The Facts of Life - Season 3 (1981)

Blair's mother arrives on a surprise visit and Blair is ecstatic until dire news is revealed about her mother's health.

In an article for the school newspaper Jo reports that her journalism teacher, Mr. Gideon, whom she thinks dislikes her, was arrested in a cocaine raid.

Mrs. Garrett must take a second job at the Howard Johnson's when she loses her pension. This takes a toll on her mood and her Eastland work, so she must choose between the two.

Jo's boyfriend Eddie returns just as she is partnered with another boy, Bob, in a marriage study group. Jo soon starts to take more of an interest in him beyond their studies, but this bothers her because of her loyalty to Eddie.

Natalie's Grandma Mona, a Russian Jewish immigrant, comes to visit her.

Tootie wants to impress the older girls who are going on a camping trip with some boys from Bates. She types a phony love letter from a camp counselor at the summer camp she attended.

Mr. Palmer, the French teacher, asks Geri out on a date. She seems to be having a good time, but Blair believes the man has an ulterior motive for taking her cousin out.

Blair learns that her late grandfather, whom she idealized, was a supporter and benefactor of the Ku Klux Klan.

When Tootie beats Natalie for the lead role in the school play, a rift grows between the two of them.

A Japanese student's father objects to her daughter's adoption of Western cultural values.

Blair goes on a double date with Mrs. Garrett and her longtime friend Ernest Melbourne, worrying that the two of them might get married.

For the thrill of her life, Tootie was invited to Jermaine Jackson's concert due to her efforts of his fan club. However, Jo was preparing for a Scholarship Fair which falls on the same night of the concert. Mrs. Garrett, informed Tootie that she cannot go to the concert because, she made a prior commitment. In order to get her way, Tootie throws a full blown tantrum with tears in her eyes. At the concert, Tootie finally got to see her idol but sadly, she was left heartbroken in the dressing room.

The girls start to become annoyed by each other's little personality quirks. When Mrs. Garrett tells them they've paid off their damages to the school van, they decide to go their separate ways.

Mrs. Garrett and the girls spend an afternoon in New York City, where they go to Pagliacci's, a high-profile Italian restaurant. Natalie is devastated when she sees her father kissing another woman across the dining room.

Even though her parents refused to give her permission to go with Mrs. Garrett and the older girls, Tootie runs away to New York to meet up with them. There, she meets a teenage prostitute who tries to recruit her into her line of work.

Blair and Jo go to visit old friends in New York, where they find that things have changed considerably.

During the preparations for a box lunch charity auction, the girls are gazing over an Eastland/Bates "Slam Book", in which those writing the comments are identified by numbers instead of names. Mrs. Garrett is horrified by the cruel comments in there. When Blair reveals to one of the Bates boys that Natalie is number 10, Natalie gets her revenge by telling a Bates boy named Carl Price, whom the other boys tease because of his severe acne, which of the box lunches belongs to Blair.

Natalie institutes nine rules of privacy after she learns that Blair looked in her diary.

The girls go to a school dance with boys from nearby Stone Military Academy.

Jo visits her relatives in New Jersey, where her tomboyish 14-year-old cousin Terry puts on a dress and makeup to impress a boy.

When the school library institutes a censorship policy, Natalie is bounced from the school paper for speaking out against it, and Mrs. Garrett is asked by Mr. Parker not to comment on the issue.