Diff'rent Strokes
Season 1
24 listed hours · 1978–1986 · NBC/ABC
From the desk
How this season is filed
Gary Coleman's Arnold makes a Park Avenue penthouse feel like Saturday morning, then the very-special-episode machine kicks in. Conrad Bain's Drummond adopts Harlem brothers; Todd Bridges' Willis plays straight man to a catchphrase factory. Sitcom grin first, then the child-star aftershocks that still haunt the reruns.
TV Flash files Season 1 of Diff'rent Strokes (1978–1986) on NBC/ABC as the first listed season of 8 — 24 listed hours, 1978-11-03–1979-05-04 from “Movin' In” (S01E01) to “The Girls' School” (S01E24). Titles, dates, and synopses on file — no invented recaps.
Desk essentials in this season
- S01E01 Movin' In
Movin' In is the Drummond penthouse brief. Bain adopts Harlem brothers; Coleman's Arnold already makes Saturday-morning voltage; Bridges' Willis is the straight man to a catchphrase.
- S01E02 The Social Worker
The Social Worker is the adoption math as plot. Grin first: the penthouse sitcom stating class and family as a visit, not yet the very-special-episode machine the later seasons ran.
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S01E01 Movin' In
In the series' first episode, millionaire Phillip Drummond takes in two Harlem orphans.
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S01E02 The Social Worker
A social worker checks up on the adoptees in the Drummond home.
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S01E03 Mother's Last Visit
Drummond is paid a surprise visit by his status-conscious mother.
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S01E04 Prep School
Drummond wants to send the kids to his boyhood prep school.
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S01E05 The Spanking
Drummond must decide how to discipline Arnold for tossing water bombs off the balcony.
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S01E06 Goodbye Dolly
The ratty doll Arnold sleeps with is accidentally sold.
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S01E07 The Trial
Drummond's teachings about justice backfire when he must give Arnold a fair trial for his misdeeds.
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S01E08 Retrospective - Part 1
Clips from early episodes are featured as the Drummonds spend Christmas reminiscing about humorous incidents.
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S01E09 Retrospective - Part 2
Life in the household is recalled in clips from early episodes.
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S01E10 The Fight
A bully's after Arnold and Willis wants him to fight back, while Drummond wants peace talks.
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S01E11 The Club Meeting
The boys show off their new home to their old friends.
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S01E12 The Woman
Arnold, Willis and Kimberly are out to foil Drummond's plan to marry a widow
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S01E13 No Time for Arnold
Feeling ignored, Arnold feigns bed-wetting to attract attention.
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S01E14 The Relative
The boys' cousin Muriel arrives, and she's as broke as she is likable.
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S01E15 The Tutor
Basketball-team captain Willis gets some bad news: get better grades or quit the team.
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S01E16 The New Landlord
The new landlord decides to evict families with preteens.
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S01E17 Willis' Privacy
Willis's demand for privacy sparks a feud with Arnold
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S01E18 Mrs. Garrett's Crisis
A reunion with successful friends convinces Mrs. Garrett of her own failure.
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S01E19 The Job
A frantic Willis keeps up pretenses after he's fired the first day on a job.
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S01E20 The Trip - Part 1
Drummond and his brood journey to Oregon to see his latest acquisition---the radio station where an old Army buddy holds forth. The Trip was a backdoor pilot for TV series "Hello Larry".
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S01E21 The Trip - Part 2
Drummond and his brood visit his newly purchased radio station and an old Army buddy. The Trip was a backdoor pilot for TV series "Hello Larry".
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S01E22 Getting Involved
Arnold perseveres in an uphill struggle to bring a holdup man to justice.
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S01E23 Willis's Birthday
Willis has a special birthday request: a party back in his Harlem neighborhood with his old buddies.
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S01E24 The Girls' School
Mrs. Garrett finds teen pandemonium when she visits Kimberly's school in a backdoor pilot for TV series "The Facts of Life".
More from the 1970s.