DIFF'RENT STROKES {DIFFERENT STROKES}: A TALE OF TWO TEACHERS (TV)
Summary
One in this series of comedies about the family life of wealthy white industrialist Philip Drummond and his adopted African-American sons, Arnold and Willis. In this episode, Arnold and his friends, Dudley and Charlie, decide to avoid reading "A Tale of Two Cities" for class by opting to read "Pete's Condensed Classics" version of the book. Unfortunately, their teacher, Mr. Wilkes, played by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, had suspected that some of his students might choose to read the condensed version, so he designed a test that no one could pass without reading the actual book. Most of the students do not perform well on the exam. In response, Mr. Wilkes comes up with a brilliant solution to his students' bad attitudes and failing grades: he assigns Arnold the task of teaching his fellow students about "A Tale of Two Cities" on the following Monday. Arnold is annoyed that he has to spend his weekend reading the novel, but he soon learns that reading an assigned book can still be fun. However, he also learns what teaching an unenthusiastic class can be like. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: ABC
- DATE: October 22, 1985 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:24:47
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:07544
- GENRE: Comedy
- SUBJECT HEADING: Basketball; Comedy; Sports; African-American Collection - Comedy
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1978-1985; ABC - 1985-1986
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Ken Hecht … Executive Producer
- Bob Brunner … Executive Producer
- Al Aidekman … Producer
- Richard Gurman … Producer
- Barbara Blachut Cramer … Associate Producer
- Gerren Keith … Director
- Bernie Kukoff … Created by
- Jeff Harris … Created by
- Jose Rivera … Writer
- Gloria Loring … Theme Music by, For "Diff'rent Strokes"
- Alan Thicke … Theme Music by, For "Diff'rent Strokes"
- Al Burton … Theme Music by, For "Diff'rent Strokes"
- Conrad Bain … Cast, Philip Drummond
- Gary Coleman … Cast, Arnold Jackson
- Danny Cooksey … Cast, Sam
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar … Cast, Mr. Wilkes
- Shavar Ross … Cast, Dudley
- Jason Hervey … Cast, Charlie
- Nikki Swasey … Cast, Lisa
- Courtney Witas … Cast, Louise