173: Weirdest Episode Ever: The Facts of Life Goes to the Twilight Zone
Greetings! We are combatting the dead zone that is the holidays with a bonus episode: the fourth of Weirdest Episode Ever, our new Patreon series looking at sitcoms that venture into sci-fi, horror and fantasy. If you like this, you can listen to three other episodes on Patreon, with another six to come in early 2023. They’re available for people supporting us at the $5 level or higher.
Here’s the full list of episodes we have done/will be doing:
The Cosby Show, "The Day the Spores Landed" (a.k.a. the male pregnancy episode)
I Love Lucy, “Lucy Goes to Scotland" (a.k.a. Lucy gets fed to a dragon)
Perfect Strangers, "Aliens" (a.k.a. Balki is an alien)
The Facts of Life, "Seven Little Indians" (a.k.a. the Twilight Zone parody)
Family Matters, "Stevil" (a.k.a. Steve Urkel gets a murderous puppet doppelganger)
Benson, "Death in a Funny Position" (a.k.a. serial killer cruise ship)
Day by Day, "A Very Brady Episode" (a.k.a. a very strange venture into Brady Bunch land)
Two Guys a Girl and a Pizza Place, "Two Guys a Girl and a Psycho Halloween" (a.k.a. Ryan Reynolds murders everyone)
Punky Brewster, "The Perils of Punky" (a.k.a. the cave of horrors)
The Cosby Show, "Cliff's Nightmare" (a.k.a. Cliff Huxtable vs. Muppets)
Here are the details on this Facts of LIfe episode:
“Seven Little Indians” (January 3, 1987)
It would be ambitious for any sitcom, much less Facts of Life specifically, to attempt a weird episode that not only satirizes 1980s slasher movies but also murder mysteries and also The Twilight Zone. For all that being packed into one 22-minute format, this one actually works pretty well. Lisa Whelchel as Blair — big-haired, wild eyed and caked with makeup — makes for a striking visual that probably traumatized a few kids back in the day.
The Facts of Life, previously:
The logo for Weirdest Episode Ever + the rad art of psycho killer Blair Warner was designed by Ian O’Phelan. The theme music was composed by Nick Loiacano.
Episode artwork by Ian O’Phelan.