Family Ties

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Family Ties
The iconic Family Ties "family painting" from the third season in 1984.
Genre	Sitcom
Creator(s)	Gary David Goldberg
Starring	Meredith Baxter-Birney Michael Gross Michael J. Fox Justine Bateman Tina Yothers Marc Price Scott Valentine (1985-1989) Tracy Pollan (1985-1986) Brian Bonsall (1986-1989) Courteney Cox (1987-1989)
Opening theme	Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	180
Production
Running time	approx. 0:30 (per episode)
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Original run	September 22, 1982 – May 14, 1989
Links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Family Ties was a popular 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 Michael J. Fox as Alex P. Keaton, the very conservative, business-oriented son of liberal parents Elyse and Steven (Meredith Baxter-Birney and Michael Gross). Elyse was a very successful architect, while Steven ran a public television station. They lived in suburban Columbus, Ohio with their children: Alex, Mallory (Justine Bateman) and Jennifer (Tina Yothers). Another child, Andrew (Brian Bonsall), was added later.

Contents 1 Premise 2 Other characters 3 Casting 4 Episodes 5 Popularity 6 DVD releases 7 Trivia 8 References 9 External link

[edit] Premise

The show had been sold to the network using the pitch "hip parents, square kids". 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, his siblings).

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).

[edit] Other characters

In the 1985 season, Elyse gave birth to Andrew; the child "grew" into a pre-schooler (Brian Bonsall) by the next season.

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.

Alex's primary love interest was a college student named Ellen Reed (Tracy Pollan, who later became Michael J. Fox's real-life wife). The final two seasons featured Courteney Cox as new girlfriend Lauren Miller.

[edit] Casting

Matthew Broderick was the first choice for Alex, but declined the role because he wanted to stay in New York with his dying father.^{[citation needed]}

Michael J. Fox almost wasn't cast because the producers felt he was too short compared to Michael Gross. Fox is only 165 cm (5'5") while Gross is 195 cm (6'5"), leading the producers to worry 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. The second time, he gave a slightly different pitch, and the part was his.

[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. According to IMDb, the ratings began to decline in 1987, when the show was moved to Sunday nights at the request of Bill Cosby, to make room for A Different World.^{[citation needed]} 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] DVD releases

Paramount Home Entertainment has released Season 1 of Family Ties on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time. It is expected that the remaining 6 seasons will be released soon.

Cover Art	DVD Name	Release Date	Ep#
	The Complete First Season	February 20, 2007	22
	The Complete Second Season	TBA	23
	The Complete Third Season	TBA	23
	The Complete Fourth Season	TBA	28
	The Complete Fifth Season	TBA	30
	The Complete Sixth Season	TBA	28
	The Complete Seventh Season	TBA	26

[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, 76 miles away from Dayton. In the season one episode "Give Uncle Arthur A Kiss" the public television station Steven works at has a (614) area code, which is the area code for 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 Elyse's immature younger brother Ned, Geena Davis as an inept housekeeper, and Courteney Cox as Alex's girlfriend, Lauren.
• 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, Yothers' 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.
• 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 Back to the Future 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 his Family Ties schedule.
• On the first ever edition of The Pat Sajak Show, Michael Gross suggested that the finale episode have the Keatons die in a plane crash. He said the cast wanted to close off any chances of a reunion in the future.^[1]
• An episode of Michael J. Fox's other sitcom Spin City (his last episode as a regular) indicated that Alex P. Keaton went on to become a United States Senator. Michael Gross appeared on this episode, albeit as a different character.
• In the episode "My Best Friend's Girl", it is revealed that Skippy's name came from his parents' love of peanut butter.

[edit] References

1. ^ http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE7DE173AF932A25752C0A96F948260

[edit] External link

• Encyclopedia of Television
• DVD Talk Review of Season One