Diff'rent Strokes is a sitcom that centered around millionaire widower Phillip Drummond, his two black adopted sons Arnold and Willis, and daughter Kimberly. Later seasons saw Drummond remarry and bring a new child, Sam, into the family. The show lasted eight seasons on two networks.
In the series' first episode, millionaire Phillip Drummond takes in two Harlem orphans.
A social worker checks up on the adoptees in the Drummond home.
Drummond is paid a surprise visit by his status-conscious mother.
Drummond wants to send the kids to his boyhood prep school.
Drummond must decide how to discipline Arnold for tossing water bombs off the balcony.
The ratty doll Arnold sleeps with is accidentally sold.
Drummond's teachings about justice backfire when he must give Arnold a fair trial for his misdeeds.
Clips from early episodes are featured as the Drummonds spend Christmas reminiscing about humorous incidents.
Life in the household is recalled in clips from early episodes.
A bully's after Arnold and Willis wants him to fight back, while Drummond wants peace talks.
The boys show off their new home to their old friends.
Arnold, Willis and Kimberly are out to foil Drummond's plan to marry a widow
Feeling ignored, Arnold feigns bed-wetting to attract attention.
The boys' cousin Muriel arrives, and she's as broke as she is likable.
Basketball-team captain Willis gets some bad news: get better grades or quit the team.
The new landlord decides to evict families with preteens.
Willis's demand for privacy sparks a feud with Arnold
A reunion with successful friends convinces Mrs. Garrett of her own failure.
A frantic Willis keeps up pretenses after he's fired the first day on a job.
Drummond and his brood journey to Oregon to see his latest acquisition---the radio station where an old Army buddy holds forth. The Trip was a backdoor pilot for TV series "Hello Larry".
Drummond and his brood visit his newly purchased radio station and an old Army buddy. The Trip was a backdoor pilot for TV series "Hello Larry".
Arnold perseveres in an uphill struggle to bring a holdup man to justice.
Willis has a special birthday request: a party back in his Harlem neighborhood with his old buddies.
Mrs. Garrett finds teen pandemonium when she visits Kimberly's school in a backdoor pilot for TV series "The Facts of Life".
Arnold is hospitalized and falls for a young white girl.
Arnold and Alice decide to run away together.
The cast of "Hello, Larry" visits the Drummonds.
Drummond's friend Larry auditions as a TV talk-show host in New York.
Eyebrows are raised when Mrs. Garrett gets involved with a younger man
Willis's explanation of the facts of life leads Arnold to think eating salmon causes pregnancy.
Willis and Kimberly write to Muhammad Ali and tell him that Arnold's last wish is to meet the champ.
As Drummond completes adoption legalities, Jethro L. Simpson shows up with a will leaving the boys a fortune.
Drummond drops adoption proceedings because of Jethro's faked proof of guardianship over Arnold and Willis.
Larry Moore is drawn into Willis's scheme to win a health club's father-son athletic competition
A misunderstanding turns the Adlers' visit into a family feud.
The misunderstanding threatens Drummond and Larry's friendship
A sixth-grade temptress flirts with Arnold to get close to her target---Willis
The boys' distrust of the law makes them hide a stolen watch they found.
Arnold may have been bitten by a rabid dog he saved from a car.
Drummond runs for city council; a new housekeeper arrives.
The boys visit a computer-dating service to get a mate for their father.
Convinced that Drummond is going bankrupt, Arnold and Willis rush to the welfare office to get $30 million.
A brownie business turns the household into a hotbed of labor disputes.
After a karate course, Arnold wants to challenge his archenemy to a fight.
Valentine's Day finds the boys reminiscing about their experiences as Drummond's "sons," including an encounter with Muhammad Ali.
Kimberly falls for a boy who turns out to be a bigot.
Classmates tease Arnold when Drummond starts dating the teacher.
Drummond's quiet dinner date with a friend is sabotaged by the kids' slumber party.
Arnold thinks everything he loves is leaving him after his goldfish dies and he finds Drummond's will.
Against Drummond's orders, Willis joins a gang and gets arrested for painting graffiti.
Arnold's first date is held up when he and Willis are taken hostage during a holdup.
Drummond tries to negotiate with the bank robbers holding Arnold and Willis hostage.
Arnold takes a hobby shop to small-claims court over a defective electric train.
Arnold is so taken with the temporary housekeeper that he concocts a romantic scheme to make her Drummond's new wife.
Drummond is hospitalized with a serious injury.
While Drummond is hospitalized, his partner takes control of the business.
A telephone message has even Drummond thinking that Kimberly is pregnant
Drummond quietly intercedes when Arnold is rejected by a peewee football team.
Arnold helps Willis with a romantic intrigue
Drummond arranges for Arnold to see two people who might ease the boy's concern about his size.
Arnold helps the doorman finance a long shot at the race track.
The boys try to prove to old friends that they haven't forgotten their roots.
Arnold's poor dental checkup and a visit by health-minded Aunt Sophia spark Drummond's crusade to rid the school of junk-food machines.
A threatening telephone call casts a pall on Arnold's happy participation in a school program.
Disguised by makeup, 15-year-old Kimberly goes out with an "older man" who thinks she's ripe for romance
Arnold balks at inviting the girl next door to his party, but his attitude changes when he learns she's hospitalized.
Magician Arnold "disappears" when a writer visits to do a story on the household.
Drummond finds his new division director quite charming despite the fact that everyone else dislikes her
Drummond learns that he's heir to property in Harlem that was owned by his ancestor, a slave trader.
The trials of an immigrant seeking citizenship provide a lesson for Arnold, who has been failing in American history. A failed backdoor pilot for a spinoff series.
A classmate who fears he's about to lose his foster home cons Arnold into persuading Drummond to adopt him.
An unscrupulous baseball coach tries to get Willis to switch schools and join his team.
Willis plans to make love to Charlene for the first time.
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.
Kimberly's job leads to her beginning a modeling career.
Willis want to sue the school because their Affirmative Action policy affects him, meaning he won't be on the team.
Arnold attempts to steal an expensive comic book to get into the Gooch's club and gets taken to court when he's caught.
Arnold gets his first date with a girl he likes, but things turn sour when Dudley butts in on them.
Kimberly goes on a ski trip with her friend, but doesn't let the family know that there will be boys there. Mr. Drummond and Willis end up surprising her by paying an unannounced visit, but get surprised themselves when they see the boys.
Arnold and Willis try to get into Mr. Drummond's health club, but are turned away because they are black. When Drummond is honored by the club, a confrontation takes place.
Drummond's building project is discovered to be on the site of an Indian burial ground, which leads to a conflict with a member of the Indian tribe.
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.
When Charlene feels Willis is taking her for granted, she dumps him. Willis soon hears she's seeing another guy and he decides it's time to move on, but Arnold has plans to bring them back together.
Arnold begins having nightmares after he finds out Mr. Drummond is going on a business trip, so a therapist is needed to unlock Arnold's fears.
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.
A fire has the family trapped in the building and when smoke starts coming through the vents, it makes everyone think the end is near.
A woman becomes a squatter in the Drummonds' house after she is forced out of her apartment due to a condominium conversion Mr. Drummond is involved with.
Willis takes the car out without Mr. Drummond's permission in order to pick up Charlene for a date and gets in trouble when he hits a police officer's motorcycle.
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.
After Willis is hospitalized for trying to stop the bullies, Arnold is asked to participate in a sting operation to nab them. When Mr. Drummond refuses to allow this, Arnold takes matters into his own hands, as he feels responsible for what happened to Willis.
Willis lets his potential membership in an exclusive club go to his head, but falls hard when he alienates the club members.
Kimberly's hair turns green before a date, due to using a copper bowl affected by acid rain to wash her hair, which gets the Drummond family talking about how to help the environment.
Mr. Drummond has a good time going out with a hairdresser, but when he doesn't invite her to a posh party, she feels like he is secretly embarrassed by her.
Willis saves Arnold's life, so Arnold feels obligated to dote on him constantly. In order to get Arnold off his back, he sets up a fake robbery at his job so Arnold can save him and even the score. When Arnold finds out what Willis is up to, he decides to have a little fun with the "robber," not knowing that a real robber has come to hold up the place.
Willis finds out he has very high stress levels, so Mr. Drummond wants him to lay off on his extracurricular activities, much to Willis' chagrin.
Willis joins a musical group and wants Charlene to join as well, but Kimberly ends up impressing his bandmates so much that they want her in the group instead.
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.
Arnold tries to outdo Willis on an arcade game, but constant playing takes a toll on his schoolwork.
Kimberly decides to transfer to Willis' school and gets into a confrontation when she tries to join the all-male swim team. The Drummonds get a new housekeeper named Pearl.
Arnold offers to help his bashful buddy Dudley win the affections of a young lady-- who falls for Arnold instead.
After learning that Joey, a new boy at his school has no friends, Arnold takes it upon himself to befriend him and take him home to meet his family. While there, he convinces Willis to become a "big brother" to Joey. As a result, everyone at the Drummond household take such a shine to Joey, that Arnold becomes jealous and decides to run away.
Willis tries to negotiate peace between two rival groups of students at his school, but when one of the students, Larry, has his stuff stolen, Willis becomes the prime suspect and is forced to get a gun to protect himself.
A substitute teacher makes life hard for Arnold and Dudley, so they try to make things difficult for him in return. When one of their pranks leads to Arnold getting hit by accident, they go to the principal and tell him that it was done on purpose, which gets the teacher in trouble and nearly gets him fired until Arnold and Dudley come clean about what really happened.
Willis wears a fake mustache to get into a club and lands a date with the waitress.
When Kimberly submits a candid picture of Arnold with his butt exposed to a photo contest, he is infuriated and demands that Kimberly withdraw it, but the picture remains in the contest by mistake and almost ruins Arnold's chances of winning the class election.
Arnold takes it hard when he hears his mother's voice again on an old audio tape and pretends to lose the tape permanently.
Arnold's confrontation with the son of the new building manager leads to Mr. Drummond punching the manager in the face and almost gets the family thrown out of the building.
Arnold, Kimberly and Willis get jobs at Mr. Drummond's company, but when Willis finds out that minority kids don't have the same opportunities at employment, he goes undercover to see for himself and goes too far.
Arnold helps out a street corner Santa Claus, who takes advantage of Arnold and his family's kindness by robbing the Drummonds.
Willis is forbidden to go to a party when Mr. Drummond finds out there will be drinking there. After Willis disobeys and is caught, he decides to move in with Jerry and ends up in a car crash.
Mr. Drummond sneaks around behind the kids' backs while dating his tax attorney and invites her over to the apartment while the rest of the family's away, but when they return early, Mr. Drummond has to explain her presence.
Kimberly stops working at Mr. Drummond's company and takes a job at a burger place, but is sexually harassed by her boss. When he finds out that Kimberly's family is wealthy and live on Park Avenue, he apologizes and ends up becoming romantically involved with her, for the purpose of advancing in her dad's company. Arnold soon learns what he is up to and tells Kimberly.
Arnold and Dudley become friends with the owner of a local bicycle shop named Henry, unaware that he is a pedophile looking for his next victim.
Drummond and Mr. Ramsey learn the truth about Mr. Horton, the seemingly friendly bicycle shop owner with a very sinister side. It soon becomes a race against time to get details out of Arnold after learning that Dudley is about to become Mr. Horton's latest victim.
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.
Kathy transfers to Arnold's school and is treated very poorly because of her disability. When she becomes hall monitor, she rules with an iron fist and doles out demerits to everyone except Arnold. When Arnold feels the heat from his friends over getting away with everything, he tries to get Kathy to lighten up, but she refuses and gets tough with Arnold instead.
When Arnold faces a streak of bad luck, he is given a lucky cricket to help him out. Arnold's fortunes soon change and he tries to use the cricket to get out of trouble with the Gooch, but the cricket escapes and Arnold has to come up with a back-up plan.
Mr. Drummond trades rooms with Willis while he is busy studying for exams. However, sharing a room with Arnold leads to discomfort for Mr. Drummond, while Arnold finds much humor at his expense.
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. First Lady Nancy Reagan speaks to his class about the dangers of drug use.
Arnold is tricked into playing Romeo opposite Lisa's Juliet in a class play. Although Arnold works hard for his performance, Lisa is overcome with stage fright and Arnold has to help her out.
Willis' classmate Larry wants his help to get a date with a girl at school, so Willis gets Kimberly to assist him, but Larry falls in love with her.
When an episode of The A-Team is filmed in the Drummonds' apartment, Arnold has to compete with Mr. T for the affection of Dudley's cousin Angela, so Arnold tries to turn himself into a mini Mr. T, with embarrassing results.
When Arnold is given the cold shoulder from teachers and classmates at his new school, he concocts a plan to steal the school mascot and pretend to rescue it to get some positive attention, but he gets in trouble with the family when the goat gets loose in the apartment.
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.
Willis lies to Arnold about knowing first aid in order to get a job at the school carnival, but when Arnold gets an electrical shock, Willis doesn't know how to save him. He later confesses to Arnold what happened and Arnold is angry when he finds out the truth.
A computer error leads to Arnold getting mail to sign up with the Selective Service System, even though he is too young. When Mr. Drummond complains, he is visited by the authorities, leading Arnold to think he will be drafted.
Mr. Drummond's cousin Anna and her son Hans visit the family. As soon as they arrive, Hans starts causing trouble and blames Arnold and Willis for it.
Arnold finds out his favorite teacher is moonlighting at a gentlemen's club and sneaks into the club to find out if it's true.
Kimberly finds out she'll be getting a trust fund on her 18th birthday and has plans to travel to Europe. When Mr. Drummond refuses to support her decision and threatens to keep the money from her until she's older, Kimberly plans to work as an au pair for a European family.
Arnold plans to have Dudley run for class president so he can control him behind the scenes. When Arnold sees that Dudley isn't doing things the way he wants him to, he decides to run against him. In the end, both lose out to a third candidate.
After Mr. Drummond becomes the target of an extortionist, he hires an imposing female bodyguard to protect his family.
When Kimberly tries to get into Willis' all-male letterman's club at school, he gets back at her by becoming a contestant in the school's beauty pageant.
Arnold takes up smoking cigarettes to impress the kids at school, but ruins his brand new sweater when he gets burning ashes on it. He then learns the dangers of smoking from Dudley's father, who is in need of surgery because of his habit.
Mr. Drummond tries to make a business deal with exercise instructor Maggie McKinney 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.
Mr. Drummond travels to Hollywood and proposes to Maggie and finds out she has a young son named Sam. Meanwhile, Arnold and Dudley try to meet the star of Knight Rider and sneak into a car on the set that's about to be blown up.
David Hasselhoff rescues Arnold and Dudley just in time and the rest of the family find out about Mr. Drummond's marriage plans. Arnold is less than thrilled, especially when he finds out he's getting a new little brother as part of the deal.
Arrangements are being made for the wedding between Mr. Drummond and Maggie and Maggie becomes furious when she finds out that Mr. Drummond's lawyer suggested a pre-nuptial agreement.
The wedding is about to take place, until Maggie and Mr. Drummond realize that neither of them called anybody to perform the ceremony.
Mr. Drummond and Maggie return from their honeymoon and find out that Arnold had been taking advantage of Sam while they were away.
When Arnold loses interest in attending church, he tries to find a religion more to his liking, so he decides to convert to Judaism, but is convinced otherwise by a rabbi.
Arnold is in charge of keeping donations for a fundraising drive at school, but loses the money when he puts it in an old pair of shoes that gets thrown out, so the rest of the family has to dig through the garbage to find them. Fortunately for Arnold, Sam saved the shoes and money from being thrown away.
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 instead.
In this take-off on Ghostbusters, Arnold and Sam explore a haunted house.
Arnold and his pals think they have the solution to contemptible classmate Lisa: they'll doctor her science experiment.
When news of Sam's bed-wetting gets out, the family goes overboard to make him feel wanted, leaving Arnold feeling neglected.
Willis's involvement with a new girlfriend puts him smack in the middle of a drug bust at school.
Arnold's strike against the school dress code loses support when the strikers are threatened with suspension.
Sam's father, a singer, shows up and hopes Sam will go live with him.
The school bully faces a challenge from tough new student Carmella
Arnold gets a crash course in free enterprise after a rift with Sam puts the boys in competition as bug-spray salesmen.
As judge of his school's student court, Arnold must choose between his friend and his girlfriend
An episode about an Olympic hopeful, disabled in an accident, who could use encouragement features members of the 1984 Olympic gymnastic team.
Sam's sore throat may get him out of school, but fails to get him out of a tonsillectomy.
Arnold can't deliver on his promise to get a celebrity for his school's charity night so he turns to Carmella for help.
As the coach of Sam's Little League team, Drummond suffers the agony of defeat---and the cold shoulder from Sam
Sam's favorite TV show is cancelled to make room for Maggie's exercise program.
Sam's view of the elderly becomes distorted after a cranky senior citizen refuses to team with him on a project.
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.
Sam innocently invites a female friend to sleep over.
Arnold's rocket---containing a camera and Sam's pet mouse---crashes into the Russian Embassy.
Arnold finds himself on the hot seat after he succumbs to pressure to drink with the guys.
Sam's dad tags along on a camping trip designed to bring Drummond and Sam closer together.
Arnold's friends start hanging out with cheerleaders, but Arnold's got his eye on a plain girl, which, he learns, makes him a nobody.
Drummond goes to work at one of his factories to prove he's in touch with his workers, but things go awry when the family tries to live on his paycheck.
Arnold gets mugged but suppresses the experience until a policeman offering safety tips unlocks his trauma.
Arnold and Sam are so shaken by a friend's epileptic seizure that they're afraid to be around her again.
Arnold sends Sam to the market, but he fails to return.
After the Drummonds learn Sam disappeared with a stranger, they notify the police and distribute flyers.
The school bully asks Arnold to entertain his girlfriend while he's away, and Arnold does the job only too well.
Phillip and Maggie seem to have less time for each other, and Sam is worried their marriage is destined for divorce.
During his first week away at college, hotshot Willis doesn't want anyone to know he has the freshman blues.
Arnold starts his first job as a photographer's assistant on a newspaper.
Arnold gets a tough assignment from his English teacher: teaching "A Tale of Two Cities" to his unruly class.
Arnold starts a rock group, but after a few rehearsals the band is ready to fire him.
The First-Amendment rights of a white-supremacy group become the subject of controversy in the Drummond household.
Arnold kisses and tells, bragging about his exploits with his girlfriend to enhance his reputation as a lady-killer.
Sam assumes none of his buddies will attend his party, but they all show up when they learn who the guest will be.
Arnold plays a cruel trick to gain membership in the Squires Club, and the prank costs a friend his job.
When massive quantities of food disappear, Arnold and Sam find out that Kimberly is suffering from bulimia.
Arnold fumes when Sam begins spending all his time with Willis, and Sam blames himself for the discord between his brothers.
Arnold hires Spider the Action Man to change an F to a B on his report card.
Tired of a bullying classmate, Sam prepares for a fist fight. That is, until he learns the reason for the kid's hostility.
Arnold is heartbroken that his heartthrob accepted a date with him only because Willis bribed her with concert tickets.
Arnold and his obnoxious nemesis Lisa are trapped in the boiler room while working on a photography project.
Arnold's doing an article on the football players and makes a discovery: some school jocks are using steroids.
Complete episode guide for Diff'rent Strokes with detailed information about every season and episode including air dates, summaries, ratings, and streaming availability in United States.
This episode guide is organized by seasons, making it easy to track your viewing progress or find specific episodes. Use the episode information to plan your binge-watching sessions or catch up on missed episodes.