The BEST episodes of The Facts of Life season 1
Every episode of The Facts of Life season 1, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of The Facts of Life season 1!
Charlotte Rae stars as a dietician and house mother at a private girls' boarding school, watching over students Blair, Tootie, Natalie and Jo.
#1 - Running
Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 5/2/1980
Mr. Bradley's pressure to win a track trophy causes best friends Sue Ann and Cindy to become bitter rivals.
#2 - Adoption
Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 4/25/1980
The girls have an assignment to show their family trees. But Natalie is reluctant to show hers because she was adopted, which prompts Blair to help Natalie find the name of her birth mother.
#3 - The Return of Mr. Garrett
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/7/1979
Mrs. Garrett is surprised by a visit from her ex-husband, Roger, who wants to remarry her. However, his gambling ways rub off on the girls who begin playing poker for money.
#4 - Dope
Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 6/11/1980
Blair and Sue Ann befriend two new girls, who pressure them to try marijuana.
#5 - I.Q.
Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 9/14/1979
Tootie comes across a paper listing the girls' I.Q. scores. Nancy scored highest and Sue Ann lowest, which puts extra pressure on them just before midterm exams.
#6 - Like Mother, Like Daughter
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 8/31/1979
It's Parents' Night at Eastland and Blair's sophisticated but flirtatious mother arrives. When her mother then gets involved with a married man, Blair confronts her mother and expresses her outrage.
#7 - Flash Flood
Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 4/11/1980
A flood prompts Blair and Tootie to race out to the stables to save some animals. However, the dam breaks and Blair and Tootie are in danger of being washed away. Mr. Bradley comes to the rescue, causing Blair to develop a crush on him.
#8 - Dieting
Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 3/21/1980
Sue Ann takes Blair's comments about her weight too seriously, and to prepare for a blind date that will involve swimming, Sue Ann goes on a starvation diet and collapses. Mrs. Garrett also diets to fit into a new dress.
#9 - Rough Housing
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 8/24/1979
The series opens with the Drummonds (from Diff'rent Strokes) visiting Eastland to see Mrs. Garrett (their ex-housekeeper). They arrive right in the middle of the Harvest Queen competition and Blair is sure she's going to win. So when Cindy considers running, Blair makes some snide comments about Cindy's femininity.
#10 - Emily Dickinson
Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 3/14/1980
Blair is so caught up with her latest boyfriend that she forgets to write a poem for English class. So at the last minute she plagiarizes a poem by Emily Dickinson and turns it in as her own. Things get worse when she's the only one who gets an A and Mr. Bradley enters her poem in a contest.
#11 - Overachieving
Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 3/12/1980
Tootie's father visits but doesn't like Tootie's activities, blaming Mrs. Garrett as a bad influence. Mr. Ramsey moves to have Tootie pulled out of Eastland but then has a change of heart.
#12 - The Facts of Love
Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 4/4/1980
Mrs. Garrett teaches a sex-education class, but her approach clashes with Mr. Bradley's more conservative ideas. Blair takes the ideas from class and experiments with her latest boyfriend, Steve.
#13 - Molly's Holiday
Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 6/4/1980
Molly is sad over her parents' divorce, so the girls help her scheme to reunite them. But her father arrives with a new girlfriend instead.