The Facts of Life: Season 9
Season 9 Lore Primer
Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.
- Picks up essential narrative continuity directly following the events of The Facts of Life Season 8.
- Character alliances, factions, and personal loyalties undergo significant shifts under escalating stakes.
- Addresses unresolved cliffhangers and thematic mysteries introduced during previous seasons.
- Establishes the primary seasonal conflict that drives serialized character arcs toward the finale.
Episode Guide
Season 9 Progress Shield
Down and Out in Malibu (1)
Sep 26, 1987
Jo is jobless and apartmentless in Malibu, where Richard Moll just happens to need a house sitter.
Down and Out in Malibu (2)
Oct 3, 1987
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.
Rumor Has It
Oct 17, 1987
Blair's after-hours visit with a professor reputed to be a womanizer stirs up a storm of vicious rumors on campus.
Before the Fall
Oct 24, 1987
Natalie jumps at the chance to do an inside story on ROTC and then learns she'll also have to jump from a plane.
Sweet Charity
Nov 7, 1987
Jo takes a job in social work at a community center that, she learns, has no funds to pay her salary.
Up from Down Under
Nov 14, 1987
A new girl arrives at Eastland in the wee hours, claiming to be an Australian exchange student.
The More the Marrier
Nov 21, 1987
Tootie's boyfriend says he can't make it to town for the Winter Carnival so Tootie decides to go with someone else.
A Rose by Any Other Age
Nov 28, 1987
Blair is dumbfounded when an honor student she invited over ostensibly to study takes a shine to Beverly Ann instead of her.
Adventures in Baileysitting
Dec 5, 1987
Babysitter Blair leaves her sister with the others while she attends a tea, and returns to find they somehow misplaced her.
It's a Wonderful Christmas
Dec 12, 1987
It's holiday time, and Beverly Ann feels unneeded, until a mysterious Santa shows her what Christmas in Peekskill would be like without her.
Golden Oldies
Jan 2, 1988
Imagine the whole gang the same people the same place, 40 years from now.
A Thousand Frowns
Jan 9, 1988
Andy latches on to a "big brother," who's living for today because tomorrow may never come.
Something in Common
Jan 16, 1988
It's not music to his ears when Jo's dad learns that her boyfriend plays piano at a dinner joint.
Peekskill Law
Jan 23, 1988
Blair interns at a law firm that's defending an accused murderer, who seems to be guilty until proven innocent.
A House Divided
Jan 30, 1988
The fat hits the fire when Natalie and Tootie's boyfriends meet, and Jo blows a gasket over the repair job on her bike.
The First Time
Feb 6, 1988
Natalie deals firsthand with facts of life as she overnights with her boyfriend Snake, and faces the reactions of her friends and Snake.
Let's Face the Music
Feb 13, 1988 · 30 min
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.
Less Than Perfect
Feb 20, 1988 · 30 min
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
Till Marriage Do Us Part
Feb 27, 1988
Rick proposes to Jo in his own crazy way, and everyone anticipates a wedding. Everyone, that is, except Jo – who still hasn't accepted.
Present Imperfect
Mar 5, 1988
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.
On the Edge
Mar 12, 1988
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.
Big Apple Blues
Mar 19, 1988
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."
The Beginning of the End
Apr 30, 1988
Blair buys Eastland to save it from bankruptcy, and then must find a new headmaster and lots of new students.
The Beginning of the Beginning
May 7, 1988
As the new headmistress, Blair starts whipping Eastland students into shape, and she's particularly challenged by one who seems determined to get expelled.