoid. They also had one where cute little Sam (the youth interjection) got kidnapped as well. Then they have an episode where they basically try to capitalize on the success of the film "Ghostbusters". So in recap this is a show that should have stayed on four or five years tops, but tried to keep the show going as long as possible and weakening what little did work.

Diff'rent Strokes was and still is regarded by many as not just one of the most successful sitcoms in TV history but one of the very few, which succeeded due to the multi-racial cast of Conrad Bain as Philip/Mr Drummond, Dana Plato as Kimberley, Todd Bridges as Willis, and the lovable scamp, Gary Coleman as Arnold Jackson. The performances given by the main leads in Diff'rent Strokes was great, particularly Conrad's as the strict but fair, Mr Drummond. Mrs Edna Garrett played by Charlotte Rae was funny, charming and witty and a great addition to the cast. But the star of the show was Coleman as Arnold and his famous catchphrase 'whatcha talking'about Willis?'.

Even though it was a sitcom, the show wasn't afraid of tackling and addressing social and controversial issues such as child molestation, racism, bulimia, class division and sex for example. The writing was funny but also sharp, witty and clever. Arnold has arguably the best and funnier lines out of all the characters, although Philip isn't that far off either.

He was one of the reasons why Diff'rent Strokes was such a huge success story, as Coleman's comic timing was almost spot-on. The cutesy factor that accompanies his cheeky and somewhat mischievous persona as Arnold was a huge incentive on his part.

There have been many sitcoms past and present, which centred around youngsters as the main protagonists, but whilst most of them have tried they have failed, mainly because one of the reasons for this is that those shows do not possess a central character as humorous, as versatile as Arnold and of whom has a personality of which viewers can fall in love with straight away.

Diff'rent Strokes didn't have just one but three child characters in Kimberly, Willis and Arnold. The concept was original and addressed the issue of child adoption in a straight-to-the-point manner but at the same time combine laughs with clean cut jokes, good gags and great humour. It's such a shame though that the notoriety of the show, in regards to the child performers was always brought up; likewise Coleman's own brushes with the law and surprising fall from grace, Todd's battle with drugs, and the rather unfortunate and well documented demise of Dana and her subsequent death during the late 90s, slightly tarnished the mainstream success, as well as history of Diff'rent Strokes. Next year in 2008, it will be the 30th anniversary of Diff'rent Strokes, since its debut in 1978.

All in all though, this was a great little sitcom, starring a little guy with a big heart played by Coleman which was destined to be a big hit, which it was and one that captured millions of audiences hearts, worldwide.

Who would think that the main characters from a naive, tender, family show would end up meeting such fatal fates? Well, that's another story.

"Diff'rent Strokes" is an important sticom in American pop culture and also paved the way for comedy shows with a social message inserted.

Here, the inter racial situations mixed with poverty and social clichés were the spinal cord for the plot and even in jokes. Everything was extremely well done and executed with class. Nothing was vulgar or tried directly to impose a criteria; the situations were just put for the audience to judge it whatsoever they wanted.

The jokes were sometimes naive but always witty. The humor was family oriented but after nearly 30 years, none of them is boring. Sure, society has changed a lot but some things just can't disappear.

The acting is top notch. Gary Coleman is now some sort of cult hero for displaying a physical illness and being part of a social minority but his comedic skills and histrionic abilities make him one of the most likable child stars ever. Conrad Bain was excellent as the protective, tender but strong man that took care about his house. Dana Plato was extremely sexy, hot; she's the kind of girl I wanted to marry.

Anyways, watch this sitcom in order to witness part of America's pop culture talking about television. This show will teach you many things and as a plus, it will make you chuckle most of the time.