The Facts of Life and Diff'rent Strokes to Be Featured on Live in Front of a Studio Audience
The Emmy Award-winning Live in Front of a Studio Audience will return in December with two new reenactments of beloved, classic television series. This time, the third iteration of Live in Front of a Studio Audience will feature The Facts of Life and Diff'rent Strokes. Both reenactments will premiere on ABC on Tuesday, December 7th beginning at 8 p.m. EST. As has been the case for the previous events, this round of Live in Front of a Studio Audience will be a one-night-only event that will stream the next day on Hulu.
The special event will reunite executive producers Norman Lear, Jimmy Kimmel, Brent Miller, Kerry Washington, Will Ferrel, Justin Therough, and Jim Burrows. The cast for Diff'rent Strokes has already been announced with John Lithgow playing Mr. Drummond, Kevin hart playing Arnold, Damon Wayans playing Willis, and Ann Dowd playing Mrs. Garret. The cast of The Facts of Life will be announced at a later date. The special will be followed by a special early premiere of the new series Abbott Elementary which stars and is executive produced by Quinta Brunson.
"Other than with my family, there's no place I'd rather be in my 100th year than on a soundstage at Sony with these glorious actors reliving what our company had produced all those years ago and sharing it with the millions of viewers who could use a little laughter," Norman Lear said in a statement.
Live in Front of a Studio audience debuted in spring 2019 with recreations of episodes of All in the Family and The Jeffersons featuring all-star casts, followed by an additional episode of All in the Family and the groundbreaking sitcom Good Times in winter 2019. The program has been popular with viewers with The Sony Pictures Television special Live in Front of a Studio Audience: All in the Family and Good Times reaching nearly 13 million total viewers on linear and digital platforms. In addition, the holiday-inspired live event averaged nearly 8 million total viewers after 35 days of delayed viewing across all platforms.
"Live in Front of a Studio Audience has become one of our most anticipated highlights of the year – it brings some of the biggest and funniest stars on the planet together on the same stage, where truly anything can happen, to introduce a whole new generation to Diff'rent Strokes and Facts of Life," Craig Erwich, president, Hulu Originals and ABC Entertainment said. "Jimmy and Norman have outdone themselves with a spectacular, irreverent, and hilarious cast to once again create a can't-miss television event."
Created by Jeff Harris and Bernie Kukoff, Diff'rent Strokes ran first on NBC from November 1978 to May 1985 and then from September 1985 to March 1986 and originally starred Gary Coleman, Todd Bridges, Conrad Bain, Dana Plato, and Charlotte Rae. The Facts of Life, which starred Rae and was created by Dick Clair and Jenna McMahon, aired on NBC from August 1979 to May 1988. The series was a spinoff of Diff'rent Strokes and followed Rae's Edna Garret, formerly the housekeeper on Diff'rent Strokes, becoming the housemother of a dormitory for a private all-girls school.
Live in Front of a Studio Audience will be produced by Kimmelot, ACT III Productions, Gary Sanchez Productions, D'Arconville, Simpson Street, and Sony Pictures Television. Norman Lear, Jimmy Kimmel, Brent Miller, Kerry Washington, Will Ferrell, Justin Theroux, and Jim Burrows will executive produce. Jim Burrows and Andy Fisher are set to direct the live show.