Diff'rent Strokes: S1E6: Goodbye Dolly

Hey Everyone, Angela Bowen here, the host of Diff'rent Strokes To Move The World: An Unofficial Diff'rent Strokes Podcast. Today, I covered S1E6: Goodbye Dolly, which aired on December 8, 1978. In this episode after Kimberly donates Arnold's ratty old doll named Homer to charity and it is sold, he can't sleep. Mr. Drummond quickly tires of this, so he hires a detective to try and find the doll. I thought was a cute episode and I got some serious Punky Brewster Season 1 vibes from the comparison of Arnold losing his doll Homer (it's actual a Paddington Bear) and Punky losing her doll in the Bye Bye My episode, where Punky was grieving her of not just her doll but another connection being severed between her old life with her Mom and moving forward with her new life with Henry she learns to accept a new doll she names Henrietta after, you guessed it, Henry. I felt this episode kinda short changed us, Arnold had not been sleeping for days since he usually sleep with his doll and also was keeping the family up, Phillip explains to Arnold that he needs to move on after his loss, I mean he tried to find the doll even spent $200 on a detective and still he couldn't find it. I wish we could have got character growth from Arnold in this episode as we did with Punky where she accepted the loss with a heavy heart and took the steps to move on. Now that I think about it, she and Arnold are the same age in the Season 1 of their shows, but both handled a similar situation differently. I guess to each their own. I like how Willis apologized to Arnold and told him he would never hurt him intentionally, even though he was the one to give the bear to Kimberly who sold it in the charity auction for a measly 15 cents, all though the guy talked them down to 10 cents. I gotta ask, what man what's a used, worn old doll or Paddington Bear? Thinking back on this episode now, I'm getting uncomfortable Bicycle Man vibes. We never seen the man in question get the bear, so who really knows. Join me next week when I cover S1E7: The Trial, which aired on December 15, 1978. In this episode after reading a book on the American legal system, Willis demands a fair trial for Arnold after he is accused of putting his goldfish in the hot tub. Have a great week everyone! To EMAIL The Podcast Go To: [email protected]