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From: odhfan
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  • The lead vocalist of this song sounds like Todd Bridges(Willis). I wonder if he sang the

    Diff'rent Strokes Season 8 opening theme.

  • I almost forgot abuot that little red headed bastard, god he SUCKED.

  • I hated Sam.

  • Doesn't anyone notice that Dana Plato is shown in the very last clip of this theme song, but isn't credited?

  • Comment removed

  • 0:33 Bobby Budnick

  • My dad loved this show as a kid.I feel really bad for Gary Coleman and Dana Plato for dying so young. Its had to imagine suck innocent kids becoming like that and dying miserable. Sad that becoming bad is advocated b y bastards such as Miley Cyrus whose intent is to corrupt our children.

  • @philipmarie1854 At least Gary Coleman's was health in lieu of drugs.

  • @tvnutboy In the '80s, Diff'rent Sythesizers Ruled The World.

  • Rest in Peace Gary Coleman & Dana Plato,still can't believe they're,both gone.I,didn't enjoy Different Strokes as much that season but I,guess things have to change for the show's characters thanks for posting.

  • god look at the antique camera at :28 lol. you know the show was doomed when they had to attempt to raise ratings by adding people to the cast. this is the good days of TV when they would film the episode the week up to its airdate. none of this bs "lets just do all 6 episodes in one month and call it a day" this is when a "season" was actually that. 6 months of episdoes. not 1 or 2 new episodes every 2 or three months.

  • lmao... this show was on for 8 seasons??? WTF?!?!

  • @JOBNUMBER have to remember there was only 3 networks to choose from. NBC, CBS, and ABC. No fox no CW. just 3.

  • @howardkevinm The good ole days. :p

  • cooksey=kidnapped

  • LMAO...WIllis and that Jheri curl...80s fail!

  • Love this song, but prefer the original rendition MUCH more. The female vocals in this one didn't make it better.

    This show in the last season is SOOO much different (worse) than the first 4 seasons. I love the first 2 seasons due to them being kids and genuinely funny and adorable

  • If I find a magician someday, I'll ask him to turn man into a woman I will be surely Dana Plato!

  • R.I.P. Gary Coleman. He died in Santaquin, Ut. not far from where my relatives are (in Payson) but I'm not related to him though.

    One well-known episode was about child molestion, when Arnold & Willis met an old bike shop owner...whom became too intimate with him (the scene of them being tickled with their shirts off).

    This was in 1982 when the media & society at large paid closer attention to the issue of child sex crimes & the slogan "don't talk to strangers" became a serious message.+

  • The Diff'rent Strokes curse skipped one actor: Danny Cooksey, whom played the red headed 10 year old boy. But he lacked a good acting career after moving to adulthood. He was on Nickelodeon's "Salute your shorts" a live-action comedy about a kids' summer camp. Also he did some cartoon voices. I will google on what become of him. +

  • The very begging drum beat in this song sounds like you are about to get rick rolled.

  • D.S. DEFINITELY jumped the shark with this season.

  • @lurch321 I think it jumped a season earlier when they brought in Sam and Maggie, and Kimberly left. They probably should have ended it there.

  • @Skibibbles Yes, I'd say so too. Forgot that Sam and Maggie came on board and Kim left the previous season.

  • Cadê a Kimberly?

    Where's Kimberly?

  • 0:02 since 1978 image

  • the red haired kid was in terminator 2 he was the red haired guy with the mullet lol

  • @killerkyle92 - OMG. That is Bobby Buddnick and yeah, the kid from Terminator 2 as well.

  • i like this show!!!!

  • Ok I had no idea that was Alan Thicke singing the song father of Robin Thicke wow what talent.

  • DS was my very favorite show as a small child. I still love it. May Gary, Dana and Dixie all rest in peace. 

  • Wow, I must have stopped watching it because I don't remember Mary Ann Mobley taking over for Dixie Carter.

  • @VelvetCyberpunk Dixie left for Designing Women.

    The director of DS was an asshole so that is prolly why she went anyway.

  • @MetalPharoah Yeah the director and execs were all pretty horrible. It's evident by the way they treated Dana Plato.

  • i think they should have ended the show way before they did...before gary coleman got bigger. i loved the first few seasons....but then after about season 4 it wasnt the same. ,

  • @LadyScorpio39 Gary Coleman never got bigger, just older!

  • Where's my money was what Willis was Talkin' 'bout!

  • Come now, who doesn't remember this?

  • Even though he sang both versions of this theme, you can REALLY tell that is Alan Thicke (star of "Growing Pains") singing the song in this version. Funny to think, this was the last season for "Diff'rent Strokes", but the first for "Growing Pains"!

  • This theme is better than the one used on the NBC episodes

  • @kachoo2135 I second that. It was more upbeat.

  • This theme had more rhythm in sound.

  • Thank you for your reply. I am glad to hear that Conrad Bain is still alive. I watched this show a lot when I was a kid.

  • This clip leaves me feeling a little sad. At least half the cast of Diff'rent Strokes is now dead. Todd Bridges is still alive and I am not sure about Mary Jo Catlett or Mary Ann Mobley. But Conrad Bain, Dana Plato, Gary Coleman and Dixie Carter have all passed away. Kinda sad.

  • @Phil0267 Actually, Conrad Bain is still alive, and going strong at the age of 87. He's now fully retired. And to put things in perspective, George Gaynes (Henry on Punky Brewster) is also still around, and he's 93.

  • They forgot Dana Plato in the intro and Mary Jo in the end with the family.

  • @MrNbafan21 Dana Plato left after season 6 due to her pregnancy. However she was able to make guess appearences after she gave birth.

  • RIP Gary

  • RIP Gary Coleman, we will miss you:

    "Whatchu' Talkin' 'Bout Willis?"

  • Rest In Peace Gary. We will all miss you very much.

  • 0:34 Budnick!!

  • @jcrist lol also he was also the voice of Montana Max on Tiny Toon Adventures lol

  • was his name arnold i use to watch this when i was a kid and the hillbillies and the munsters with grandad in

  • danny cooksey was on salute your shorts

  • Take care. RIP Gary Coleman he was so young. We all watched this growing up. Have a fun weekend.

  • RIP gary!

  • RIP GARY

  • R.I.P. Gary!

  • R I P GARY. 

  • RIP Gary

  • @wickidlywikidable ever since obama too office more people are dropping dead

    why?

  • @moneybelt22 who knows, moneybelt? perhaps the grim reaper finally took over the oval office. or perhaps one look at obama and one drops dead (hear the scream the wicked west did after dorothy gale splashed water on her...). uh-oh, i just looked at obama...i'm melting...i'm melllll...

  • R.I.P. Gary Coleman

    He died earlier this afternoon following a severe brain hemorrhage.

  • I don't like that new kid...he looks shady

  • By the time this theme came out, Alan was at this point on "Growing Pains" in its first season. He was probably asked by ABC to re-record it due to copyright issues, so that's why we hear more synthesized horns and drums in this version.

  • ten o'clock news in the eastern time zone? i always thought that was a central time zone exclusive due to the national feeds being an hour earlier....

  • That was WPXI 11 here in Pittsburgh.....they air 10pm and 11pm news.

  • @kduideo: thanks for the info, i always thought that was a central time zone exclusive for 2 reasons

    1.the national feeds being an hour earlier

    2.many of those in farming communities of the midwest tend to turn in earlier than those in the suburbs or cities becuse they're up earlier, but i'm guessing western PA has a lot of similar rural areas...

  • Comment removed

  • Was this series screened in 1985 or 1986? The end titles for this series state 1985. Us guys "the other side of the pond" go to see Diff'rent Strokes and one if its spin offs Silver Spoons. The most prominant spin off to Diff'rent Strokes - The Facts of Life, has never been shown properly here in the UK. Series 1 and 2 were shown on a cable channel about 15 years ago!

  • The show was definitely showing its age by this, the 8th and final season. No wonder ABC cancelled it a second time.

    By the way did Dana Plato make any appearances at all during that season?

  • @jsrosa1282

    i recall the bulimia episode

  • Budnick was such a cute little kid

  • great show.i always thought he was a loving rich father that spoiled his kids in a good way! love it!

  • they dont make themes like they did back in the 80s and early 90s

  • true dude, no is all shit in disney and other tv sitcoms. the best are fresh prince and different strokes IS THE-BEST!!!

  • Whatcha talkin bout Willis

  • muito legal mesmo

  • a melhor serie de todos os tempos

  • Sr Guerret FAz falta mesmo

  • I think Mary Jo Catlett was underrated.

  • I haven't seen Danny Cooksey since this show.

  • he was in Terminator 2 in the beggining

  • Which is a blessing!

  • very muito bom

  • nota 100000000000000000000000000000­000000000000000000000000000000­000000000000000000000000000000­000000000000000000000000000000­000000000000000000000000000000­000000000000000000000000000000­000000000000000000000000000000­000000000000000000000000000000­000000000000000000000000000000­000000000000000000000000000000­000000000000000000000000000000­000000000000000000000000000000­000000000000000000000000000000­00000000000000000000000

  • a dysfunctional family on TV and in real life could it be "the diffrent strokes curse".Plato was fired for getting pregnant,to bad she was the only thing good about this show.

  • as far as im concerned is that this long sitcom started biting the dust when season 7 started and after dana plato's exited(in which she got fired)from the show. and then season 8 killed the show to me. most of the time adding new characters on a very long running show can really hurt the outcome.

  • For years I thought it was "it takes different strokes to rule the world" but it's "move the world."

  • @dav1237 - So did I...also thought that line "they've got nothing but their jeans" was "they've got nothing but the genes"! LOL

  • i Love This Show. I Wish They Would Bring it Back On The Air.

  • Yes it is a shame it's no longer on the air, but here's the next best thing: complete episodes on my channel, totally commercial-free, check it out :)

  • Agh! The intro has been 80's-ified with synth drums! As butt-ugly as the old song was...I want it back.

  • They had alot of "very special episodes" on Diff'rent Strokes.

  • Mary Jo Catlett is still alive i believe and she was last seen on That's so Raven  as Cory's Teacher and also she does the voice of driving teacher Mrs. Puff on Spongebob. Danny Cooksey aka " Sam Maggie's son" is still around doing voice work and also he was Bobby Butnick on "Salute Your Shorts" on Nickelodeon !!

  • Dana did croak long after this show was cancelled.

  • That's truly fucked up!

  • we need more intros of this show from seasons 1-7 on here.

  • Ironically, Dana Plato did make a guest appearance as a sexed up Madonna wannabe in Growing Pains.

  • she died of OD

  • all three of the kids lives where ruin after the show

    aronld parents stole all his money left him broke

    todd delt drugs got busted

  • Gary Coleman was so close to the dead end of his career at this point.

  • When did the show get cancelled?

  • 1986

  • fdddd

  • this intro sucks, like the song lost its soul. season 8 sucked hard. dana plato is missing. coleman is an overgrown boyscout and no longer funny. this series was overworn and definately belonged to the past. a season 9 would have been even more terrible. the early and middle seasons were great

  • This is the re-recorded theme from the ABC season of the show, which was also the series 8th and last. Both versions of the song were performed (as well as written) by Alan Thicke (aka Jason Seaver of "Growing Pains"), with this version recorded to both update the theme and to correlate with the other changes made with the network jump (new set, recasting Dixie Carter's character, etc) and possibly to help promote 'Pains' which premiered only 3 days before this season of Strokes debuted on ABC.

  • this is when Differen't Strokes's theme song officialy lost its soul..

  • didnt I see Kimberly at the very end and if so why isnt she listed

  • cause she died =(

  • Yes, she died, but not until way after the show was off. During the final season, she gave birth to a baby boy.

  • Actually, what got Dana Plato fired was becoming pregnant (deliberately, according to Conrad Bain), not the drugs or alcohol. She returned afterwards for a handful of episodes, but was never considered a 'regular' after leaving in 1984 and returning a year after that.

  • Oh, the dirty things I wanted to do to Pearl back in the day...

  • i noticed a different maggie from the intro from season 7 to this one? i caught it! what happened to that other maggie?

  • The show was cancelled by NBC after Season 7, releasing all the actors from their contracts. ABC picked up the show for another season, but Dixie Carter, the original (and infinitely better) Maggie, had already signed with CBS to star in Designing Women. She was replaced by former beauty pageant queen, Mary Ann Mobley.

  • Scratch part of that: Carter may or may not have been under contract elsewhere, as Designing Women didn't premiere until following DS's second cancellation from ABC. Whatever the case, Carter obviously opted not to return to Diff'rent Strokes after the first cancellation from NBC.

  • By 1985 when DS was picked up by ABC, Linda Bloodworth-Thomason had tapped Dixie Carter for Designing Women. Carter likely got out of her contract with Strokes so she could be available for DW.

  • Designing Women didn't debut until 1986 after Strokes ended.

  • eww wot was that??

    i hate tv programmes when they get old + worn out.

  • Seasons 1-6 of Diff'rent Strokes were ok to me. It was fun watching Conrad Bain Gary Coleman, Todd Bridges, and the late Dana Plato. All the housekeepers (Charlotte Rae, the late Nedra Volz, & Mary Jo Catlett) were okay; I got used to all of them as each season went on. The show was never the same after Season 6 when Danny Cooksey got more air time and Dana Plato was let go due to her pregnancy situation. Bain, Coleman, Bridges, and Plato were definitely the originals in my book.

  • Burn jackass! This show is the best and don't u dare criticize Mr. Drummond

  • This version of theme is so mid-80's!!

  • I love this show! Season 1 is definately the best. I wonder if season 3 will ever come out on DVD.

  • They are now up to the Sam years in the BET network now.

  • Dana Plato was dropped from the show because she became pregnant in real life.

    producers of the show felt that a pregnant teenager wouldn't do the show any favours.

  • she got up the duff when she was still a teen?? tut tut

  • man the theme song got a little groove to it now. Hey does anyone notice that the boy at

    0:43 looks like willis when he was younger lol.

  • that is willis

  • That is Willis from the first ever episode!

  • when did it jump the shark?

  • Did anyone not hate Sam?

    Willis has a mullet.

    Fake Maggie.

  • the first 7 years intro's were so much better, the singing, and music, this may sound dumb but the first 7 sounded more I don't know... soulful and black back grounded, and this one was too white for the words and the show

  • I agree, i didn't like this version of the theme song

  • 50 pills

    no i'd never watched this show before i just like the song

    the begining is nice

  • I prefer the old episodes over the new ones.

  • me too.the last three seasons really sucks.

  • This was a popular but yet subversive method of programming all those who watched to instill into them that black people and white people could get along, it was needed...thats the subtext, racism must have been a problem, still is i suppose and it's popular tv which sometimes deal with these types of issues.

  • bye bye kimberly. its tooo bad she was dropped. r.i.p dana plato!!

  • The video is out of synch at the end but I love this opening! Thanks for sharing. :)

  • i loove this theme song. i like how conrad bain looks in his introduction.

  • Does anyone know what year this final series was done? I'm guessing 1985???

  • 1986.

  • Yeah, I'd say about that approximately. The show started in 1978 so 8 years from that would be 86. I know it wasn't on long after I started school because that's when ABC came out with all their monster hit sitcoms and NBC had Cosby, Cheers and Family Ties. All CBS had were nighttime soap operas at that point. Fox wasn't even on yet at the time of these credits here.

  • I just took notice of something. If you watch the picture of Gary at :40 you will notice that his picture changes to a scene with him and Dana standing on the balcony.

    I don't know how it took 20 years for me to notice this.

  • You know, the same thing happened to the pilot episode when you see the original sister in certain scenes(briefly) of Growing Pains and you notice the editing included Tracy Gold's character inserted at the last minute.

  • So what ever happen to Pearl the housekeeper in this final season

  • I find it ironic they would replace Dixie Carter with Mary Ann Mobley, even when she played in a Diff'rent Strokes episode as Arnold's teacher that Drummond had the hots for.

  • Does anyone know where i can view the final episode.

  • Gary Coleman recently appeared in the spotlight again on Divorce Court with his new wife. I was surprised he was even married.

  • I liked Dixie Carter better MaryAnn than as Maggie.

    Too bad they couldn't have Kimberly's character be married (since Plato was pregnant) to tie in with the "family values" back then. R.I.P. Dana!

  • Me too. Mary Ann's delivery was a toned down version. Dixie was perfect. Jnust like on Fresh Prince when Daphine Maxwell Reid took over as Vivian. She didn't quite have the sass of the original played by Janet Hubert.

  • Right on!!

  • I totally agree. Both recasts severely lacked the attitude and comedic timing that Dixie Carter and Janet Hubert brought to their roles. I'll give Mobley this: at least she was in the ballpark for physical resemblance to Carter... Reid was NOTHING like Hubert in any way, shape, or form. What a snore.

  • She did appear in the episode about Bullemia and that was her final appearance after that. She appeared in like only a handful of Diff'rent Strokes episodes in the ABC version. The Bullemia episode is the final one. After that, it's just Arnold, Willis, and Drummond, if you excluse the other recurring characters like Maggie, Arnold's friend, the maid, and the son.

  • She was also the noisy neighborh in Serial mom.

  • That movie seriously rocked! I loved it and her in it.

  • The only one of those people still on TV is the housekeeper...as Mrs. Puff's voice on SpongeBob Squarepants.

  • I knew it was her

  • Cooksey fucked this show! I lost interest the second that cunt appeared!

  • Well, we in Yankeeland over here only allow the "C" word to be used on women. Sexist, hypocritical nation of idiots is what we are. Go ahead and give this statement a million negative votes...you still know I'm right! :-)

  • this was one of my favorite shows...

  • 1978 was so good

  • So much different than the older episodes!

  • NBC canned it because it was already done and they revived for a 8th Season on ABC. But it didn't matter back then. Damages were already done. Danny Cooksey being added, Drummond getting married, Dana Plato out of the picture due to pregnancy(only making guest spots), Ann Mobley being added as the 2nd Mrs. Drummond replacing Dixie Carter, everything gone wrong. But damages were already done. It had been since 6th Season when those two characters introduced in the first place.

  • thats whats called "jumping the shark"! Alot of great shows of the late 1970's and 1980's did that! Facts Of Life, Cosby Show, Webster....I can go on! Season 8 only had less than 20 episodes anyway.

  • Hey Mishter D...that's not your wife, it's an IMPOSTOR!

  • Worst updated intro to a long running theme ever. Why update it? It was fine the way it was. AND DID THEY REALLY NEED TO ADD FUCKING DANNY COOKSEY?? HE SUCKS!!

  • isn't that alan thick singing this version

  • Yeeesssss! That is him.

  • Season 8 did not happen -- it was all a dream cooked up by ABC, lol!! Well, at least when you heard the intro, you thought so.

  • fake wife 2 junkies...the DS run should have ended a year before...

  • man...moving the show was a bad idea!

  • Hey guys, Diff'rent Strokes in now on BET and Peachtree TV formally known as WTBS-17 Atlanta, GA

    and also, during the 85/86 Season, Diff'rent Strokes along w/Pink Panther & Sons moved to abc from NBC, Wink Martindale left Tic Tac Dough for Headline Chasers and Jim Caldwell took over Tic Tac Dough Hosting Duties and Patrick Duffy left Dallas during that Season and came back.

    and plus I heard that when DS got cancelled Gary Coleman was happy and that he wanted to move on and do other things.

  • I just found that out this morning! I am totally recording all the episodes....thank god, I have been waiting for this show to return for years : )

  • hes still alive retired i guess hes in his 80s i think