Our House (1986 TV series)
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| Our House | |
|---|---|
| Format | Drama/Family |
| Starring | Wilford Brimley Deidre Hall Shannen Doherty Chad Allen Keri Houlihan Gerald S. O'Loughlin |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 46 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 min. |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | NBC |
| Original run | September 11, 1986 – May 8, 1988 |
| External links | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Our House is a family-oriented drama series which ran on Sunday evening on NBC from 1986 to 1988. It starred Wilford Brimley as Gus Witherspoon, a retired widower who allows his daughter-in-law Jessica (played by Deidre Hall) and her children to move in with him after Gus's son died. Upon its 1986 premiere, the Associated Press called the series "a family show suitable for framing."
[edit] Synopsis
Gus became a new father figure to Jessica's (Deidre Hall) children, Kris (Shannen Doherty), David (Chad Allen), and Molly (Keri Houlihan). The show was intended for family viewing, and as such, had a moral lesson for the family to learn each week. Sometimes the kids had difficulties adjusting to Gus' rules the same way he instituted rules on his children. Gus punishes the children for leaving their toys lying around by the children coming home to discover that Gus has thrown them in a garbage can, claiming that the toys are unwanted and should be trashed. He allows them to reclaim whatever toys they want on the condition they are properly secured, to which the kids take everything back save for an old teddy bear. In a scene of subtle humor, Gus then claims the teddy bear for himself.
In one episode, David and a couple of friends venture into the California backcountry on the belief they are in search of buried treasure. Gus' status as a US Marine who served in the Second World War is revealed when an elderly Japanese man visits him, stating that his deceased elder brother who had fought for Imperial Japan had hidden away war mementos and family heirlooms. When David and the boys are tracked down, Gus gives a moving speech but appeals to the boys' immaturity by saying that they may have found worthless junk to them, but maybe one day if they grow up and get sent off to war like he did; it is quite possible they will understand the meaning of its value. In another episode, Gus was annoyed at too much progress and how appliances seemed to do everything, so he orders the family to shun modern appliances (nothing invented within the last 100 years) for one weekend. The family adjusts to living a 19th Century lifestyle, and Gus entertains everyone by wearing a kilt and singing a Scottish song symbolic of their heritage; only for David and Kris to break their vows by watching impending news of nuclear war with the Soviet Union from a television shop window.
A unique quality Our House possessed was that each segment of the episode culminated in one freeze frame moment, which would then occupy one of the rooms in the "house" on the screen just before the commercial break. When the episode's dilemma was resolved, all the pieces of the puzzle would fit together, and the house would be "full" of the drama the family went through that particular week.
