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"Diff'rent Strokes" (1978) More at IMDbPro »

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Episodes: All (191) | With full-length videos () | With videos () | See all videos (1) »

Season: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | unknown
Year: 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986

Season 1

Season 1, Episode 1: Movin' In

Original Air Date—3 November 1978
Philip Drummond is a wealthy Manhattan industrialist who takes in Arnold and Willis Jackson, the two sons of his late housekeeper; Drummond is white and the boys are black. Arnold, age 8, is excited about the opportunity of a privileged life, but Willis, age 13, feels that Mr. Drummond is trying to buy their love with expensive gifts.

Season 1, Episode 2: The Social Worker

Original Air Date—10 November 1978
A social worker investigates the boys' home life and tells Mr. Drummond that she believes black children belong in black households. When Drummond tells this to Mrs. Garrett while she is vacuuming the living room, Arnold overhears this and comes to the conclusion that he doesn't want them around anymore.

Season 1, Episode 3: Mother's Last Visit

Original Air Date—17 November 1978
Mr. Drummond's mother arrives for an unscheduled visit and has an adverse reaction to her son's new family situation.

Season 1, Episode 4: Prep School

Original Air Date—24 November 1978
Mr. Drummond is excited about the possibility of the boys enrolling at his old prep school.

Season 1, Episode 5: The Spanking

Original Air Date—1 December 1978
Arnold is caught throwing water bombs off the balcony and Mr. Drummond feels that a fitting punishment is a spanking.

Season 1, Episode 6: Goodbye Dolly

Original Air Date—8 December 1978
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.

Season 1, Episode 7: The Trial

Original Air Date—15 December 1978
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.

Season 1, Episode 8: Retrospective: Part 1

Original Air Date—29 December 1978
The Drummonds reminisce about the time they have spent together since Arnold and Willis joined the family. Clips from past episodes are featured.

Season 1, Episode 9: Retrospective: Part 2

Original Air Date—29 December 1978
The Drummonds reminisce about the time they have spent together since Arnold and Willis joined the family. Clips from past episodes are featured.

Season 1, Episode 10: The Fight

Original Air Date—5 January 1979
Over Mr. Drummond's objections, Willis teaches Arnold how to fight a playground bully.

Season 1, Episode 11: The Club Meeting

Original Air Date—12 January 1979
Willis misses his friends from Harlem so he has a club meeting at the penthouse.

Season 1, Episode 12: The Woman

Original Air Date—19 January 1979
Mr. Drummond introduces the family to a woman in his life that he plans to propose to.

Season 1, Episode 13: No Time for Arnold

Original Air Date—26 January 1979
Arnold feels he's being ignored by the other members of the family, so he pretends to wet the bed in order to get attention and sympathy.

Season 1, Episode 14: The Relative

Original Air Date—2 February 1979
A relative of the boys comes to visit from Detroit. She plans to stay only a night, but then fakes an injury and quickly overstays her welcome.

Season 1, Episode 15: The Tutor

Original Air Date—9 February 1979
Willis is doing poorly in school, so Mr. Drummond hires a tutor. However, he is not pleased by his unconventional methods of teaching.

Season 1, Episode 16: The New Landlord

Original Air Date—16 February 1979
The Drummonds may have to move when the new landlord enforces a rule forbidding children Arnold's age from living there.

Season 1, Episode 17: Willis' Privacy

Original Air Date—23 February 1979
Willis starts to feel that Arnold is a nuisance and wants his own space away from him.

Season 1, Episode 18: Mrs. Garrett's Crisis

Original Air Date—2 March 1979
Mrs. Garrett feels that her life goals have not been fulfilled and she wants to leave her job.

Season 1, Episode 19: The Job

Original Air Date—16 March 1979
Willis gets a job at a gas station, which lasts for only a few hours.

Season 1, Episode 20: The Trip: Part 1

Original Air Date—30 March 1979
Mr. Drummond's company has bought out a radio station in Portland, Oregon, where his old army buddy, Larry Alder, hosts a talk show.

Season 1, Episode 21: The Trip: Part 2

Original Air Date—30 March 1979
Mr. Drummond may have to fire his old army buddy and switch KLOW to an automated format.

Season 1, Episode 22: Getting Involved

Original Air Date—6 April 1979
Arnold witnesses a mugging with his telescope.

Season 1, Episode 23: Willis' Birthday

Original Air Date—13 April 1979
Willis wants to have his birthday party at a friend's house in Harlem, but Mr. Drummond is concerned about going there on a Saturday night.

Season 1, Episode 24: The Girls School

Original Air Date—4 May 1979
Mrs. Garrett bonds with the girls at Eastlake Academy, the school Kimberly attends.

Season 2

Season 2, Episode 1: Arnold's Girlfriend: Part 1

Original Air Date—21 September 1979
When Arnold goes to the doctor complaining of severe stomach pains, he meets a girl named Alice. Alice's father, Fred Tanner, is a wealthy Omaha cattleman who is interested in one of Mr. Drummond's business ventures. Drummond tears up a $500,000 check from him when he discovers that the man is a bigot.

Season 2, Episode 2: Arnold's Girlfriend: Part 2

Original Air Date—21 September 1979
Arnold must have an appendectomy. Fred Tanner wants his daughter Alice put in a bedroom away from Arnold. When the two learn of this, they run away.

Season 2, Episode 3: Feudin' and Fussin': Part 1

Original Air Date—28 September 1979
At Arnold's suggestion, a TV producer gives Larry Alder an audition for a TV hosting job.

Season 2, Episode 4: Feudin' and Fussin': Part 2

Original Air Date—28 September 1979
Larry's daughter Ruthie is upset about the possibility of having to leave Portland.

Season 2, Episode 5: Mrs. Garrett's Romance

Original Air Date—12 October 1979
Mrs. Garrett receives a marriage proposal from a younger man with whom she attends night school.

Season 2, Episode 6: Birds and Bees

Original Air Date—19 October 1979
Arnold wants to know where babies come from, but no one will give him a straight answer until one of the other tenants in the building, a woman whose pregnancy sparked Arnold's curiosity, complains to Mr. Drummond.

Season 2, Episode 7: Arnold's Hero

Original Air Date—24 October 1979
Arnold wants to meet his hero, world champion boxer Muhammad Ali. Willis and Kimberly meet him and say that their little brother is dying and that his last wish is to meet him.

Season 2, Episode 8: The Adoption: Part 1

Original Air Date—31 October 1979
Mr. Drummond's plans to officially adopt Arnold and Willis are delayed when a man claiming to be the boys' cousin claims he was promised custody in their father's will.

Season 2, Episode 9: The Adoption: Part 2

Original Air Date—7 November 1979
While Mr. Drummond's lawyers investigate Jethro Simpson's claim, Arnold and Willis prepare themselves for the possibility that they may have to live with the man.

Season 2, Episode 10: Father and Son Day

Original Air Date—14 November 1979
Willis wants to beat an obnoxious braggart in an upcoming father and son athletic competition at the YMCA. Believing Mr. Drummond may not be able do it, he asks another man to be his "father".

Season 2, Episode 11: Thanksgiving Crossover: Part 1

Original Air Date—28 November 1979
Mr. Drummond's old friend, Larry Alder, visits New York on a business trip to present a business plan for purchasing a television station.

Season 2, Episode 12: Thanksgiving Crossover: Part 2

Original Air Date—28 November 1979
Mr. Drummond and Mr. Alder try to figure out how to get past their differences to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner.

Season 2, Episode 13: The Rivals

Original Air Date—5 December 1979
A girl at school pretends that she likes Arnold only so that she can get close to Willis.

Season 2, Episode 14: Hot Watch

Original Air Date—12 December 1979
Arnold and Willis find an expensive watch in the hall of their building and then Willis is accused of stealing it from a neighbor's suite.

Season 2, Episode 15: The Dog Story

Original Air Date—19 December 1979
Arnold saves a dog from being hit by a car, but when the dog bites him, Mr. Drummond thinks the dog might have rabies.

Season 2, Episode 16: The Election

Original Air Date—9 January 1980
While a new housekeeper, Adelaide Brubaker, takes over from Mrs. Garrett, Mr. Drummond decides to run for city council after a friend's suggestion.

Season 2, Episode 17: Friendly Mate

Original Air Date—16 January 1980
Mr. Drummond is lonely so Arnold and Willis set him up with a date from a computer dating service but do not know that Mr. Drummond's friend set him up with a date as well.

Season 2, Episode 18: Poor Drummond

Original Air Date—23 January 1980
Arnold and Willis apply for welfare when they think Mr. Drummond's company may be going under.

Season 2, Episode 19: Big Business

Original Air Date—30 January 1980
Arnold and Willis go into business together selling Adelaide's homemade brownies.

Season 2, Episode 20: Return of the Gooch

Original Air Date—6 February 1980
Arnold is tired of being bullied at school so he takes karate lessons.

Season 2, Episode 21: Valentine's Day Retrospective

Original Air Date—13 February 1980
Arnold and Willis get trapped in the building's storage room and reminisce about time with the Drummonds.

Season 2, Episode 22: Skin Deep or True Blue

Original Air Date—20 February 1980
Mr. Drummond scolds Arnold for secretly recording other people's conversations. Arnold disobeys him and records Kimberly's boyfriend Roger making racist comments about Willis to his sister.

Season 2, Episode 23: Teacher's Pet

Original Air Date—27 February 1980
Arnold's classmates accuse him of being a teacher's pet when their teacher, Miss Osbourne, goes out with Mr. Drummond.

Season 2, Episode 24: The Slumber Party

Original Air Date—12 March 1980
A huge fight ensues when Kimberly invites her friends from Eastland Academy over at the same time that Willis has his friends over.

Season 2, Episode 25: Arnold Faces Fatality

Original Air Date—19 March 1980
Arnold's beloved goldfish Abraham passes away.

Season 2, Episode 26: The Squealer

Original Air Date—26 March 1980
Willis joins a gang in spite of Mr. Drummond's warnings.

Season 3

Season 3, Episode 1: The Bank Job: Part 1

Original Air Date—12 November 1980
Arnold and Willis become hostages during a bank robbery by two experienced criminals.

Season 3, Episode 2: The Bank Job: Part 2

Original Air Date—12 November 1980
As the hostage crisis continues at the bank, the bank robbers learn that Drummond is a multi-millionaire and decide to use Arnold and Willis as bargaining tools to ensure their demands are met. Drummond decides to assist with a plan to save his adopted sons and have the robbers captured, knowing full well that failure could mean death.

Season 3, Episode 3: Small Claims Court

Original Air Date—19 November 1980
After Arnold buys a toy train that doesn't work, he takes the owner of the store, who refuses to refund his money, to small claims court.

Season 3, Episode 4: Substitute Mother

Original Air Date—26 November 1980
When Adelaide goes away, Drummond hires a temporary housekeeper to take her place. With the new housekeeper, Arnold soon realizes that she reminds him a lot of his mom and tries to arrange it so that she and Drummond fall in love.

Season 3, Episode 5: The Accident: Part 1

Original Air Date—3 December 1980
Everyone is planning a huge surprise party for Drummond on his 50th birthday. But the real surprise is a very tragic one: On his way home, Drummond is critically injured in an accident caused by a drunk driver.

Season 3, Episode 6: The Accident: Part 2

Original Air Date—3 December 1980
Drummond eventually awakens - and recovers, at least physically - from life-threatening injuries suffered in a car crash. However, a concussion Drummond suffered in the wreck leaves him with amnesia ... and unless he can regain his memory, the potential loss of both his company and his family.

Season 3, Episode 7: Little Mother

Original Air Date—10 December 1980
A misunderstanding with a visiting friend leads Drummond, Arnold, and Willis to believe that Kimberly is pregnant.

Season 3, Episode 8: Football Father

Original Air Date—17 December 1980
When he sees that Arnold is heartbroken after not making his Pee Wee league football team, Drummond secretly meets with the coach and agrees to buy the team new uniforms in exchange for Arnold being given a spot on the team.

Season 3, Episode 9: First Love

Original Air Date—31 December 1980
With his grades down, Drummond forbids Willis to see his new girlfriend, Charlene. However, a love-struck Willis is determined to see her, even if means doing it behind Drummond's back.

Season 3, Episode 10: Count Your Blessings

Original Air Date—7 January 1981
When Arnold finds out that he will only grow to be 5 foot tall, he becomes very depressed. To make him feel better, Drummond introduces him to a friend's daughter who is very upbeat despite being confined to a wheelchair.

Season 3, Episode 11: The Loan

Original Air Date—14 January 1981
Arnold befriends the doorman who asks him for a $100 loan so he can bet it on a horse race.

Season 3, Episode 12: Roots

Original Air Date—21 January 1981
Mr. Drummond worries that Willis's newfound Afrocentric attitudes are dividing the family.

Season 3, Episode 13: Junk Food Junkie

Original Air Date—28 January 1981
Arnold's poor dental checkup has Drummond suspecting that the easy availability of junk food from vending machines at school is to blame. But when Drummond begins a campaign to replace the hot dogs, cookies, potato chips and soft drinks with more healthy foods, Arnold's friends try to convince him to get his father to reconsider.

Season 3, Episode 14: The Bus

Original Air Date—4 February 1981
Arnold's joy of being transferred to an all-white school (and riding a bus to get there) is shaken to its very core when a racist busing opponent calls the Drummond household warning the pro-busing family patriarch not to send his black children to the new school, or else.

Season 3, Episode 15: The Older Man

Original Air Date—25 February 1981
Tired of looking like a 15 year old, Kimberly turns to Blair for help in looking like an older woman. She meets with immediate success when she accepts a date from a 25-year-old man (who thinks she's at least 20). Arnold and Willis find out about the date and sneak off to the movie theater to try to stop the date before Drummond finds out.

Season 3, Episode 16: Where There's Hope

Original Air Date—4 March 1981
Arnold gets annoyed with the new girl next door and makes it known that he does not want her at his 10th birthday party. However, when Drummond finds out from her parents that she has leukemia, he tries to get Arnold to re-invite her without telling him of her illness.

Season 3, Episode 17: The Magician

Original Air Date—11 March 1981
With a magazine reporter and Ed "Too Tall" Jones coming over to the house, Arnold decides to show off his talents by putting on a magic show. He plays a silly trick on everyone that leaves him out on the balcony ledge, afraid to move.

Season 3, Episode 18: Drummond's Fair Lady

Original Air Date—18 March 1981
Drummond creates controversy with his shareholders when he recommends hiring a woman with whom he starts dating to head up a new division in his company. The children, shareholders themselves, are all for it until Kimberly overhears her talking to a mystery man on the phone.

Season 3, Episode 19: The Ancestors

Original Air Date—25 March 1981
Drummond is initially excited to hear that he is the owner of a two million dollar piece of land in Harlem only to later find out that the ancestor whom he inherited it from was a slave trader. He must now decide whether to donate it to be used as a community center or decline it.

Season 3, Episode 20: Almost American

Original Air Date—1 April 1981
After getting a D in history, Arnold is forced to stay home from a hockey game to study. While at home, he and Drummond meet Milos, a Czech immigrant who is going to night school to try and become a US citizen.

Season 3, Episode 21: Room for One More

Original Air Date—6 May 1981
Worried that his foster father's unemployed status will send him to another foster home, Dudley runs away and hides in Arnold's room in hopes that Arnold can convince Drummond to adopt him too.

Season 3, Episode 22: The Athlete

Original Air Date—13 May 1981
Willis, the star pitcher of his junior high team, is recruited by a coach from a high school with a reputation for producing major league talent. When Drummonds learns that attending this school entails lying and grade fixing, he forbids Willis to go.

Season 4

Season 4, Episode 1: Growing Up

Original Air Date—29 October 1981
With the help of Arnold, Willis gets everyone to leave the house so that he and Charlene can make love for the first time. However when the moment occurs, things do not go as smoothly as he expected.

Season 4, Episode 2: First Day Blues

Original Air Date—5 November 1981
Willis, struggling to make friends in his first days of high school, agrees to buy marijuana so that he can go to a party with upperclassmen.

Season 4, Episode 3: The Model

Original Air Date—12 November 1981
Kimberly lands a modeling job at a department store which leads to her being selected for an upcoming modeling show in Paris. Drummond, initially dead-set against the trip, caves in and decides to take the whole family to Paris.

Season 4, Episode 4: The Team

Original Air Date—19 November 1981
Willis sues the school basketball team when he loses his position to a white player because of their Affirmative Action policy.

Season 4, Episode 5: The Big Heist

Original Air Date—26 November 1981
For his initiation into a club, Arnold attempts to steal a comic book from a store. When he gets caught, he and Drummond are shocked to learn that the comic is a collector's item worth $400 and he is charged with grand theft.

Season 4, Episode 6: Double Date

Original Air Date—3 December 1981
Arnold's plans to go out on his first date are in jeopardy when Drummond won't allow him to go out at night without a chaperon.

Season 4, Episode 7: The Ski Weekend

Original Air Date—10 December 1981
Tired of being treated like a child, Kimberly and a friend plan a ski weekend in which they will be staying with guys. She has a lot of explaining to do when Drummond and Willis drop by the lodge to surprise her.

Season 4, Episode 8: Health Club

Original Air Date—17 December 1981
Drummond is excited to learn that he will be honored as Athlete of the Year by his health club. Arnold and Willis, however, secretly do not share in his excitement as they are denied access to the health club because they are black and decide not to tell Drummond because they don't want to spoil his big night.

Season 4, Episode 9: Burial Ground

Original Air Date—7 January 1982
When it is learned that Drummond's upcoming construction project may be located on top of an ancient Indian burial ground, he faces protest from a Native American who threatens to go on a hunger strike if the land is built on. Arnold and Willis follow suit by going on a hunger strike of their own.

Season 4, Episode 10: Hello Daddy

Original Air Date—14 January 1982
A visit from a Korean woman reveals that Mr. Drummond may have fathered her son during the Korean War.

Season 4, Episode 11: Jilted

Original Air Date—21 January 1982
After Willis and Charlene have a fight, Arnold and Kimberly spot her at the movies with another guy. With Willis upset by this, Arnold comes up with a scheme to get them back together.

Season 4, Episode 12: Dreams

Original Air Date—28 January 1982
After Drummond cancels a family fishing trip to go on a business flight to Canada, Arnold begins to have nightmares which prompts Drummond to contact a therapist.

Season 4, Episode 13: Kathy

Original Air Date—4 February 1982
After being selected to play Abraham Lincoln in his school play, Arnold develops a case of stage fright. His confidence suffers even more after Kathy blows up at him when he tries to convince her to walk with her crutches.

Season 4, Episode 14: Fire

Original Air Date—11 February 1982
When Drummond and his sister Sophia get word that a part of their building is on fire, they try to keep it a secret from the kids in hopes that it will be put out quickly without spreading.

Season 4, Episode 15: The Squatter

Original Air Date—18 February 1982
Drummond's plan to tear down old apartments and replace them with luxury condominiums creates anger among one soon-to-be homeless elderly woman who refuses to leave the Drummond household.

Season 4, Episode 16: The Car

Original Air Date—25 February 1982
Willis realizes the reason Charlene decided to date another boy is because Willis doesn't have a car and the other boy does. This leads to a decision that has far-reaching consequences for Willis and his relationships with both Charlene, the law and - when he finds out - his very angry father.

Season 4, Episode 17: Crime Story: Part 1

Original Air Date—11 March 1982
Arnold and Dudley, unsure how to deal with two schoolyard teenage bullies who demand their lunch money, decide to ditch school to avoid them.

Season 4, Episode 18: Crime Story: Part 2

Original Air Date—18 March 1982
After the schoolyard bullies put Willis in the hospital, Arnold considers wearing a wire to try and get evidence on them.

Season 4, Episode 19: B.M.O.C.

Original Air Date—25 March 1982
While trying to impress an exclusive club, Willis distances himself from the family. When this happens, it breaks Arnold's heart.

Season 4, Episode 20: Green Hair

Original Air Date—1 April 1982
Aunt Sophia pleads with Drummond to get involved with an effort to address pollution, but Drummond stubbornly refuses. Then, Kimberly's hair turns green after washing it with dirty water.

Season 4, Episode 21: Have I Got a Girl for You

Original Air Date—8 April 1982
Sophia fixes Drummond up with one of her friends whose simple lifestyle conflicts with Drummond's high class living.

Season 4, Episode 22: Lifesavers

Original Air Date—15 April 1982
After Willis saves Arnold from a falling piano, he gets annoyed by Arnold's tireless efforts to try and pay him back. So he come up with a plan to make Arnold look like a hero by staging a phony holdup at the garage he works at.

Season 4, Episode 23: Stress? What Stress?

Original Air Date—22 April 1982
Willis, suffering from stress due to a hectic schedule, makes a false promise to Drummond that he will quit the school election, which stresses Arnold out when he finds out.

Season 4, Episode 24: The Music Man

Original Air Date—6 May 1982
Willis forms a band with his friends but faces a tough decision when the band members favor Kimberly over Charlene as the lead singer.

Season 4, Episode 25: Short But Sweet

Original Air Date—13 May 1982
Arnold's self-consciousness over his short stature once again rises to the surface when he realizes all of his friends have girlfriends, but not him. Drummond has to convince his son that looks - or in this case, height - aren't everything.

Season 4, Episode 26: On Your Toes

Original Air Date—20 May 1982
Arnold's sudden interest in ballet is hampered when Willis tells him that dancing will give him a 'sissy' label.

Season 5

Season 5, Episode 1: Shoot-Out at the O.K. Arcade

Original Air Date—2 October 1982
In his efforts to help Willis dethrone an arrogant video game champion at the local arcade, Arnold becomes hooked on video games.

Season 5, Episode 2: In the Swim

Original Air Date—9 October 1982
When Kimberly transfers to public school, she causes Willis embarrassment by insulting the class president and trying out for the boy's swim team. Drummond hires a new housekeeper with an impressive resume.

Season 5, Episode 3: Cyrano De Jackson

Original Air Date—16 October 1982
Dudley, too shy to talk to Lisa, his love interest, turns to Arnold to help him woo her with poetry. However when the plan backfires, Arnold finds himself unable to get rid of Lisa, who is in love with him, and unable to talk to Dudley who is mad at him for stealing Lisa.

Season 5, Episode 4: Big Brother

Original Air Date—23 October 1982
Arnold, feeling sorry for a new boy at school who has no friends, asks Willis to serve as a big brother to him. When Willis begins spending all his time with his "new brother", Arnold feels neglected.

Season 5, Episode 5: The Peacemaker

Original Air Date—30 October 1982
Willis steps in to mediate a feud between rival gangs, which has been intensifying. When the effort fails, Willis finds out his personal safety is in danger, so he decides to buy a gun, a move that could really exasperate matters.

Season 5, Episode 6: Substitute Teacher

Original Air Date—6 November 1982
Arnold and his classmates gets really upset when a substitute teacher, filling in for Miss Chung, really piles on the homework. When the teacher accidentally strikes Arnold, who is fooling around in class, Arnold and Dudley decide to lie about the incident in hopes of getting him removed.

Season 5, Episode 7: The Older Woman

Original Air Date—13 November 1982
Willis obtains a fake ID and dons a fake mustache to get into a nightclub. While at the club, he gets a date with a much older woman and spots Mr. Drummond on date with a much younger woman.

Season 5, Episode 8: A Case of Overexposure

Original Air Date—20 November 1982
Arnold's campaign to be elected class president hits a low point when a picture that Kimberly took of him in the shower showing his bare behind is accidentally published in the newspaper.

Season 5, Episode 9: Memories

Original Air Date—27 November 1982
A cassette tape, containing a recording of Arnold and Willis' deceased mother, is discovered in a trunk that is returned to the boys. When Drummond innocently plays the tape, it triggers Arnold's deep-seated grief about the loss of his mother.

Season 5, Episode 10: Push Comes to Shove

Original Air Date—4 December 1982
When Arnold is bullied by a kid in the building, Drummond advises him not to resort to violence. However, when Drummond himself is bullied by the kid's father, who happens to be the building manager, he has trouble following his own advice.

Season 5, Episode 11: The Executives

Original Air Date—11 December 1982
When Willis hears from a friend that Drummond's company does not hire blacks, he goes in for an interview using a fake name. When he is turned down for the job, he accuses the interviewer of being prejudice and "fires" him.

Season 5, Episode 12: Santa's Helper

Original Air Date—18 December 1982
A man dressed as Santa Claus breaks into the apartment and steals gifts.

Season 5, Episode 13: A Growing Problem

Original Air Date—8 January 1983
Fed up with living under Drummond's rules, Willis decides to move into an apartment with a friend whose dependence on alcohol is troubling.

Season 5, Episode 14: Parents Have Rights, Too

Original Air Date—15 January 1983
Drummond lies to the kids about not being able to go on a family camping trip so he can spend a night of romance with his tax attorney.

Season 5, Episode 15: Independent Woman

Original Air Date—22 January 1983
Kimberly asserts her independence from her father by getting a job at a burger joint.

Season 5, Episode 16: The Bicycle Man: Part 1

Original Air Date—5 February 1983
Arnold and Dudley become friends with the owner of a local bicycle shop, unaware that he is a pedophile looking for his next victim.

Season 5, Episode 17: The Bicycle Man: Part 2

Original Air Date—12 February 1983
Drummond and Mr. Ramsey learn the truth about Mr. Horton, the seemingly friendly bicycle shop owner with a very sinister side. It soon becomes a race against time to get details out of Arnold after learning that Dudley is about to become Mr. Horton's latest victim.

Season 5, Episode 18: Family on Ice

Original Air Date—19 February 1983

Season 5, Episode 19: Hall Monitor

Original Air Date—26 February 1983
Arnold, realizing that Kathy is struggling to fit in at public school, encourages her to become hall monitor. He quickly realizes that he has created a monster when she begins to take her job too literally.

Season 5, Episode 20: The Cricket

Original Air Date—5 March 1983
Arnold becomes attached to a cricket that he believes is bringing him luck. Unfortunately, Drummond and Willis do not share the same warm feelings toward the cricket, which keeps them up at night.

Season 5, Episode 21: Roommates

Original Air Date—12 March 1983
With Willis needing a quiet room to study for his SAT tests, Arnold and Drummond agree to become roommates so that Willis can have Drummond's room to himself.

Season 5, Episode 22: The Reporter

Original Air Date—19 March 1983
As a reporter for the school newspaper, Arnold learns that drugs are being sold on school grounds. This attracts the concern of First Lady Nancy Reagan, who comes to the school to talk about her anti-drug campaign.

Season 5, Episode 23: Romeo and Juliet

Original Air Date—30 April 1983
Arnold is excited about auditioning for the role of Romeo in the school play "Romeo & Juliet" until he finds out that his nemesis, Lisa, got the role of Juliet.

Season 5, Episode 24: My Fair Larry

Original Air Date—7 May 1983
Willis asks Kimberly to help a classmate who lacks sensitivity to try and get a girl at school. However, the plan backfires when he falls in love with Kimberly.

Season 6

Season 6, Episode 1: Mr. T and mr. t

Original Air Date—1 October 1983
Arnold and his friends meet Mr. T in this tale about Arnold trying to win the heart of a classmate.

Season 6, Episode 2: The Goat

Original Air Date—15 October 1983
In his first few days at junior high, Arnold has trouble breaking out of Willis's shadow. So he comes up with a plan to kidnap the school mascot and then become a hero by "finding" and returning it.

Season 6, Episode 3: Rashomon II

Original Air Date—22 October 1983
After a burglar's attempt to rob the house is foiled, Arnold, Willis, and Drummond all give different accounts of how it happen.

Season 6, Episode 4: The Lie

Original Air Date—29 October 1983
Willis lies about his qualifications so that he can get a job at Arnold's carnival.

Season 6, Episode 5: Drafted

Original Air Date—12 November 1983
A computer glitch which identifies Arnold as being 18-years of age and drafted into the military leaves Drummond fighting mad.

Season 6, Episode 6: The Van Drummonds

Original Air Date—19 November 1983
The Drummonds' Dutch relatives come to visit. However it's anything but a happy visitation for Arnold and Willis, who end up taking the rap for the mischievous behavior of their cousin Hans.

Season 6, Episode 7: The Moonlighter

Original Air Date—26 November 1983
Arnold is upset when his favorite teacher lies to him about working as a waitress at a sleazy nightclub.

Season 6, Episode 8: Coming of Age

Original Air Date—3 December 1983
With her 18th birthday approaching, Kimberly decides that she wants to delay her college education so she can live in France for a year. However, Drummond is dead-set against the idea.

Season 6, Episode 9: Assert Yourself

Original Air Date—10 December 1983
With only two days left until the class election, Arnold resigns as Dudley's campaign manager and decides to run against him.

Season 6, Episode 10: Mrs. Z

Original Air Date—17 December 1983
After appearing on TV for giving a huge donation to charity, Drummond is threatened by extortionists. Instead of giving in to their demands, he tries to catch them in the act by hiring a bodyguard who turns out to be the female version of Mr. T.

Season 6, Episode 11: The Senior Class Queen

Original Air Date—7 January 1984
Kimberly wants to force the school to admit girls into the Letterman's club. Willis opposes this idea, so he enters the school's beauty pageant to prove his point.

Season 6, Episode 12: Where There's Smoke

Original Air Date—14 January 1984
Arnold and Dudley give into peer pressure and experiment with smoking. They realize they don't like the effects of cigarettes, but the real persuasion to have them kick the habit comes from someone very close to home from Dudley - his father, whom despite having had a lung operation, is still a chronic smoker.

Season 6, Episode 13: Drummond's Lady

Original Air Date—21 January 1984
After an unfavorable first encounter with a local fitness host named Maggie McKinney, Drummond still decides to invest in her business. He soon realizes that he wants it to be more than a business venture.

Season 6, Episode 14: The Hitchikers: Part 1

Original Air Date—28 January 1984
Drummond has warned his children on the dangers of hitchhiking. Despite this, Arnold and Kimberly decide to thumb a ride when they find themselves short on cash (instead of swallowing some pride and calling home to get picked up). A seemingly friendly man named Bill decides to give them a ride, but when he makes a "wrong turn," he shows his true colors and forces them to go to his house, where he holds them captive.

Season 6, Episode 15: The Hitchikers: Part 2

Original Air Date—4 February 1984
As a very worried Drummond wonders where Arnold and Kimberly are, the two are held captive by a schizophrenic man named Bill, who is determined to seduce Kimberly. Arnold (who has been drugged) manages to escape and finds his way home, but Drummond and the others find themselves in a race against time trying to get the details out of Arnold before Bill can attack Kimberly.

Season 6, Episode 16: Hooray for Hollywood: Part 1

Original Air Date—11 February 1984
After Maggie breaks off their relationship, Drummond decides to take the family to Hollywood to meet up with her and find out why.

Season 6, Episode 17: Hooray for Hollywood: Part 2

Original Air Date—18 February 1984
Drummond proposes marriage to Maggie, only to find out that she has a 7-year old son named Sam. Everyone is excited about the prospect of having new family members except for Arnold who feels that he will be neglected.

Season 6, Episode 18: The Wedding: Part 1

Original Air Date—25 February 1984
Drummond's wedding plans hit a snag after his lawyer convinces him to ask Maggie to sign a prenuptial agreement, which does not go over too well with her.

Season 6, Episode 19: The Wedding: Part 2

Original Air Date—25 February 1984
With Drummond about to marry Maggie, Arnold has serious concerns about having her as a mother.

Season 6, Episode 20: The Honeymoon's Over

Original Air Date—3 March 1984
On the night of a big party, Arnold is stuck at home babysitting Sam.

Season 6, Episode 21: The Bar Mitzvah Boy

Original Air Date—17 March 1984
Arnold thinks of converting to Judaism when he sees how many presents and checks his friend Robbie collects for his Bar Mitzvah.

Season 6, Episode 22: Kathy's Olympics

Original Air Date—24 March 1984
As part of Kathy's wheelchair games, Arnold decides to host a fund-raising party. He gets stuck with Lisa as a date and bribes Robby to take Kathy. He faces a problem when Maggie throws away his old sneakers which contain the donated money.

Season 6, Episode 23: The Houseguest

Original Air Date—5 May 1984
Charlene temporarily moves in to the Drummond household after a fight with her father. She soon realizes that she and Willis have different ideas about marriage.

Season 6, Episode 24: The Boyfriend

Original Air Date—12 May 1984
Kimberly lies to Drummond about moving in with her boyfriend whom he is not very fond of to begin with.

Season 7

Season 7, Episode 1: A Haunting We Will Go

Original Air Date—29 September 1984
After hearing that a nearby house is supposedly haunted by the ghost of its dead owner, Arnold and Sam decide to visit the house and do some investigating on their own.

Season 7, Episode 2: Arnold and Lisa's Mother

Original Air Date—6 October 1984
Arnold, Dudley, and Robbie, sick and tired of Lisa squealing on them, decide to sabotage her project for the science fair. However, they have second thoughts when Lisa's mom becomes their new teacher.

Season 7, Episode 3: Bed-Wetting

Original Air Date—13 October 1984
When Sam starts wetting the bed, Arnold is anything but sensitive to his problem.

Season 7, Episode 4: Undercover Lover

Original Air Date—20 October 1984
Willis starts romancing the new girl at school who turns out to be an undercover narcotics agent.

Season 7, Episode 5: Arnold's Strike

Original Air Date—27 October 1984
In order to impress a girl, Arnold becomes the ringleader of a student strike formed to protest the new school dress code. However, things take a turn for the worse when he is the only one suspended from school.

Season 7, Episode 6: Sam's Father

Original Air Date—3 November 1984
Maggie gets very emotional when Sam decides that he wants to temporarily stay with his father.

Season 7, Episode 7: Carmella Meets the Gooch

Original Air Date—10 November 1984
When Sam gets bullied by the Gooch at his school, Arnold tries to stand up to him but is unsuccessful. So he decides to get the new Italian exchange student to fight the Gooch in exchange for the promise of a date with the unsuspecting Willis.

Season 7, Episode 8: Arnold the Entrepreneur

Original Air Date—17 November 1984
Arnold starts up a door-to-door business selling bug spray with Sam as his assistant. When he gets greedy and cuts Sam out of the profits, Sam decides to quit working for him and compete against him.

Season 7, Episode 9: The Honorable Arnold J. Jackson

Original Air Date—24 November 1984
Arnold faces a tough decision when he is appointed judge of his classroom court and he must choose between his friend Robbie and his girlfriend Jennifer.

Season 7, Episode 10: The Gymnasts

Original Air Date—1 December 1984
Willis paralyzed friend, Stuart, who was once a terrific gymnast, comes home to visit. Drummond and Willis surprise him by naming a gymnasium after him and inviting the US Olympic Gymnastics team to the ceremony. However, Stuart makes it known that he is fed up with everyone's charity.

Season 7, Episode 11: Tonsils

Original Air Date—8 December 1984
Drummond sets a bad example when he talks Sam into going to the hospital for a tonsillectomy but later refuses to be checked in himself for a knee injury.

Season 7, Episode 12: Arnold's Songbird

Original Air Date—15 December 1984
Arnold finds himself in a difficult spot when he promises his class that he can deliver a celebrity for the school talent show but has no luck finding anyone.

Season 7, Episode 13: Baseball Blues

Original Air Date—5 January 1985
When Sam's baseball coach quits, he convinces Drummond to take over the team. However, Drummond's coaching style in which everybody, include unskilled players like Sam, gets equal at-bats does not go over well with the kid's parents.

Season 7, Episode 14: Arnold Saves the Squirrel

Original Air Date—12 January 1985
Upon hearing that Sam's favorite morning show host will be losing his show due to cancellation and replaced by Maggie's exercise show, Arnold organizes a letter-writing campaign to try and save the show.

Season 7, Episode 15: Sam Adopts a Grandparent

Original Air Date—19 January 1985
As part of his cub scout project, Sam must go to a retirement home and adopt a grandparent to work on a model airplane. However, when his adopted grandparent storms out on him, Sam is left feeling down in the dumps.

Season 7, Episode 16: Harry Birthday Drummond

Original Air Date—26 January 1985
Kimberly returns home from school in Paris to surprise Drummond on his birthday prompting Arnold and Willis to try and match her special gift, they decide to change their name to Drummond, until Willis suddenly has second thoughts.

Season 7, Episode 17: Sam's New Pal

Original Air Date—2 February 1985
Drummond faces a tough decision when Sam asks if he can have a sleepover party with his new friend, who happens to be a girl.

Season 7, Episode 18: Russian Embassy

Original Air Date—9 February 1985
Arnold's innocent action of setting off a model rocket ship attracts international attention when the school project lands on the Russian Embassy building! Can Drummond and the others clear up this misunderstanding before they are branded international terrorists?

Season 7, Episode 19: Cheers to Arnold

Original Air Date—16 February 1985
Arnold faces being permanently grounded when Drummond gets a call from school saying he was caught in the boy's bathroom with a bottle of whiskey, in violation of the school's zero-tolerance policy on alcohol. Arnold must find a way to explain the misunderstanding: He was trying to stop a friend who was actually the alcoholic beverage's owner from imbibing.

Season 7, Episode 20: A Camping We Will Go

Original Air Date—23 February 1985
Drummond takes Arnold and Sam camping to strengthen the bonds. But this bonding session is seriously hampered when Sam's father shows up.

Season 7, Episode 21: Beauty Is in the Eye of Arnold

Original Air Date—2 March 1985
Arnold is on cloud nine after he meets a girl whom he really likes- until his friends convince him to dump her so he can go out with a more popular girl.

Season 7, Episode 22: Blue Collar Drummond

Original Air Date—9 March 1985
Putting his career and reputation on the line, Drummond covertly takes a job on the assembly lines at one of his Trans-Allied factories as part of an attempt to get in touch with his employees and make recommendations to boost morale and production.

Season 7, Episode 23: Street Smarts

Original Air Date—23 March 1985
Arnold is traumatized after becoming a street mugger's latest victim. However, Arnold puts up his bravado in front of his friends, claiming he held his own ... until a classroom exercise brings Arnold's true emotions (which he tried to conceal to the knowing Drummond) to the surface.

Season 7, Episode 24: A Special Friend

Original Air Date—4 May 1985
Arnold and Sam learn that their new friend, a street performer, has epilepsy. Their emotions become a ball of confusion and misconception ... until someone very close to them (namely, Pearl) shares her experiences with the disorder.

Season 8

Season 8, Episode 1: Sam's Missing: Part 1

Original Air Date—27 September 1985
A grief-stricken mother and father kidnap Sam while the Drummonds are shopping at a grocery store. The father, knowing the legal consequences of his family's actions, threaten Drummond and Maggie with a brutal death if he tries to run away.

Season 8, Episode 2: Sam's Missing: Part 2

Original Air Date—27 September 1985
Drummond and Maggie begin an all-out effort to rescue Sam from their captors through a variety of methods, some of which backfire. Meanwhile, Don goes to great lengths to hide from his own family the fact that he kidnapped Sam. But the 7-year-old Sam uses his intuition and instinct to rescue himself, knowing that everyone he loves could face a very violent death if he is caught.

Season 8, Episode 3: Bully for Arnold

Original Air Date—4 October 1985
A school bully orders Arnold to "guard" his girlfriend, but things become complicated when the girl falls for Arnold instead.

Season 8, Episode 4: Love on the Run

Original Air Date—11 October 1985
Drummond and Maggie's hectic schedules and lack of time spent with each other leads Sam to believe that they'll be getting divorced soon.

Season 8, Episode 5: Willis Goes to College

Original Air Date—18 October 1985
After a difficult first week of college, Willis comes home and fakes sickness so that he won't have to go back.

Season 8, Episode 6: Arnold's Job

Original Air Date—25 October 1985
After landing a job as a photographer at a small newspaper with Drummond's help, Arnold quickly gets tired of being an errand boy for a cranky boss and considers quitting.

Season 8, Episode 7: A Tale of Two Teachers

Original Air Date—8 November 1985
Remember Mr. Wilkes, the no-nonsense substitute teacher whose career was nearly destroyed when Arnold claimed he hit him? Well, Mr. Wilkes is back ... and gotten full-time employment as Arnold's hard-nosed English literature teacher, in this tale about Arnold goofing off in class, acting like a know-it-all and then Mr. Wilkes demanding that his deviant student put up or shut up - by teaching the class for a day. The task: Teach the students Dickens' classic "A Tale of Two Cities."

Season 8, Episode 8: So You Want to Be a Rock Star?

Original Air Date—15 November 1985
In order to impress a girl, Arnold gets his friends and Sam to start up a band. After practicing a few times, they realize that Arnold is terrible and ask Sam to fire him.

Season 8, Episode 9: Speak No Evil

Original Air Date—29 November 1985
Arnold and Drummond have a difference of opinion when Arnold and his friends consider throwing fruit to protest a local civic group that is against black people.

Season 8, Episode 10: Arnold's Bad Rep

Original Air Date—6 December 1985
Feeling peer pressure from the guys, Arnold lies about having sex with his girlfriend. However when the actual opportunity arises, he is anything but ready.

Season 8, Episode 11: It's My Party and I'll Cry If I Want To

Original Air Date—13 December 1985
With Sam depressed that no one will come to his birthday party, Drummond pulls some strings and gets the popular kids TV show host Captain Jack to appear. However, the plan does not work out very well for Sam when the kids at the party ignore him and pay more attention to Captain Jack.

Season 8, Episode 12: Arnold's Initiation

Original Air Date—10 January 1986
Arnold's desire to join a coveted elite club at school has serious consequences for the busboy at the local hamburger joint when the prank prompts the busboy's unsympathetic boss - without investigating the situation - to unmercifully fire him on the spot.

Season 8, Episode 13: Bulimia

Original Air Date—17 January 1986
Kimberly makes a return visit home and all seems well with her,except that she's hiding a dark secret. The fact that she has been utilizing the dangerous Bulemic practice of staying thin by eating and then "re-gurgitating" it back out in the bathroom. She does her best to hide this from everyone until it becomes all too clear that her health is in jeopardy.

Season 8, Episode 14: Sam's Big Brother

Original Air Date—24 January 1986
Arnold gets jealous when Sam begins spending more time with Willis and he is the odd man out.

Season 8, Episode 15: Arnold's Tangled Web

Original Air Date—31 January 1986
Arnold overhears Drummond's phone conversation where he authorizes the firing of a poorly performing employee. Knowing he is getting an F in geometry (and fearing similar treatment from his father), Arnold turns to a con artist to forge his report card and Drummond's signature. But things backfire when Drummond - elated when he thinks his son had done outstanding in the class - plans to have him enrolled in an advanced placement course.

Season 8, Episode 16: Lifestyles of the Poor and Unknown

Original Air Date—7 February 1986
Sam considers getting into a fist fight with a new kid in school who is constantly picking on him. Drummond and the family are featured on a television show about the rich and famous.

Season 8, Episode 17: The Big Bribe

Original Air Date—21 February 1986
Seeing that Arnold is afraid to ask out a pretty girl from his school, Willis bribes her with concert tickets so that she will ask him out. The plan backfires when Arnold eventually finds out.

Season 8, Episode 18: The Photo Club

Original Air Date—28 February 1986
Arnold gets locked in a closet with his schoolyard rival Lisa.

Season 8, Episode 19: The Front Page

Original Air Date—7 March 1986
In the last completed episode, Arnold discovers a steroid ring operating among athletes at his school and tries to publicize it in the school newspaper.

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