Headscratchers / Diff'rent Strokes

• Am I the only one who finds it odd that Gary Coleman doesn't appear in any scenes with Dorothy Hamill in the episode "Family on Ice"? Did Dorothy shoot her scenes on a day when Gary wasn't available? Was it a contractual issue? Did Gary just not like Dorothy?
  • After posting the above, I remembered how Gary Coleman did not appear in some episodes (or only appeared briefly) due to health issues. It's possible he filmed his scenes in "Family on Ice" before/after the rest of the episode, and was unavailable when Dorothy Hamill showed up.
  • Saw the episode recently. Considering some of Willis' lines sounded more like something Arnold would say, it's not far fetched they had to do a hasty rewrite when Gary couldn't make it.
• If Lucy Jackson was working for such a filthy rich businessman who was so good to her that she left her two sons to him, why was the family so grindingly poor? Didn't he pay her enough while she was alive?
  • Single mom, two kids, late seventies in New York City...it could only go so far.