The Facts of Life Reunion disturbed me because it little uncomfortable knowing that I'm now old enough to begin seeing reunion movies of some of my favorite childhood shows. Aside from that, it was really refreshing seeing the cast again. The main cast really seemed to be enjoying themselves back in their old roles and the old chemistry was still there. The producers did a great job in staying true to events in the series and informing us of the changes in that time, fans will see many, sometimes minor, references to the past (like Mrs. Garrett's Peace Corps journey, Blair's purchase of Eastland and allowing boys to go to the school...etc) which makes it seem like someone behind the scenes cared enough to get the details right. The recreation of the Eastland Cafeteria was excellent and was upgraded from the bland 4-sided look of a TV sitcom set to the full 6-sided realistic looking sets found in hour long dramas. While the writers did a great job in packing a lot into this movie, they didn't really create a good plot. Natalie had 2 dates in one night and attempted to prevent both men from knowing about the other, that's about as sitcom cliche as replacing a friend's dead pet with a look-a-like, but who knows? Maybe a movie based on a sitcom should embrase their sitcom-ness! Some things I hoped for but didn't see: a tour of their old "Edna's Edibles" house, you'd think Beverly Anne might still be living there. I would have loved to have seen an upgraded 6-sided version of that significant set too! The main flaw was the lack of Nancy McKeon, her absense was very noticeable but the writers did a good job in acknowledging her importance by having her kid and husband show instead. McKeon supposedly wanted to put the Jo role behind her and move on, but sorry Nancy, skipping out of a reunion show doesn't help break a typecasting problem it just makes you look like an ungrateful David Caruso who couldn't be bothered with the role that made her famous in the first place. You stood out more by NOT being there. On a side note, the cast of "Facts" kids fortunately had enough smarts to stay away from the problems that plagued the "Diff'rent Strokes" kids. Maybe "Jo's" case involved a troubled Willis Drummond...
Review of The Facts of Life Reunion
