 The cast of twelve (five boys and seven girls) had a more diverse multiethnic background than the 1950s version.Several 1977–1978 cast members went on to become TV stars and other notable icons.The show's most notable alumnus was Lisa Whelchel (born in 1963, in Littlefield, Texas), who later starred in the NBC television sitcom "The Facts of Life" which ran from 1979 to 1988 before becoming a well-known Christian author, and most recently, overall runner-up, and winner of the $100,000 viewers' choice award, on the of the CBS television reality series "Survivor".