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Advance Placement

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Advance Placement is the seventh episode Season 5 of "The Facts Of Life" and the 84th episode overall in the season. It aired on October 26, 1983.

Summary[]

Natalie enters Edna's Edibles with Mr. Parker asking her to return to Eastland and revealing that Natalie has been accepted into the Langley advanced placement program and will be taking a class there. The girls look over a brochure of classes with Natalie, but she eventually settles on a drama class.
At Langley, Natalie seems to fit in, and Boots St. Clair talks to her about possibly writing for the Langley paper. Blair and Jo remind Natalie of her Eastland studies which Natalie insists they won't get in the way, later embarrassing Blair and Jo by telling stories about them.
At the shop, however, Natalie is too distracted by her schoolwork that she neglects her duties at the shop. She and Tootie get into an argument when Natalie doesn't help her out which results in Mrs. Garrett to lose a customer. Blair and Jo also reveal how Natalie humiliated them at Langley. Boots enters to tell Natalie she's moving her to a suite on the second floor of her dorm and wants her to help her pack. However, she has to leave in a hurry when her car is ticketed. Natalie soon comes back with Boots' dry-cleaning, wondering where she went. Mrs. Garrett and the girls confront Natalie when she says she plans to skip her senior year at Eastland and attend Langley in the fall next year if she keeps her grades up.
Blair and Jo soon learn about Natalie's duties in the shop slipping at the same time Boots shows up to shower Natalie with praise. However, Natalie learns a story she wrote for the Langley newspaper was dropped. She also discovers her paycheck from the shop is short after shirking her duties.
Mr. Parker soon arrives and lets Natalie know her grade point average has slipped, and since she's cut classes, Langley rescinded their early admission offer. He also tells her to pay more attention to Eastland and reminds her that he's still her headmaster and can make it tough on girls who cut classes. Natalie agrees to do so. Before leaving, Mr. Parker begs Mrs. Garrett to return to Eastland again.
When Natalie asks Mrs. Garrett to write Langley a letter explaining that she's been putting in long hours at the store, Mrs. Garrett refuses since it's not accurate. She asks why she should wait a year to go to Langley and Mrs. Garrett tells her because her grades aren't good enough anymore. Natalie asks Mrs. Garrett to put herself in her place, but when Mrs. Garrett gives her the reality of her situation, she becomes humiliated, asking Mrs. Garrett to not tell the girls about Langley College. When Mrs. Garrett says they'll get suspicious when they realize she's no longer coming there, Natalie confesses she'll tell them at dinner, but Tootie overhears and passes the news to Blair and Jo who tease Natalie.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Cast[]

Trivia[]

  • This was the second of four appearance of Jami Gertz as Boots St. Clair.
  • When Natalie gets her paycheck, she freaks out because she only got paid $18.00. Mrs. Garrett explains that she's only paying her for seven hours. Assuming she pays minimal Federal tax, after deductions that come out to about $6.50/hr, an unprecedented rate of pay for 1983, much more than would be expected for such a small shop.
  • This episode was the final appearance of Roger Perry as Mr. Parker.

Quotes[]

  • Coming Up

Gallery[]

  • Coming Up
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