>> drew: "diff'rent strokes" was really the show that everyone in my generation grew up watching. >> wolf: it was adorable, and it was funny, and it was warm, and it was innovative. >> silverman: gary coleman, you just looked at him, and you smiled. >> what you talkin' 'bout, willis? >> mcilwain: the values that they strived to teach arehat values that are longstanding american values. >> piazza: but at the same ti time, i think everyone just thinks about them as the poster children for teen stars that get screwed up. >> wolf: addiction, depression, all the things that can come along with the mix of stardom and growing up. >> weiss: it's sad because she was just--she just kind of became this, like, sexual joke. >> brown: gary's publical joke. behavior got worse and worse. >> wolf: it's hard to give up the spotlight, and you always >> wolf: it's hard to give up the spotlight, and you always think it's gonna come back

captioned by elrom, inc. www.elrom.tv >> narrator: "diff'rent strokes"--before the stars became poster children for young hollywood gone bad, the half- hour sitcom was known as one of the defining shows of the 1980s. >> drew: "diff'rent strokes" to anyone who's in their mid- 30s now was sort of the show that we watched growing up. it was a show meant for a younger audience, but yet the topics were very weighty, and they were things you never saw on tv before. >> narrator: "diff'rent strokes" aired 189 primetime episodes over nine years on twoisodes networks. it told the story of the drummonds, an atypical american family. >> weiss: so the show's about a wealthy park avenue guy who ends up adopting these two kids from

harlem. and the idea is that, you know, they're taken into this, like, wealthy, white lifestyle, and you know, hilarity ensues. >> narrator: "diff'rent strokes"' journey to its november 3, 1978 debut started with television visionaryarted norman lear. norman lear was one of the most powerful television producersst of the 1970s thanks to his 1971 breakthrough, "all in the family," a comedy about a blue- collar bigot name archiea blue- bunker. >> mcilwain: "all in the family," one of the probably most daring shows ever put on television, certainly sitcoms. i mean, you have this sort of times--the early '70s, the civil-rights marches, race riots, vietnam, e.r.a., and here you have a guy who wants to put on a show where the primary character is this unabashed bigot racist who disregards

anyone different than he is, but you're laughing. >> jim bowman, our neighbor down the way just sold his home to a family of coloreds. >> no! >> wolf: norman lear is one of the great pioneers of television. he took chances when no one else would. norman knew how to push the envelope, and also, boy, did he know how to spot talent. >> narrator: lear's eye for talent lit up during a trip to chicago in 1976, when herip to spotted an 8-year-old named gary coleman in a local tv ad. gary was born on february 8, 1968. as an infant, he was adopted by willie and edmonia sue coleman who moved him into their modest suburban home in zion,ir modest illinois. >> mcilwain: fortunately, of course, he has parents thatf step in and adopt him right away, and i'm not sure if they knew it at the time or were later made aware, but coleman of course had

very real health issues, very debilitating health issues, particularly with his kidneys. >> narrator: by the time gary turned 7, he'd had two major surgeries and a kidney transplant. the daily battery of drugs required to keep gary alive stunted his growth, trapping him forever in a child's body. since gary was unable to participate in sports, sue coleman encouraged her son to follow other pursuits. >> brown: he was just an adorable little kid. so when he was very young, his mother started putting him in talent shows and auditioningn him for commercials. he was spotted by one of the big hollywood producers in a commercial. the producer says, "hey, we want to see you," so they fly him and his family to l.a. >> narrator: norman lear knew he had a budding star on hise hands, and he wanted to get gary on the air as soon as possible. so he secured gary a guest spot on the hit sitcom "the jeffersons" as george jefferson's wise-cracking nephew raymond.

>> oh, hello! who's the little fellow? >> it's my uncle george! >> narrator: everyone who saw the guest spot fell in loveaw with the kid from chicago, including the president of abc and longtime lear ally, fred silverman. >> silverman: when i first saw gary coleman, you just looked at him and you smiled. he had very, very strong audience appeal. he obviously was a television star, and there was something that was very engaging about this little guy who opens his mouth and sounded like he was 60 years old. >> narrator: silverman and abc made a deal with lear to create a show for coleman. lear came up with "45 minutes from harlem," a sitcom about an inner-city orphan who's adopted by a white millionaire to be played by hollywood veteran conrad bain. >> silverman: conrad bain had worked for norman on "maude"d and seemed to be a natural choice. he was kind of aristocratic in

bearing. it was just good casting. you know, the combination of him and gary coleman was magic. >> drew: even though "diff'rent strokes" was really basedf'rent around gary coleman, conrad bain was an essential element. and he really fit the mold. he really seemed like the rich guy who was a little nerdy and a little unhip, and that's what balanced the show. >> narrator: lear worked to flesh out ideas for the new show, including changing the name to "diff'rent strokes" and adding other characters. todd bridges, who'd made his name on several sitcoms including the "barney miller" spin-off "fish," was cast as arnold's older brother, willis. a then-unknown dana plato was cast as mr. drummond's daughter kimberly. >> piazza: she was an all-american girl. dana plato was successful early on. she was trying to be an olympic- level skater, and she was really good at that, was definitely this all-american girl. >> narrator: as "diff'rent strokes" was taking shape, a shake-up at the network sawa

fred silverman move from abc to nbc, putting the entire show in jeopardy before it even began production. >> silverman: i had seen gary coleman per norman lear. i really want to do something with him, and i believe that we made a deal at abc, and then we the next thing you know, i was over at nbc. so i--you know, i sat patiently and waited a couple of months and then called norman, and said, "look, i really would like to pick up our conversations that we had at abc about developing something for gary coleman." >> narrator: in 1978, when silverman took over nbc, the network was an industry joke, lagging far behind abc and cbs. the newly minted president was under pressure to turn things around, and he needed a hitgs show fast. >> silverman: my immediate job coming in there was to musterb up quickly some successful television series.

i knew who gary coleman was, and i loved the idea thatas, norman brought in. the combination for me was a pretty good bet. >> narrator: silverman's faith in lear aside, the newly minted president of nbc was taking a tremendous gamble. he was putting his career and reputation as well as nbc's future in the hands of an unknown 10-year-old named gary

>> narrator: the stakes couldn't have been higher leading up to the premier of the network comedy series "diff'rent strokes" in the fall of 1978. fred silverman had just taken over as president of third- place nbc and was staking his reputation on producer norman lear and an unknown 10-year-old named gary coleman. >> silverman: i had enough faith ♪in norman. he had delivered in spades with

"all in the family." and i figured the combination of norman lear and gary coleman in this concept--very, very family- friendly early evening concept was a ideal combination. >> narrator: silverman was confident viewers would fall in love with coleman and theall in show's unique family. >> weiss: mr. drummond, his wife dies. he has this daughter, and then his black housekeeper dies. and her dying wish is to have him adopt her sons. arnold and willis go to live at this park avenue apartment, and automatically have a built-in family of mr. drummond, a sister named kimberly and a maid named mrs. garrett. >> hi, fellas. (laughter) >> she got it right. >> mrs. garett, are you passing?

>> narrator: todd bridges played willis, the streetwise skeptic to arnold's wide-eyed innocent. >> we don't belong in no penthouse. we ain't the right color. >> i'll get me a skin transplant. >> narrator: dana plato's kimberly was the privileged prep-school teen who learned life lessons from her stepbrothers. >> this is arnold, and this is willis, kimberly. >> hi there. hi. >> hi, metal mouth. >> daddy, isn't this delicious? we just met, and already he's insulting me like a real brother. >> narrator: on november 3, 1978, silverman's faith in lear and coleman paid off. "diff'rent strokes" premiered in the family-friendly 8:00 p.m. time slot. >> silverman: and that was actually the first show that i put on the air in--at nbc, and it was an immediate success. >> drew: when "diff'rent strokes" came out, it was such a massive phenomenon. >> brown: it dealt with life

issues, and those issues are universal. can people of different racial backgrounds get along? can people from different socioeconomic classes get along? if given the opportunity, can minorities who come from a different background thrive? >> narrator: lear once again proved he was able to deliver social commentary while getting a laugh. but the face of the show, as far as viewers were concerned, was gary coleman. >> mcilwain: you know, i was 7 years old in '78 when "diff'rent strokes" started. really, i was sort of drawn to arnold's character. you know, i identified with him, you know, sort of wished i had the charm he had to be able to get out of all these sort of circumstances and jams he of always seemed to get himself in. >> wolf: he was too adorable for words. and somehow those smart guys at nbc knew what they were seeing. >> drew: gary coleman, you know, came out of nowhere, but because he was older but looked so much

younger he could immediately adapt to comic timing that was natural. >> i've never seen a black goldfish before. >> that's okay, he never saw a rich white man before either. >> narrator: gary's talent was apparent to producers from the get-go. while shooting the very first episode, gary proved he knew how to make 'em laugh, and keep 'em coming back for more. >> what you talkin' bout, willis? >> silverman: gary coleman came up with the catch phrase "what you talkin' about, willis?" it was an ad lib, and sometimes some of the best phrases like that are ad libs. >> brown: it's a popular catch phrase from the '80s. people would always do the little funny face to go with it and it kind of makes you envision his little chubby cheeks and his little smart smirk. >> wolf: you might as well have called it "the gary coleman show." gary coleman just was a riot. whatever he did, whatever he said, it just took center he stage. >> narrator: fearful of the buzz created by gary coleman and

nbc's "diff'rent strokes" number-one-ranked abc fought back by airing the hit show "happy days" against the new sitcom. >> mcilwain: i mean, you're seeing sort of the opposite of american life. one show, "happy days," that's obviously a sort of throwback, a longing for the supposed good old days. on the other hand, you got "diff'rent strokes," that is about now. it's about life in the '70s at that time, about the circumstances, the problems, the struggles, that are going on for this sort of very weird, different-kind-of-looking family, and so in a way, you have the sort of competing ideals, if you will, on the two networks, you know? and it's sort of like, you know, what do i want america to be like really? >> narrator: americans fell in love with kimberly, willis, and little arnold, and "diff'rent strokes" gained even more viewers as the first season rolled along. the jokes on the family-friendly show weren't as biting as past

lear fare, but the comedy was no less funny or relevant. >> drew: there was something in the show everyone could relate to, and it was about different sides coming together and finding a median, finding a way to coexist, finding a way to love each other, finding a way to have a family, finding a way to live productive lives with every kind of difference you can imagine. >> narrator: while most viewers were more than happy to laugh along with the drummonds every week, not everyone was on board with the message of "different strokes for different folks." >> brown: the show's stars were receiving hate mail, hate letters from the kkk and from black activist groups, both saying that they didn't approve of the show. >> mcilwain: when you get groups like kkk and pro-black groups agreeing on something, you know there's something's there. >> brown: some black groups felt that the show depicted the boys as victims and that becauseboys they were black and they were poor, they needed the help of the great white savior, and that's

what mr. drummond represented. on the flip side, of course,d. the kkk was absolutely against racial mixing. >> silverman: i mean, you're always gonna get wackos that complain about something. so you get letters from the kkk, we're not gonna take the show off the air, and as far as iw was concerned, anything that can further racial relations inn this country was great. >> narrator: "diff'rent strokes" proved to be a bona fide hit and a shining light on the once-dreary nbc. for the producers and cast members, the sky was the limit, but no one could foresee what was in store for the three child stars.

so, this board gives me rates for progressive direct and other car insurance companies? yes. but you're progressive, and they're them. yes. but they're here. yes. are you...? there? yes. no. are you them? i'm me. but those rates are for... them. so them are here. yes! you want to run through it again? no, i'm good. you got it? yes. rates for us and them -- now that's progressive. call or click today. >> narrator: "diff'rent strokes," the show about millionaire mr. drummond, his non-traditional family and their live-in maid ended its first year as one of the breakout hits of the 1978

television schedule. hoping to catch lightning twice, nbc created a spin-off centered on charlotte rae's character mrs. garrett. >> weiss: mrs. garrett was in-- had a big roll in the first season as the housekeeper to the drummonds, and by the second season, she was offered a spin-off on "the facts of life." >> mrs. garett, come quick! the pig is loose on the bus! >> don't get so excited,bus! tootie. he can't drive a stick-shift. >> silverman: nbc was desperate for new programming at that point. the idea of taking charlotte rae and spinning her off into a new comedy, another family comedy was great 'cause we were searching for a companion piece for "diff'rent strokes." it went on the air, and it was an instant success. >> narrator: thanks to "the facts of life" and its parent show "diff'rent strokes," nbc was finally gaining ground on the rival networks. many attributed nbc's gains to the 12-year-old kid who had

become known as the mini don rickles. >> brown: gary coleman really became the star of nbc. he was credited with saving the network at that time. he was on all of the late-night shows. he had so much personality. he was adorable, and people really loved the show. >> wolf: i'm sure it felt a lot like playtime to him. i mean, everybody indulged him. everybody cuddled him. for his parents, this was-- this was like luxury heaven. here's someone who liked to talk, and everybody was listening, and the more you laughed, the more he, you know, got in his zingers, the better he did. >> narrator: as "diff'rent strokes" rolled into the '80s, the show became a cultural phenomenon. arnold, willis and kimberly were joined by several guest stars, including the then little-known sister of the king of pop. >> see you tomorrow night, sugar man. >> brown: janet jackson. she was charlene. she danced. she sang. she was beautiful, willis was in love with her,

and everybody just thought she was fabulous. >> narrator: other famous guest stars included clarenceus guest clemens, mr. t, and muhammad ali. >> mcilwain: i remember when muhammad ali came on the show. i think arnold had a sort of funny variation of the "fly like a butterfly, sting like a bee" line, but i really like a remember just those two people being up against each other. >> hi there, arnold. >> who's that? >> it's me, the champ. >> joe louis? >> narrator: in one of the most memorable and highest-rated episodes, first lady nancy reagan stopped by thenancy drummonds' to talk to the family about the dangers of drugs as part of her "just say no" initiative. >> mrs. reagan, i didn't know that you knew mr. drummond. >> i don't. (chuckles) i'm really here to see arnold. >> what you talkin' about, mrs. reagan? >> weiss: nancy reagan being on the sitcom solidified "diff'rent strokes" as being,

like, the show at the time. >> brown: it really fostered family time. so you usually watch the shows with your family, and then if there was some type of issue, you'd talked with it--with your family about it afterwards. >> narrator: "diff'rent strokes" had in fact become famous for several special episodes tackling everything from teen crime to eating disorders. but it was a special episode in season five called "the bicycle man" starring gordon jump that may be the most memorable. >> weiss: "diff'rent strokes" kind of led the way for the "very special" sitcom episode. they--they're famous for their child-molestation episode, where this friendly bicycle dealer becomes good friends and offers pie and shows pornographic cartoons to arnold and his friend dudley. >> now we're gonna take some pictures, and we're gonna have another little sip of wine, and we're gonna take some more pictures. and--so gimme--strike a pose for me there. yeah, let's see what you do. hey, that's great, guys.

guys, we're just gonna have a great time together this afternoon. >> piazza: they had this whole public service announcement talking to kids and talking to parents about not going off with strangers, and it was the first time that had really been done on prime-time television, where they were teaching lessons to parents and kids at the same time. >> tonight on "diff'rent strokes," we're starting a special 2-part show on a very sensitive and importanta very subject. now, we urge families, children and parents alike to watch both of these informative episodes and then to discuss the problem presented, which is of deep concern to all of us. >> drew: schools were very afraid to address issues like sexuality, like drug use other than in very broad strokes. and here you saw not only real examples or real-seeming examples of these things going on, but you also saw them in the form of characters that you grew very close to, that you feel like you knew. so you knew somebody who was being molested, you knew

someone who was taking drugs. >> silverman: norman felt that he had a responsibility to do some stories that have got a little bit of meat to them, that have something to say if it's done in--with taste andf not in an exploitive way. i give him a lot of credit for that. >> narrator: episodes like "the bicycle man" impressed television critics, whose praise only helped to increase the show's profile and cement "diff'rent strokes"' spot in the top 20 in prime-time. abc saw "diff'rent strokes"' success chipping away at their audience and decided that ifir you can't beat 'em, copy 'em. >> piazza: gary coleman became such an icon that abc created essentially a different version of "diff'rent strokes" with a very similar character to gary coleman with emmanuel lewis as webster. >> brown: "webster" was about a young boy whose parents died, and he goes to live with his godparents, who happen to be white.

he's black. the show was a blatant rip-off of "diff'rent strokes." >> wolf: oh, people were trying to have their own gary coleman. they were trying to have--to repeat that dynamic. television is nothing if not imitative. but, you know, it's also magic, and you--you couldn't quite re-create what happened, and even the people on their own show couldn't keep re-creating it as the kids grew. >> narrator: emmanuel lewis didn't come close to coleman in the talent department. however, he began winning in the "cutest kid on tv" race. gary coleman wasn't 10 anymore and was becoming increasingly frustrated with producers' and television viewers' refusal to see that he was growing up.

>> narrator: in october of 1983, the popular nbc sitcom "diff'rent strokes" kicked off its sixth season. but the former ratings powerhouse was drawing fewer and fewer viewers. 15-year-old gary coleman's hilarious portrayal of an adopted inner-city orphan had put the show on the map. but gary's small stature, once an asset, was now becoming a liability.

>> piazza: gary coleman had this kidney condition. so that he couldn't grow. he would never grow past the size of a 7-year-old or an 8-year-old. so in later seasons it started to get awkward when you have this 15-, 16-year-old trapped in the body of a 7-year-old. >> brown: they really tried to keep him as a child for as long as possible. so while his sister and brother on the show started aging and they became teenagers and they dated and they did more mature things, gary was left to kind of be a pre-teen for more than five or six years, and that was very difficult for him. imagine being 15 years old and still having to jump into a grown man's lap and act like you're a child. >> narrator: adding to the behind-the-scenes tensions, todd bridges and dana plato were growing tired of playing second fiddle to the pint-sized star. >> wolf: there was a sibling rivalry on the set. you know, you couldn't help notice that gary was the center of attention and all the punch lines would go to gary.

and i think there was, along with all of the other crazy pressures of fame, kind of a sibling resentment. >> narrator: in addition to behind-the-scenes squabbles, "diff'rent strokes" viewership was eroding. in an attempt to right the ship, producers interjected new characters, a move that backfired almost immediately. >> weiss: mr. drummond metly. dixie carter's character. he ended up marrying her, and sam, dixie carter's character's son from another relationship, became the, like, third-- the third son all of a sudden, and, you know, he became the center of all the plot lines. they basically brought in, like, a new cute ringer that everyone could just kind of like coo over, and that's sad because arnold obviously didn't posses the charms that he did when he was a couple of years younger. i think the show probably jumped the shark with sam. >> ♪ don't you ♪ step on my blue suede shoes ♪ yeah

♪ well, you can do anything ♪ but stay off of my blue suede shoes ♪ >> narrator: the move did little to help ratings or restore order to the set. in fact, the house of drummond grew even more divided. bridges and plato kept to themselves and the two teens became close, fueling rumors of less-than-family-friendly behavior. >> brown: another rumor that's, you know, behind the scenes regarding the show is that dana plato and todd began becoming substance abusers together. they were both teenagers in the same age group, both partying, spending a lot of timeartying, together. this was kind of their refuge, and this is how they bonded. >> narrator: the rumors were in fact true. producers did all they could to keep the young stars' drug use behind the scenes and hidden from the public. however, when 19-year-old dana plato announced she wasld dana pregnant with her boyfriend lanny lambert's baby during the 1984 season, producers had a problem they couldn't shield from viewers. >> weiss: dana plato, who played kimberly drummond, got pregnant.

and so her character was written off the show. they said--they wrote that she was sent to boarding school in france when in reality, you know, she was pregnant and booted. >> narrator: plato and lambert married and shortly after,bert plato gave birth to a son, tyler. dana embraced motherhood, but getting fired from "diff'rent strokes" was devastating for her. >> piazza: she couldn't get any roles after that, and i think that sunk her into this really deep depression which lead her into a terrible drug addiction. >> weiss: there was definitely a desperation for her, yeah. dana couldn't get back on track afterwards. >> narrator: around the same time producers were writing plato off the show, their leading man's fragile health took a turn for the worse. in 1984, 16-year-old coleman underwent his second kidney- transplant surgery, but shortly after, his body rejected the organ. unwilling to endure a third procedure, coleman elected to

live his life without the kidneys and subjected himself to dialysis up to 4 times alf day. >> brown: behind all of the smiling and the sassiness, gary had a really difficult life. he was the star of the show, but he was going in and out of the hospital, still keeping these long hours on set, have to deal with taking all different types of medication and having, really, this personal struggle behind the scenes. >> narrator: the new cast members, todd bridges behind-the-scenes drug use, dana plato's firing, gary coleman's health--it all was too much for the show to endure. >> silverman: it kind of imploded. there were all sorts of problems with the kids there. they had gotten older, and after almost 200 shows, you run out of stories. you know, you feel like you're starting to repeat yourself, and it starts to get a little stale. and--and the next--and the next flavor comes along. >> narrator: after 7 years on the air, "diff'rent strokes"n had dropped out of the top 30, and nbc canceled the show once credited with saving the

network. >> wolf: as i recall, gary was the most outspoken, like, oh, they used us when we were popular, and how could they let us go? and instead of being grateful to people who changed his life, he exhibited a lot of resentment. >> narrator: despite "diff'rent strokes"' falling ratings, coleman and his handlers still had some pull around hollywood. after nbc dropped the show, coleman's management convinced abc their client still had some of that old magic. abc agreed to a deal keeping "diff'rent strokes" on the air for the '84-'85 season. >> weiss: for a show that was so established on nbc to switch networks to abc, you know, so late in the game, i imagine it threw, you know, both the cast and the viewers a little bitst for a loop. >> narrator: the change of networks did nothing to help the failing sitcom. after 19 episodes on abc, "diff'rent strokes" aired its last original episode on march

7, 1986. sadly, "diff'rent strokes" would be remembered less for its eight years on the air and more for what happened to the threefor young stars after the show was cancelled. >> piazza: everyone just thinks about them as the poster children for teen stars that get screwed up.

>> narrator: after the groundbreaking television comedy "diff'rent strokes" was canceled in the spring of 1986, the lives of its three child stars--todd bridges, dana plato and gary coleman--began to unravel. >> wolf: the "diff'rent strokes" kids are the poster kids for, you know, young actors gone wrong. you'll interview actors just starting out today, and they'll kind of tell you, "i've read those stories. i'm not gonna to be like todd bridges. i'm not gonna be like dana plato." >> narrator: the immediate problem for all three stars was the fact that "diff'rent strokes" had been such a hit. after eight years of being so closely associated with the beloved characters of kimberly, willis and arnold, casting agents had trouble seeing the actors as anyone else. >> weiss: all these kids were pigeonholed into these characters that we had seen for

so many years playing these exact same characters that didn't really change. so people were less comfortable seeing them, you know, try different things. >> narrator: for todd bridges, the lack of roles and work led to heavier substance abuse. >> brown: todd has been very open with his problems withy drug use, and he said it started at a very young age. in fact he says at 16, he started using drugs, and for todd, this kind of spiraled out of control. he went from experimenting with different drugs to kind of slowly going into full addiction and being fully addicted to cocaine. >> narrator: just three short years after "diff'rent strokes" left the air, todd bridges' raging crack habit left him flat-out broke and desperately addicted. on february 2, 1989, police found bridges in a run-down crack den next to a local drug dealer who had been shot eight times. >> brown: police say that he was stumbling out the crack house. when they saw--he saw them coming, he ran back in.

todd was arrested, and it became a huge fiasco. >> narrator: todd was charged with attempted murder. the press pounced on the sordid story of willis jackson gone bad. facing up to four years in prison if convicted, bridges hired attorney johnny cochran, who quickly crafted the actor's defense. >> brown: todd's defense was that he blacked out and he had no idea what happened that night, and johnny cochran was able to get him off. he was fully acquitted of all charges. >> narrator: despite this second chance, bridges continued to struggle with the law and his addiction. >> wolf: addiction, depression, all the things that can come along with the mix of stardom and growing up can take different courses. somehow, todd bridges must have gotten lucky in the end, must have had some good advice. he must have dug deep and found the will within him to get smart. >> narrator: by the end of the decade, he finally beat his demons and cleaned up his life. >> brown: today, todd bridgese. is in a much better place.

he hit rock bottom, but he went to rehab, and even though it seemed at one point that he was never going to have ahat he was resurgence in his career, he's actually been making tv reappearances. he makes public appearances as well, and he speaks out against drug use. >> narrator: today, todd is married to dori smith, and the couple is raising their son, spencer. additionally, thanks to the advent of reality tv, todd is once again earning money as a working actor on shows like "fear factor" and "skating with the stars." >> piazza: where else was todd bridges going to go if vh1 had never created the reality show? i mean, it's great for him because it gives him a way to still sustain kind of a career. >> drew: and in the end, he ended up doing better than everybody else in the cast other than conrad bane. he ended up actually getting married, having kids. some of his kids are going into the acting business now, too. >> narrator: if todd bridges' post-"diff'rent strokes" story is one of redemption, dana plato's is one of tragedy. plato's public fall from grace

started when she was writtence off the show due to her pregnancy. then, 2 years after leaving the show, dana's mother died, and her husband left her shortly after. losing so much so quickly sent the 23-year-old into a rapid decline. >> brown: she started abusing drugs, alcohol, pills, and her son's father actually filed for custody and was awarded full physical custody of the son because she was no longer fit to be his mother. >> narrator: adding to dana's depression was the fact that she'd been typecast ast that america's wholesome sweetheart and was offered only parts she saw as clones of kimberly, her character on "diff'rent strokes." in an attempt to recast herself as a sex symbol, plato posed nude in the june 1989 issue of playboy. the 5-page spread created the desired attention but didn't have the desired effect on her career. >> drew: when dana plato did playboy, it was really a move of

desperation. sometimes a lot of celebrities, the photos are much classier. they don't show as much. they dictate the terms of which they're going to do these photo shoots. dana plato did it because she needed to. she needed the money, and she needed the exposure. >> narrator: instead of leading to calls from major studios, dana's pictorial led to calls from the adult film industry. fed up with hollywood, plato fled l.a. determined to make a fresh start. >> brown: by the time dana was 25, she really decided that she wanted to get her life back together, so she decides that she's going to go to vegas and try to get her name and herand face back out there, but she had absolutely no luck. so she ended up working for a dry-cleaning service for $5.75 an hour. >> narrator: alone in vegas, addicted to pills, and unable to pay the rent, plato became desperate. >> brown: dana hit her absolute lowest point in 1991. she was in really dire straits, and she decides to rob a video

store. the thing is, she was a member of the video store, and she has a famous face. so the store clerk calls 911 saying, "hey, i think kimberly from "diff'rent strokes" just tried to rob us." >> anchor: police were called to the scene and were checking the back of the store whencking the amazingly enough, up walked dana plato wearing a different set of clothes. >> and he looked at her, and he's like--he's like, "what's your name?" and she goes, "dana." and he goes--flashed his badge, and he goes, you know, "i'm gonna take you in custody." >> narrator: like todd bridges' arrest two years earlier, the robbery story became a tabloid sensation. las vegas entertainer wayne newton had never met plato, but he was appalled by the media's treatment of the fallen star. he posted dana's $13,000 bail, telling the press that everyone deserves a second chance. but that second chance eluded dana, and after five years of more pills and no money, the 32-year-old made a final desperate career move. >> brown: over the years, dana's

luck didn't get any better, and by 1997, she was featured in a soft-porn film called "different strokes: the story of jack and jill and jill." >> you're not wearing a suit. >> ah, i didn't pack one. >> well, you know, i have one inside you can borrow if you want. >> i thought you californians went skinny dipping all the time, or is that just a vicious rumor i hear howling around the alleys in new york? >> weiss: it's sad because she was just--she just kind of became this, like, sexual joke. she was in playboy, and sheoke. just kind of, like, didn't know what to do, and maybe she sold her body in a way. >> narrator: sadly, the soft- core film would be one ofoft- dana's last projects. on may 8, 1999, 34-year-old dana plato was found dead in her rv due to an overdose of vicodin and other prescription drugs. no note was found, and it's unknown whether her death was deliberate or accidental. >> weiss: when dana plato died, i was actually pretty upset. i--i don't--i don't know--i. just

always kind of, like, wanted to be her growing up, and, you know, you really just saw her tragic, you know, life spiral out of control, and it was really sad. >> drew: dana was a picture-perfect example of somebody who probably had other problems going on that weren't diagnosed and weren'tt weren't addressed, and she needed help. she ended up getting this massive amount of success early on and then not knowing how to handle it. >> narrator: if todd bridges' eventual turnaround was the good and dana plato's tragic demise was the bad, then gary coleman's life after "diff'rent strokes" stardom was just plain bizarre. gó

>> narrator: at the height of "diff'rent strokes"' success, the powerhouse tv comedy'sss, three child stars were television

royalty. but after the show was canceled by abc in 1986, all three stars struggled to get their lives together. like todd bridges and dana plato, gary coleman had trouble shaking the television persona that had made him a star and found the doors of hollywood casting agents closed. >> brown: gary coleman's situation was "i'm no longer, you know, this adorable 10-year-old. i'm a grown man who's less than 5 feet tall, so it's going toan be very hard for me to get a job." >> narrator: gary's desire to continue working became more urgent when he turned 18 years old and gained legal access to his "diff'rent strokes" money. sue and willie coleman had set up a trust in 1980 to manage gary's income of a reported $70,000 an episode during the show's peak. however, when gary turned 18, he found only $220,000 in his trust, the equivalent of one month's work. >> brown: i think most people

wouldn't feel like, oh, money should come between relatives, especially your parents, but gary coleman had amassed a small fortune throughout his years working as a child, and he had literally nothing, so there are a lot of hurt feelings there. >> narrator: on the advice of his management and lawyers,of gary coleman sued his adoptive parents for mismanagement of his money and misappropriatingis funds for their own benefit. the court ruled the child star had indeed been wronged by his parents. gary won $1.3 million dollars, but forever lost his family. >> wolf: i felt so sad when i went to interview gary coleman and he talked about suing his parents. these people weren't criminals, and i don't think the whole story has ever come out. they were probably taken in by managers and other people. it looks like rather than, you know, fraudulent activity, they just made a mess of things. >> narrator: some observers felt gary coleman was being manipulated by his lawyers and management, who were simply using him to get their hands on any money they could.

>> wolf: he was surrounded by people, "we'll take care of you, gary, and you need that money to take care of yourself." i mean, you couldn't--you couldn't make up what i was seeing in terms of the people who i got the feeling were advising him and i thought advising him badly both from a afinancial and aly both from a public-relations point of view. >> narrator: thanks to legal fees, management salaries and ongoing medical expenses, the $1.3 million was soon gone as well. in 1999, 31-year-old gary coleman filed for bankruptcy. broke, gary bounced from odd. job to odd job, including job dee-jaying an overnight jazz show in denver and working as a security guard at movie studios and malls. >> ryan, he's on the car! he's on the car! >> what is this guy doing? >> i'm not letting you go. >> brown: he was working at a studio, and some paparazzi

thought it would be humorous to take his picture, and he became incensed, enraged. he actually jumped on the photographer's cars, and it caused a huge scene, and this actually made the whole issue more public than him actually just taking the photograph because it seems like he was outraged and out of control, and people really wondered what was going on in his life. >> narrator: coleman was in fact involved in several fact altercations as a security guard, leading to more lawsuits and arrests. >> brown: people were just really surprised that he would be so angry and hostile. again, he grew up as, like, this loving, adorable character, and to see him as a grown manr, and really out of control and very angry was disturbing to people, but it also piqued people's curiosity to see what's wrong, why is he so upset? >> wolf: gary coleman's growth was stunted by his illness, but his mental and psychological growth were stunted, too, by early fame, by perhaps, you know, too much protectionou around him because he was a star, too much protection around him

because he was sick, and i just don't think he faced reality in time, and when he did, i don't think he's coping very welln't with it. >> narrator: by 2003, the former funny man had become a national punch line. gary coleman cemented his role as has-been-gone-wild when he jumped into the political sideshow known as theical california governor recall election. >> piazza: we not only had gary coleman in the race, but we had porn star mary carey and porn king larry flynt. so, it was gary, carey, and larry, and it just turned into a complete circus. entertainment weekly gave gary coleman a mock endorsement. unfortunately arnold ended up beating out all of three of them. >> wolf: gary coleman's run for governor was his version of his own private reality show. you know, it's hard to give up all that attention. it's hard to give up the spotlight, and you always think it's gonna come back, and

nowadays, you know, the press will give you a chance ifress you're outrageous enough, and he was outrageous enough. >> narrator: as he entered his 40s, gary coleman became outspoken about his faded glory. he's been quoted as saying if he had known that his beloved catch phrase would have ended his career, he would have said it differently. >> wolf: coleman's story could be viewed as a tragedy, but let's look at it another way-- a kid, adopted by parents who weren't educated, who had no money at all and were suddenly confronted with a kid with very expensive medical problems, and they just sort of, like, stumbled in to something that would amuse him and changed his life. so you can look at it as a tragedy. you could also look at it as a life truly saved. >> narrator: today, it's almost impossible for people of a certain generation to separate "diff'rent strokes" from the personal lives of its stars. but for kids catching the show

in syndication, the greatness of the once-beloved show still shines through. >> weiss: to this day "diff'rent strokes" is still a really enjoyable show. the writing's really tight. gary coleman is good. you know, you can watch it as an adult and think, wow, this kid understood comedic timing in a way that, you know, grown-up actors that he was acting with didn't. so he kind of made that show. >> brown: i think the great thing about "diff'rent strokes" was that it dealt with life issues, and those issues are universal, and they transcend time. even though it is a show in the '80s and you are looking at the hair and you're looking at the clothing, you're also looking at the underlying message. >> silverman: a good comedy show that is a well-written show with strong characters and strong comedic relationships can last forever. these are just shows that are timeless and i think will always find an audience, and i think as time goes by, they'll become even more valuable.

woman: have you ever heard the phrase, "one person's trash is another person's treasure?" hi. i'm jennifer convy. and welcome to find & design, the show where we help you redecoratete a room using only items from yard sales and flea markets. part treasure hunt, part decorating show, we'll show you how to bargain like an expert and design like a pro. so, come on, let's go hunting. captioning sponsored by 44 blue productions convy: homeowners bruce and ilyse reutlinger redesigned their posh living room