Live In Front Of A Studio Audience Sees Some Huge Talent Portraying Our Favorite Schoolgirls
In almost some sort of zany Brady Bunch Variety Show revival, we’ve seen a handful of old school sitcoms and Broadway Musicals come to the silver screen with live performances in recent years. We watched as RENT, The Little Mermaid, All in the Family, and Hairspray were performed in front of our eyes with a collective and exciting mix of big names and personalities. Now, we’ll see a return to an iconic boarding school with some of today’s largest and most shocking celebrity guests to date.
According to Entertainment Weekly, Live in Front of a Studio Audience’s next sitcom revival performance will be a combination of The Facts of Life and Diff’rent Strokes! While this is absolutely bonkers, you won’t believe who they got to act in this ridiculous lineup: Gabrielle Union (Bring It On) as Tootie, Allison Tolman (Fargo) as Natalie, Wandavision’s Kathryn Hahn as Jo, Ann Dowd (The Handmaid’s Tale), will portray Mrs. Garrett, and get this – are you ready – Jennifer Aniston makes her sitcom return as beauty queen Blair. Talk about an outrageous cast! The one-off show, executive produced by Jimmy Kimmel, is already blowing every other Live version they have done so far out of the water. This absolutely cannot be missed, right? Yet, there’s more.
Lifelong fans are aware Facts was a spin off from Diff’rent way back in the day following then-Mrs. Garrett’s (Charlotte Rae) making it on her own at as a house mother to boarding schoolgirls. Well, Diff’rent is being incorporated into this mash up with John Lithgow (Dexter) reviving the character of Mr. Drummond, no-longer deemed controversial Kevin Hart taking on Gary Coleman’s iconic portrayal of Arnold Jackson, and My Wife and Kid’s Damon Wayans rounding out the cast as Arnold’s older brother, Willis.
No word yet on an exact storyline for the special besides they are reenacting some scenes from both series. So, it’s not clear if it will be a cohesive plot or paying homage to the classics. The teaser trailer for the show does promote surprise guests…so perhaps George Clooney will make a surprise cameo reviving himself as the sexy handyman?! It would be outrageous, right?! Surely Aniston could get him to say yes? The sky is the limit and as the talent they’ve conjured for this one-off is limitless. While some of these can be eyerolling and exhausting, Kimmel certainly knows how to stir up supreme interest.
Live in Front of a Studio Audience: The Facts of Life and Diff’rent Strokes airs next Tuesday, December 7th on ABC. Will you be watching?!
Writer’s Note: This is the opinion of one Instinct Magazine contributor and does not reflect the views of Instinct Magazine itself or fellow contributors.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
