The Hogan Family

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The Hogan Family

The original cast of The Hogan Family.
Format Sitcom
Created by Charlie Hauck
Starring Valerie Harper (1986-1987) as Valerie Hogan
Sandy Duncan (1987-1991) as Sandy Hogan
Josh Taylor as Michael Hogan
Jason Bateman as David Hogan
Danny Ponce as Willie Hogan
Jeremy Licht as Mark Hogan
Edie McClurg as Patty Poole
Christine Ebersole (1986) as Barbara Goodwin
Judith Kahan (1986-1987) as Annie Steck
Tom Hodges as Rich
Steve Witting as Burt
Willard Scott as Peter Poole (1987-1989)
John Hillerman (1990-1991) as Lloyd Hogan
Angela Lee (1990-1991) as Brenda Walker
Josie Bissett as Cara (1990-1991)
Country of origin Flag of the United States United States
No. of seasons 6
No. of episodes 110
Production
Executive
producer(s)		 Charlie Hauck (1986-1987)
Thomas L. Miller
Robert L. Boyett
Irma Kalish (1990-1991)
Running time 30 minutes
(with commercials)
Broadcast
Original channel NBC
CBS
Original run March 1, 1986 – July 20, 1991

The Hogan Family is an American television situation comedy that aired from March 1, 1986 to July 20, 1991.

Contents

[edit] Valerie

For its first two seasons, the show was known as Valerie, and its stories revolved around the show's star, Valerie Harper. She played Valerie, the matriarch of the Hogan family, who struggled with everyday family problems while her husband, Michael (Josh Taylor), was a pilot who was seldom around due to his demanding schedule (at least in the early seasons). Other stars included Jason Bateman as her eldest, girl-crazy son David, and Danny Ponce and Jeremy Licht as her fraternal twin sons Willie and Mark (Mark was the brainy one, Willie the irresponsible one). During the 1987 summer taping hiatus, Harper had a falling out with the show's producers, after which she was dismissed and her character was written out of the show as being killed in a car accident. NBC explained that the series would take on difficult issues facing the family during the grieving process.

[edit] Valerie's Family: The Hogans

When the 1987-1988 season premiere aired, the show was retitled Valerie's Family: The Hogans. The timeline of the third season began six months after Valerie's death. Taking her place in the household was Sandy Duncan as Michael's sister, Sandy, who had moved in with her brother to help the family in their time of loss. She took a job as a guidance counselor at the high school the boys attended following her recent divorce. Later, the network dropped Valerie's name from the title completely, partially to avoid further legal issues involved in continuing to use the original star's name and partially to move on from the very public and sensational attention being drawn to her dismissal.

[edit] The Hogan Family

The series was retitled The Hogan Family in June 1988.

The cast of The Hogan Family with the inclusion of Sandy Duncan.
The cast of The Hogan Family with the inclusion of Sandy Duncan.

NBC's decision to continue the series despite the departure of Valerie Harper was considered shocking at the time. It turned out to be a success; the show continued its run on the network for three more seasons.

In 1990, NBC informed the producers that it would cancel the series due to declining ratings. CBS then picked it up, making it one of the rare programs to jump networks. In the final 13-episode season on CBS, Michael and Sandy's father Lloyd (John Hillerman) moved in with the family. In a 1990 episode, Sandy Duncan was reunited with Valorie Armstrong, her former co-star on Funny Face, when the latter made a guest appearance as Mrs. Gordon.

The theme song, "Together Through the Years", was performed by Roberta Flack and composed by Charles Fox.

The episode "Bad Timing", where David and a former girlfriend debate whether to have sex, featured the first prime-time use of the word condom; parental discretion warnings were issued in ads for the episode.[citation needed]

[edit] Syndication

ABC Family currently holds the U.S. syndication rights to the program, and began airing episodes twice daily in September 2006, however this only lasted for several weeks. The program is not currently aired on cable, and no plans to release episodes on DVD have been announced.

[edit] External links

Languages