Family Ties (TV Series)

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Television series
German title Family ties (RTL)
Lots of families (ProSieben)
 Help, we're growing up! (ZDF)
Original title Family ties
Family Ties title.svg
Country of production United States
original language English
Year (s) 1982-1989
length 25 minutes
Episodes 180 in 7 seasons
genre Comedy , family series
idea Gary David Goldberg
music Jeff Barry - Without Us
First broadcast September 22, 1982 (USA) on NBC
German-language
first broadcast		 May 26, 1984 on ZDF
occupation

Family ties (in the original: Family Ties ) is an American families - sitcom , which in 1982 by Gary David Goldberg for the transmitter NBC was developed. The series ran over seven seasons and had a total of 180 episodes. In the United States, the last episode aired on May 14, 1989. For Michael J. Fox this series marked the beginning of his Hollywood career.

The title of the German version of the series changed several times. The episodes of the first season, which were broadcast by ZDF in 1984 , were called Help, We're Growing Up! . On the private broadcaster RTL the series was named Familienbande , on ProSieben and ORF it was called a lot of family .

The original version of the theme song Without Us is sung by Johnny Mathis and R&B singer Deniece Williams .

content

The focus of the series is the Keaton family from Columbus ( Ohio ). On the one hand, there are parents Steven and Elyse Keaton, who met each other during a demonstration against the Vietnam War in the mid-1960s and who are influenced by the spirit of the 1968 movement . Elyse works as an architect, Steven as a journalist for a local television station. Both try to follow their ideals from the sixties. You pay attention to environmental protection, civil rights and believe in the good in people.

On the other hand, there are their children who cannot always follow their parents' values ​​and who are more oriented towards the conservative zeitgeist of the USA under President Ronald Reagan . Son Alex, in particular, is hostile to the liberal views of his parents. His most important reading is the Wall Street Journal , he is a Republican believer , admires Nixon and Reagan, and his parents' hippie ideals cause conflict. Mallory, the oldest daughter, is not the brightest and is really only interested in fashion and boys. Her sister Jennifer, on the other hand, is precocious and always on the ground with reality.

Awards

The series has received multiple Emmy awards. Michael J. Fox received the coveted television award three times for his role as Alex Keaton. He also received the Golden Globe Award .

Trivia

  • Michael J. Fox met his future wife Tracy Pollan while filming , who played Alex's girlfriend Ellen Reed in the series for two seasons.
  • Ronald Reagan was a huge fan of the series. Michael J. Fox received an offer from Reagan's campaign team to serve as spokesman for Reagan's re-election. Fox turned down the offer on the grounds that he was a Canadian citizen and had different political views than Alex Keaton .
  • In the series Chaos City , the viewer learns in episodes 99/100 of the fourth season that Alex Keaton has made it to Washington, where he, as Ohio State Secretary, has a meeting with Mike Flaherty in the White House . Michael Gross also made a guest appearance in the episode.

Guest appearances

  • In seasons six and seventh, Courteney Cox played Alex's girlfriend, Lauren.
  • In the first and second seasons, Tom Hanks has guest roles as Elyse's younger brother Ned Donnelly.
  • In season three, Geena Davis plays the domestic help Karen Nicholson.
  • In season four, Alex receives tutoring from math genius Eugene Forbes, played by River Phoenix .
  • In the seventh season, Maura Tierney , known as Abby Lockhart in the television series Emergency Room , played Darlene, a classmate of Skippy, in the episode "Night of the Flying Fish" (1989).

DVD release

In 2011 and 2012, the first two seasons of the series were released in German dubbed version.

Web links