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Facts of Life Reunion Movie on Lifetime


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 a cameo. on the phone. Nancy has not made any secret of the feeling that she doesn't really want to do anything FOL-related. she said she wanted to direct a reunion in which Jo is dead. but she didn;t want to come back in character. I've seen some of her other work.....The Last Mafia Marriage and A Cry For Help are two performances she should have gotten Emmys for.

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Not just Nancy McKeon.  Kim Fields and Mindy Cohn also have love-hate relationships with their past glories.  Lisa Whelchel appears to be the only one from the "core four" who's still okay with being identified with Blair and FoL.

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I loved this show, but Jo was always my least favorite character so I didn't mind her exit last time they reunited. I do think it's odd that she is so incredibly against it though. At this point what is she even doing that it would matter? I thought some of the season one girls were more interesting than Jo. I wish Molly had remained, but her exit was worth it since Molly Ringwald went on to such a fabulous teen movie career.

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Believe it or not, they WANTED Molly Ringwald to remain.  At that point, however, she was involved with other projects, so they settled for one or two brief appearances.

 

Like I said, Kim Fields and Mindy Cohn have issues that are similar to McKeon's.  All three (and Lisa Whelchel) were so iconic in their FoL roles that they regard the show as a blessing and a curse (and maybe a little more of the latter).  As a result, they've spent the better part of their post-FoL years distancing themselves as much as possible (or as much as the media and the fans will allow) from the series.  That's why Kim and Mindy wouldn't even participate in some magazine's (forget which one -- EW, maybe?) oral history several years ago.

 

And I could understand how they feel to a certain extent.  After all, you don't become an actor just to be known only for one particular role that you played as a teenager and young adult.  You want to leave behind a bigger and more diverse body of work than that.

 

OTOH, it's like what Mackenzie Phillips, of ALL people, said: why wouldn't you want even to talk about the job or role that put you on the map?  (Say what you will about Mack and her RL issues, but she's always been grateful for her years on "One Day at a Time"). 

 

At least people KNOW who Lisa Whelchel, Kim Fields, Mindy Cohn and Nancy McKeon are because of the show, and they all remain in the public eye and fans' hearts because of it, too.  There are plenty of actors out there who've struggled most of their careers (and lives) for that kind of recognition.

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A lot of child/young actors have taken that journey of distancing themselves from their breakout roles initially, as they try to move on and remove themselves from the typecast. Then, some 15, 20, 25 years later they embrace the original role as people love their nostalgia. 

 

Some find success, others don't. For every Mark Paul Gossellaar you have a Dustin Diamond. 

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