Kids Can Be Cruel

Kids Can Be Cruel is the 19th episode of the Third Season and the 48th episode overall of "The Facts Of Life." It first aired on March 10, 1982.

Synopsis[]

A charity dinner auction is occurring at Eastland, and Blair has her eyes on Dink Lockwood from Bates Academy. When Dink arrives at Eastland to set up speakers, he arrives with Tim Hollifield and a boy named Carl Price, whose nickname is Rocky. He got his nickname from his acne, a revelation Blair has documented in her slam book. Mrs. Garrett is appalled such a thing exists.
Meanwhile, Blair lets Dink know which dinner will be hers so he can bid on it. By now, Tim has learned about the slam book that Natalie wrote in about her crush on him. He asks Blair who the girl is, but Blair doesn't say Natalie's name, instead giving him some clues so he can realize it's Natalie. He talks to her and turns her down, saying he already has a girlfriend. At first, Natalie is dejected, but when she deduces Blair told Tim about her crush on him, she gets mad and decides to get revenge on Blair by letting Rocky know which dinner is Blair's so he can bid on it.
That night at the dinner auction, Rocky is able to outbid Dink for a date with Blair. Stuck in an uncomfortable situation, Blair notices Natalie, Jo and Tootie watching and gets suspicious. Natalie confesses she called up Rocky pretending to be Blair and told him which package was Blair's in order to get even with Blair for embarrassing her. Meanwhile, as Rocky is looking for Blair, Dink mocks him and reveals to Mrs. Garrett that he knew which dinner was Blair's. Rocky says he knew, too, because Blair called him at 5:30. However, Dink says he was with Blair at 5:30, which Tim confirms. Rocky wonders who called him. After Mrs. Garrett investigates and questions the girls, she reveals that Rocky is the real victim for being the only one really humiliated. Admitting she went too far, Natalie offers to have dinner with Rocky to apologize, but Blair replaces her, apologizing and getting to know Rocky.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Cast[]

Dan Frischman as Carl "Rocky" Price
Scott McGinnis as Dink Lockwood
Marc Poppel as Tim Hollifield
Wendell Baker as Boy #1
Andrew J. Lederer as Boy #2

Trivia[]

Natalie hands a glass of Gatorade to Tim, but through the scene, the amount keeps increasing.
Rocky says he is also called "Pizza face," "Moonscape" and "Peanut Cluster."
Dan Frischman who plays Carl/Rocky would later become known for playing Arvid Engen on "Head Of The Class" and Chris Potter on "Keenan And Kel".
Through the episode, the movies "A Little Princess" (1917), "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" (1975) and "Endless Love" (1981) are mentioned.
In 2021, this episode was recreated for a broadcast of "Live in Front of a Studio Audience" recreating episodes of "Diff'rent Strokes" and "The Facts of Life." The cast members featured actors Jennifer Aniston (Blair), Ann Douwd (Mrs. Garrett), Gabrielle Union (Tootie), Alison Tolman (Natalie), Kathryn Hahn (Jo), Will Arnett (Dink), Jason Bateman (Tim) and Jon Stewart (Carl). Lisa Whelchel also appeared in the Eastland uniform to sing the show theme. Mindy Cohn and Kim Fields also made appearances. However, Nancy McKeon did not.
- In the broadcast, Tim says Carl (Rocky) is bringing his tape deck, and Dink is the one who makes the off-hand comment about Carl and world hunger. In the recreation, they switch lines.

Quotes[]

Jo Polniaczek - " Nat, what's wrong with you? If you like the guy, grab him and tell him he drives you out of your tree."
Blair Warner - " You're such a simple life form."

Natalie Green - "You're looking at zero self image here with heavy psychiatrist bills in the future."
Blair Warner - "And heavy doctor bills right now."

Dink Lockwood - "Hey, it's the Bronx bombshell! You read any good books lately?"
Jo Polniaczek - "Yeah, Dink. Read any good Coco Puff boxes?"

Carl Price - "I know I'm not exactly Dink Lockwood."
Jo Polniaczek - "Be proud."

Natalie Green - " Mrs. Garrett, you know what Blair did to me. I had to pay her back."
Mrs. Garrett - "But you didn't pay Blair back, Natalie; that boy is the one who's paying."

Mrs. Garrett - " I've been listening to you kids. Sometimes, you have about as much compassion as a school of piranhas."

Gallery[]

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