norman lear

Mindy Cohn is setting the facts of life straight. After guiding youthful watchers throughout most of the ‘80s, The Facts of Life seemed poised for a poignant revival. However, series mainstay Cohn revealed, a reboot was rendered impossible thanks to one “greedy” co-star. The Facts of Life is a coming-of-age sitcom that aired from 1979 to 1988, telling the story of several girls at a fictional boarding school and follows the life of their housemother, Edna Garrett. Cohn played witty and endearing Natalie Green. Just when the Facts of Life crew seemed poised to put together a reboot with a dream team at the helm, another castmate’s ambitions put the breaks on it. ‘The Facts of Life’ reboot was rendered impossible because of a cast member’s greed, Mindy Cohn claims Mindy Cohn explained where a Facts of Life reboot stands / © Embassy Pictures / Courtesy: Everett Collection Reboots, sequels, revivals, spinoffs of any kind can rise up in triumph or collapse in flames. The Facts of Life cast felt uncertain initially at the idea of a reboot, Cohn admitted, speaking on Sirius XM’s Jeff Lewis Live. Their misgivings were hard to maintain when a particularly important figure felt positive about the idea. RELATED: ‘The Facts Of Life’ Cast Then and Now 2024 Television legend Norman Lear had something of a hand in the original series, thanks to his production companies; The Facts of Life was originally produced by T.A.T. Communications Company, later called Embassy Television, then Embassy Communications and Columbia Pictures Television. A 2021 special of Live in Front of a Studio Audience gave the cast the chance to put the idea of a revival in Lear’s view. By rights, it couldn’t have been a more perfect opportunity—if only one person didn't reportedly decide to stack the cards against the rest of the cast. Mindy Cohn has strong words concerning the co-star who broke their “sisterhood” The actress points the finger at a greedy co-star / Birdie Thompson/AdMedia “There was this roundtable with Octavia Spencer and Amy Poehler and Jennifer Aniston where they all said, 'Yeah, our parents grew up with 'All in the Family' and 'Maude,' but we grew up with 'Facts of Life.' That’s the Norman Lear sitcom that we love,’” Cohn shared. “And I think Norman didn't really clock that. So, when he did, he said, 'Are you guys interested?' And we had all never really talked about it, but we all started to consider it a little bit.” They started making plans in the midst of the world in its peculiar post-pandemic reality, so like many tasks, huge chunks were addressed on Zoom. Nevertheless, they managed to cobble together the start of a team, including a writer. But none of it was to make it to the next phase. THE FACTS OF LIFE, Mindy Cohn, 1979-88, © Embassy Pictures / Courtesy: Everett Collection Cohn places the blame with a cast member she did not name, but did say pursued a solo series. “For a 40-year friendship and sisterhood, there was a tidal wave of emotion around it,” recalled Cohn, who said the cast was “devastated” by this revelation. Michael Hitchcock, guest on Jeff Lewis Live, suggested, “There’s always a greedy b—h.” Cohn agreed readily. “You know what … greedy b—h. She was a greedy b—h,” she said, sharing a high-five with Hitchcock.” She went on, “Some people are so desperate for either money or fame that it causes them to do things that to me, I guess, I’m still not that jaded,” said Cohn, adding, “It shocks me. You’re going to do that over money or that over becoming famous? It always just kind of freaks me out that people will do that. Throw friendships, deep true friendships, under the bus for a dollar.” Despite this scathing write-up, Cohn and the rest of the cast are reportedly still on speaking terms with the unnamed castmate. However, now that they’ve thought long and hard about a Facts of Life reboot, some of the cast can’t get the idea out of their head. Some of the cast remains fixated on the idea of a reboot / ImageCollect “A couple of people can’t move past it, don’t want to move past it,” Cohn confirmed. “We are not as united. Let me put it that way. We were united for 40 years over not talking about each other, not doing dirty, not, you know, 'all for one, one for all.' And this kind of wrecked that, which is sad.” Who was the castmate? TV Insider notes that Cohn said it was “one of the girls” and was up for fans making educated guesses based on whatever clues they could find. Relatively recent Instagram posts show Cohn with Kim Fields and Nancy McKeon from September 2022; recent photos with Whelchel seem to be lacking, but that does not necessarily confirm or disprove anything one way or another, especially since Cohn has said, “We didn’t for a while, and now we do-ish, but there’s definitely … it was an ouch.” However, for now, any The Facts of Life reboot is currently “very dead.” Do you hope the project gets moving again?