The Bicycle Man
two-part episode of Diff'rent Strokes
"The Bicycle Man" is a two-part very special episode of the American sitcom Diff'rent Strokes (1978–1986). Serving as the 16th and 17th episodes of the fifth season, it was written by Blake Hunter, directed by Gerren Keith, and guest-stars Gordon Jump as a bicycle shop owner who tries to molest Arnold Jackson (Gary Coleman) and his friend Dudley Johnson (Shavar Ross). The episode also features Le Tari as Ted Ramsey, Dudley's adoptive father, and Brad Trumbull as Detective Simpson.
"The Bicycle Man" originally aired on NBC on February 5 (Part 1) and February 12, 1983 (Part 2), and was critically acclaimed. In later years, "The Bicycle Man" has been notable for beginning the trend of "very special" sitcom episodes that deal with social issue topics very seriously compared to the tone of the overall series, as well as its dark content. Several publications have ranked it one of the best very special episodes. A scene from "The Bicycle Man" was used in An Open Secret (2014), a documentary film about pedophilia in the film industry.
Plot
Part 1
The Drummonds and Jacksons are acquaintances of Mr. Horton, who owns a bicycle shop from which the family regularly rents bicycles. Arnold Jackson is interested in buying a bicycle, but there is skepticism from his father, Phillip Drummond, as well as his siblings, Willis Jackson and Kimberly Drummond.
The public source identifies “The Bicycle Man” as two-part episode of Diff'rent Strokes. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Bicycle, two-part and episode.
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This entry incorporates text from “The Bicycle Man” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.