Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of 'Diff'rent Strokes'

Gary Coleman Todd Bridges and Dana Plato entertained America for nearly a decade. This Made for TV movie focuses on Gary Coleman, but there is some attention to the personal lives of his co-stars.

You can't trust anyone in this business, says Gary's agent.

Where does the show end and reality begin? Gary Coleman played a cute little boy well into teenage years. Yet he at a young age became an institution which was greater than himself with his parents raking in the profits through a corporation set up allegedly to maximize the receipts.

How do you end the show? The end which comes proved to be a tragic lesson for Gary and for Todd Bridges. Ripped off by his parents, Gary had to take them to the courts for redress. Dana Plato died of a drug overdose.

I disagree with others who felt the acting poor. The acting may not have been stellar but it was passable and presented a story which deserves to be told.

I can't believe I'm one of the only people who've seen this. I assumed it came out in the states as it was quite fascinating.

It is actually the story of Gary Coleman and Todd Bridges. They are interviewed extensively in this movie and are pretty candid. That in itself is worth it to see.

At the beginning it looks like all other "what exactly happened on the set of" movies but changes somewhere in the middle. It begins to take on "How Hollywood screws up kids movie". And a very good blamer at that.

The ending with Gary Coleman is excellent as he tries not to pass the blame anyone. But the movie does it for him. It's a mixed bag when it comes to acting and the script but it shows where things started going very wrong for everybody. Conrad Bain comes out looking bad in this one. And I can see why NBC sent this straight to Asian movie channels (One step below straight to video). They make the network execs look like insensitive unemotional jerks.

Overall it's a very uneven movie and it seems to change it's focus in mid stream. But if you liked Diff'rent Strokes and wanted some reasons how the kids got messed up, it gives a few good explanations why and how nobody helped them. Dana's story is pretty sad. An interesting movie for those who liked the TV show and wanted to see how it went wrong.

I enjoyed "Diff'rent Strokes", mainly because of Gary Coleman. I had already seen this bratty kid do such a good job on "The Jeffersons" even before he got his own series.

But if you're looking for the ideal world portrayed in the sitcom, look somewhere else. The few scenes from the show look like a nauseatingly sweet parody of "Leave It To Beaver" type shows. After about the first 20 minutes, no one except the network executives is allowed to be happy for more than two minutes. We see as much of the negative in these kids' lives as is possible in two hours minus commercial breaks. And most everyone seems to be angry or depressed nearly all the time. No wonder these kids ended up like they did--look at their parents! Though many kids from similar situations have turned out all right.

I thought all the actors playing Coleman did a good job. There will never be another Gary Coleman, and that's part of the problem. Because of his special talents (and his father's desire to keep making money), he wasn't allowed to just quit because of his illness. Bobb'e J. Thompson played the sassy Coleman about as well as any kid could. Robert Bailey Jr. effectively showed the angry teenager tired of being treated like a cute kid, as well as the sick child never allowed to take too much time off. Alon Williams, despite his height, looked and spoke like an adult (ironically, he looked more adult than the real Coleman). In one scene, though, it appears a bad makeup job was allowed to substitute for actually looking adult, so I am assuming that was Bailey.

In her first scenes as Dana, Jessica King seemed to be on drugs. Because of the nature of this movie, they would have told us if Dana really had been high. Whichever actress played Dana in her first scene at home, though, was much better than King in her first scene. Once Dana became an adult, Brittney Irvin gave one of the movie's best performances. And she had a nice body too--we got to see as much as network TV would let us.

Brennan Gademans and Shedrack Anderson both did a good job as Todd Bridges--Anderson, of course, had the greater challenge. Saul Rubinek gave the standout performance, though, as NBC head Fred Silverman. I thought most of the actors did a good job. Bruce Young and Lorena Gale seemed kind of old to be Coleman's parents rather than his grandparents.

A couple of celebrity cameos deserve mention. The actor playing Johnny Carson, though he looked like George W. Bush, captured the late night legend's mannerisms and speaking style perfectly. On the other hand, Johnnie Cochran seemed like a "Saturday Night Live" or "Mad TV" version of the flamboyant lawyer who entertained at the O. J. Simpson trial.

Julie Brown had only a brief appearance as Charlotte Rae, but she captured her style. One possible goof: Rae was told here that she would be headmistress at Kimberly's school. In fact, Mrs. Garrett was a house mother and later a dietitian on "Facts of Life". However, I don't know what the actual plan was.

John Innes' performance as Conrad Bain, on the other hand, was a joke. The man was not mentally or physically disabled. And this was not intended to be a parody.

I thought Coleman and Bridges both did a good job explaining their lives for us. Their presence added something and gave the movie some credibility. If they actually appeared, that helps to make the case that they approved of how they were portrayed.

If you want to see all the sleazy details of celebrities' lives and don't care about seeing them happy, this movie may be for you. If you wanted a more balanced portrayal with more of the good parts, maybe not.

I really enjoyed watching this TV movie last night. And it certainly said a lot about the exploitation of children in show business. The only sympathetic parent was Todd Bridges' mother...although Gary Coleman's mother was sympathetic at first.

What is the name of the actor who played Conrad Bain? I do not see it listed in the credits?

Gary Coleman still has a lot of issues to work through. But I can see he is on the road to recovery. He has been through so much.

What happened to Dana Plato's child? Is he with his father?

I hope Todd Bridges continues to achieve success in the future. He deserves it.

I have always been a big fan of this show and looked forward to the movie. it was painful to watch as the three kid stars went through so much at home and then went to work and portrayed a happy family.It made it easier to understand their adult troubles though. I got the feeling that part of the reason Todd and Gary agreed to this was in tribute to Dana. I hope the film becomes available on DVD.Todd and Dana did a good job of keeping their relationship out of the press,can you imagine the scandal?I remember seeing Dana and Gary on Geraldo.Todd was on the phone in jail.When he had to hang up Dana said "I'll be down to see you next week Todd,I love you". I must say that the cast did an excellent job also.