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DIFFERENT STROKES
*The original concept for the show was different from what would come on the air. It would have been on ABC and set in an upscale Long Island town, not in Manhattan. There was no older brother, originally, and the housekeeper would have been younger and sexier. The production company balked, and ABC lost interest.
*Charlotte Rae was promised a smooth return back onto this series if her spin-off, The Facts of Life, had failed. But it was renewed, so she was replaced.
*The episode "The Girls School" (episode #1.24) was the pilot for the spin-off The Facts of Life.
*Dana Plato was written out of the series when she became pregnant in 1984, and it was agreed that it would be out of character for the same to happen to Kimberly Drummond. However, she was allowed to return for guest appearances after the birth of her son.
*When Conrad Bain signed on to do Maude, the production company promised him his own show when that one ended. By then, Gary Coleman was also signed to the company. When the planned updating of the "Our Gang" comedy series, which Coleman would have been in, was aborted, they paired them and decided to come up with a suitable premise.
*Gary Coleman wanted the show to end in 1985, when it moved to ABC, but was persuaded into signing on for another year, after which it was cancelled.
*When ABC picked up the show, the producers contacted 'Dixie Carter' to return to play Maggie Drummond, but she was unavailable because shortly after NBC canceled, she had landed her role on Designing Women, so Maggie was recast with Mary Ann Mobley.
*Alan Thicke, who wrote and sang the theme song, had to record a new version of the song for ABC because NBC owned the copyrights to the original.
*Mr. Drummond paid $3,500 a month for his Park Avenue apartment.
*Gary Coleman, who played loveable Arnold Jackson, was born with a defective kidney and received a transplant at five years of age. The abnormal functioning of his kidney during his first five years of life is what caused him to be smaller than normal for his age.
WEBSTER
*Webster Long's parents were killed in a car accident. The Papadapolis couple took him in because George was Webster's godfather.
*Emmanuel Lewis was discovered by a network executive while appearing in a Burger King commercial. He was immediately signed to a contract and then the TV show was designed around him.
*Webster called Mr. Papadapolis, "George". He called Katherine, "Ma'am" because it sounded a lot like "Mom".
*Jerry Seinfeld was on the writing staff for the show but was fired after only a few episodes. In a newspaper interview, Jerry said that was one of the most humiliating experiences of his life.
*The original title of the show was to be "Another Ballgame" (which instead became the title of the first episode). Then the name was changed to "Then Came You". When the name was finally changed to "Webster", Alex Karras and Susan Clark were understandably upset. They signed on to do a show about a nice white couple who accept and love the afro-american son of a former friend. The producers and audiences fell in love with the "cute as pie" Emmanuel Lewis, however, and the TV show soon centered around "Webster".
*Emmanuel Lewis may have been a little too cute for his own good! His mother regularly complained about him constantly being picked up and carried around by members of the crew. They treated him as if he were 6-years-old (as he appeared) rather than his actual age of 12-years-old. He was so cute that people couldn't help themselves even after the complaints. Finally, the head of Paramount television had to order the crew to stop.
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