August 11, 2026 • 5 mins
In today's edition of The Wayback Machine, a deeper dive into the TV show Different Strokes. How did that casting even happen?
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
And skin Show lone Star ninety two to five. Let's
(00:03):
give away that two hundred and fifty dollars gift card
for Kroger. It's time to rock the cart. You're gonna
use the talkback feature on your iHeart app. The first
person to leave your name, your phone number, your email address,
and the answer to the question what creature is getting
mysteriously shot on the shores of Fort Worth. We talked
about it earlier during the weekday Update. There is a creature.
(00:24):
Two have been shot and they think a third now
has been shot and they're trying to get to the
bottom of it.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Kat had the story.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
If you know what that creature is and you're the
first person, you're gonna win that two hundred and fifty
dollars gift card to Kroger.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
How cool is that? But right now it's time for this.
It's time to go into the bitter stridule Wayberg machine.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
All right, we'll use the wayback machine to go in
time and talk about some of our favorite things from
the eighties and the nineties. I mean, that's the sweet
spot for me and been growing up teen years in
the eighties and then in our twenties and the nineties. Oh,
we were just smashing out there in the village. Would
you like to go back to the village? And what
do you mean by smashing? You know, stomping, stomping. We
were like losing our security deposits, but we weren't really
(01:07):
doing that much like with females. It is amazing how
you can tell what the bong water does to the carpet. Yeah,
it looks like leopard skin print. Yeah. So anyways, I
wanted to go back in time today to the classic
showed Different Strokes, cause I don't know a lot of
people really spent a lot of time thinking about how
(01:28):
that scenario got together. Now, Ben, how would you describe
your memories of different Strokes?
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Well, I thought it was Willis and Arnold yep, were brothers, yep,
related and literally and some black dudes. And Arnold was.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Supposed to be the younger, smaller, cuter kid, yep, but
he would always go what you're talking about Willis? And
Willis was like the older, more mature brother. And then
mister Drummond adopted them and he was super rich and loaded,
and he had a daughter, Kimberly Kimberly and then Missus,
Missus Garrettsus Garrett. Yeah, Missus Garrett was like the housekeeper
(02:08):
nanny yep, And it was okay, what all high jinks
do these two young kids get into when they get
adopted into a super rich family. Yeah, now, you guys
were weren't even born by the time Different Strokes went
off the air.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
I think it went off there in like eighty five
or eighty six. Yeah, eighty six, I'm seen.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Okay, but did you ever see reruns of Different Strokes
on Nicket Night or whatever that thing was that you watch.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
No, that show actually completely missed me. I know the
what you're talking about, willis Yeah, that's it, that's it.
What about you?
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Occasionally go a TBS would show reruns in the mornings,
but very rarely, like they were more I amed at
Gilgan's Island, Brady Bunch, the Gas and then you guys
don't remember Missus Garrett's Strudell. No, do you know? Do
you do?
Speaker 2 (02:50):
You know the show that Missus Garrett was actually spun
off into? Wait, Missus Garrett was a spin Missus Garrett
had a spin off show. Oh no, what was it?
The Facts of Life feet Yeah, she.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Left the luxury of the high Rise in Manhattan or
wherever Philip Drummond lived, and she went and went to
an old.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Girls' school, same character and everything. Yeah, how about that.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
But uh, the premise of the show, because I went
and looked it up. So Arnold and Willis's mom was
the housekeeper and she died. Oh wait what she was
the housekeeper from Harlem? Oh yeah, so the premise was,
all right, this worked so well with the Jeffersons. We're
gonna do a version of the Jefferson's. We're gonna have
(03:38):
these white people adopt these Harlem kids and then they
get to like be wild by living in the penthouse.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
And it's all in the song. Like if you listen
to the original song, don't you guys have now the world?
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Don't move to the beat of just Swann drum What
might be right for you, Well, they won't be right
for some.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
It takes difference. Oh wait, didn't sing it with us?
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, he didn't. Group that got Jared
and bowling for soup saying it.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
But so one of the problems with the show is
that Gary Coleman, the guy who played Arnold, stopped growing. Yeah,
so I have like a medical yeah yeah, he was
like he had some sort of thing that kept him small,
and they knew that along, right, because the point was
he was a better actor than a child actor would
(04:28):
be if they were that age.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
I think this show had so much success. They're like, oh, oh,
what are we going to do now?
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Because now his brother's four times his size and we
have no explanation for this. And then there was a
whole thing where they had him. He played He played
a kid that went to college as a ten year
old on a made for TV movie The Something Genius
ten year Old goes to College.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Yeah life.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Yes, So they had to deal with all that, and
then they didn't know what to do, and so to
make it more weird, they added suddenly a redheaded kid
into the show.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Oh yeah remember him?
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (04:59):
I didn't. This came up.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
I guess when Jarrett was on our show from Bullying
for Soup and we talked about it, and I had
totally forgotten that, and now I totally remember it. Yeah,
I can't remember the kid's name, but it's like, Okay,
we need to get a small kid for for Ardle
to be around the show.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Is that it's best when we had a cute child. Yeah,
go throw a new one into the mix.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
This one's too big for cuddling, according to dot So anyways, Uh,
we would love to hear your thoughts on different strokes.
That's one of the great things you can do. We
have a talkback feature on the iHeart app. We used
to give away tickets we just at the beginning of
the segment. Or you could tell us some of your
favorite memories from the eighties or nineties that you want
us to do a deep dive on and we'll do
it anytime we go.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Into the Benin skin wayback machine.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
All right, but coming up next, let's talk about affordability. Well,
where are you going to take us in things skin
is tracking? Oh my god, I went to California last
week and how can anyone afford to live there?
Speaker 2 (05:50):
I've got tails to shock
And skin Show lone Star ninety two to five. Let's
(00:03):
give away that two hundred and fifty dollars gift card
for Kroger. It's time to rock the cart. You're gonna
use the talkback feature on your iHeart app. The first
person to leave your name, your phone number, your email address,
and the answer to the question what creature is getting
mysteriously shot on the shores of Fort Worth. We talked
about it earlier during the weekday Update. There is a creature.
(00:24):
Two have been shot and they think a third now
has been shot and they're trying to get to the
bottom of it.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Kat had the story.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
If you know what that creature is and you're the
first person, you're gonna win that two hundred and fifty
dollars gift card to Kroger.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
How cool is that? But right now it's time for this.
It's time to go into the bitter stridule Wayberg machine.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
All right, we'll use the wayback machine to go in
time and talk about some of our favorite things from
the eighties and the nineties. I mean, that's the sweet
spot for me and been growing up teen years in
the eighties and then in our twenties and the nineties. Oh,
we were just smashing out there in the village. Would
you like to go back to the village? And what
do you mean by smashing? You know, stomping, stomping. We
were like losing our security deposits, but we weren't really
(01:07):
doing that much like with females. It is amazing how
you can tell what the bong water does to the carpet. Yeah,
it looks like leopard skin print. Yeah. So anyways, I
wanted to go back in time today to the classic
showed Different Strokes, cause I don't know a lot of
people really spent a lot of time thinking about how
(01:28):
that scenario got together. Now, Ben, how would you describe
your memories of different Strokes?
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Well, I thought it was Willis and Arnold yep, were brothers, yep,
related and literally and some black dudes. And Arnold was.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Supposed to be the younger, smaller, cuter kid, yep, but
he would always go what you're talking about Willis? And
Willis was like the older, more mature brother. And then
mister Drummond adopted them and he was super rich and loaded,
and he had a daughter, Kimberly Kimberly and then Missus,
Missus Garrettsus Garrett. Yeah, Missus Garrett was like the housekeeper
(02:08):
nanny yep, And it was okay, what all high jinks
do these two young kids get into when they get
adopted into a super rich family. Yeah, now, you guys
were weren't even born by the time Different Strokes went
off the air.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
I think it went off there in like eighty five
or eighty six. Yeah, eighty six, I'm seen.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Okay, but did you ever see reruns of Different Strokes
on Nicket Night or whatever that thing was that you watch.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
No, that show actually completely missed me. I know the
what you're talking about, willis Yeah, that's it, that's it.
What about you?
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Occasionally go a TBS would show reruns in the mornings,
but very rarely, like they were more I amed at
Gilgan's Island, Brady Bunch, the Gas and then you guys
don't remember Missus Garrett's Strudell. No, do you know? Do
you do?
Speaker 2 (02:50):
You know the show that Missus Garrett was actually spun
off into? Wait, Missus Garrett was a spin Missus Garrett
had a spin off show. Oh no, what was it?
The Facts of Life feet Yeah, she.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Left the luxury of the high Rise in Manhattan or
wherever Philip Drummond lived, and she went and went to
an old.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Girls' school, same character and everything. Yeah, how about that.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
But uh, the premise of the show, because I went
and looked it up. So Arnold and Willis's mom was
the housekeeper and she died. Oh wait what she was
the housekeeper from Harlem? Oh yeah, so the premise was,
all right, this worked so well with the Jeffersons. We're
gonna do a version of the Jefferson's. We're gonna have
(03:38):
these white people adopt these Harlem kids and then they
get to like be wild by living in the penthouse.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
And it's all in the song. Like if you listen
to the original song, don't you guys have now the world?
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Don't move to the beat of just Swann drum What
might be right for you, Well, they won't be right
for some.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
It takes difference. Oh wait, didn't sing it with us?
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, he didn't. Group that got Jared
and bowling for soup saying it.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
But so one of the problems with the show is
that Gary Coleman, the guy who played Arnold, stopped growing. Yeah,
so I have like a medical yeah yeah, he was
like he had some sort of thing that kept him small,
and they knew that along, right, because the point was
he was a better actor than a child actor would
(04:28):
be if they were that age.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
I think this show had so much success. They're like, oh, oh,
what are we going to do now?
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Because now his brother's four times his size and we
have no explanation for this. And then there was a
whole thing where they had him. He played He played
a kid that went to college as a ten year
old on a made for TV movie The Something Genius
ten year Old goes to College.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Yeah life.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Yes, So they had to deal with all that, and
then they didn't know what to do, and so to
make it more weird, they added suddenly a redheaded kid
into the show.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Oh yeah remember him?
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (04:59):
I didn't. This came up.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
I guess when Jarrett was on our show from Bullying
for Soup and we talked about it, and I had
totally forgotten that, and now I totally remember it. Yeah,
I can't remember the kid's name, but it's like, Okay,
we need to get a small kid for for Ardle
to be around the show.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Is that it's best when we had a cute child. Yeah,
go throw a new one into the mix.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
This one's too big for cuddling, according to dot So anyways, Uh,
we would love to hear your thoughts on different strokes.
That's one of the great things you can do. We
have a talkback feature on the iHeart app. We used
to give away tickets we just at the beginning of
the segment. Or you could tell us some of your
favorite memories from the eighties or nineties that you want
us to do a deep dive on and we'll do
it anytime we go.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Into the Benin skin wayback machine.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
All right, but coming up next, let's talk about affordability. Well,
where are you going to take us in things skin
is tracking? Oh my god, I went to California last
week and how can anyone afford to live there?
Speaker 2 (05:50):
I've got tails to shock
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