NBC Goes Back 'Behind the Camera'

Zap2It.com | August 7, 2006

Todd Bridges

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'Diff'rent Strokes' movie finally gets an airdate

LOS ANGELES -- We're guessing that "The Unauthorized Story of Diff'rent Strokes" may be the last installment in NBC's "Behind the Camera" franchise, at least for a little while.

The network has set an airdate for the movie, which looks at the hit sitcom of the late 1970s and early '80s and the off-camera issues that befell its young stars. But it's not exactly a showcase timeslot: The movie will air on Monday, Sept. 4, otherwise known as Labor Day and a day when TV viewing is not that high.

The "Diff'rent Strokes" movie is the fourth in NBC's "Behind the Camera" series, which previously dramatized the backstage goings-on of "Three's Company," "Charlie's Angels" and "Mork & Mindy" -- all of which were ABC series. The new movie, which was completed last year, stars Bobb'e J. Thompson ("That's So Raven," "The Tracy Morgan Show") as Gary Coleman.

NBC says the movie will offer "a powerful cautionary tale" about child stardom as it details the lives of Coleman, Todd Bridges and Dana Plato after the show ended in 1986. Bridges and Plato, who died of a drug overdose in 1999, both had run-ins with the law, and Coleman fought a protracted legal battle with his parents over his earnings from the show.

Bridges and Coleman each participated in the making of the movie and will appear in on-camera interviews, making this "Behind the Camera" more of a semi-authorized story than an unauthorized one.

Robert Iscove ("She's All That") directed the movie, which was written by Greg Pincus ("Little Big League") and Susan Rinehart.