List of Diff'rent Strokes episodes

Wealthy Phillip Drummond (Conrad Bain) prepares to take in two boys from Harlem, Arnold (Gary Coleman) and Willis Jackson (Todd Bridges), who were the sons of his late housekeeper. Mr. Drummond plans to have the boys live in his Park Avenue apartment with him, his daughter Kimberly (Dana Plato), and new housekeeper Edna Garrett (Charlotte Rae). Arnold appreciates Mr. Drummond's offer to take him in, but Willis wants to move back to their former home in Harlem. Arnold helps convince him otherwise.

A social worker (Ellen Travolta) suggests that Willis and Arnold should live with a black family instead of with the Drummonds and Arnold gets the impression that Mr. Drummond agrees with that.

Mr. Drummond's mother (Irene Tedrow) visits and is surprised when she sees that his new sons are black, so he tries to make her get over her racial prejudices.

Mr. Drummond enrolls Arnold and Willis at his former school, but the headmaster (Howard Morton) makes arrangements for them to fail their entrance exams. Note: Dana Plato does not appear in this episode.

The Drummond family recall past events on their first Christmas with Willis and Arnold.

Arnold is forced to deal with a bully at school; Mr. Drummond doesn't want him to fight, but Willis thinks fighting is the only option.

Mr. Drummond hires a tutor for Willis and Arnold who has very unorthodox methods for getting them to learn, but with his help he discovers a mental block that prevents Willis from remembering things that happened in 1975, the year his father died.

Willis is tired of having Arnold hang around him all the time, so he goes back to Harlem to get away from him - possibly for good.

In the first of three crossovers with the series Hello, Larry, Mr. Drummond's company buys the radio station where his old war buddy Larry Alder (McLean Stevenson) works, so he and his family travel to Portland, Oregon to visit Larry and his two daughters, Ruthie (Kim Richards) and Diane (Donna Wilkes).

Mrs. Garrett helps out the girls of the chaotic dormitory at Eastland.

The Alders visit New York in this second crossover with Hello, Larry, as the Drummonds help Larry get a job hosting a talk show. Note: Basketball player Meadowlark Lemon guest stars.

The time comes for Mr. Drummond to officially adopt Arnold and Willis, but a junk dealer named Jethro Simpson (Whitman Mayo) pretends to be their cousin and tries to interfere with the adoption in order to obtain an inheritance coming to the boys.

The Alders visit the Drummonds in the final Hello, Larry crossover, when Larry and Mr. Drummond argue over a potential business deal.

A girl feigns interest in Arnold so she can get close to Willis.

Mr. Drummond makes a last minute bid to run for a local political office.

Arnold's teacher, Ms. Osbourne (Mary Ann Mobley), begins favoring him after she dates Mr. Drummond.

Willis' friends and Kimberly's schoolmates clash over who gets to do what in the apartment and ruin Mr. Drummond's date in the process.

Arnold wants to impress Tootie with his "riches" when the Drummond family goes on a trip, so he and Willis go to the bank to make a withdrawal, but the two of them along with Mr. Drummond get trapped during a holdup by robbers. In the end, quick thinking by Arnold and Mr. Drummond saves the day.

Mr. Drummond bribes a hard-nosed football coach (Greg Mullavey) into letting Arnold join the team by buying new uniforms for them, but he regrets his decision when he finds out how the coach is motivating the kids.

Mr. Drummond doesn't want Willis to see his girlfriend Charlene (Janet Jackson) because it's interfering with his schoolwork, so the two make secret arrangements to be together.

Arnold is made to give up junk food, which is difficult, since his school has junk food vending machines and having them removed may hurt his chances at winning a school election.

Kimberly dons a wig for a class play and ends up getting a date with an older man, so Arnold and Willis try to put a stop to it.

Mr. Drummond grounds Arnold for a bad grade on his history test. A student in an immigration and naturalization class (Rosalind Chao) becomes the suspect in a robbery.

A fast-talking baseball coach woos Willis for a high school team and uses expensive gifts and deception to attain his goal.

• Recording date: April 17, 1981[3]

Willis has trouble making friends at his new school, until it's discovered that his family is rich, so he gets asked to buy marijuana for a party. Guest Star: Kim Fields as Tootie.

Willis is upset when he doesn't make the basketball team because a white student takes his place, so he plans to take legal action.

The son of a woman Mr. Drummond knew during the Korean War shows up claiming that Mr. Drummond is his father. This leads to a reunion with the woman and the truth about who the father really is.

Arnold gets reassurance from Kathy when he plays Abraham Lincoln in a school play, but when he tries to get her to use her crutches instead of sitting in a wheelchair, she is furious and blows his confidence before showtime.

Arnold and Dudley are harassed by two bullies who force them to hand over their lunch and money. Willis decides to interfere and gets more than he bargained for.

Arnold isn't interested in celebrating his birthday because he feels girls aren't interested in him, particularly one girl he really likes, but things change when he invites the girl to his party. However, his intentions aren't made clear and she comes to the party with someone else.

Arnold attends Kimberly's ballet recital and decides he wants to learn ballet, which makes Willis very uncomfortable and he tries to put a stop to it.

Kimberly decides to transfer to Willis' school and gets into a confrontation when she tries to join the all-male swim team.

Arnold tries to help Dudley woo classmate Lisa Hayes (Nikki Swasey), but the plan backfires when Lisa thinks Arnold is the one who likes her.

A classmate of Arnold's (Joey Lawrence) is given a lot of attention by the rest of the Drummond family, leaving Arnold to feel unwanted.

Arnold and Dudley befriend a bicycle shop owner named Mr. Horton (Gordon Jump), who is later revealed to be a pedophile trying to scope the two unwary boys out.

After watching a pornographic cartoon at the bike shop, Arnold decides he's had enough of Mr. Horton and goes home, leaving Dudley behind. Arnold lets slip details about his experiences with the seemingly congenial Mr. Horton and Mr. Drummond calls the authorities. The police arrive just as Mr. Horton is about to make a move on Dudley (who had been given sedatives to "make him feel good"), saving their friend from a potentially frightening experience.

Kimberly impresses professional skater Dorothy Hamill with her ice skating and is taken under her wing. However, Kimberly is overwhelmed by the hard work it takes to become a professional skater and devises a way out.

Arnold struggles to find a subject for the school's journalism contest. When he discovers that drugs are being sold at the school, he sets up a meeting with the dealer so he can write about it. Once the story is submitted, the principal confronts Arnold, demanding that the boy reveal his sources. When Arnold doesn't (because classmate Robbie is involved), his story gets disqualified as made-up. The principal also doesn't want any negative publicity for the school. Arnold takes the story to a big-city newspaper, where the situation is reported. This gets the attention of First Lady Nancy Reagan, who visits the family's home and Arnold's school, and speaks to his class about the dangers of drug use. David Mendenhall portrays the juvenile drug-pusher.

• Recording date: March 10, 1983[5]

A burglar holds the family hostage in the apartment, but is knocked out and arrested. Mr. Drummond, Willis and Arnold all have different interpretations of what happened, but Pearl, who was in the kitchen and saw everything, tells Kimberly what really took place.

Mr. Drummond tries to make a business deal with exercise instructor Maggie McKinney (Dixie Carter) and falls in love with her.

Arnold and Kimberly hitchhike to get home for Mr. Drummond's birthday party and are picked up by a man who takes them to his apartment and tries to have his way with Kimberly.

Arnold escapes from the kidnapper and makes it home, but leaves Kimberly behind and can't remember where she is. A policeman helps Arnold remember by hypnotizing him and getting him to reveal the license plate number of the kidnapper so the police can track him down to arrest him. After the police arrested the man, Kimberly and Arnold have reunited with the family and to celebrate Mr. Drummond's birthday party.

Mr. Drummond travels to Hollywood and proposes to Maggie and finds out she has a young son named Sam (Danny Cooksey). Meanwhile, Arnold and Dudley try to meet the star of Knight Rider (David Hasselhoff) and sneak into a car on the set that's about to be blown up.

After an argument with her father, Charlene moves in with the Drummonds and ends up fighting with Willis.

Kimberly plans to move in with her boyfriend, whom her dad doesn't like, by tricking the family into thinking she's moving in with her girlfriend, Michelle (Dana Kimmell) instead.

In this take-off on Ghostbusters, Arnold and Sam explore a haunted house.

Arnold and Sam go into business selling roach spray, but Arnold's greed causes Sam to go his own way.

Willis' friend, a promising athlete who lost the use of his legs in a car accident, gets a gymnasium named after him and sees a performance by the gold-medal-winning U.S. men's gymnastics team from the 1984 Summer Olympics. After seeing them perform, he becomes self-conscious about the fact that he can never walk again and decides to give up on himself.

Mr. Drummond tries to turn around Sam's losing baseball team; in order to do so, he has to leave Sam on the bench.

Sam's scout troop is asked to work with a bunch of senior citizens on projects, but Sam's assigned senior citizen (John McIntire) calls Sam a brat and refuses to help, so Sam has to put together a model airplane by himself. Failing to do so, Sam is so humiliated by his troopmates, he decides he hates all old people, so Mr. Drummond has a talk with the senior to get him to patch things up with Sam.

Maggie and Sam surprise Mr. Drummond for his birthday by having Kimberly return from France to visit him. She brings a present of her own, the Drummond family tree, but the happiness turns to sadness when Mr. Drummond realizes that he is the last person to carry on the Drummond name. Arnold comes up with a solution; he and Willis will have their names legally changed to "Drummond," which makes Mr. Drummond happy, but Willis has second thoughts.

Mr. Drummond goes undercover at his company to find out how his employees really feel about working there.

Arnold and Sam befriend Karen, a street performer, much to Mr. Drummond's dismay. When they try to tell her they can't hang out with her anymore, she begins having an epileptic seizure. At first, the two are scared by the incident, but later on they start to make jokes about her condition. When Pearl overhears them, she reveals that she herself is epileptic, which causes the two to patch things up with their friend.

Royce D. Applegate portrays family man Donald Brown, whose wife and he have never recovered from the death of their son. Accordingly, he kidnaps Sam as a replacement, while he is shopping for snacks at the grocery store. Telling his family that Sam was rescued from the streets, Donald tells Sam that he'll kill Sam's parents if Sam doesn't cooperate. During the middle of a home makeover, the Drummonds learn of Sam's kidnapping and they distribute flyers and go on the news to raise awareness. Maggie unravels emotionally. Mr. Drummond offers a $50,000 reward, which an extorionist attempts to claim. Meanwhile, Donald becomes more and more distant from his wife and son, trying to prevent them from learning that Sam was not found but stolen. Sam calls his family and gives them the Browns' phone number, which the police trace to Sam's location. They arrest Donald, and Sam returns home.

• Notes
  • Dana Plato guest stars.
  • This is the first episode to air on ABC.
  • Mary Ann Mobley joins the cast, replacing Dixie Carter as "Maggie".

A tough guy (Forest Whitaker) wants Arnold to take care of his girlfriend while he is away, but the girl develops feelings for Arnold.

Mr. Drummond and Maggie are too busy to spend time together, which has Sam worried that their marriage may be in trouble, so he and Arnold put together a romantic evening for the two of them.

Arnold tries to learn the saxophone to impress a girl, but is so bad that his friends try to kick him out of their rock group.

Arnold gets blamed when food starts disappearing from the house, but he soon discovers that Kimberly, who has developed bulimia, is the one who has been eating all the food in the house.

Sam gets into a fight at Hamburger Hangar with Kurt, a kid (Carl Steven) who constantly picks on him. Sam later learns that Kurt is a foster child very jealous of what Sam has.

Willis gets the sister of one of his old girlfriends (Robin Givens) to go out with Arnold by giving her concert tickets. When Arnold finds out, he is angry at what Willis did, but it turns out the girl likes Arnold for real.

Arnold and Lisa get stuck working together on a school assignment and get locked in their school's darkroom. This leads to the two of them coming to an understanding about their adversarial relationship and they both end up liking each other, but it doesn't last.

Arnold finds out that several athletes at school are using anabolic steroids, so he goes undercover to expose the full story.