History Series / TheBabySittersClub2020

** The early books were set in the late 80s/early 90s, which would have meant Mimi was born shortly after the turn of the century and an adult by the time World War II occurred. In the adaptation, set in 2020, Mimi was born in America, but was born around World War II – thus she was subjected to the horrors of an internment camp as a small child of only five years old. It's one of her most painful memories and something she understandably does not like to talk about, but when she has her stroke, she begins remembering it vividly.
** In both the books and the adaptation, Richard is fairly strict with Mary Anne in terms of the way she dresses and keeps her room because of his stress – and cluelessness – of raising her without her mother. But the series also further explores his attachment to certain things in her bedroom. In particular, the Humpty Dumpty wall hanging, which Mary Anne despises in the book and (initially) Netflix series, was hung there by her mother before Mary Anne was born – and by putting it in storage, Richard feels as though he's lost that connection to his former wife.
** While the book version of "Mary Anne Saves the Day" centered around a fight the club members were having with each other, the episode focuses much more on Mary Anne generally struggling with feeling like she's not good enough and that something is wrong with her, with the fight (which has a different context from the original) being just one element of that.
** In the books, when the Spiers move in with the Schafers (on a more permanent basis), Dawn's annoyance comes at how opposite they are because both Richard and Mary-Anne are too Type A while Dawn and her mother like things messy. Not only are Dawn and Mary-Anne given a role reversal here – Dawn is a neat freak who cleans up after her mother while Mary-Anne is more free-spirited – but she also has a lot more deep anger over Mary-Anne's relationship with her mother. Dawn has taken care of Sharon for the last year on their own, while Mary-Anne has suddenly come in and fit right in with Sharon's laid-back ways. When Dawn accuses Mary-Anne of taking over her life, her voice breaks when she yells, "My mom!"

** In ''Mary Anne and the Great Romance'', Richard and Sharon tell Mary Anne and Dawn that there's something very important they need to tell them. We (and the girls) are led to believe they're going to announce their engagement. Then Richard says that he is very happy to announce... That he won his latest case. Dawn and Mary Anne are ''not'' amused.

* LettingTheAirOutOfTheBand: Happens in ''Mary Anne and the Great Romance'' when Richard and Sharon tell their daughters they have something very important to tell them (leading the girls to think they're about to announce their engagement)... Only for Richard to proclaim that he just won his latest case.

** Dawn Schafer has brown hair in this adaptation, and she is socially and politically conscious, an intelligent young woman, and the OnlySaneMan to her scatterbrained mother. (That last bit is true to the books, as her serious nature helped counter-balance her mom's harmless but funny tendency to go off half-cocked; for instance, when leaving for a date with Richard, she'd forgotten to remove the price tag from her new skirt, was only wearing one earring, and had a rubber band on her wrist).

** Dawn Schafer has brown hair in this adaptation, and she is socially and politically conscious, an intelligent young woman, and the OnlySaneMan to her scatterbrained mother. (That last bit is true to the books, as her serious nature helped counter-balance her mom's harmless but funny tendency to go off half-cocked; for instance, when leaving for a date with Richard, she'd forgotten to remove the price tag from her new dress and was only wearing one earring).

** Dawn Schafer has brown hair in this adaptation, and she is socially and politically conscious, an intelligent young woman, and the OnlySaneMan to her scatterbrained mother. (That last bit is true to the books, as her serious nature helped counter-balance her mom's harmless but funny tendency to go off half-cocked; for instance, when leaving for her first date with Richard, she'd forgotten to remove the price tag from her new dress and was only wearing one earring).

* LettingTheAirOutOfTheBand: Happens in ''Mary Anne and the Great Romance'' when Richard and Sharon tell their daughters they have something very important to tell them (leading the girls to think they're about to announce their engagement)...only for Richard to proclaim that he just won his latest case.

** In ''Mary Anne and the Great Romance'', Richard and Sharon tell Mary Anne and Dawn that there's something very important they need to tell them. We (and the girls) are led to believe they're going to announce their engagement. Then Richard says that he is very happy to announce... That he won his latest case. Dawn and Mary Anne are not amused.

** Multiple parents have been renamed in the adaptation. John Pike is renamed Forrest, Dee Pike is Deidre, and Rioko Kishi is now Kimiko.

** In ''Mary Anne and the Great Romance'', Richard and Sharon tell Mary Anne and Dawn that there's something important they need to tell them. We (and the girls) are led to believe they're going to announce their engagement. Then Richard says that he is very happy to announce... That he won his latest case. Dawn and Mary Anne are not amused.

** In the books, Charlotte Johannsen was eight years old. Her exact age in this series isn't given, but she looks and acts younger than characters who were younger than her in the books (and whose ages ''don't'' appear to have been changed), like Karen (six) and David Michael (seven).

* BaitAndSwitch: When Mary Anne explains that Karen calls Sharon Porter's Aunt Esme "Morbidda Destiny", Sharon laughs at this, setting us up for this being brushed off as Karen being silly... only for Sharon to say that "Aunt Esme ''wishes'' that was her witch name."

** In the books, Mary Anne wore a mega sun protection outfit any time she went to the beach or a pool because she was so light-skinned that she was at particularly high risk of sunburn. Since Mary Anne is half Black here, this wouldn't be the case for her[[note]]not that Black people are at ''no'' risk from the sun, but she certainly wouldn't be ''exceptionally'' vulnerable like her book counterpart is[[/note]], so the series has her wearing this because her ''father'', a redhead, is the one who is sensitive to sun and he hasn't quite caught on that the same doesn't apply Mary Anne.

** Like her father, Mary Anne is serious and introverted, and when she initially tries to assert herself it comes out a bit awkwardly. The episode "Dawn and The Wicked Stepsister" also shows how both Spiers deal with their anxiety by voicing worst-case scenarios out loud, much to the annoyance of the Schafers. However, Mary Anne also sticks up for people who have less power than her (like her sitting charge), which Mimi tells her mother did all the time. She also looks a lot like her mother, evidenced by the fact that her friends think Alma's baby picture is hers.

** In the books, Mary Anne wore a mega sun protection outfit any time she went to the beach or a pool because she was so light-skinned that she was at particularly high risk of sunburn. Since Mary Anne is half Black here, this wouldn't be the case for her, so the series has her wearing this because her ''father'', a redhead, is the one who is sensitive to sun and he hasn't quite caught on that the same doesn't apply Mary Anne.

** Elizabeth is correct that Kristy shouldn't fall into a trap of not worrying about money just because she has a rich stepfather now. However, Kristy is also correct that Watson bought her brother a BMW and Elizabeth didn't react nearly as strongly to that as she did the dress (and while the dress ''was'' expensive at $800, Watson almost certainly paid ''much'' more to purchase a brand-new BMW, even with a good deal and Charlie contributing his car savings). Notably, Kristy also didn't ''refuse'' to wear the yellow dress, she just mildly complained about disliking it and Watson immediately offered to buy her a different one, and when the saleswoman said she had something in mind that would look good on Kristy, he immediately told her to grab it and wasn't worried about the price, even saying it wasn't a big deal -- was Kristy supposed to have refused his offer just on principle (and if this ''is'' what Elizabeth is suggesting, then why should it not also apply to Charlie)?

** Elizabeth is correct that Kristy shouldn't fall into a trap of not worrying about money just because she has a rich stepfather now. However, Kristy is also correct that Watson bought her brother a BMW and Elizabeth didn't react nearly as strongly to that as she did the dress (and while the dress ''was'' expensive at $800, Watson almost certainly paid ''much'' more to purchase a brand-new BMW, even with a good deal and Charlie contributing his car savings). Notably, Kristy also didn't ''refuse'' to wear the yellow dress, she just mildly complained about disliking it and Watson immediately offered to buy her a new dress and told the saleswoman to just bring in a dress she thought would look good on Kristy regardless of price, even saying it wasn't a big deal -- was Kristy supposed to have refused his offer just on principle (and if this ''is'' what Elizabeth is suggesting, then why should it not also apply to Charlie)?