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Mrs. Edna Garrett, housemother and dietitian at the Eastland School, teaches a group of girls in her charge how to solve those problems that every teenager has to face.
“You take the good, you take the bad...”
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.
It's Parent's Night at Eastland and Blair's sophisticated mother arrives bringing with her, her flirtatious tendancies which prompt rumors when she becomes ""friendly"" with a married man.
Mrs. Garrett is surprised by a visit from her ex-husband, Roger, who wants the two of them to remarry. However, his gambling ways rub off on the girls who begin gambling on poker games and loosing what little money they have..
Tootie accidentally comes across a paper which lists the I.Q. scores of each one of the girls. Nancy received the highest score and Sue Ann scored the lowest, this puts extra pressure on each one of them just prior to midterm exams.
Tootie's father comes for a visit and doesn't like the activities that Tootie is being exposed to. Believing that Mrs. Garrett is a bad influence, Mr. Ramsey decides to have Tootie transfer out of Eastland.
Blair is so caught up with her latest boyfriend that she forgets about an English assignment in which she has to write a poem. 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.
Blair and Sue Ann kid each other about their weight and Sue Ann takes Blair's comments a little too seriously. However, when Blair sets Sue Ann up on a blind date which will involve going swimming, Sue Ann goes on a starvation diet leading to a collapse. Meanwhile, Mrs. Garrett also jumps on the dieting wagon, trying to fit in a size 12 dress.
Mrs. Garrett begins teaching a sex-education class at Eastland and her tactics are against the more prudish suggestions of Mr. Bradley. Meanwhile, Blair takes the ideas from class and expirements with her latest boyfriend, Steve.
A flood hits Peekskill which prompts Blair and Tootie to race out to the stables to save some animals from being washed away. However the damn breaks and Blair and Tootie become in danger of being washed away.
Mr. Bradley gives the girls an assignment having to do with their family trees. However, Natalie is reluctant to show hers in class do to the fact that the family that raised her is her adopted family. This prompts Blair to help Natalie find the name of her real mother by using her mother's clout to cut through some red tape and sealed records.
Mr. Bradley's need to have Eastland win prompts him to manipulate Sue Ann into competing in a running competition. Sue Ann had previously ran but this year decided not to, however, Mr. Bradley uses Cindy's better racing times to goad Sue Ann into competing.
Molly is down in the dumps due to her parents getting a divorce. So she gets some help from the girls who plan to reunite her parents. Things hit the fan, when her father arrives with a new girlfriend.
Blair and Sue Ann befriend two new girls. All seems to go okay with them until they learn that their friends use drugs.
1980
Streetsmart Bronx native, Jo Polniaczeck arrives at Eastland.
Mrs. Garrett bails the girls out of jail and announces that they all have been expelled from Eastland. However, they can stay if they move in with Mrs. Garrett and work in the cafeteria. This prompts Jo's want to leave to become even stronger.
Blair is sure that an old friend of hers', Harrison Andrews is going to invite her to a cotillion, however she is thrown for a loop when he invites Jo.
Tootie begins to think long and hard about her race and how she's being treated at Eastland, thanks to a new boy whom Tootie took an interest in. Tootie soon begins to shun Natalie, Jo and Blair and even backs out of a dance contest because her dance partner is white.
When Blair's cousin, Geri, arrives for a visit, Mrs. Garrett, based on Blair's behavior, thinks she's embarrassed of Geri since she has cerebral palsy. However later Mrs. Garrett realizes she's really jealous of her since Geri is also a successful comedienne.
It's Edna's birthday and the girls want to buy her a gift. Blair told them that she would buy the gift but Jo, Natalie, and Tootie decide to buy their own gift. They decide to buy a cool Hawaiian shirt for Mrs. Garrett because it's on sale. When they go to the store they find the sale has ended. Jo decided to steal the shirt. Later, Mrs. Garrett decides to return the shirt and discovers it was stolen.
Jo's boyfriend, Eddie, surprises her by making a sudden visit to Peekskill, but she gets even more of a surprise when he proposes marriage.
Jo is unsure of whether or not to accept Eddie's proposal but finally decides to go ahead with the wedding, despite the feelings of Mrs. Garrett, Blair, Natalie and Tootie.
When Tootie overhears a secret that Blair tells Jo about Nancy's beau, she lets the secret slip and Nancy and Blair get into a fight which leads Blair to give Jo the silent treatment. Things get worse, when Tootie mistakes Mrs. Garrett for being drunk, when really her eyes had been dilated by her eye doctor prompting her to be a little topsy turvy. The rumor of Mrs. Garrett's drunken sprawl could cost her her job.
Blair is running for class president but things get out of hand when one of the candidates commits suicide.
Natalie hits it off with Neil, a boy she meets at a dance and they later begin studying together. However, rumors are spread that Natalie and Neil did more than just study which brings on calls from a number of boys who want to study with Natalie. Natalie encourages these rumors when she goes out with the boys due to the fact that Blair, Jo and Tootie laughed at the notion that Natalie could be a sex symbol.
Shortly after winning an award, Jo learns that her jailbird father, is getting paroled and that he would like to attend the awards ceremony. However, an ashamed Jo, tries to keep her father from attending as well as tries to keep secret the fact that her dad is in prison.
Tootie is selected to do a photo shoot for a fashion photographer, but Mrs. Garrett becomes increasingly concerned at the dark underbelly of the business.
Blair is selling Countess Calvert cosmetics, and she uses Natalie as a model.
Mrs. Garrett's musician son, Alex stops by Eastland for a visit, with tales about how he rubs elbows with other musicians like Neil Diamond and Carly Simon. However, Blair smells a rat when she contradicts one of his stories and when she learns that Mrs. Garrett is still supporting him.
Tootie and Natalie go to visit Tootie's aunt Sylvia. However, they are unaware they are showing up right in the middle of a fight. Sylvia and her husband are an interacial couple and Sylvia has just gotten a job offer in New York and Brian is not to happy about moving.
1984
Mrs. Garrett and the girls share their summer vacations: Natalie and Tootie at a Cape Cod resort, Mrs. Garrett and Jo on a musical fling in Atlantic City and Blair down on a farm in Iowa.
Jo begins a pizza business with her mom's secret pizza recipe that has everyone's mouths watering, including a fraternity house that buys pizzas in bulk. However, the business begins running Jo and her workers, Natalie and Tootie ragged which leads Jo to make a business decision on how to make pizzas faster and cheaper.
With computer dating as the subject of her term paper, Natalie uses a computer dating service to find Blair and Jo ""perfect dates"" without their permission. Meanwhile, Mrs. Garrett targets Tootie as a bridge partner when her old one moves away.
Tootie's first date with Jeff since he started college leaves her feeling she must sleep with him to keep him.
On a dateless Saturday night, the girls cruise downtown Peekskill in hopes of finding Mr. Right. However, a string of bizarre events leads the girls to hideout in their car at a closed gas station.
Rumors spead about Jo's involvement with her professor and indeed, they just may be true when a romance develops between the two.
Jo and Sam's relationship grows more serious despite the fact that he has a young son from a previous marriage.
Mrs. Garrett enrolls in a Shakespeare class, but worries that she might neglect her business and have trouble fitting in with the college crowd.
Jo has a heart-to-heart talk---with a computer to resolve a conflict she had with Blair (Lisa Whelchel). Natalie: Mindy Cohn. Mrs. Garrett: Charlotte Rae. Tootie: Kim Fields.
While working at the campus radio station, Jo finds herself needing to fill 5 hours of air time. Things start off on a bad note, when she can't find a key to the record cabinet, which leads, Natalie, Tootie, Blair and Mrs. Garrett to come to her rescue.
Natalie is nervous after an interview for a job she applied for with the town newspaper. However, after she learns she didn't get the job, her strange behavior threatens her relationship with her boyfriend.
Jo borrows one of Blair's watches and later breaks it. Jo's lack of remorse is what sends Blair to some serious action, she hauls Jo into small claims court. Meanwhile, Mrs. Garrett is having a hard time studying for her algebra class.
For the Christmas season, Blair and some of her snobby friends plan on putting on a Christmas show at a home for boys. Her Christmas spirit quickly changes when she discovers that the home for boys is really a home for convicts.
A no-win situation: Tootie asks Natalie for an honest opinion of her dreadful one-woman play about Eleanor Roosevelt.
Mrs. Garrett and the girls all become concerned about Blair's bizarre behavior, she's skipping class, dating nonstop and is out all night every night, all this just after a breakup with her first serious relationship, Cliff.
The death of a famous jazz singer brings back fond memories to Tootie and Natalie, who got to know him at a resort hotel where he worked as a waiter.
Mrs. Garrett receives a visit from the high-school sweetheart she ran out on, and she's swept off her feet all over again.
Blair is devastated when she learns that her boyfriend is into cocaine. Lisa Whelchel. Jo: Nancy McKeon. Kevin: Ryan Cassidy. Father Donovan: John Ingle.
The girls have no plans for spring break until Natalie learns that her grandmother's condominium is available in Fort Lauderdale, where the boys are.
On spring break in Fort Lauderdale and to the surprise of everyone, especially herself, Blair falls in love with a mere building manager.
Kevin, forced to leave his apartment, moves into the attic of Edna's Edibles and makes a move on Jo.
The local drive-in theatre is closing and the girls decide to pay it one last visit on the final night it's open. However, chaos reigns when people begin to loot the theatre and Blair gets into a cat fight.
During an alumni weekend at Langley, Blair's mother and Jo's father bond which leads to Blair and Jo's fears of becoming sisters.
With Mrs. Garrett out of town, Blair wants to be in charge of the shop so a reluctant Jo, Natalie and Tootie step aside and let her. Quickly Blair's handling of a competitor food shop goes awry.
Mrs. Garrett and the girls are all excited about Natalie's graduation and buy her a bookcase with a brand new set of encyclopedias on the assumption she's going to college. To her friends surprise, Natalie has a very different plan for life after high school.
A former Eastland girl, now an author, interviews the girls for her latest book she's writing. In the interviews the girls each open up about their friendships and school life.
1981
When Blair, Natalie and Jo tease Tootie for being the youngest, she feels left out. This leads her to experiment with alcohol by downing an entire bottle of wine.
Natalie conjures up a fear of going outside after she is attacked while coming home from a party
An ex-Eastlander, Alison makes a visit to Eastland to see old friends, Blair, Natalie and Tootie. Coming back brings back memories of when life was a lot simpler, since now she is married and has a baby daughter, Emily. When Alison leaves, however, she forgets to take along one important thing, Emily.
Blair's mother is scheduled to have plastic surgery but calls it off to make a visit to Eastland to see her daughter. However, a mistaken phone call leads Blair to discover the truth, her mother may have breast cancer.
Burned by her journalism teacher's scathing criticism, Jo turns out a front-page story linking him to a drug bust.
Mrs. Garrett learns that the company that she worked for, for years has gone bankrupt thus canceling her pension fund. This prompts her to get a second job, one that pays more that the job at Eastland. She ultimately begins thinking of quitting her job as school dietician.
When her ex-fiancee, Eddie, arrives in town for a visit, Jo learns that she's growing apart from him when she finds herself attracted to the man who's playing her husband in a simulated marriage project for a class.
Natalie's planning a weekend of romance with her boyfriend, but when her Grandma Mona drops in unexpectedly, her romantic intentions are postponed.
The girls are all excited about a big camp-out due to the fact that it will give them a chance to be with their beaus. However, Tootie is anything but happy and tries to wriggle her way out of going, by writing love letters from an imaginary boyfriend, in order to avoid the boy Blair is trying to fix her up with.
Blair's cousin, Geri, makes another visit to Peekskill and Blair sets her up with her teacher, but later Blair feels that Geri is headed for a romantic fall.
Blair is thrilled that her name is going to be part of Eastland, since a large amount of money from her grandfather's estate is being donated for the building of a new library. However, while doing a story on him for the newspaper, Natalie uncovers a shocking truth, Blair's grandfather was a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
Natalie wants the lead in the play, South Pacific, and she won't let anyone stand in her way of getting it. However, when Tootie is practically forced to audition and gets the lead, heaven help Tootie because Natalie is after revenge.
The new Japanese student, Miko, is excited about being the newest student at Eastland as well as being in America. However, her strict father doesn't think Eastland is a good influence especially since she snuck out to see a rock concert and borrowed Jo's bike causing $400 in damage.
A visitor from Mrs. Garrett's past comes to Eastland and immediately appears to sweep Mrs. Garrett off her feet. It's apparent Mrs. Garrett and this mystery man are more than friends when Tootie catches them kissing and Blair becomes determind to discover just how serious this relationship is.
Tootie is the president of the Jermaine Jackson fan club and her duties as president interfere with a promise to Jo. Later, she wins free tickets to one of his concerts and is determind to go, even if she has to hitchhike.
Constant squabbling between the girls prompt Mrs. Garrett to announce that the debt for wrecking the van has been paid off and they are all now free to move out and live in the dorms. However, the girls soon realize the living above the cafeteria is something they do not want to change.
Mrs. Garrett and the girls visit New York and have lunch in a Italian restaurant where Natalie discovers something she never expected, her father romancing someone other than her mother. This prompts Natalie to debate whether or not to confront her father, out of fear of a divorce between her parents.
Jo, Natalie and Blair are going to New York to see a Broadway play and a left out Tootie sneaks out to meet them in front of the theatre without Mrs. Garrett's knowledge. However, when Tootie doesn't find the girls she stops in a coffee shop across the street unaware she's about to get a dose of the downside of New York life.
Both Blair and Jo head to New York to meet two old friends. Blair discovers her old friend, Dina, is the same old snob she's always been and Jo discovers her friend, Jesse, is the same old prejudiced bully she's always been. Blair and Jo soon realize their friendship is much more meaningful.
Natalie has a big crush on Tim and has filled Blair's slambook with words of praise. However, in Blair's slambook instead of signing your name you sign a number, Natalie's number is 10. When Blair tells Tim who number 10 belongs to, Natalie is furious and wants revenge no matter who she hurts in the process.
Wanting to give Natalie a gift for helping her with her chemistry, Blair takes a peek in Natalie's diary to see if she could get an idea on what to get. However, gifts are the last thing on Blair's mind when she discovers that Natalie thinks she's an egotistical witch.
A friend of Jo's, Buzz, who attends a military academy, needs her to fix him up with a wealthy socialite, since he made a bet with some of his buddies. So Jo fixes him up with Blair who thinks he dates wealthy women including Gloria Vanderbilt's daughter.
Jo's cousin, a 14 year old tomboy, who is lovesick, calls for her help.
Jo stands up for her rights. She protests that books which are believed to have a bad influence on people are being banned.
1987
Jo is jobless and apartmentless in Malibu, where Richard Moll just happens to need a house sitter.
Richard Moll returns to the home he left in Jo's care to find it's been flooded: someone left the water running in the hot tub.
Blair's after-hours visit with a professor reputed to be a womanizer stirs up a storm of vicious rumors on campus.
Natalie jumps at the chance to do an inside story on ROTC and then learns she'll also have to jump from a plane.
Jo takes a job in social work at a community center that, she learns, has no funds to pay her salary.
A new girl arrives at Eastland in the wee hours, claiming to be an Australian exchange student.
Tootie's boyfriend says he can't make it to town for the Winter Carnival so Tootie decides to go with someone else.
Blair is dumbfounded when an honor student she invited over ostensibly to study takes a shine to Beverly Ann instead of her.
Babysitter Blair leaves her sister with the others while she attends a tea, and returns to find they somehow misplaced her.
It's holiday time, and Beverly Ann feels unneeded, until a mysterious Santa shows her what Christmas in Peekskill would be like without her.
Imagine the whole gang the same people the same place, 40 years from now.
Andy latches on to a "big brother," who's living for today because tomorrow may never come.
It's not music to his ears when Jo's dad learns that her boyfriend plays piano at a dinner joint.
Blair interns at a law firm that's defending an accused murderer, who seems to be guilty until proven innocent.
The fat hits the fire when Natalie and Tootie's boyfriends meet, and Jo blows a gasket over the repair job on her bike.
Natalie deals firsthand with facts of life as she overnights with her boyfriend Snake, and faces the reactions of her friends and Snake.
A sponsor of a musical benefit invites Jo and Blair to visit his beauty spa, where they are transformed but not in the way they expected.
One evening, a tired Blair falls asleep at the wheel and has a car accident landing her in the hospital with a gash on her forehead. This leads her to begin worrying about how her once "perfect" self will recover from this tragedy.
Rick proposes to Jo in his own crazy way, and everyone anticipates a wedding. Everyone, that is, except Jo – who still hasn't accepted.
Tootie recieves a hideous pendant as an engagement present from Jeff's formidable grandmother, and it's pulverized at Andy and Pippa's wild party just before the woman arrives.
Jo's job at the social services center gets a bit hairy when her supervisor, a suicide prevention counselor, threatens to leap off a building.
Natalie's first bite of the Big Apple is hard to digest: she overnights in a Soho loft with "the four weirdest people I've ever met."
Blair buys Eastland to save it from bankruptcy, and then must find a new headmaster and lots of new students.
As the new headmistress, Blair starts whipping Eastland students into shape, and she's particularly challenged by one who seems determined to get expelled.
1985
After returning from their summer vacation, the girls discover that Edna's Edibles has burned down. This leads the girls to discuss rebuilding and opening up a new business.
The girls try to hire a contractor to rebuild Edna's Edibles into their new business. After interviewing a string, they hire George Burnett, who's inexpensive, but he soon proves to be easily sidetracked from his work.
The girls finally open their new shop, which is called, Over Our Heads, which sells a mixture of trendy, nostalgic memorabilia. However, the opening day may be the closing day, when they don't get quite the reception they were hoping for.
Jo is offered a job at a major company which is tempting but this causes her to reevaluate her dream of becoming a teacher.
Natalie's boyfriend appears in a popular beefcake calendar of the Langley swim team, a calendar that is frowned upon by the college board of regents.
Needing advice on her love life, Blair asks her mother to visit, only to learn that mom needs advice even more than Blair does.
Andy enters the girls in a contest through a teen magazine that if they win, they could sing backup to El DeBarge. First, however, they must produce a demo tape of their singing talent.
While waiting for a bus, Natalie thinks she could get some inspiration on something to write about in a diner. Failing to find anything of interest, she begins writing a wild story, that takes place in the diner involving, Blair, Jo, Tootie, Mrs. Garrett and George.
Tootie tutors seventh grader Andy for a role in "West Side Story," which turns him on to her more than to acting.
Blair and Jo argue over stories and editorials that are to be presented as a news report which is also going to include a behind the scenes look at the girls' shop, Over Our Heads.
Mrs. Garrett's old friend, Gwen comes to town for a visit with her old gossip buddy, but she also comes to town to confront Edna about the affair Gwen thinks she had with her late husband.
Jo takes up ballroom dance lessons and becomes determined to do a good job at an upcoming recital despite chaotic lessons and a clutzy dance partner.
A very pregnant Monica comes to the house on Christmas Eve, where she ends up in labor and gives birth to Bailey, her third child, on Christmas morning.
Tootie's learning to drive and she's driving everyone bananas.
The police want to stake out the shop to nab a few crooks but the girls, not wanting to worry Mrs. Garrett, insist she not be told about the operation.
Tootie and Blair give an aspiring comic a career boost by staging a performance attended by Jim McCawley, talent coordinator of ""The Tonight Show.""
George gets Blair to pose as his fiancee at his high school reunion in order to make an ex-classmate jealous that she never gave him the light of day. However, the unexpected prompts Jo to go in Blair's place.
On the day Blair is to accept an award, she encounters two burdens. First, she's stuck babysitting her baby brother and second she becomes trapped in an elevator, where she learns an important lesson from a concentration camp survivor.
The girls are in Atlantic City for a long weekend, where Blair gets gambling fever and Jo hopes to be reunited with Flyman, the rock star she met on spring break in Fort Lauderdale.
The girls surprise Blair on her birthday with a party featuring singer and dancer Betty Kean who, like ""The Man Who Came to Dinner,"" stays on and on and on.
Natalie is furious with the mayor during an election when she learns he plans to build an amusement park. This prompts Natalie to consider running for mayor herself.
Jo's father shows up to announce that he's won a publisher's giveaway, and is determined to give Jo everything he could never give her before.
Tootie plans to join a road show after graduation despite her parents' objections, while Natalie plans to find an apartment where she can write in peace.
Natalie and Tootie find that privacy is at a premium in their one-room apartment, which doubles as a roach resort.
1982
Jo discovers that her scholarship funds are being cut. However, the one thing that could keep her at Eastland, she refuses to do. That is to apply for a scholarship through Warner Industries, which is Blair's father's company.
Natalie makes up a source for the topic of her newspaper article on abortion and if she doesn't reveal who the source is, she could be kicked out of school. However, little does she know, that there is someone at Eastland who could fill the shoes of the "made up source".
Natalie discovers that Tootie has a hearing problem. Tootie forces Natalie to keep quiet and refuses to get some help for her problem.
Jo interviews an Eastland alumna. After her interview Jo changes her mind about giving money to the school.
Blair makes a new friend in Leo, a young man whom she tries to mold despite the fact that he's mentally retarded. His mental retardation throws Blair for a loop and she has a hard time accepting his handicap.
Natalie is excited about a job offer to write a weekly column for a New York newspaper. The fact that the job would make her miss school as well as bring her unnecessary pressure causes her to get into an argument with her mother. During the argument, Natalie brings up the fact that she's adopted, this leads her adopted mother to give her the name of her birth mother.
Jo's got a great part time job as a mechanic working along side her boyfriend, Doug. However, when her talent of fixing motorcycles causes her to get a promotion to weekend service manager, Doug gives her the cold shoulder since she is now his supervisor.
The IRS invades Blair's life when they question her tax return. Little does Blair know that the title her dad has placed on her is a cover to get out of paying income tax. Blair is even more heartbroken when she discovers that all the personal vacations she has taken with her dad have been written off as business trips.
Yet another episode that revolves around the boys at a military academy. One of the young cadets, Alfred, invites Natalie to see him box in a tournament. However the only reason he gets into this situation is do the fact that his father suggested it. Later, Alfred learns that his father isn't even going to attend and is now faced with the possiblity of backing out on a fight against an opponent who intimidates him.
A Sadie Hawkins Day dance prompts Natalie to debate asking out a boy she's been eyeing. However, his ignoring of her prompts her to boycott the dance and plans on spending the evening with Blair and Jo. But when Blair and Jo get dates, Natalie is the odd woman out.
The latest man in Mrs. Garrett's life is Henry, her jogging buddy. However, their relationship could turn into a marriage when he proposes. Later, Henry hurts his back and the girls become nursemaids this gives Mrs. Garrett a quick taste of what living with Henry would be like.
A new student arrives at Eastland claiming to be a royal princess. All seems to go okay, but then Tootie catches her with a boy. Since it is against the rules to have an uninvited guest, Tootie starts to become suspicious.
Blair's latest boyfriend, Chad, means everything to her and she goes all out trying to please him. However, one evening when he takes her out to a dance, he leaves with another woman. This leads Blair to contemplate breaking off this ""controlling"" relationship with a man she claims to ""love"".
When the girls learn the Mrs. Garrett has high blood pressure, they do everything in their power to lessen the load. Their attempts include, getting Mr. Parker to plan his own party and take care of a banking problem. However the exploits only make matters worse when Mrs. Garrett wonders why Mr. Parker doesn't want her to plan the party and Blair's attempt at trying to fix the bank problem leads to Mrs. Garrett's car being stolen.
Jo has become close friends with her English teacher, Gail, even inspiring Jo to think about becoming a teacher herself. However, Jo is disappointed to learn that Gail is leaving Eastland presumably for a job that pays more but the real reason she's leaving is nothing Jo ever expected.
Tootie is excited about the impending visit of her brother Marshall, however is stay becomes one of fear when he invites the girls to a college party where beer is being served. After the party, a drunk Marshall, insisting that he isn't drunk, offers to drive Blair, Natalie and Tootie home. However, their trip home is interrupted by an accident.
Jo goes away for her first ""college weekend"" with her latest boyfriend Jason at Yale. Just after Mrs. Garrett leaves to take Jo there, Blair's sister, Meg, arrives for a surprise visit. Meg showing up unexpected is not the only surprise she has in store, she wants to become a nun. That fact is something Blair has a hard time dealing with. Meanwhile, Jo arrives back early after the car breaks down. She later has a spiritual experience and decides she too wants to become a nun.
Blair, Natalie and Tootie can't believe that Jo wants to become a nun and Blair accuses Meg of recruiting. However, the real reason Blair can't except Meg, comes to the surface when Jo and Meg begin talking about God which leads to violence between Jo and Blair.
Mrs. Garrett is expecting a visit from a French chef whom she once was an understudy for. However, when he arrives with some of his relatives and then quickly departs leaving his family at Eastland, Mrs. Garrett and the girls are forced to entertain the visitors who speak no English.
Natalie begins dating an attractive guy and begins spending all her time with him, which leaves Tootie out in the cold.
Jo has been accepted at Langley College along with Blair but doesn't tell anyone that she has since she doesn't plan on going due to her and her parents financial situation. However, when she takes a trip home for the weekend, she learns that her entire family found out the truth and are now counting on her to do well.
It's finals week at Eastland and the girls are planning an all night study session. They soon find out that studying is going to be hard with so many distractions, including Blair and Jo's fears of the future in college and Natalie's fear of an upcoming Chemistry exam in which she must memorize the atomic symbols.
Graduation has everyone rushing around and Natalie and Tootie are worried that their isn't going to be enough time for Jo and Blair to say goodbye, especially since Blair and Jo are at each other's throats, as usual.
As graduation day arrives, Monica is furious that Blair's father won't attend, Rose is furious at Charlie due to his sudden tranformation into a big spender and Natalie and Tootie are scared that they will lose Blair and Jo as friends when they leave for college.
1986
Mrs. Garrett must decided between her two loves, the girls or Bruce, a man she falls for and who asks her to go to Africa with him.
Conclusion. When Mrs. Garrett goes to Africa with her new husband, her sister moves in with the girls. Blair: Lisa Whelchel. Andy: Mackenzie Astin. Jo: Nancy McKeon.
Beverly Ann is concerned that Tootie is getting much too serious about her new boyfriend.
Fed up with having no privacy, Jo considers moving out, until Beverly Ann suggests remodeling the attic into a room. However, the construction costs divided by the four girls cause Jo to make a sacrifice when she can't come up with her share.
Beverly Ann and the girls head for New York, when Tootie decides to audition for her first Broadway show. However, when she arrives, she quickly learns that she has plenty of competition working against her.
Blair, Tootie and Natalie organize a reunion with the girls from Eastland. This brings Nancy, Cindy and Sue Ann back to town each with successful lives. Cindy has become a model, Nancy is engaged and Sue Ann a vice president for a company. However, each also has a distinct downside to their success. Meanwhile, Jo feels left out of the reunion.
Blair's computerized date-rating system is the focus when she makes a bet with Jo dealing with whether or not the system really works. However, when Beverly Ann accidentally erases a disk, Jo tampers with some of the ratings.
Jo offers to marry an illegal alien in order to keep the man from being deported.
Natalie gets Blair a job at a Mexican restaurant where Natalie works. However, Blair snobby attitude gets her fired when she inadvertently insults the boss.
A disconsolate Blair locks herself in the bedroom after her father pleads guilty to charges of insider trading.
A furious Natalie is determined to identify and sue the plagiarist who sold her short story to a magazine.
In this fantasy episode, a cross between ""The Twilight Zone"" and a horror film, the crew finds themselves being murdered, one by one, until only Tootie is left to confront the killer. The episode is narrated by a Rod Serling lookalike.
Assigned by the paper to get the inside dirt on Pledge Week at Langley, Natalie crashes the rush party of the sorority Tootie wants to join.
As a post-Christmas gift, Natalie gets her first credit card, and promptly goes on a spending spree.
Cinnamon, who bested Tootie in the audition for a Broadway rock musical, shows up claiming she's been replaced but that's not the real story.
The girls are snowed in at a ski cabin with three guys preparing a bachelor party, but the groom is ready to call off the wedding when he gets a look at Blair.
Cupid can be perverse: all the girls old boyfriends happen to show up just before the Valentine's Day dance.
Fabian and Bobby Rydell visit the girls, and together they recall the look and sound of the 1960s.
Beverly is sick of seeing Andy shuttled from one foster home to another, so she offers to adopt him.
Beverly Ann's ex shows up unexpectedly, hoping for a reconciliation.
Jo is unhappy that Blair is playing matchmaker for Jo's lonely father, but she's really upset with the final results.
Blair discovers that even she can't buy admission to law school if she doesn't pass a four-hour test she hasn't studied for.
After her commencement speech is rejected, Jo refuses to make a speech at all, but then learns that her grandfather has come all the way from Poland to hear it.
Summer offers a variety of options for everyone, especially Jo, who's offered a tempting job in Los Angeles.
1983
Jo and Blair have a hard time adjusting to college.
Ms Garret decides to re-open an abandoned department store and turn it into her own.
Blair is dying to join the sorority that's she pledging and she volunteers Mrs. Garrett to be the caterer for a rush party. However, when Mrs. Garrett begins making Mexican before consulting Blair, who wanted Chinese, Blair fires her without a second thought.
Jo's been dating, Bill, a plain guy who attends the same college as she does, but when she learns that he's a rich kid, Jo becomes resentful and angry that he didn't tell her the whole truth about himself.
Tootie's new boyfriend, Jeff, is the star football player on the football team at Eastland. However, she learns a startling secret that he's been keeping, he's illiterate. She now must decide whether or not to encourage his behavior of having other kids do his work for him.
A strange man tells the girls that years ago a murder occurred in the shop. Later, when the girls see Mrs. Garret with a knife they assume that she's possessed by the murderer's spirit and is out to get them.
Natalie is allowed to enroll in a college course at Langley College and she quickly gets an overblown ego which quickly threatens her friendships with Blair, Jo and Tootie. Things get even worse when she learns that if she can keep her grade point average up she will be allowed to graduate early and enroll at Langley in the fall.
For a birthday surprise, the girls take Mrs. Garrett to a club featuring male exotic dancers, but the one who's in for the real surprise is Blair.
Streetwise Kelly alleges that the vandalism of Edna's Edibles was the work of a local gang, but Jo decides to investigate.
Mrs. Garrett is slowly losing business to a competitor, Pete Dawson. However, Natalie, with the help of her computer, breaks into his computer and alters his recipes.
Jo begins seeing sparks between her divorced parents and immediately hopes they get back together. However, her hopes quickly become dashed when she learns that her father is planning to marry another woman.
The holidays bring joy to the girls when they all plan on going home for Christmas but when Jo's mother temporarily moves to Miami, Jo is stuck in Peekskill.
While Mrs. Garrett frets over an inspection by the Board of Health, the girls get involved with a chain letter and ignore their responsibilities.
A young boy enters Edna's Edibles and Tootie befriends him and learns that he lives next door. She also learns that his mother works all day and leaves him home alone and tells him never to leave their apartment and when a gas leak is detected on the block the young boy won't budge.
Natalie starts dating a black guy, and Tootie thinks that Natalie hates him because of his color.
Newly elected board member Jo tackles the regents of Langley when they vote to cut academic scholarships in favor of a scoreboard nobody wants.
The girls are shaken by the sudden death of Natalie's father and wonder how to ease her pain.
Blair is distraught when she discovers that Jo has taken her place in popularity on campus. This leads to an argument between the two that ends with Jo refusing Blair's help for planning a party.
Blair and her boyfriend, Cliff, are serious at least Cliff thinks so but Blair pushes him away. Meanwhile, a movie star, Heather Hunt, is visiting Peekskill and quickly Blair finds herself competing with her for Cliff's attentions.
A marriage proposal from Blair's boyfriend prompts her to begin dreaming about the future for herself and her friends.
Tootie's mother comes to Eastland for a visit, and the fact that Tootie doesn't communicate with her mother becomes apparent. Her mother quickly realizes there are many things she doesn't know about her daughter and wants to have an open relationship with Tootie but will Tootie allow that?
Geri is in charge of organizing a charity auction but makes her first mistake by making Blair her assistant. Blair quickly takes over and begins doing things without consulting Geri. Geri in turn fires her and makes her second mistake, not accepting any help from from anyone.
Jo is surprised when her ex-boyfriend, Eddie, who just got out of the Navy, makes a surprise visit. However, Jo isn't the only one who's in for a surprise when Tootie discovers a shocking secret that Eddie's been keeping.
Mrs. Garrett's son, Raymond stops by Edna's Edibles for a visit and brings along his wife, Doris, whom he has been having marital problems with. This gets Mrs. Garrett and the girls worried about the future of the shop especially since Raymond and Doris have been talking about a divorce.
Another school year has come to an end and all the girls are preparing or their summer vacation. They each reminisce about the last six years they have spent together (via flashbacks). However, leaving one another on good terms is something that may not happen when an accident causes yet another rift between Jo and Blair.
Flashbacks and memories of the past continue as the girls finish getting ready for their summer vacations. However, saying goodbye to one another appears to be easy for all them especially since fights are brewing between Blair and Jo and Natalie and Tootie.
Cloris Leachman
Beverly Ann Stickle
Lisa Whelchel
Blair Warner
Kim Fields
Tootie Ramsey
Mindy Cohn
Natalie Green
Nancy McKeon
Joanne Jo Polniaczek
Mackenzie Astin
Andy Moffett
Sherrié Austin
Pippa McKenna
