The only episode in the entire show in which the four main cast members of Diff'rent Strokes (1978) - Conrad Bain (Mr. Drummond), Dana Plato (Kimberly), Gary Coleman (Arnold) and Todd Bridges (Willis) - make a guest appearance together.
After an interview on Bravo's Watch What Happens Live, Molly Ringwald said she was "hurt" when let go from Facts of Life at the end of Season 1. "But then I got a movie with Paul Mazursky and Susan Sarandon," she said. "So I was like, 'Bye Tootie.'"
The pilot "Rough Housing" may have been the very first children's program on network television to discuss gender confusion and sexual identity crises among youth, as well as anti-gay bullying among teenagers.
According to the other cast members, Lisa Welchel used to blow off rehearsal and would sit around reading while the other girls were reading their lines. Once they confronted her, she apologized (after getting angry) and stopped doing it.
The dormitory the girls live in during season one is a reused set from the short live sitcom Co-Ed Fever, which starred actor David Keith. That show lasted only one episode and was canceled in the spring of 1979.