The series wraps up not saying goodbye to its beloved characters and sending them on their way with love, but wasted on a premise for a spinoff for Blair that never took off. It's unfortunate and disappointing all these years later to be missing a proper finale.
5 Reviews
Terrible ending to a beloved series. Like zero in a heatwarming send-off for the girls.
reb-warrior5 December 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Blair who saved the school in the previous episode by quitting law school and using all her money from a trust fund now becomes the headmistress at her old alma mater. She has to deal with some different issues including a girl that is deliberately sabotaging her grades because she wants to go home.
Why did the producers/writers make the same mistakes as in season one? It was apparent having so many characters, and young kids as characters weren't going to work, that's why they changed the dynamic in season two with a smaller cast and a new premise which worked beautifully.
I love Blair and would have loved to see the character move on to her own series but this wasn't it. I mean we already went through the kid phase. We didn't need to restart the whole thing all over again. It was time to see our girls as adults in an adult world. Unfortunately, the spinoff attempts sucked, including this one. I would have loved to see Blair continue on to becoming a lawyer. That seemed perfect for her.
There are a couple of funny moments with Blair, but next to nothing of Jo, Natalie, Tootie, and Beverly Ann. They didn't even bother with Andy. He wasn't in it at all. Which is no loss to me, since I was never neither here nor there with him.
Mr. Mitchell was a sleazeball. He kept harassing Blair for a date and kept saying inappropriate things thing to her. I mean he was so disrespectful. This was sexual harassment to me. Why the show was restarting into a kid's show, and having this guy as a teacher, and making him behave this way is beyond me.
There was no proper send-off for our girls. They wasted budgets in the last few episodes trying awful spinoff attempts. When they should have been coming up with a grand storyline and heartwarming sendoff for the girls.
The episode in it itself isn't all terrible. But for viewers who spent 8-9 seasons watching this, it was terrible as the all-important series finale. The girls and loyal viewers deserved better.1/10. Terrible ending to a beloved series. Like zero in a heartwarming send-off for the girls.
Why did the producers/writers make the same mistakes as in season one? It was apparent having so many characters, and young kids as characters weren't going to work, that's why they changed the dynamic in season two with a smaller cast and a new premise which worked beautifully.
I love Blair and would have loved to see the character move on to her own series but this wasn't it. I mean we already went through the kid phase. We didn't need to restart the whole thing all over again. It was time to see our girls as adults in an adult world. Unfortunately, the spinoff attempts sucked, including this one. I would have loved to see Blair continue on to becoming a lawyer. That seemed perfect for her.
There are a couple of funny moments with Blair, but next to nothing of Jo, Natalie, Tootie, and Beverly Ann. They didn't even bother with Andy. He wasn't in it at all. Which is no loss to me, since I was never neither here nor there with him.
Mr. Mitchell was a sleazeball. He kept harassing Blair for a date and kept saying inappropriate things thing to her. I mean he was so disrespectful. This was sexual harassment to me. Why the show was restarting into a kid's show, and having this guy as a teacher, and making him behave this way is beyond me.
There was no proper send-off for our girls. They wasted budgets in the last few episodes trying awful spinoff attempts. When they should have been coming up with a grand storyline and heartwarming sendoff for the girls.
The episode in it itself isn't all terrible. But for viewers who spent 8-9 seasons watching this, it was terrible as the all-important series finale. The girls and loyal viewers deserved better.1/10. Terrible ending to a beloved series. Like zero in a heartwarming send-off for the girls.
Ok episodes, weak series finale.
IrishEMT10 March 2023
Warning: Spoilers
For a long time I really didn't like these episodes as the finale of a landmark 80s sitcom that was on for 9 seasons. It lacks the core 4 as the focus. The core 4 that made this show successful for 9 seasons. The 2 part finale primarily features Blair as it was meant to be a back door pilot for her character. The fact that the episode preceding these 2 is also a back door pilot for the character Natalie prolongs the core 4 absence. (Word is NBC was going to renew for a 10th season of FOL but McKeon & Fields wanted to move on). As a big fan it leaves you feeling a lack of cohesive closure.
If you think about the real world, we don't always get closure. We have close friends in our youth & there comes a time that in order to grow up we move on and away to new things. So while it's realistic in life it's not the tied up in a neat bow kinda tv happy ending with all the girls together for 23 minutes to say goodbye to.
Most bothersome is the actual final scene. It's a group photo missing Natalie & with Jo's husband in it!?! I would have loved an additional episode as the true finale to give us this ending where in the final scene it's the core 4 & they're saying goodbye to each other as Tootie heads to London & Natalie to the big city for good. Jo packing her stuff up after finding her new place. A quick photo (Polaroid) of the core 4, Blair looks at it places it on the table grabs her bag to go to work, door closes room is empty for a beat before a close up shot of the photo. End scene, End series. 💕
If you think about the real world, we don't always get closure. We have close friends in our youth & there comes a time that in order to grow up we move on and away to new things. So while it's realistic in life it's not the tied up in a neat bow kinda tv happy ending with all the girls together for 23 minutes to say goodbye to.
Most bothersome is the actual final scene. It's a group photo missing Natalie & with Jo's husband in it!?! I would have loved an additional episode as the true finale to give us this ending where in the final scene it's the core 4 & they're saying goodbye to each other as Tootie heads to London & Natalie to the big city for good. Jo packing her stuff up after finding her new place. A quick photo (Polaroid) of the core 4, Blair looks at it places it on the table grabs her bag to go to work, door closes room is empty for a beat before a close up shot of the photo. End scene, End series. 💕
Disappointment of a Finale
hschmidtlondon17 December 2023
The final episode is a continuation of the previous one where Blair is the new Headmistress of Eastland dealing with a student who wants to get kicked out of school. Instead of studying for a make-up exam, the student and a few friends go to the Chug-A-Lug. I liked this story when they did it the first time - when new student Jo dared Blair to go with her.
NBC did our girls dirty wasting time on a pilot for a spin-off - an inferior show to the original. There is no proper TFOL finale with a heartwarming and nostalgic send-off. No walking down memory lane with the gang after 9 seasons of this beloved sitcom. Fans of this show were deprived of a finale to send the girls on their way after 9 years.
After 3/4 of the episode is taken up by the Eastland story, we get less than 5 minutes of the actual show we care about: Tootie announcing she got into the Academy of Dramatic Arts and is moving to London, Rick comes back to surprise Jo. Natalie isn't even there - she calls in for 30 secs from Soho - why is she missing from the finale? Apparently, you can pack up your life and fully move in 1 episode (Natalie was deciding what to pack in the previous episode). Blair walks in just in time to be in a group photo. The final picture has Pippa instead of Natalie. It's just all wrong.
There are many TV shows with bad finales, some are cancelled before they could film one, and others combined a finale and spin-off, but this is the most non-finale, finale of a show I've ever seen. What a disappointment. The fans deserved better.
NBC did our girls dirty wasting time on a pilot for a spin-off - an inferior show to the original. There is no proper TFOL finale with a heartwarming and nostalgic send-off. No walking down memory lane with the gang after 9 seasons of this beloved sitcom. Fans of this show were deprived of a finale to send the girls on their way after 9 years.
After 3/4 of the episode is taken up by the Eastland story, we get less than 5 minutes of the actual show we care about: Tootie announcing she got into the Academy of Dramatic Arts and is moving to London, Rick comes back to surprise Jo. Natalie isn't even there - she calls in for 30 secs from Soho - why is she missing from the finale? Apparently, you can pack up your life and fully move in 1 episode (Natalie was deciding what to pack in the previous episode). Blair walks in just in time to be in a group photo. The final picture has Pippa instead of Natalie. It's just all wrong.
There are many TV shows with bad finales, some are cancelled before they could film one, and others combined a finale and spin-off, but this is the most non-finale, finale of a show I've ever seen. What a disappointment. The fans deserved better.
Facts Of Life Ends With A Whimper
alanduran-625434 February 2024
Warning: Spoilers
Looking back on this show from a thirty-five year perspective, it's very odd that a long running show like The Facts Of Life did not get a proper finale. If there was a finale, it was Jo's wedding. All the following episodes tended to spotlight each individual character. We had Tootie and the ugly lavalier. Jo and the jumper. Natalie in what may have been a Friends prototype. Then, we get Blair buying Eastland. The only thing interesting about that episode is Juliette Lewis, Mayim Bialik and Seth Green. We also had. We also get Sam Behrens, who played Jake. Meyer on General Hospital, playing a misogynistic professor at the school. I think this is what surprised me the most was the level of actions by the male characters that would be considered sexual harassment now and would not be tolerated in this day and age. Back in the day, it was used to generate laughs. Just a funny, weird ending for a show called The Facts Of Life. The final group shot is missing both Natalie and Andy. Instead we get Pippa in Natalie's place. They should have at least concluded with a clip show.
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