Greater than 40 years after its premiere, The Information of Life remains to be giving Us one thing to speak about.
The sitcom debuted on NBC in August 1979 as a by-product of Diff’hire Strokes. The Information of Life aired for 9 seasons, turning into one of many longest-running sitcoms of the ’80s.
Earlier than the collection got here to an finish in 1988, the story of boarding college housemother Edna Garrett (Charlotte Rae) was expanded with two TV motion pictures. The Information of Life Goes to Paris aired in 1982, adopted by The Information of Life Down Underneath in 1987. A 3rd movie, The Information of Life Reunion, introduced collectively almost all the forged in 2001. (Nancy McKeon, who performed Jo, was unable to take part on the time as a result of scheduling.)
Shortly earlier than its forty fifth anniversary, the collection discovered itself within the highlight once more after Mindy Cohn claimed in July 2024 that Norman Lear approached her and former costars Lisa Whelchel, Kim Fields and McKeon a couple of potential reboot.
Throughout an look on SiriusXM’s Jeff Lewis Dwell, Cohn recalled the late Lear reaching out after ABC produced dwell specials of Diff’hire Strokes and The Information of Life in 2021. Lear, who died in 2023, was impressed by the success of the specials.
“We had all by no means actually talked about [a reboot], however all of us began to contemplate it somewhat bit,” Cohn stated. “We bought into talks and we employed a author. The 4 of us bought collectively on a Zoom — this was throughout Covid — and we had conferences with Norman about it.”
Cohn went on to allege that “there was drama” with one “grasping bitch” because the talks continued, which finally thwarted the mission from turning into a actuality. “One of many women went behind our backs to attempt to make a separate deal for a by-product deal only for herself and devastated the remainder of us,” she stated. “I’m simply saying, for a 40-year friendship and sisterhood, there was a tidal wave of emotion round it.”
Whereas Cohn didn’t identify names, followers started to suspect Whelchel was the “grasping bitch” in query after noticing she was lacking from a 2022 picture reuniting Cohn, Fields and McKeon. (Us Weekly reached out to all 4 forged members for remark on the time.)
Scroll all the way down to see the place the forged of The Information of Life is now: