News

In reality, the premise of Diff’rent Strokes — two young Black boys, aged 8 and 13, left orphaned in Harlem in the ‘70s with no other family to take them in — would be the bleakest of tragedies. Fortunately, it was a sitcom, so they were taken in by their mother’s wealthy employer and nothing too bad happened to them outside of the occasional encounter with a pedophile bicycle peddler.

The same can’t be said, however, for the series’ young stars. Plenty of movies and TV shows are said to be cursed after a string of unlucky incidents and misfortunes to those involved, but the Diff’rent Strokes curse is one of the more convincing, as all of the kids on the show went on to heartbreaking adult lives.

The person who is probably most associated with the series as well as having a rough go of it post-finale is Gary Coleman, who...

The curse of Diff’rent Strokes lives on.

The 1980s sitcom told the heartwarming tale of a rich white guy who takes in two Black kids from Harlem. But the show’s child stars all faced tragedy, from Dana Plato’s drug addiction and suicide to Todd Bridges’ charges of attempted murder to Gary Coleman’s bankruptcy and accidental death.

Now, a sleazy A&e reality series, Lie Detector: Truth or Deception, is questioning just how accidental Coleman’s death was.

First, some medical background. The child comedy star battled health problems all his life due to congenital kidney disease. In May 2010, he allegedly had a seizure, falling and hitting his head. He was admitted to a Provo, Utah, hospital where he was placed on life support. Two days later, Coleman passed away from complications from his injury.

Tabloids have speculated about that tumble because Coleman’s ex, Shannon Price, was present when he fell.

Say what you will about the final Seinfeld episode — namely, that it sucks — but at least it had a proper finale. While TV networks can be cutthroat about axing new shows with low ratings, when they cancel a long-running show — say, five seasons or more — they usually give the creators a heads-up so they can plan accordingly.

And, typically, the creators use that final season to build up to a climax and resolution. Say, a big wedding, a surprise pregnancy or a character’s unexpected revelation that gives new meaning and depth to the series. Or they can just call all their old guest stars and parade them into a courtroom set for an unsatisfying glorified clip show offering no new laughs (that Seinfeld finale is truly terrible).

The point is, it’s good to know things are ending, and the long-running sitcoms below clearly never saw that axe falling.

As Tim Allen’s new sitcom Shifting Gears launches this week, his Home Improvement son, Zachery Ty Bryan, was arrested on domestic violence charges — again. He was jailed for similar charges in July 2023, on top of his multiple arrests for driving under the influence. No “very special episode” jokes here — there’s nothing funny about sitcom stars who are accused of serious crimes, as these seven examples prove.

1 Dustin Diamond

The late Diamond was in the “I’m moving to Wisconsin” portion of his post-Saved By The Bell years when he was arrested for possession of a switchblade. Not only did Diamond allegedly own the blade, but he also was accused of stabbing a dude in a bar. Screech was eventually convicted of carrying a concealed weapon and disorderly conduct, earning him three months in the pokey.

2 Lori Loughlin

Aunt Becky made The New York Times when she was busted...

Disney’s TV special for Epcot Center's opening may have looked great, but behind the scenes, it was a nightmare!

Looking back at television in the early 1980s is an interesting experience. Cable TV was in its infancy, VCRs were barely used, and the overall tone was more conservative in many ways. It was also pretty old school as networks relied on tried and true stuff like the old variety show aspects and musical specials.

Disney had used that well for years as their TV specials were always unique, mixing in original songs with some fun stars. By the 1980s, they were working with Smith-Hemion, which is well known for some award-winning variety specials featuring stars such as Frank Sinatra, Barbara Streisand, Elvis, Bette Middler, and more. They could be silly and cheesy yet fun to watch. The company was also behind the now-infamous Star Wars Holiday Special.

One of...

Ryan Murphy's "Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story" debuted on Netflix on September 19, 2024. The series recounts the details of the Menéndez brothers' murder of their parents, José and Kitty, in 1989. Those alive and watching the news at the time recall what a blazingly salacious affair their trial was. Beginning in 1993, CourtTV broadcasted extended portions of the time the brothers spent in court (they were tried separately), and the details began to sound like a daytime soap opera. The brothers said that José Menéndez was sexually abusing Erik, and that he threatened to kill them both if they told the cops. Kitty never stood up to him, so the brothers felt no other recourse but to kill them with a shotgun in preemptive self-defense. After the murders, but prior to the arrest, the brother had rather suspiciously begun living richly on their sizable inheritance. 

Infamously, the juries were deadlocked in both trials,...

Shock jock Howard Stern says that he’s proud to stand accused of going “woke” by incensed former listeners, which means that there is an alarmingly significant number of comedy fans who think that the leftist liberal agenda runs through Baba Booey.

Twenty years ago, claiming that Stern, whose “dark humor” credits include the famous suggestion that the Columbine shooters should have sexually assaulted their female victims before murdering them, is a champion of hyper-sensitivity in comedy would be such a crazy and laughable position that he’d probably have you on as a guest for saying it. After all, this was a guy who was famous for inviting homeless drug addicts and the obviously mentally ill onto his show just to gawk at them, so it’s not like Stern earned his place in the SiriusXM Hall of Fame for crafting ingenious comedy bits about why Bipoc representation in Pixar movies matters.

In the ‘90s, Sega was known for taking big risks. Some of those risks (like the aggressive marketing of the Genesis and Sonic the Hedgehog) paid off. Others, like the surprise early launch of the Saturn, have gone down in gaming history as prime examples of what not to do in the console business. But then there were the fascinating experiments with add-ons like the Sega CD, which, while not commercially successful, offered some unique experiences that are still fondly remembered by those who owned them.

The Sega CD was not the first add-on of its kind, but it was the one that gained the most traction in the North American market, and for gamers who picked it up, it offered a glimpse into the future of gaming, where the larger data storage of discs meant bigger games with better graphics, sound, and full motion video.

Whether they were good,...

A new documentary about Gary Coleman’s life and death is coming out. Peacock will release Gary, a documentary exploring his rise to fame, the dark sides of his life, and his eventual death in 2010 at 42. The documentary will also speak to various people close to him throughout his life.

Here is what you need to know about Gary, including who is in it and when it will arrive on Peacock.

What Is The Gary Coleman Documentary About?

Gary is a 90-minute documentary film about the life and death of former sitcom star Gary Coleman. The movie’s logline states it is about the “fascinating life and mysterious death of beloved child actor Gary Coleman” (via People). Most fans know Coleman from his breakout role as Arnold on Diff’rent Strokes.

Gary Coleman documentary footage | YouTube

The documentary features several interviews with people who knew Gary throughout his life. This...

Jeff Harris and Bernie Kukoff's sitcom "Diff'rent Strokes" debuted in 1978 and ran 189 episodes over a whopping eight seasons. The series starred Gary Coleman and Todd Bridges as Arnold and Willis Jackson, two impoverished kids from Harlem whose mother had recently died. They were adopted by the wealthy Mr. Drummond (Conrad Bain), a Park Avenue millionaire. The series revolved around the relationship Arnold and Willis developed with their adopted father, new sister Kimberly (Dana Plato), and one of three kindly housekeepers. In the 1984 season, Mr. Drummond married a woman named Maggie, and she was played by Dixie Carter for two years before being replaced by Mary Ann Mobley.

"Diff'rent Strokes" wasn't just overwhelmingly popular, but it also served as a template for a decade's worth of booming sitcoms. It was "Diff'rent Strokes" that famously presented "very special episodes" about serious issues like drug addiction, homelessness, eating disorders, and looking out...

A while back, when we had celebrated the 30th anniversary of Trilobyte’s The 7th Guest, a few of you got nostalgic for the heyday of Full Motion Video (Fmv) horror games. So, what better way to scratch that itch than with a selection of titles from the genre’s peak?

Now obviously, there’s more to the genre than the usual culprits of Phantasmagoria, Harvester, Night Trap and so on. And yeah, the quality of Fmv titles is all over the place, even when you don’t factor in the age of the games. But darn it, there’s always room for varying types of cheese.

And for some of you, there are very likely some games you’ve either never heard of, or haven’t seen since the 90s…

Phantasmagoria – Windows, Ms-dos, Sega Saturn (1995)

Really, you can’t talk about Fmv horror without mentioning Phantasmagoria. It’s like...

Spoiler Alert: This post contains details about Tuesday’s Live in Front of a Studio Audience, which aired live on the East Coast on ABC.

After four decades, cameras rolled once again on the classic ’70s/’80s comedies, Diff’rent Strokes and The Facts of Life, as part of ABC’s Live in Front of a Studio Audience tonight.

Airing live on the East Coast, the telecast unfolded smoothly, with no major line flubs and only a few uneven moments, which passed quickly. Soon-to-be-100-year-old TV legend Norman Lear, appearing with Jimmy Kimmel, who produced the third outing in the Live series, dropped an f-bomb that had to be bleeped. The curse word toward the top of the show seemed to be a staged, though amusing, element.

Before the main event, Deadline took a peek behind the curtain during Monday night’s rehearsal featuring an all-star cast of new players and...

Kevin Hart went Live in Front of a Studio Audience on Tuesday night, channeling Gary Coleman as part of a reenactment of the classic NBC/ABC comedy Diff’rent Strokes.

But before the reenactment got underway, original cast member Todd Bridges (aka Willis Jackson) entered the recreated Drummond penthouse set to introduce Boyz II Men, who performed the series’ iconic theme song. He also paid tribute to his late costars.

More from TVLineJeopardy!: Mayim Bialik, Ken Jennings to Host Through End of Season 38Tv Ratings: Live in Front of a Studio Audience, FBI Top TuesdayAbbott Elementary Premiere Recap: Grade ABC's...

The world don’t move to the beat of just one drum — but when Boyz II Men starts singing, the studio audience rises from their seats.

ABC’s Live in Front of a Studio Audience — consisting of reenactments of Diff’rent Strokes and The Facts of Life episodes — enlisted four-time Grammy winners Shawn Stockman and Wanya Morris from Boyz II Men to perform a live rendition of the theme song that accompanied Diff’rent Strokes during its eight-year run.

More from TVLineJeopardy!: Mayim Bialik, Ken Jennings to Host Through End of Season 38Tv Ratings: Live in Front of a Studio Audience,...

This Tuesday at 8/7c, ABC will revisit two more classic sitcoms, Diff’rent Strokes and its offshoot The Facts of Life, by way of its Live in Front of a Studio Audience franchise.

But whereas these live specials in the past stayed age-accurate in the casting of characters from All in the Family, The Jeffersons and Good Times, this time around Jimmy Kimmel, sitcom titan Norman Lear, Brent Miller and the other exec producers opted to have some fun refilling iconic roles with, let’s say, Actors of a Diff’rent Age.

More from TVLineJon Stewart Joins Live Facts of Life...

Jon Stewart joins ABC’s Live in Front of a Studio Audience that’ll see the characters from Diff’rent Strokes and the Facts of Life back to life by a new, all-star cast of talent. The special airs Dec. 7 at 8 p.m. Et.

Stewart will appear as part of the Facts of Life cast in a surprise role. He will work opposite Jennifer Aniston, Kathryn Hahn, Gabrielle Union, and Allison Tolman who will play private school teens from the Facts of Life‘s fictional Eastland School: Blair (originally played by Lisa Whelchel), Jo (Nancy McKeon), Tootie (Kim Fields), and Natalie (Mindy Cohn), respectively.

Ann Dowd will play Mrs. Garrett (Charlotte Rae), the girls’ housemother.

Diff’rent Strokes (created by Bernie Kukoff and Jeff Harris) follows the lives of an unconventional family brought together by circumstance. Arnold (Gary Coleman) and his older brother Willis (Todd Bridges) were two Black brothers from...

Jennifer Aniston, Gabrielle Union, Kathryn Hahn, and Allison Tolman have joined the cast of ABC’s Live in Front of a Studio Audience that’ll see characters from Facts of Life and Diff’rent Strokes brought back to life on Dec. 7 starting at 8 p.m.

The quad will portray private school teens from the Facts of Life‘s fictional Eastland School who at times crossed over to Diff’rent Strokes.

Aniston will play the role of Blair (originally played by Lisa Whelchel), Union will play Tootie (Kim Fields), Hahn will play Jo (Nancy McKeon), and Tolman will play Natalie (Mindy Cohn).

They join the previously announced Ann Dowd who will play Mrs. Garrett (Charlotte Rae), the girls’ housemother.

Diff’rent Strokes (created by Bernie Kukoff and Jeff Harris) follows the lives of an unconventional family brought together by circumstance. Arnold (Gary Coleman) and his older brother Willis (Todd Bridges) were two...

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s… Kevin Hart as Super Arnold?

ABC announced late Thursday night that Live in Front of a Studio Audience will return for a third installment on Tuesday, Dec. 7 (at 8/7c), recreating episodes of Diff’rent Strokes and its spinoff, The Facts of Life.

More from TVLineTV Ratings: 20/20 Dominates With Turpin Sisters' 'House of Horror'Grey's Anatomy Recap: Thanksgiving, From Soup to... Aw, Nuts!Dancing With the Stars: Derek Hough Contracts Covid Ahead of Season 30 Finale -- Watch His Announcement

The cast of Diff’rent Strokes will feature Hart as Arnold, succeeding Gary Coleman...

ABC has pulled back the curtain on the third installment of its Live in Front of a Studio Audience franchise. Jimmy Kimmel announced on his late-night show Thursday that the 90-minute special will re-create episodes of comedies Diff’rent Strokes and its spinoff The Facts of Life.

The live event will air at from 8-9:30 p.m. Tuesday, December 7.

The cast for the Diff’rent Strokes re-do is intriguing: John Lithgow will play Mr. Drummond, Kevin Hart is Arnold, Damon Wayans embodies Willis, and Ann Dowd portrays Mrs. Garrett. The Facts of Life cast is Tba.

Live Before a Studio Audience‘s executive producers Norman Lear, Jimmy Kimmel, Brent Miller, Kerry Washington, Will Ferrell, Justin Theroux and Jim Burrows are returning for this round.

“Other than with my family, there’s no place I’d rather be in my 100th year than on a soundstage at Sony with these glorious actors...

Here’s what Willis is talkin’ about. Jimmy Kimmel and Norman Lear are bringing back their “Live in Front of a Studio Audience” franchise for a third edition this December, and this time they’ll be taking on the iconic sitcom “Diff’rent Strokes’ and its spin-off, “The Facts of Life.”

Already cast in the “Diff’rent Strokes” installment are John Lithgow as Mr.Drummond, Kevin Hart playing Arnold, Damon Wayans as Willis and Ann Dowd as Mrs. Garrett. The cast of “The Facts of Life” will be revealed at a later date.

“Live in Front of a Studio Audience: ‘The Facts of Life’ and ‘Diff’rent Strokes'” will air Tuesday, Dec. 7 at 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Et, followed by the premiere of new workplace comedy “Abbott Elementary.” Lear is back to executive produce and host with Kimmel. Also executive producing: Brent Miller, Kerry Washington, Will Ferrell, Justin Theroux and Jim Burrows.

Rob Lowe has cut quite a path through primetime during the 20-plus years since he joined “The West Wing.”

He turned down “Grey’s Anatomy,” but landed in the ensemble of “Parks and Recreation.” He sold a show about chasing Bigfoot with his sons to A&e Network. From 2003 to 2018 he was also a regular or recurring on series “Code Black,” “The Grinder,” “Californication,” “Brothers and Sisters,” “Dr. Vegas” and “The Lyon’s Den.” Then there was the scene-stealing turn as a plastic surgeon in 2013’s “Behind the Candelabra,” and roles in U.K. episodic series productions including 2005’s “Beach Girls,” 2015’s “You, Me and the Apocalypse” and 2019’s “Wild Bill.”

Last year, Lowe landed his biggest hit yet as a TV leading man when he moved into Ryan Murphy’s orbit as the star of Fox’s “9-1-1: Lone Star.” In the spinoff of the procedural about emergency responders, Lowe plays Owen Strand,...

The fall of the former child star is one of show business's oldest tropes—but that doesn't make each and every story of talent squandered or a life wasted any less heartbreaking. Dana Plato, whose downward spiral helped propel the theory that the hit sitcom Diff'rent Strokes was cursed, has been gone for more than 20 years, having died of a drug overdose in 1999, a day after insisting on The Howard Stern Show that she had been sober for a decade—except for painkillers she took four months prior, when she got her wisdom teeth removed. She even offered on the air to take a drug test. The 34-year-old actress was on the show in the first place to rebut the claims of a...

Despite a career that spanned more than 70 years, from radio acting in the 1940s to various stage, film and TV appearances over the decades, there's no denying that the late Charlotte Rae made the greatest impact on television viewers with her portrayal of Edna Garrett. It was the role she introduced on the series Diff'rent Strokes (1978-86) and, then, in its spin-off The Facts of Life (1979-88), which scored her a 1982 Emmy Award nomination in the category of Best Supporting Actress. Charlotte may have died on Aug. 5, 2018, after a battle with bone cancer, but one can imagine the incredible joy she would have gotten from the outpouring of love and memories that were devoted to her, conveying just how much of an impression her portrayal has had on the audience. When asked by the Television Academy Foundation what she hoped her legacy would be, she responded, "If I took people...

The 25th anniversary edition of the controversial ’90s game “Night Trap” is coming to Nintendo Switch, publisher Limited Run Games announced Friday on Twitter.

“Never say never! ‘Night Trap: 25th Anniversary Edition’ is coming to the Nintendo Switch this Summer both digitally and physically!” it tweeted. Limited Run Games specializes in releasing physical copies of digital titles, mainly for PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4.

Never say never!

Night Trap: 25th Anniversary Edition is coming to the Nintendo Switch this Summer both digitally and physically!https://t.co/j1ZxEqvV8L pic.twitter.com/ZbsXKWvkn1

— Limited Run Games (@LimitedRunGames) April 20, 2018

“Night Trap” was first released by Sega in 1992. The schlocky full-motion video (Fmv) game, which starred “Diff’rent Strokes” actress Dana Plato, was about a house full of scantily-clad teenage girls and the vampiric creatures that hunt them. The player, as a special agent, must watch “live” surveillance footage of the teens...

Alan Thicke had quite the career in front of the camera, most recently popping up on This Is Us and Fuller House, but the beloved sitcom dad also had a hand in things behind the camera, namely writing some of TV's most beloved theme songs. In the 1980s, Thicke, who passed away from a heart attack at 69 on Tuesday, Dec. 13, helped create a number of iconic TV theme songs, most notably the opening numbers for The Facts of Life and Diff'rent Strokes. "It Takes Diff'rent Strokes," the theme song for Diff'rent Strokes, the 1980s comedy starring Gary Coleman, Dana Plato, Todd Bridges and Conrad Bain was composed by Thicke, his then-wife Gloria Loring and Al Burton. Thicke sang on the opening...

Actress Amber Tamblyn'snewest book of poetry, a collection called Dark Sparkler, is out this week, and mostly centers around dead or otherwise fabled Hollywood starlets. There is one who committed suicide by breathing carbon monoxide in her garage, one who jumped to her death off the "H" in the Hollywood sign, one who was strangled by her jealous ex-boyfriend in the driveway of their home. You'll already know the stories of some (Dana Plato, Jayne Mansfield, Brittany Murphy), but others (Dominique Dunne, Frances Farmer, Heather O'Rourke) will send you down a dark Wikipedia spiral through Hollywood's most tragic demises. There's one living soul included in Tamblyn's collection: Lindsay Lohan. Vulture got the exclusive to excerpt the poem, then spoke to Tamblyn about what it meant to her and what it was like writing this book.You are going to get a lot of questions about the Lindsay Lohan poem...

When I was a kid I used to watch a show on TV called The ABC Afterschool Special. The network produced these short movies for a young audience, highlighting serious issues that teenagers from the 70s and 80s were actually confronting in their everyday lives, like drug abuse, alcoholic parents, and sexually transmitted diseases, just to name a few. In retrospect, they may have been a bit simple-minded in that they always featured protagonists who were innately decent but who were forced to make a difficult decision about some painful situation beyond their control. In the end, though, of course, they always learned their lesson and made the right choice. It’s easy to make fun of these stories today (sixteen-year-old Rob Lowe fights for custody of the child he fathered in a summer fling with sixteen-year-old Dana Plato), but even the greatest films often pit innocent virtue against the...

One of the hallmarks of ‘90s gaming that I’m still trying to forget is the fascination with full-motion video. For a few years, games were really obsessed with putting in digitized footage of real actors to make them seem more “real” – but what mostly happened was we got to watch a lot of C-list celebrities (hi, Dana Plato!) stumble their way through games that were neither entertaining nor fun. Not every full-motion video game was a dud, though. There’s something completely charming about the hammy performances found in games like Dracula Unleashed. Then there’s Wing Commander III – which is free today on EA’s Origin service. Wing Commander III is not a great game, but I'll be damned if it doesn’t have a great...

Read More...

As Jenny on "Two and a Half Men," Amber Tamblyn is brash and rash. She's the daughter no one knew Charlie had.

Coming into the CBS Thursday comedy in its 11th season was easier than one might imagine.

"What if I just realized for the first time that Jon Cryer was physically abusive and Ashton Kutcher refused to speak to me and had his entire trailer moved?" Tamblyn asks Zap2it. "They are the two sweetest guys in the whole world. They are so kind and supportive, and so is Conchata Ferrell. She is so funny. I feel like Jenny will become Berta when she grows up.

"I'll help anyone drink," she says of her character. "I will support anyone's alcoholism or drug addiction, I don't care. Holland Taylor is so extraordinary."

She likens this to joining "House" during its long run, but working on a comedy is easier.

In her spare time,...

Anyone here remember that old Sega full motion video game Night Trap starring the late Dana Plato? Damned whippersnappers! That's okay though... thanks to Lion Forge Comics you're gonna get to experience it in a whole new way!

From the Press Release

Digital publisher Lion Forge Comics announced the addition of its first horror property, Night Trap, to its diverse roster of digital properties. The comic bolsters Lion Forge’s existing slate of 1980s and ‘90s-inspired titles, including Airwolf and Knight Rider, which launched earlier this month.

Written by Cullen Bunn, author of the popular horror comics series The Sixth Gun, Night Trap pays homage to the notorious slasher films of the ‘80s and ‘90s. Although it bears the same name as the video game, Bunn creates an original story, influenced by the ‘90s Night Trap and other titles in the fear-filled genre. In the terrifying comic, a group of...

On Sunday (September 22) the 65th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards will take over Los Angeles’ Nokia Theatre, and a who’s who of top-name celebrities will compete for media attention by getting all gussied up in designer duds. In fact, over the past six decades Tinseltown favorites have set the fashion pace with their red carpet choices, and it all got started way back in January 1949.

Hosted by NBC radio legend Walter O’Keefe, the 1st Annual Emmy Awards (the ‘Primetime’ didn’t get added until the Daytime Emmys debuted in 1974) was minuscule compared to today’s fanfare. The Hollywood Athletic Club played host to stars like Shirley Dinsdale, Rita LeRoy, Patricia Morrison, Mike Stokey, and Bill Welsh.

And given the shortage of European-designed clothing due to the recent ending of World War II, American designers Gilbert Adrian, Claire McCardell, Bonnie Cashin, and Tom Brigance had all taken a step forward...

Todd Bridges rose to fame on the hit show "Diff'rent Strokes," but his life spiraled out of control after the show went off the air in the mid-'80s. In 2010, Bridges appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" to open up about some of his darkest days, including his battle with addiction, his numerous arrests, and the sexual abuse he suffered as a child.

"Oprah: Where Are The Now?" cameras recently caught up with Bridges, who says he's been sober for 20 years. A father of two, he says his relationship with his children is modeled after the close bond he had with his TV dad, actor Conrad Bain. "Conrad Bain was like my real father, I looked at him that way," Bridges says. "He was a great man."

Bain passed away in January 2013, which was difficult for Bridges. "I talked to him all the time," he says. "When he passed away,...

The cast of "Diff'rent Strokes" may have lived a life of luxury on screen, but many of them fell on hard times after the show.Dana Plato, who played Kimberly Drummond, struggled with sobriety in her adult life and committed suicide in 1999 at age 34. Gary Coleman, who played Arnold Jackson, faced numerous health, financial and domestic issues. He died at the age of 42 from head injuries sustained in a fall. Even Conrad Bain, who portrayed patriarch Phillip Drummond, passed away earlier this year.Of the TV family, only Todd Bridges is still alive, but his fate was almost the same as his costars. During his twenties, he battled a crack cocaine addiction which lead to legal issues when he was tried for attempted murder of a Los Angeles area drug dealer.  Following multiple arrests, numerous rehab attempts, Todd confessed on the "The Oprah Winfrey Show" to pimping and drug dealing.

The death of Conrad Bain at age 89 has hit no one harder than Todd Bridges, who for eight seasons played adopted son to Bain's millionaire character Mr. Drummond on the hit NBC sitcom Diff'rent Strokes. Now the sole survivor of the show's core cast -- Dana Plato committed suicide in 1999, and Gary Coleman died after falling down a flight of stairs in 2010 -- Bridges says he'll miss the man who was his surrogate father both on and off the screen. "This is probably one of the most heart-wrenching days I’ve had in a long time," Bridges, now 47, tells

read more...

Conrad Bain, who died Monday at age 89, was the "glue" of Diff'rent Strokes, according to his former costar Todd Bridges. But was Diff'rent Strokes a show that ever really had it together? In its day, the Gary Coleman-led show was a critically unloved broadcast-network sitcom that took the "broad" part of its definition seriously—there was nothing subtle about Drummond humor. After its run, it became the symbol for all that could go wrong with child stardom—the excesses, the arrests, the failed comebacks, the too-soon deaths that, in the case of Dana Plato and her son Tyler Lambert, bled into a second generation. Where's the glue there? Where's...

Conrad Bain, best known for playing Diff’rent Strokes patriarch Philip Drummond, died Monday in Livermore, CA, The Associated Press confirms. He was 89.

Bain’s passing leaves Todd Bridges as the only surviving member of Diff’rent Strokes core four: Costars Dana Plato and Gary Coleman died respectively in 1999 and 2010.

From 1978 to 1986, Bain starred on Diff’rent Strokes as a wealthy New York businessman who adopted the two sons of his late African-American maid. The show first aired for seven seasons on NBC, and later jumped to ABC for its eighth and final year.

Bain rose to fame playing Arthur Harmon,...

Child stars in pop culture are like pet alligators. They're cute when young, but they often get flushed before they grow big.

VH1 counts down the top kid stars of the past two decades in the five-part special "100 Greatest Kid Stars," a nostalgic look back at the biggest names in TV, music and entertainment who burst onto the scene as kids. Hosted by Catherine Reitman -- daughter of "Ghostbusters" director Ivan Reitman and once a child actress herself -- the special includes old and new interviews and early performance footage from when the stars were kids.

The countdown begins Thursday, Nov. 29, and concludes Sunday, Dec. 2.

It includes such recent stars as Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber and Dakota Fanning as well as Candace Cameron, Michelle Williams, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Anna Paquin and Jonathan Taylor Thomas, who grew up on-screen during the '90s. It's also a nostalgic look back at the shows...

For every successful actor who found fame as a child, such as Jodie Foster, there are 10 more whose lives were rife with pain, drama, legal trouble and sometimes even death.

The tragic stories of former child stars who met their end too soon, such as River Phoenix, Brad Renfro, Cory Haim, Dana Plato and Judy Garland, somehow haven't prevented a new generation of stars from living life in the fast lane.

In recent years, celebrities who found fame in their youth have encountered a variety of troubles. From Lindsay Lohan's constant vehicular mishaps to Britney Spears' mental breakdown, here are some child stars whose downfalls range from mild to wild.

For every successful actor who found fame as a child, such as Jodie Foster, there are 10 more whose lives were rife with pain, drama, legal trouble and sometimes even death.

The tragic stories of former child stars who met their end too soon, such as River Phoenix, Brad Renfro, Cory Haim, Dana Plato and Judy Garland, somehow haven't prevented a new generation of stars from living life in the fast lane.

In recent years, celebrities who found fame in their youth have encountered a variety of troubles. From Lindsay Lohan's constant vehicular mishaps to Britney Spears' mental breakdown, here are some child stars whose downfalls range from mild to wild.

A new report from Chicago Sun-Times claimed Cissy Houston was so outraged by the National Enquirer's front-page casket photo of daughter Whitney Houston, she's seeking an in-depth investigation to find out who snapped the picture. An "Extra" source says the story is not true.

The story, which is unconfirmed, said a source claimed Cissy has requested all the people who could have possibly taken the photo -- including the Whigham Funeral Home staff -- take a lie detector test.

Aretha Franklin was a no-show at Whitney Houston's funeral on Saturday because she was suffering from leg spasms, or was it because she angered the late singer's mother with remarks she made during a Friday appearance on "Today"? Was it a little disrespect?

Franklin, 69, unexpectedly canceled her scheduled performance at Houston's funeral service. Dionne Warwick was apparently unaware that Aretha wasn't there, and called for her to come to the pulpit, saying, "Oh, 'Re's not here?...

The most recent incident of a tragic celebrity death was the sudden passing of Whitney Houston at the Beverly Hilton on Feb. 11. She is believed to have died from a lethal combination of prescription drugs and alcohol.

Here is The Extra List of some of Hollywood's biggest players who died from drug-related complications.

The Extra List: Hollywood Drug DeathsWhitney Houston

Whitney Houston, who struggled with substance abuse for the last few decades, died on February...

Are you bored of the same old TV shows? Tired of the mainstream? Then check out this round-up of alternative movies and series showing on UK television tonight…

8.00pm Titanic 2 (Syfy)

A cruise liner sets sail on the 100th anniversary of the Titanic’s doomed maiden voyage. When a tsunami hurls an iceberg into the ship’s path, the crew and passengers struggle to avoid suffering the same fate as their predecessors. Disaster movie, directed by and starring Shane Van Dyke. With Bruce Davison and Brooke Burns.

9.00pm Ogre (Horror Channel)

A group of teens stumble into a town that has been stuck in time since the 1800’s and is ruled over by a vicious Ogre. Starring Katherine Isabelle (Ginger Snaps) and directed by Steven R. Monroe (I Spit On Your Grave)

10.00pm Burn Notice (FX)

Michael has trouble with Detective Paxson, who tracks down the storage unit where he has hidden explosives.

Are you bored of the same old TV shows? Tired of the mainstream? Then check out this round-up of alternative movies and series showing on UK television tonight…

8.00pm Lightning Strikes (Syfy)

A rural sheriff (Kevin Sorbo) faces a seemingly impossible battle when he is forced to defend his small town from a demon riding bolts of lightning and causing mayhem. From director Gary Jones (Boogeyman 3, Spiders).

9.00pm Fifty/Fifty (Movies4Men 2 +1)

Two bickering mercenaries are hired by the CIA to overthrow a South East Asian dictator. Action drama starring Peter Weller and Robert Hayes.

10.00pm Steven Seagal: Lawman (Five USA)

Seagal and the team bust a suspect fleeing with a loaded.44 magnum. Then, a routine traffic stop takes a potentially deadly turn.

11.05pm The Pumpkin Karver (Horror Channel)

Gore-tastic Halloween horror. One year after the unfortunate stabbing of a young man, six people are carved up like jack-o...

"Poison pen" biographer Kitty Kelley struck gold with her latest unauthorized biography, that of #1 mortal Oprah Winfrey, and Deadline is reporting the inevitable (but still titillating!) news of an upcoming TV biopic adaptation. The art of the TV biopic is sorely maligned, and I hold the naive belief that a decent Oprah biography could redeem the canon of Lifetime-ready Dana Plato and Nadia Comaneci yarns. Quick, let's cast this epic while we still have time to influence the filmmakers (and persuade notable actors to withstand the real Oprah's disapproval).

A number of stars remembered Gary Coleman following the news of his death on Friday, but one former co-star offered a particularly poignant statement.

"It's sad that I'm the last kid alive from the show," Todd Bridges told The Associated Press, referring to '80s series "Diff'rent Strokes."

"I am deeply saddened by Gary's death. May God give him peace," Todd said in a separate statement to Access Hollywood on Saturday.

Before Gary's death at age 42, the show's other former child actor, Dana Plato, died in 1999 from a prescription drug overdose. She was 34.

Though ...

Copyright 2010 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Chicago – Television fans from the early 1980s lost a bit of their era yesterday as Gary Coleman, Arnold Jackson from the NBC sitcom “Diff’rent Strokes,” died of a brain hemorrhage at the age of 42. Coleman is the second of the three siblings on the show to pass away, as Dana Plato, who played his sister Kimberley, took her own life in 1999.

Gary Coleman was born in the Chicago suburb of Zion, Il, and had a host of kidney problems that led to his diminutive size. He achieved his first notoriety near his hometown, when his commercial for the Chicago-based Harris Bank – featuring Coleman interacting with the bank’s stuffed lion – became a local sensation. This brought him to the attention of Hollywood, where he won the role of Arnold Jackson on Diff’rent Strokes in 1978.

In a time when TV stars became national treasures, Coleman took the show and the catch phrase,...

[Editor's Note: This story originally ran on May 13, after the suicide of Dana Plato's son. In light of Gary Coleman's death on Friday, and all the renewed talk of the so-called Diff'rent Strokes Curse, we thought it was worth revisiting.] Tyler Lambert wasn't a child star, but his suicide feels like a coda to mother Dana Plato's, whose own death made for one of Hollywood's saddest child-star stories. Note: one of. From Judy Garland's studio-prescribed pills to Michael Jackson's lost childhood to River Phoenix's last night out, child-star mythology is dominated by terrible tales. Here are five defining ones:    Gary Coleman's Punch: In...

"Whatchu talkin' 'bout, Willis?" is a phrase that has become part of our culture. Gary Coleman, the adorable child star who made those words famous, was besieged with health and personal problems throughout his life. He passed away on Friday at the age of 42, after being admitted to the hospital with a brain hemorrhage.

Coleman is best known for his role as Arnold Jackson on Diff'rent Strokes. The TV show follows a rich widower, Philip Drummond (Conrad Bain), who lives in a Manhattan penthouse with his teenage daughter (Dana Plato) and housekeeper, Mrs. Garrett (Charlotte Rae). Following the death of Drummond's previous housekeeper, her children -- Arnold and his older brother, Willis (Todd Bridges) -- move uptown to join the Drummond family.

In real life, Coleman was also adopted. He was also born with congenital kidney disease, which led to two separate kidney...

Most of us will remember the cherubic face, his diminutive height and the laughs he brought us. Along with Dana Plato and Todd Bridges, Gary Coleman was the most famous pint-sized child star on television, starring in the most popular sitcom of the day, "Diff'rent Strokes." For all three it was once a case of being at the right place at the time. There was money, access and fame, but as the years went by the cute kids were no longer relevant and often spoke of being exploited by Hollywood. The tragedy and misfortune of all three child actors' lives since "Diff'rent Strokes" ended in 1986 has caused fans to speak of a curse on the show...