History YMMV / DiffrentStrokes

** Housekeeper Pearl is portrayed by Creator/MaryJoCatlett, who would go on to voice Mrs. Pearl on ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants''.

** Housekeeper Pearl is portrayed by Mary Jo Catlett, who would go on to voice Mrs. Pearl on ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants''.

** Seeing how their actors Gary Coleman and Dana Plato both died at young ages, anytime Arnold or Kimberly contemplate their own deaths is especially tough to watch today. Bizarrely, it occurs a number of times throughout the series. For instance, the episode "Green Hair" had Kimberly upset over how acid rain had turned her hair green and said that if she couldn't get a hair appointment to fix it, she would do the next best thing: [[BlackComedy kill herself.]] [[spoiler:That’s exactly how Plato’s life eventually ended.]] Yikes...

** Dick Clair and Jenna [=McMahon=] co-wrote an episode. Both created ''Series/TheFactsOfLife'' and are also best known for creating ''Series/MamasFamily''.

** "The Bicycle Man" is even tougher to watch once you've learned that Todd Bridges was preyed upon by a pedophile publicist in RealLife when he was 11.

** Creator/JimWard made his voice acting debut as [[Series/KnightRider K.I.T.T.]].

** The episode "Green Hair" had Kimberly upset over how acid rain had turned her hair green and said that if she couldn't get a hair appointment to fix it, she would do the next best thing: [[BlackComedy kill herself.]] Yikes...

* FunnyAneurysmMoment:
** The episode "Little Mother", where Kimberly's childhood friend learns she's pregnant involves a misunderstanding where the boys mistake Kimberly herself for pregnant. Several seasons later, Dana Plato was fired when the writers refused to incorporate her own pregnancy into the show.
** The episode "Green Hair" had Kimberly upset over how acid rain had turned her hair green and said that if she couldn't get a hair appointment to fix it, she would do the next best thing: [[BlackComedy kill herself.]] Yikes...

** In "Movin' In", upon seeing Mr. Drummond's Park Avenue apartment for the first time, Arnold says that he's "died and gone to Heaven". Yeah...

** Gary Coleman died from a brain hemorrhage, which could be termed as a FAM. A brain hemorrhage is also a type of stroke, making the show's title a FAM as well.

* ValuesResonance: On the opposite token, the scene where everyone discusses the Aesop of ''The Bicycle Man'' has Willis express surprise that Mr. Horton is "[[AllGaysArePedophiles gay]]." The detective who busted Mr. Horton bluntly but politely tells him that there's a major world of difference between gays and pedophiles. In a decade that wasn't particularly gay-friendly, [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped that was a very important lesson for the masses to learn]], even if it wasn't the focus of the episode. It also averted the common Stranger Danger tropes by having the titular child molester be someone Arnold and Dudley had been on friendly terms with for some time before making his move, and gradually manipulating them towards having his way rather than come out of nowhere.