Family Ties

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Family Ties was an American television sitcom which aired on NBC for seven seasons, from 1982 to 1989. At the height of its popularity, the program was #2 in the yearly Nielsen ratings for two straight seasons (1985-86 and 1986-87).

It starred Meredith Baxter-Birney and Michael Gross as Elyse and Steven Keaton. Elyse was a very successful architect and Steven ran a public television station. They lived in suburban Columbus, Ohio, with their four children: Alex (played by Michael J. Fox), Mallory (Justine Bateman), Jennifer (Tina Yothers), and Andrew (Brian Bonsall).

The majority of the show's humor is derived from the tension between Alex's conservative, Republican mindset, Mallory's uninformed consumerism, and their parents' attitudes as liberal Democrats, who grew up as hippie flower children in the 1960s (as seen in one of the intro themes).

The show had been sold to the network on the basis of the pitch "hip parents, square kids," and the parents were originally intended to be the main characters. However, the audience reacted so positively during the taping of an early episode in which Alex lost his virginity to a girl who shared his passion for Milton Friedman that the focus of the show was changed to him (and to a lesser extent, to his siblings).

In the 1985 season the mother, Elyse gave birth to Andrew, and the child was aged to a pre-schooler (played by Brian Bonsall) in 1986.

Other characters included the Keatons' socially inept neighbor Erwin 'Skippy' Handelman (Marc Price), who had an undying crush on Mallory, and in later years, Rambo-like budding artist Nick Moore (Scott Valentine), who became romantically involved with Mallory and alarmed various members of the family with how unknowingly crass and unmannered he could be. The final two seasons also featured Courteney Cox as Lauren Miller, a love interest for Alex; before, his primary love interest was a college girl named Ellen Reed (played by Tracy Pollan, who later became Michael J. Fox's real-life wife).

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of Family Ties episodes

[edit] Popularity

Family Ties was broadcast on Thursday nights from 1984 until 1987, immediately following the top-rated program The Cosby Show and just before another wildly popular sitcom, Cheers. That period represented the height of all three programs' popularity; they were, for example, the top three most-watched U.S. television programs during the 1986-87 season, when 33% of all U.S. households with televisions tuned in to Family Ties during an average week. The show moved to Sundays in 1987, where the ratings began to decline. Producer/creator Gary David Goldberg decided to end the show with the 1988-1989 season. In the final episode Alex moved to New York to begin his career on Wall Street.

President Ronald Reagan declared Family Ties his favorite TV show during the 1980s.

[edit] Trivia

• This show began two spinoffs, Day by Day, which lasted less than one season, and The Art of Being Nick, which was produced as a pilot but never picked up as a series.
• Although the show's setting is almost universally mentioned as Columbus, Ohio, it is actually set in nearby Dayton as explained in the episode "4 Rms Ocn Vu." Alex answers the phone and refers to "Keaton Manor in beautiful Dayton." This scene is cut in syndication, and occurs just before one of the guests enters asking for a massage. Further confusing matters, all of the guests are in town for an Ohio State football game. Ohio State is in Columbus. Additionally, the spin-off "The Art of Being Nick" is explicitly set in Dayton.
• Several Hollywood stars appeared on the show in the early days of their careers before they became famous, including Tom Hanks as an uncle, Geena Davis as an inept housekeeper, and Courtney Cox as Alex's girlfriend.
• After leaving the show, Michael J. Fox, Justine Bateman, and Tina Yothers all worked on projects that involved them recording songs. Fox starred in the rock 'n' roll drama Light of Day while Bateman starred as the lead vocalist of an all-girl band in the film Satisfaction. Both recorded vocals for the soundtracks of their movies. On one episode on Family Ties, Yother's character Jennifer became the lead vocalist of a band that her brother Alex tried to take over. In real life, she formed a band with her brother. As Elyse and Steven, Meredith Baxter and Michael Gross were often shown singing folk songs, much to the chagrin of their TV offspring.
• Matthew Broderick was the initial first choice for the role of Alex P. Keaton, but he had to decline the role because he wanted to stay in New York with his dying father.
• Meredith Baxter and Michael Gross were born on the same day, June 21, 1947.
• The call letters of Steven's public television station were WKS, Channel 3.
• Michael J. Fox filmed what would be the first of the Back to the Future films while working on Family Ties during the 1984-1985 season. A good amount of his work came at night, as the movie's production had to work around Fox's Family Ties schedule.
• Michael J. Fox almost wasn't cast as Alex because the producers felt he was too short standing next to Michael Gross. Fox is only 5' 4" while Gross is 6' 4", leading the producers to believe that no one would believe someone as tall as Gross would have a son as short as Fox. Additionally, Fox was viewed as too much of a smart aleck in his first audition, but the casting director liked him and brought him back, where he gave a slightly different pitch, and the part was his.
• The cast suggested that the finale episode have the Keatons die in a plane crash. They wanted to close off any chances of a reunion in the future.
• An episode of Michael J. Fox's other sitcom Spin City (his last episode as a regular) indicated that Alex P. Keaton grew up to be a United States Senator (Michael Gross even appeared on this episode, albeit as a different character).
• In episode "My Best Friend's Girl" it is revealed that Skippy's name came from his parents' love of peanut butter.

[edit] DVD Release

• A first season DVD set of Family Ties is scheduled to be released on February 20, 2007. [1]

[edit] External link

• Encyclopedia of Televisionda:Blomsterbørns børn

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