Jimmy Kimmel Presents Norman Lear's "The Jeffersons" and "All in the Family" Live on ABC

[DRW50]

I didn't see this but having middle-aged actresses in the Facts of Life roles seems very desperate, a vanity project gone wrong. The show was never great, but it had genuinely likeable leads that made you care. How that becomes an excuse to trot out overexposed Jennifer Aniston (who is generally about as  funny as the clap), I don't know, but it has nothing to do with any legacy Norman Lear ever had as a producer. 

[Faulkner]

The only one of the four FOL girls who was decent at all in the live show was Kathryn Hahn as Jo. Jon Stewart, Will Arnett, and Jason Bateman showed up as love interests, but it felt a bit mechanical.

It was sad to see Todd Bridges there as the last DS cast member standing.

Edited December 8, 2021 by Faulkner

[~bl~]

I liked Ann Dowd as Mrs. Garrett, and it made me sad that Todd Bridges is the only original cast member still living from DS but rather an early episode than one later though. At least they did not do the episode with Dudley and the bicycle abuser. With FOL  I wasn’t spoiled about the guys, but ideally they could have gone younger instead of using a lot of people who are within a decade in age as the OG cast.

[Soapsuds]

Is this true? Did they all return?

 

[Chris 2]

The original Facts cast had wonderful screen presence and chemistry which helped mask script problems. The new cast obviously didn’t have that. I found the re-creations embarrassing and corny, but I didn’t particularly care for the two other specials either.

[Faulkner]

Nancy McKeon wasn’t there.

[Soapsuds]

It's a shame she wasn't there. She's been distancing herself from the show for some time now.

[wingwalker]

Overall I enjoyed it, especially the 80s commercials. Going into it, I was expecting to like the Facts of Life episode better than Different Strokes, since I am bigger fan of the former, but I enjoyed the Different Strokes episode way better. I don't know how, but Kevin Hart playing child Arnold just worked. 

The Facts of Life episode they picked wasn't all that great, they should have picked a different one. If they wanted to do the "adults play teenagers" thing they should have just had the originals do it. They already had 3 of the 4, plus Lisa and Kim look like they've barely aged. 

 

 

 

[Gray Bunny]

I watched it. It was cute for what it was. Growing up, I watched Diff'rent Strokes in reruns and got into Facts of Life later. They really could've let Lisa Whelchel and Kim Fields play their own roles. Lisa looks amazing. And as for Mindy Cohn? Her recent work done to her face was certainly "fresh". Kinda hard to look at. 

[janea4old]

 

[dragonflies]

How does Lisa Welchel not aged a day???

 

Please register in order to view this content

 

[Soapsuds]

In the latest TV show ratings, ABC’s Live in Front of a Studio Audience averaged 4.6 million total viewers and a 0.9 rating, down 20 and 18 percent from its December 2019 edition but still topping Tuesday in the demo.

[~bl~]

They said on the show that Lear was involved and his production company Embassy created and owned the show even if they were not run by Norman. I liked the ads too even if a few went over my head sorry for the pun.

[Chris 2]

A 20% drop over two seasons is actually not bad at all, considering how far linear TV viewing in general has dropped over the past two years. And a 0.9 demo rating is very good. I bet we’ll see another one of these (Kimmel’s initial deal was for three specials, and Facts/DS was the third).

Edited December 8, 2021 by Chris 2

[dragonflies]

 Yeah it's not bad at all and I love that there is still major interest in these shows

 

I want a FOL continuation with LW and whomever else will  participate lol