The Beginning of the Beginning

"The Facts of Life" was a great show about young girls who became women over many years. And like many other people have posted already, this show's ending stinks. I don't have a problem with the main action of the episode, which sets Blair up as the new headmistress of Eastland. It's nice to see Eastland again.

But the cramming of a finale in the last few minutes of the episode is a real disservice to viewers. Heck, Natalie wasn't even there! Guys, she wasn't REALLY in Manhattan. You could have grabbed Mindy Cohn from backstage and put her in that final photo. On a related note, Charlotte Rae wasn't really in the Peace Corps in Africa either. They should have had Natalie on the main set and maybe a phone call from Mrs. Garrett at the end. Better yet, a last minute walk on from Rae. But what we did get was sloppy and felt rushed. The show had been going downhill since the beginning of the 8th season as it was (we were a long way from the era of the paint fight; the final seasons consisted of too many fantasy episodes and a Santa Claus episode that should be removed from rotation) and this final goodbye just ended things with a dull thud. Thank goodness two years later we had the finale of "Newhart" that restored my faith in final episodes.

A soggy end to a sharp series.

The final episode is a continuation of the previous one where Blair is the new Headmistress of Eastland dealing with a student who wants to get kicked out of school. Instead of studying for a make-up exam, the student and a few friends go to the Chug-A-Lug. I liked this story when they did it the first time - when new student Jo dared Blair to go with her.

NBC did our girls dirty wasting time on a pilot for a spin-off - an inferior show to the original. There is no proper TFOL finale with a heartwarming and nostalgic send-off. No walking down memory lane with the gang after 9 seasons of this beloved sitcom. Fans of this show were deprived of a finale to send the girls on their way after 9 years.

After 3/4 of the episode is taken up by the Eastland story, we get less than 5 minutes of the actual show we care about: Tootie announcing she got into the Academy of Dramatic Arts and is moving to London, Rick comes back to surprise Jo. Natalie isn't even there - she calls in for 30 secs from Soho - why is she missing from the finale? Apparently, you can pack up your life and fully move in 1 episode (Natalie was deciding what to pack in the previous episode). Blair walks in just in time to be in a group photo. The final picture has Pippa instead of Natalie. It's just all wrong.

There are many TV shows with bad finales, some are cancelled before they could film one, and others combined a finale and spin-off, but this is the most non-finale, finale of a show I've ever seen. What a disappointment. The fans deserved better.

The series wraps up not saying goodbye to its beloved characters and sending them on their way with love, but wasted on a premise for a spinoff for Blair that never took off. It's unfortunate and disappointing all these years later to be missing a proper finale.