FACTS OF LIFE, THE: OUT OF PEEKSKILL, PART 1 {EIGHTH SEASON PREMIERE} (TV)
Summary
The eighth season premiere in this comedy series about four female students learning about the facts of life from a surrogate mother.
In the first half of this two-part episode, Natalie attempts to write a story and decides to explore a "personal and intimate" experience from her recent past. The girls return from summer vacation and Tootie reveals that Edna has been spending a lot of time with Dr. Bruce Gaines, an old flame from her Peace Corps days. The happy couple returns from a date and, once alone, they reminisce about their early days together overseas. Bruce proposes and Edna happily accepts, but he then reveals that he is returning to Africa with the Corps in two weeks and wants her to come along. She regretfully tells him that she has built a life in Peekskill and cannot leave, but she then suffers a strange nightmare depicting her own dull funeral. Blair admits that she killed Edna because she was "boring her to death," and the girls ignore her protests that her life had meaning.
Edna awakens and tells the girls about Bruce's proposal, deciding that she will marry him and head off to Africa after all. The girls are stunned, but admit that they, too, will eventually leave and, in "a flashback within a flashback," think back to the many ways that Edna has helped and supported them over the years. They begin to plan the wedding, but Edna then tells them that their departure date has been moved up and that she is leaving on the following day. She frets that she cannot marry without her sister Beverly Ann present. Blair remains determined to give her a proper wedding and hands out assignments for assembling the late-night ceremony, badgering a city clerk for a license as Tootie attempts to pack Edna's belongings. Ruth and Eve show up as the sole guests and the scatterbrained Beverly Ann finally arrives. Things go from bad to worse when they realize that she has accidentally run over the minister with her car. Commercials deleted. Continued on B:94079.
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: November 30, 1999 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:24:36
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:94078
- GENRE: Comedy
- SUBJECT HEADING: Comedy; African-American Collection - Comedy
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1979-1988
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Paul Haggis … Executive Producer, Writer
- Richard Gurman … Executive Producer
- Katherine Green … Supervising Producer
- Rita Dillon … Producer
- John Bowab … Director
- Howard Leeds … Developed by
- Ben Starr … Developed by
- Jerry Mayer … Developed by
- Dick Clair … Created by
- Jenna McMahon … Created by
- Michael Maurer … Writer
- Alan Thicke … Theme Music by
- Gloria Loring … Theme Music by
- Al Burton … Theme Music by
- Charlotte Rae … Cast, Edna Garrett
- Cloris Leachman … Cast, Beverly Ann Stickle
- Lisa Whelchel … Cast, Blair Warner
- Nancy McKeon … Cast, Joanne 'Jo' Polniaczek
- Kim Fields … Cast, Dorothy 'Tootie' Ramsey
- Mindy Cohn … Cast, Natalie Green
- Mackenzie Astin … Cast, Andy Moffett
- Ruth Gillette … Cast, Ruth
- Eve Smith … Cast, Eve
- Robert Mandan … Cast, Dr. Bruce Gaines
- Beverly Leech … Cast, Blonde Girl