Family Ties

For other uses, see Family Ties (disambiguation).

Family Ties
Family Ties title scene from the third season The Family Ties "family painting, used in the opening sequence from 1983 to 1985.
Created by	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	"Without Us" by Dennis Tufano and Mindy Sterling (Episodes 1-10) and by Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams (Episodes 11-180)
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	7
No. of episodes	180 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	approx. 0:30 (per episode)
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	September 22, 1982 – May 14, 1989

Family Ties is an American television sitcom which aired on NBC for seven seasons, from 1982 to 1989. At the height of its popularity, Family Ties was #2 in the yearly Nielsen ratings, airing in the prized timeslot after the top-rated Cosby Show on Thursday nights.

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

This show produced two spinoffs, Day by Day, which lasted two seasons, and The Art of Being Nick, which was produced as a pilot but never picked up as a series.

Premise

The show had been sold to the network using the pitch "hip parents, square kids," and the parents were originally intended to be the main characters. However, the audience reacted so positively to Michael J. Fox's character Alex during the taping of the fourth episode, that the focus of the show was shifted to include the whole family, especially Alex.

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 the first season intro theme).

Steven and Elyse have a strong, loving relationship, marked by, to their children's distress, much public display of affection. They also have an open relationship with their children, often discussing things in frank, mature ways. Though they do their share of disciplining, their parenting is liberal, especially compared to other family sitcoms.

Other characters

In the third season, Elyse gave birth to Andrew; the child was rapidly aged into a preschooler (Brian Bonsall) by the fifth 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, 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.

In season 4, 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.

Casting

The initial actor chosen for Alex Keaton was Matthew Broderick , but that deal fell through. Michael J. Fox almost wasn't cast because the producers felt he was too short compared to Michael Gross. Fox is only 5'5" (165 cm), while Gross is 6'5" (195 cm), 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.

Several Hollywood stars appeared on the show in the early days of their careers before they became famous, including Tom Hanks as Elyse's alcoholic younger brother Ned, Geena Davis as an inept housekeeper, and Courteney Cox as Alex's girlfriend, Lauren. Julia Louis-Dreyfus played a lawyer on the two-part episode "Read It and Weep".

Episodes

Cast of Family Ties from a later season. (From left to right) Justine Bateman, Michael J. Fox , Meredith Baxter, Michael Gross, Brian Bonsall, and Tina Yothers

• Main article: List of Family Ties episodes

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 1986-1987 TV season, when 33% of all U.S. households with televisions tuned in to Family Ties during an average week. The ratings began to decline in 1987, when the show was moved to Sunday nights to make room for A Different World. Producer/creator Gary David Goldberg decided to end the show with the 1988-1989 TV season, despite rumors of an eighth season. In the final episode, Alex moved to New York to begin his career on Wall Street. The finale was the highest-rated show of the week, beating the series finale of Moonlighting in the same hour on May 14, 1989.

On 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.

On February 7, 2008, the cast reunited for the first time in 18 years for an interview on NBC's Today show.

Ratings

• 1984-1985:#5 [1]
• 1985-1986:#2 [2]
• 1986-1987:#2 [3]
• 1987-1988:#17 [4]

DVD releases

CBS DVD has released the first three seasons of Family Ties on DVD in Region 1. The fourth season is scheduled for release on August 5, 2008.

DVD Name	Release Date	Ep#
The Complete First Season	February 202007	22
The Complete Second Season	October 92007	22
The Complete Third Season	February 122008	24
The Complete Fourth Season	August 52008	23
The Complete Fifth Season	TBA	30
The Complete Sixth Season	TBA	28
The Complete Seventh Season	TBA	26

External links

• Encyclopedia of Television