Diff'rent Strokes is an American
sitcom that aired on
NBC from November 3, 1978, to May 4, 1985, and on
ABC from September 27, 1985, to March 7, 1986. The series stars
Gary Coleman and
Todd Bridges as Arnold and Willis Jackson, two
African American boys from
Harlem who are taken in by a rich white
Park Avenue businessman and widower named
Phillip Drummond (
Conrad Bain) and his daughter
Kimberly (
Dana Plato), for whom their deceased mother previously worked. During the first season and first half of the second season,
Charlotte Rae also starred as the Drummonds' housekeeper, Mrs. Garrett (who ultimately spun off into her own successful show,
The Facts of Life).