The BEST episodes of The Facts of Life
Every episode of The Facts of Life ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of The Facts of Life!
Charlotte Rae stars as a dietician and house mother at a private girls' boarding school, watching over students Blair, Tootie, Natalie and Jo.
#1 - A Death in the Family
Season 5 - Episode 17 - Aired 2/1/1984
The girls are shaken by the sudden death of Natalie's father and wonder how to ease her pain.
#2 - Next Door
Season 5 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/4/1984
A young boy enters Edna's Edibles and Tootie befriends him and learns that he lives next door. She also learns that his mother works all day and leaves him home alone and tells him never to leave their apartment and when a gas leak is detected on the block the young boy won't budge.
#3 - Out of the Fire...
Season 7 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/14/1985
After returning from their summer vacation, the girls discover that Edna's Edibles has burned down. This leads the girls to discuss rebuilding and opening up a new business.
#4 - The Christmas Show
Season 5 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/21/1983
The holidays bring joy to the girls when they all plan on going home for Christmas but when Jo's mother temporarily moves to Miami, Jo is stuck in Peekskill.
#5 - With a Little Help From My Friends
Season 6 - Episode 18 - Aired 1/30/1985
Blair is concerned when she discovers her date is doing cocaine.
#6 - Take My Finals, Please
Season 4 - Episode 22 - Aired 4/27/1983
It's finals week at Eastland and the girls are planning an all night study session. They soon find out that studying is going to be hard with so many distractions, including Blair and Jo's fears of the future in college and Natalie's fear of an upcoming Chemistry exam in which she must memorize the atomic symbols.
#7 - Brave New World (1)
Season 5 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/21/1983
Jo and Blair have a hard time adjusting to college.
#8 - Christmas in the Big House
Season 6 - Episode 13 - Aired 12/19/1984
For the Christmas season, Blair and some of her snobby friends plan on putting on a Christmas show at a home for boys. Her Christmas spirit quickly changes when she discovers that the home for boys is really a home for convicts.
#9 - Small but Dangerous
Season 5 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/16/1983
Streetwise Kelly alleges that the vandalism of Edna's Edibles was the work of a local gang, but Jo decides to investigate.
#10 - Let's Party!
Season 4 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/9/1983
Tootie is excited about the impending visit of her brother Marshall, however is stay becomes one of fear when he invites the girls to a college party where beer is being served. After the party, a drunk Marshall, insisting that he isn't drunk, offers to drive Blair, Natalie and Tootie home. However, their trip home is interrupted by an accident.
#11 - Graduation (1)
Season 4 - Episode 23 - Aired 5/4/1983
Blair and Jo share a common feeling of disdain toward their graduation from Eastland.
#12 - The Last Drive-In
Season 6 - Episode 22 - Aired 3/13/1985
The local drive-in theatre is closing and the girls decide to pay it one last visit on the final night it's open. However, chaos reigns when people begin to loot the theatre and Blair gets into a cat fight.
#13 - Me and Eleanor
Season 6 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/2/1985
A no-win situation: Tootie asks Natalie for an honest opinion of her dreadful one-woman play about Eleanor Roosevelt.
#14 - The Americanization of Miko
Season 3 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/20/1982
The strict father of new Japanese student Miko comes down hard on her for sneaking out to see a rock concert and causing $400 in damage with Jo's motorcycle.
#15 - Mother and Daughter
Season 5 - Episode 21 - Aired 2/29/1984
Tootie's mother comes to Eastland for a visit, and the fact that Tootie doesn't communicate with her mother becomes apparent. Her mother quickly realizes there are many things she doesn't know about her daughter and wants to have an open relationship with Tootie but will Tootie allow that?
#16 - The Second Time Around
Season 5 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/14/1983
Jo begins seeing sparks between her divorced parents and immediately hopes they get back together. However, her hopes quickly become dashed when she learns that her father is planning to marry another woman.
#17 - Taking a Chance on Love (2)
Season 6 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/7/1984
Jo and Sam's relationship grows more serious despite the fact that he has a young son from a previous marriage.
#18 - What Price Glory?
Season 5 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/19/1983
Tootie's new boyfriend, Jeff, is the star football player on the football team at Eastland. However, she learns a startling secret that he's been keeping, he's illiterate. She now must decide whether or not to encourage his behavior of having other kids do his work for him.
#19 - It's Lonely at the Top
Season 6 - Episode 24 - Aired 3/27/1985
With Mrs. Garrett out of town, Blair wants to be in charge of the shop so a reluctant Jo, Natalie and Tootie step aside and let her. Quickly Blair's handling of a competitor food shop goes awry.
#20 - Two Guys From Appleton
Season 6 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/23/1985
Mrs. Garrett receives a visit from the high-school sweetheart she ran out on, and she's swept off her feet all over again.
#21 - Smile
Season 6 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/5/1984
Natalie is nervous after an interview for a job she applied for with the town newspaper. However, after she learns she didn't get the job, her strange behavior threatens her relationship with her boyfriend.
#22 - The Chain Letter
Season 5 - Episode 13 - Aired 12/28/1983
While Mrs. Garrett frets over an inspection by the Board of Health, the girls get involved with a chain letter and ignore their responsibilities.
#23 - Talk, Talk, Talk
Season 6 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/28/1984
While working at the campus radio station, Jo finds herself needing to fill 5 hours of air time. Things start off on a bad note, when she can't find a key to the record cabinet, which leads, Natalie, Tootie, Blair and Mrs. Garrett to come to her rescue.
#24 - Crossing the Line
Season 5 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/11/1984
Natalie starts dating a black guy, and Tootie thinks that Natalie hates him because of his color.
#25 - Seems Like Old Times
Season 5 - Episode 23 - Aired 3/21/1984
Jo is surprised when her ex-boyfriend, Eddie, who just got out of the Navy, makes a surprise visit. However, Jo isn't the only one who's in for a surprise when Tootie discovers a shocking secret that Eddie's been keeping.