Raise your hand if you Discolovers have never seen an episode of ‘Arnold’!!! I thought so… everyone has followed the adventures of the young African American boy catapulted into Manhattan!<\/p>\n
‘Diff’rent Strokes’ (the original title was: Diff’rent Strokes) was a Situation Comedy produced in the USA by Tandem Productions and broadcast in 189 self-contained episodes divided into 8 seasons, from 1978 to 1986: until 1985 on NBC, subsequently on ABC.
\nIn Italy it aired starting in 1980 on local private television stations (the first two seasons and part of the third) and was subsequently broadcast nationally on Canale 5 and Italia Uno. Since 2006 it has continued to air during late-night hours on Mediaset channels, and with the arrival of Digital Terrestrial Television the series is still broadcast today. <\/p>\n
The series tells the stories of two African American brothers, Arnold and Willis Jackson, aged 8 and 13 respectively, who are adopted by a wealthy businessman, Philip Drummond, who thus removes them from the poverty of Harlem and brings them to live in the wealth of Manhattan. This was in fact the last wish of the boys’ mother, Mr. Drummond’s housekeeper, shortly before dying from a serious illness. Over the years, various situations, both comedic and dramatic, would unfold along this storyline, making this Sitcom an international success for years and years.
\nAmong the other regular characters are Kimberly, Mr. Drummond’s charming daughter, and Mrs. Edna Garrett, the friendly housekeeper. Arnold and Willis were legally adopted after about a year, in a dramatic one-hour special episode. From this moment on, Mr. Drummond officially becomes their father. In 1984, at the end of the sixth season, the series underwent a radical change following Philip Drummond’s marriage to Maggie McKinney, an aerobics instructor. Mr. Drummond’s new wife and her son Sam, a lively 8-year-old boy, joined the cast until the end of the series.
\nAfter moving to the ABC television network, the series was definitively concluded in March 1986, without a specific finale, as typically happens with most Sitcoms. It is likely that the decision to remove it from the schedule was made after the end of the final season. <\/p>\n
The series was indeed an enormous success, but it did not bring good fortune to most of its protagonists. Arnold Jackson was played by Gary Coleman, who due to kidney dysfunction had growth problems to the point of never exceeding a height of 1.30 m. But his life was entirely marked by misfortune and controversy. He sued his parents for arbitrarily taking the proceeds from his acting career. In 2003 he returned to the news pages for running in the California Governor primaries for the Republican Party, finishing in eighth place in electoral preferences: another actor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, won. Subsequently he had problems with the law for domestic violence. On May 28, 2010, he died following an accident in his home in Salt Lake City. Willis Jackson was played by Todd Bridges, and after the end of the series he became sadly famous for serious problems with the law (drug use, attempted murder of a drug dealer). Today he declares himself rehabilitated and has returned to the entertainment world. Kimberly Drummond was played by Dana Plato. She also had an unfortunate future. Already in 1984, during the final season of the series, her appearances were sporadic, as she was expecting a child. After the end of the television series, her career began to decline, leading her first to disappear from the entertainment world and then to return with pornographic films and nude appearances in Playboy magazine. It was said that she had abused drugs for years. She was arrested and placed on probation for forging a Valium prescription. Then, fatally, after an interview in which she hinted at a return to popularity, she was found dead in her home, presumably by suicide, from a drug overdose. It was 1999, she was 34 years old. <\/p>\n
In Italy the first two seasons of the series were broadcast with the title ‘Harlem contro Manhattan’. The title ‘Il mio amico Arnold’ (later reduced simply to ‘Arnold’) was only given subsequently, when the series moved to Canale 5, in order to give greater weight to the character played by Coleman, who was certainly the most famous in the series and had indirectly led the audience to rename the series with this protagonist’s name. The theme song of the first cycle titled Arnold was sung by Nico Fidenco and was a great commercial success in 1980. Subsequently the original theme song was reused, with the exception of a brief period between 1983 and 1984, when it was replaced by an English song called Shake your body, performed by African American singer LJ Sedlar and recorded on a 45 rpm record on the Five Records label.
\nThe characters of Arnold and Mr. Drummond, always played by Gary Coleman and Conrad Bain, also appeared in the final episode of the series ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ expressing interest in Willy’s apartment as potential buyers. In this episode Arnold modified his catchphrase for the occasion to “What the heck are you saying Willy?”, addressed to the series’ protagonist. <\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=KHqaNfq4RkI<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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