Talk:Diff'rent Strokes

The maids
Maid...it should be noted that there were, like, three maids during the show's run. There was Adelaide, and Pearl, and someone else. Mike H 00:59, Jan 11, 2005 (UTC)


 * Someone else? She was the most famous one of all... Mrs. Garrett! :) Moncrief 04:30, May 10, 2005 (UTC)


 * I thought there was someone else other than that! :) Mike H 01:51, May 13, 2005 (UTC)

Arnold's goldfish
Arnold's black goldfish was named Abraham --MidnightSwinga 04:59, 9 February 2006 (UTC)


 * On The Cosby Show, Rudy's goldfish had a bathroom funeral. This seemed to be a copy of the bathroom funeral for Arnold's goldfish (Abraham) "Those who come from the sea, shall return to the sea". GoodDay 19:51, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

Janet Jackson
Janet Jackson made appereances on the show --MidnightSwinga 04:59, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

Prostitution?
Uh... I never have heard of Dana Plato doing prostitution. This should be removed.


 * The "Jeff Harris" mentioned in this page is not the same one that created this show.

It would be unfortunate if the prostitution is true, but anyway there is a separate wikipedia page for Dana Plato.

And who is this Jeff Harris who is not the show creator? Why is that mentioned under the "Prostitution?" section you are reading? Carlm0404 (talk) 20:52, 27 August 2020 (UTC)

Name Origin
There was a landmark court decision in 1977 regarding a white family denied the right to adopt their mixed-race foster child because family services thought he should be placed with a black family. The white couples surname was Drummond, and this was one year before DS began. Is there any chance this is just a coincidence? If not - is it worth a mention? I can't find any actual evidence that the case inspired the naming of (and perhaps even the idea for) the family in the show. - Lciaccio 14:33, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

consistency between articles
Someone more familiar than myself should probably work on the spelling of the Gary Coleman line; it's spelled differently here and in the bio of Coleman...consistency would be a good idea. User:Snyrt

IKEA Commercial
Last year IKEA used the show's theme song in a commercial; it was sung (summat off-key) by the Swedish announcer. I don't know if that's worth putting in. Comments, please? while I go look for a cite. Tks. -- Sig Pig  |SEND - OVER 11:14, 20 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Legacy section added referencing this IKEA ad ShadyCrack (talk) 05:12, 17 August 2023 (UTC)
 * Reverted on account of no source(s). MPFitz1968 (talk) 06:29, 17 August 2023 (UTC)

Very special episodes
This section of the article describes at least 12 different "special episodes," and it mixes "special" episodes and two-part episodes together. Does the article need to describe so many episodes, or can we cut back to a few of the most important ones?

Also, the current language is very confusing:


 * The 1980-1981 season opened with a few two-part episodes, including one in which Arnold and Willis are involved in a bank holdup and another in which Mr. Drummond is in a car accident and suffers from amnesia. In one episode, Mr. Drummond adopted a Prince and the Pauper strategy to work among his blue collar employees, and threw darts at a chalkboard image of "Triple-Chin Drummond".

Did Drummond adopt the Prince and the Pauper strategy in one of the two-part episodes at the beginning of the 1980-81 season? That's what the article seems to say.

Personally, I think we should trim back to a few important episodes. If somebody thinks we should mention many "special" and two-part episodes, maybe describing them all in a separate article (Diff'rent Strokes special episodes, like The Jeffersons two part episodes) is the right approach. Comments? — Malik Shabazz | Talk 18:25, 15 May 2007 (UTC)


 * That or go into more detail for the rest of the article. I, personally, was quite confused at the top of the page when it described the last two or three seasons, but none of the prior?? 74.226.45.238 07:04, 25 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Agreed with Malik. I've trimmed the section down to really only the most notable "Very Special" episodes. FamicomJL 12:59, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

I question wether Dudley was actually molested. To quote Dudley he said,"He tried to touch me." With those words was he actually molested? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.113.18.190 (talk) 03:13, 13 March 2008 (UTC)

I just wrote elsewhere on this page about virtual haunted attraction on a Diff'rent Strokes episode.

Spin-offs
The spin-off section needs to be edited to mention "Hello Larry".

Pornography
Changed the sentence stating that Dana Plato appeared in pornography, which is not strictly correct. She did appear in a nude pictorial for Playboy and in the non-explicit erotic film "Different Strokes: A Story of Jack and Jill and Jill." As the film does not feature any material of an explicit sexual nature (penetration, etc) I felt the pornography tag was not suitable and borderline pejorative. I have changed the line to reflect this. --Hillbilly Profane


 * I've edited the sentence to say just that: "Plato went on to pose for Playboy and appear in softcore pornography". It's also consistent with Dana Plato. — Malik Shabazz (talk · contribs) 06:09, 15 November 2007 (UTC)
 * Pornography really is a subjective term, but unless someone else objects, I'll leave it be. I've seen the film, and wouldn't consider it any more pornographic than, say, Basic Instinct. But the "softcore" prefix does help, so I'll refrain from making any more changes. Hillbilly Profane —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.80.250.145 (talk) 07:28, 15 November 2007 (UTC)
 * I changed it to "films" as to define something of this nature as pornography violated WP:NPOV. 68.146.41.232 (talk) 14:40, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Fresh Prince appearance
I added a mention of Bain and Coleman's later appearance on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Unfortunately the only sources I could find were copyvio video clips (if someone wants to verify the information, the scene is readily available on YouTube) or reference websites that for whatever reason have been blocked by the spam filter. 68.146.41.232 (talk) 14:40, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Why does Bernie Kukoff redirect to Diff'rent Strokes?
Why does Bernie Kukoff redirect to Diff'rent Strokes?--70.157.42.18 (talk) 01:04, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

It might have been set up like that if wikipedia had nothing else about Bernie Kukoff, but I found a Bernie Kukoff article on wikipedia when I searched just now, Carlm0404 (talk) 21:02, 4 August 2020 (UTC)

Removed vandalism
Removed vandalism that originated from IP 209.57.6.193, restored "History" section of article. Bikergeek (talk) 17:49, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

This needs clarification.
The seasons 5-6 section, referring to the wedding between Drummond and Maggie, contains this statement: "A few months later, at the end of the sixth season, Philip and Maggie were married, with special guest stars including Rae, Goodman, Volz and Jackson appearing at the wedding."

The article previously mentions Rae and Volz, but makes no mention of Jackson or Goodman (I figured out from the credits that you were referring to Janet Jackson and Dody Goodman). I think you should include some explanation of the characters these actresses played. The statement doesn't make sense as it stands. Janet Jackson, as I recall, played Willis' girlfriend. I don't remember Dody Goodman.76.4.66.164 (talk) 17:33, 28 May 2010 (UTC)

Catchphrase spelling.
I've seen "whatchu" "whatcha" and "what'choo". In this wiki it is spelled two different ways. I am changing it to "whatchu" since this is the way Todd Bridges has spelled it on the compilation album Show & Tell (http://webpages.charter.net/punkrock101/music/080c8f23.html). If there is a better source for a different spelling it should be changed but the spelling from "Willis" himself seems to be the most official. And yes that was actually him not just a joke name. He is credited under personnel (http://shopping.yahoo.com/530802601-show-tell-a-stormy-remembrance-of-tv-themes/).76.175.186.16 (talk) 15:16, 30 May 2010 (UTC)

Deleting Vandalism/joke
The supposed Thai name for this series is คลิปตลก. Putting it through Google Translate (http://translate.google.com/#auto|en|%E0%B8%84%E0%B8%A5%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%9B%E0%B8%95%E0%B8%A5%E0%B8%81)it comes out "all rights reserved". I think that is evidence enough that "The Funny Midget", the translation the article gives, is somebody's attempt at humor... Dambrosio (talk) 11:19, 3 July 2011 (UTC)

Did yoiu mean "on-off" instead of "one-off"?
I found in notes for Season 8:

>Mobley had previously played an unrelated, one-off love interest of Drummond's during the first season.

See my question in the Subject line of this section. I am able to edit but I don't know enough about the show to be confident this change would be correct. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.63.16.20 (talk) 19:45, 23 August 2012 (UTC)

‎Later appearances of the characters + additional catchphrase uses in pop culture
FYI: The section can be modified. It's not the Bible or a published book. It said "of characters" (ie. actors) not "AS the characters". Petty revert in my opinion. I made changes/updates per "undo". Just saying... Have a good day! 99.129.112.89 (talk) 06:01, 18 January 2013 (UTC)

P.S. Malik Shabazz (talk): "In 1994, Coleman appeared in an episode of Married... with Children, playing a building code inspector..." is also not Coleman playing the "character" of Arnold. The section could have still included the use of the catchphrase and/or them AS the characters or themselves "acting" like the previous characters. Again, not "of the characters". Let's "talk" here if there are any more disputes with my edits. Thanks! 99.129.112.89 (talk) 06:39, 18 January 2013 (UTC)

Family On Ice episode, 1983, Diff'rent Strokes
This is going to talk pages for Dana Plato and for Diff'rent Strokes.

Guest star Dorothy Hamill. Kimberly, played by Dana Plato, who had given up skating earlier to go to TV career, gets to skate here.

Thanks for a virtual haunted attraction!
Diff'rent Strokes, 1st episode of 1984-1985 A Haunting We Will Go 1st aired episode of this show without Dana Plato as regular. John Astin, best known as Gomez in 1964-1966 Addams Family, is a guest, and The Munsters are mentioned. Late in episode is another guest, Ray Bolger, best known as Scarecrow in 1939 Wizard of Oz movie, who died in 1987. Carlm0404 (talk) 20:54, 27 August 2020 (UTC)

Change.
I’m going to change some of the paragraphs in this article that read poorly. One example is “The first season very much covered 'every day life' of this unusual family line-up, with regular topics including various growing up and adjusting issues experienced by Arnold and Willis, and frequent mild culture clashes of this unusual family line up.” I don’t think “unusual family line- up” is needed twice. Also, why are there quotes around every day life? Paige Matheson (talk) 00:57, 16 December 2020 (UTC)

Add
Louise Palanker shot a photo on the closed sound stage set of Diff'rent Strokes Different Strokes:
 * https://www.flickr.com/photos/louisepalanker/39256460980/
 * .... 0mtwb9gd5wx (talk) 02:22, 10 July 2023 (UTC)
 * .... 0mtwb9gd5wx (talk) 02:22, 10 July 2023 (UTC)

Origin of the Show Title attributed to Muhammad Ali
The title for the series eventually became Diff'rent Strokes, inspired by the phrase "Different strokes for different folks", popularized by boxer Muhammad Ali in 1966 (Ali himself makes a guest appearance in the second season)

The phrase "Different strokes for different folks" originated in the African American community in the early 20th century. It was originally used to refer to different sexual preferences, but it has since come to be used more broadly to mean that people have different tastes and preferences.

The phrase is first attested in print in the 1930s, but it is likely that it was in use much earlier. It is thought to have originated in the American South, and it may have been influenced by the Gullah language, which is spoken by African Americans in the coastal regions of Georgia and South Carolina.

Ali may have said it in an interview but unless a producer from the TV show is sourced as having explicitly said that the show title came directly from that specific use by Ali, the statement is spurious (and unsourced in any case) 2603:8001:9603:806C:D40B:1888:4555:C792 (talk) 04:18, 18 September 2023 (UTC)

After Diff'rent Strokes ended
The section seems hardly appropriate in this article. Whether the actors' personal life details should be included in their own articles is debatable, but here, they are significantly distanced from relevant. Even by its own definition this section is not about the show. 15:44, 25 March 2024 (UTC)