Jennifer Aniston, Kathryn Hahn, Gabrielle Union and more to join ‘Facts of Life’ special for ABC

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Jimmy Kimmel announced on Jimmy Kimmel Live! that Jennifer Aniston, Kathryn Hahn, Gabrielle Union and Allison Tolman will play ‘Facts of Life’ characters in the new special Live in Front of a Studio Audience. ABC previously aired Live in Front of a Studio Audience specials that recreated episodes of All in the Family, The Jeffersons and Good Times.

The special will feature characters from Facts of Life and Diff’rent Strokes. Aniston will play Blair (originally played by Lisa Whelchel), with Union as Tootie (Kim Fields), Hahn as Jo (Nancy McKeon) and Tolman as Natalie (Mindy Cohn). Ann Dowd was previously announced as Mrs. Garrett (Charlotte Rae), and  John Lithgow will play the Diff’rent Strokes character Mr. Drummond (Conrad Bain), with Kevin Hart as Arnold (Gary Coleman) and Damon Wayans as Willis (Todd Bridges).

Diff’rent Strokes was created by Jeff Harris and Bernie Kukoff and had an eight-season run from 1978 to 1986. The Facts of Life was created by Dick Clair and Jenna McMahon and aired for nine seasons from 1979 to 1988.

The new special will air Dec. 7 at 8 p.m. EST on ABC, and stream on Hulu the next day.

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