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It’s been more than 30 years since actress Pamela Adlon broke out as a young star on The Facts of Life, but her experience on the legendary sitcom has stuck with her. On Thursday morning, Adlon stopped by The View to discuss Better Things Season 4, and she spent a few minutes reflecting on how the industry has changed since she first stepped into Kelly Affinado’s shoes. “It was always men,” she said of her Facts of Life days. “And so in the past four years, doing my show, I have been able to be a pioneer for women.”
Considering his lifelong Facts of Life fandom, Andrew Yang picked a good day to guest host The View. “Pamela, you’ve been in the business for a long time,” said the former presidential candidate. “You’ve been working in the business since you were 11 years old.” In 1982, Adlon, then known as Pamela Segall, booked her first role in Grease 2 as unofficial Pink Lady Dolores. The following year, the actress joined The Facts of Life cast as Kelly Affinado, a young woman with a shoplifting problem.
Adlon’s character only appeared in The Facts of Life Season 5, but she clearly made an impression on a young Andrew Yang, who told her that he was “a huge fan” of the sitcom. “I was just wondering how much the business has changed for you over your career? Because you’ve obviously been in it for a long time,” said Yang.
“For me, it’s been an incredible journey because my dad was a writer-producer,” said Adlon. “And so I grew up on soundstages — New York morning news soundstages with my father. And it was always men. It was always men. And so in the past four years, doing my show, I have been able to be a pioneer for women. And I didn’t realize that until the other day.”
“But when you sit there and you say, I have the ability and the power now to hire people and to go after who I want,” she continued. “For Season 3 of my show, I didn’t want to do it without a female key grip.”
Adlon went on to discuss Better Things Season 4, which returns to FX tonight. “It’s crazy that I’ve been working since I’m 11 and I basically hit something big at the age of 50,” she said, adding that she “should be in the dustbin at the Jewish Council Thrift.”
“We don’t do that — we don’t toss folks away anymore. Because the folks that they toss make a lot of noise,” said Whoopi Goldberg. “Old is the new black!” replied Adlon.
Watch Pamela Adlon discuss how Hollywood has changed since her Facts of Life days in the video above. Better Things Season 4 premieres tonight, Thursday, March 5 at 10/9c on FX.
