Diff’rent Strokes and The Facts of Life are getting the Live in Front of a Studio Audience treatment

The Hollywood Reporter

Kevin Hart will take on Gary Coleman's iconic role of Arnold Drummond in the third installment of the ABC's Live in Front of a Studio Audience, which will tackle Diff'rent Strokes and its spinoff The Facts of Life on Dec. 7, executive producer Jimmy Kimmel announced Thursday on Jimmy Kimmel Live! John Lithgow will play Mr. Drummond, Ann Dowd will portray Mrs. Garrett and Damon Wayans will star as Arnold's brother Willis in the Diff'rent Strokes re-creation. The Facts of Life cast is still coming together. Kimmel will again be joined by iconic producer Norman Lear and returning producers Kerry Washington, Will Ferrell, Justin Theroux, Jim Burrows and Brent Miller. “Other than with my family, there’s no place I’d rather be in my 100th year than on a soundstage at Sony with these glorious actors reliving what our company had produced all those years ago and sharing it with the millions of viewers who could use a little laughter,” says Lear. Live in Front of a Studio Audience premiered in May 2019 with All in the Family and The Jeffersons. It returned in December 2019 with Good Times and All in the Family before going on a hiatus due to the pandemic.