The Facts of Life/Down and Out in Malibu (1)

Down and Out in Malibu (1)
Season 9, Episode 1
Airdate	September 26, 1987
Written by	Martha Williamson
Directed by	John Bowab
← 8x24 Rights of Passage Too (2)	9x02 → Down and Out in Malibu (2)
The Facts of Life — Season Nine

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Down and Out in Malibu (1) is the first episode of the ninth season of The Facts of Life, and the one hundred seventy-eighth episode overall.

Starring: Cloris Leachman (Beverly Ann Stickle), Lisa Whelchel (Blair Warner), Kim Fields (Tootie Ramsey), Mindy Cohn (Natalie Green), Mackenzie Astin (Andy Moffett)

and Nancy McKeon (Jo Polniaczek)

Additional Cast: Sandy Simpson (Paul), Johnny Dark (Sergeant Canfield)

and Richard Moll (Himself)

Plot Overview

After Jo loses her job, then her apartment, in Los Angeles and ends up suffering a broken bone in her left foot while chasing after a thief who stole her belongings, she contacts Blair back in Peekskill to send her some money to the police station she is phoning from. Jo later ends up spending the night in a jail cell at the station for sleeping on the beach. The following morning, Night Court star Richard Moll stops by the station and asks the desk sergeant on duty about keeping an eye on his beach house in Malibu, as he is flying out to New York for work for two weeks and his regular housesitter was unavailable. Jo overhears from her cell and volunteers to look after the beach house, which an initially reluctant Moll agrees to after Jo sells herself on her responsibility.

To Jo's surprise, instead of simply wiring her the money she requested, Blair arrives at the police station to personally bail her friend out and then takes her over to the beach house, which Blair initially assumes she is sharing with a new beau. Jo's old boyfriend Paul then drops by the house and they get talking about old times and where they are in their lives at present. Not long after, Beverly Ann, Tootie and Natalie arrive at the beach house after hearing about it in an earlier phone call with Blair, forcing Jo to confess that the beach house actually belongs to Richard Moll and she is just housesitting for him. The following day, the girls and Beverly Ann go out for the day to shop in Beverly Hills and tour around Hollywood, but when they return to the beach house, they discover to their horror that it has become flooded, thanks to Natalie and Tootie forgetting to shut off the hot tub they had been using before the gang left.