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Family Ties

Family Ties is an American sitcom television series that aired on NBC for seven seasons, premiering on September 22, 1982, and concluding on May 14, 1989. The series, created by Gary David Goldberg, reflected the social shift in the United States from the cultural liberalism of the 1960s to the conservatism of the 1980s.[2] Because of this, Young Republican Alex P. Keaton (portrayed by Michael J. Fox) develops generational strife with his ex-hippie parents, Steven and Elyse Keaton (portrayed by Michael Gross and Meredith Baxter).

Family Ties
GenreSitcom
Created byGary David Goldberg
Starring
Theme music composer
Opening theme"Without Us" performed by Dennis Tufano and Mindy Sterling (season 1, episodes 1–10); Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams (remainder of series run)
Ending theme"Without Us" (instrumental)
ComposerTom Scott
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons7
No. of episodes176 + one film (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
  • Gary David Goldberg
  • Lloyd Garver
Producers
Cinematography
  • Mikel Neiers
  • Christopher Lynch
  • Dominic Palmieri
  • Robert F. Liu
Editors
  • Gary Anderson
  • Ed Brennan
  • John Carroll
Camera setupMulti-camera, Videotape
Running time24 minutes
Production companies
Original release
NetworkNBC[1]
ReleaseSeptember 22, 1982 (1982-09-22) –
May 14, 1989 (1989-05-14)
Related
The Art of Being Nick (TV pilot)
Day by Day

The show won multiple awards, including three consecutive Emmy Awards for Michael J. Fox as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.

Plot edit

Set in Columbus, Ohio during the Reagan administration, the show depicts Steven and Elyse Keaton (Michael Gross and Meredith Baxter) as baby boomers,[3] liberals and former hippies,[2] raising their three children: ambitious, aspiring millionaire entrepreneur Alex (Michael J. Fox); fashion-conscious, gossipy Mallory (Justine Bateman); and tomboy Jennifer (Tina Yothers). Married in 1964, Elyse is an independent architect and Steven, a native of Buffalo, New York, is the station manager of WKS, a local public television station.

Much of the humor of the series focuses on the cultural divide during the 1980s when younger generations rejected the counterculture of the 1960s and embraced the materialism and conservative politics which came to define the 1980s.[4] Alex, the eldest, is a Young Republican who embraces Reaganomics and exhibits conservative attitudes. In contrast to her feminist mother, Mallory is an apolitical and materialistic young woman[2] presented as a vacuous airhead, fodder for jokes and teasing from her brother. Jennifer, an athletic tomboy and the second-youngest child, shares more of the values of her parents and just wants to be a normal kid. Steven and Elyse have a fourth child, Andrew, who is born in early 1985. Alex dotes on his young brother and molds Andy in his conservative image.

Regarding the concept, show creator Goldberg observed, "It really was just an observation of what was going on in my own life with my own friends. We were these old kind of radical people and all of a sudden you're in the mainstream ... but now you've got these kids and you've empowered them, and they're super intelligent, and they're definitely to the right of where you are. They don't understand what's wrong with having money and moving forward."[5] A recurring theme involved Alex hatching a scheme involving some amount of greedy money-making, which led to a humorous misadventure and ended with Alex being forced to apologize for his choices. According to Goldberg, "We actually had this structure that we'd inherited from Jim Brooks and Allan [Burns], which was six scenes and a tag ... And then the last scene became Alex apologizes, in every show, we just left it up. Alex apologizes. Some version of it."[6] Nevertheless, Fox's portrayal of a likable Alex proved to be an important part of the show's success. Goldberg again stated, "With Alex, I did not think I was creating a sympathetic character. Those were not traits that I aspired to and didn't want my kids to aspire to, actually ... But at the end of Family Ties, when we went off the air, then The New York Times had done a piece and they said, 'Greed with the face of an angel.' And I think that's true ... [Michael J. Fox] would make things work, and the audience would simply not access the darker side of what he's actually saying."[5]

Cast edit

 
Cast of Family Ties (from left): Tina Yothers, Brian Bonsall (added in season five), Michael Gross, Meredith Baxter, Michael J. Fox, and Justine Bateman

Main cast edit

  • Meredith Baxter as Elyse Donnelly Keaton: Steven's wife and the mother of Alex, Mallory, Jennifer, and Andy. She is a successful architect and an ex-hippie liberal who lived in California in the 1960s. She is a patient, caring, and loving wife and mother. She met Steven in college where they later married.
  • Michael Gross as Steven Keaton: Elyse's husband and father to Alex, Mallory, Jennifer, and Andy. He is a branch manager of the local PBS station, [the fictional] WKS, who is an ex-hippie liberal who lived in California in the 1960s. He can be argumentative at times, but in the end is a diligent and supportive father who cares about his family deeply. He met and married Elyse in college in Berkeley.
  • Michael J. Fox as Alex P. Keaton: the eldest child and elder son of Steven and Elyse, and brother to Mallory, Jennifer, and Andy. He is an intelligent and ambitious Young Republican with two goals in life: to be successful and make money. He goes on to attend Leland University, and has long-term relationships with two women: Ellen Reed and Lauren Miller. He often clashes with his parents about their liberal politics, which conflict with his own conservative views.
  • Justine Bateman as Mallory Keaton: the second-eldest child and elder daughter of Steven and Elyse, and sister to Alex, Jennifer, and Andy. She is an unscholarly material girl, but kind-hearted and inoffensive, whose main interests are shopping and boys. She has a longtime relationship with Nick Moore. In the episode "Designated Hitter," it is revealed that Mallory has a higher I.Q. than scholastic overachiever Alex.
  • Tina Yothers as Jennifer Keaton: the second-youngest child and younger daughter of Elyse and Steven, and sister to Alex, Mallory, and Andy. She is a tomboy whose cares mostly include athletics. She skews more closely to her parents' liberal views, in contrast to her siblings’ more conservative views. She is shown to be aggressive but sweet. She is shown to be jealous at first of Andy, but later cares for him.
  • Brian Bonsall as Andrew "Andy" Keaton (seasons 5–7)
    • Garrett and Tyler Merriman as Baby Andrew "Andy" Keaton (season 4): the youngest child and younger son of Elyse and Steven, and brother to Alex, Mallory, and Jennifer. He is born during season 3, coinciding with Meredith Baxter's real-life pregnancy. After he is born, the whole family quickly shows affection and a loving attitude towards him—especially Alex, who attempts to imbue him with conservative values. He quickly ages by about four years between seasons 4 and 5.

Recurring cast edit

Notable guest stars edit

The show had been sold to the network using the pitch "hip parents, square kids."[7] Originally, Elyse and Steven were intended to be the main characters. However, the audience reacted so positively to Alex during the taping of the fourth episode that he became the focus on the show.[2][7] Fox had received the role after Matthew Broderick turned it down.[8] Laura Dern was considered for the role of Mallory Keaton.[9] Ed O'Neill auditioned for Steven Keaton,[10] but he later turned it down as he felt he was not right for the part.[11]

Supporting cast and characters include neighbor Irwin "Skippy" Handelman (Marc Price), who has an eternal crush on Mallory; Nick Moore (Scott Valentine), Mallory's Sylvester Stallone-esque artist boyfriend; Lauren Miller (Courteney Cox); and Alex's feminist, artist girlfriend Ellen Reed (Tracy Pollan, whom Michael J. Fox later married, in 1988). In season 3, episode 17, Elyse gave birth to her fourth child, Andrew (who was played by Brian Bonsall from season 5 onward). Twins Garrett and Tyler Merriman played baby Andrew.

Production edit

Main stars Meredith Baxter and Michael Gross are exactly the same age, sharing the same birthday on June 21, 1947. In the series, their characters were intended to be approximately five or six years older, given that their on-screen son, played by Michael J. Fox, was, in fact, only fourteen years younger than Baxter and Gross in real life.[12]

The show had several similarities or parallels to Baxter's prior series, Family. In addition to similar names for both series, the shows both initially featured three children, the youngest a tomboy, and later added another child to the cast. Baxter played the eldest child on the earlier show, and assumed the role of mother in Family Ties.

Theme song edit

The theme song "Without Us" (credited in season one as "Us") was composed by Jeff Barry and Tom Scott in 1982. During the first ten episodes of the first season it was performed by Dennis Tufano and Mindy Sterling.[13][14] From episode 11 onward the song was performed by original recording artists Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams, as producers were displeased with Tufano's and Sterling's version. A full-length version of "Without Us" is featured on Mathis and Williams' duet album "That's What Friends Are For," released by Columbia Records on the 2003 CD release of the album.

"At This Moment" edit

"At This Moment" was a 1981 single written by songwriter and recording artist Billy Vera and recorded live by Vera and his band, Billy Vera & The Beaters. Five years after its original release, a studio recording of "At This Moment" was featured at the beginning of several episodes of the fourth and early fifth seasons as the love song associated with Alex P. Keaton (Michael J. Fox) and his girlfriend Ellen Reed (Tracy Pollan). Its exposure on Family Ties renewed a huge interest in the song. People called and wrote NBC asking for the name of the song and its singer. The tune then began a revived chart run, eventually hitting #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts in January 1987. It also hit the Billboard R&B Chart and the Billboard Hot Country Chart. "At This Moment" quickly sold over a million copies in the United States, becoming one of the last Gold-certified singles in the 45 RPM format. The song crossed over to the R&B and Country formats, reaching #42 Country; as country was moving away from pop influence at the time, "At This Moment" would be the last song to appear on the country charts and reach number one on the pop charts for 13 years.

The first Billy Vera & The Beaters album was recorded live, so when "At This Moment" was used in Family Ties, only the live version existed. Vera later explained: "We re-recorded pieces of the song. In other words, they'd need 12 seconds here, or 20 seconds there in the show. So we went in and recorded just those pieces in the studio without the audience, because the audience would have been annoying, to the TV viewer. The thing that made it work better the second time was that the story of the song, boy-loses-girl, was the story of the episode "Boy Loses Girl." The first time they used the song, it was when he met the girl."

Family Ties writer Michael Weithorn would later recall: "In 1985, I had written an episode of Family Ties to start the fourth season, and we needed a sort of a sad romantic song. I just happened to go into a bar in Los Angeles and saw Billy and the Beaters. That was the perfect song, and the rest was history." In an interview, Vera talked about his meeting with Family Ties writer Michael Weithorn: "One afternoon I got a phone call, and this guy said, 'Hey I produce a show called Family Ties, and some of us were at your show the other night, and we heard you do this song that we thought would be perfect for an episode that we have coming up.' I got my publisher to make a deal for that with them and America responded like crazy." "NBC called us up, they said, 'My God, we've never had any response like this in the history of the network for a song. The switchboards are lighting up, we're getting letters, telegrams, where can we find this song?' People started calling radio stations, which never happens. I mean, it was a total organic hit."

On the DVD releases of both Family Ties' fourth and fifth seasons, "At This Moment" is still included and heard in those episodes.

In an interview with Rachael Ray in 2007, Michael J. Fox good-naturedly said, "Tracy and I couldn't get on the dance floor anywhere in the world for like ten years without them playing 'What did you think..."

At the 2011 TV Land Awards held in New York City, Billy Vera performed "At This Moment" with the main Family Ties cast in attendance that also included Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan, as the show had been nominated for and won Outstanding Fan Favorite.

Connection to Day by Day edit

During its final two seasons, Family Ties was scheduled on Sunday nights, often followed by Day by Day, another series from Ubu Productions. Michael Gross and Brian Bonsall brought their respective roles of Steven and Andy Keaton to the Day by Day episode "Trading Places," which reveals that Steven went to college with Brian Harper (Doug Sheehan). This episode is included on a bonus special-features disc in the Family Ties: The Complete Series Deluxe Family Album Collection Edition Box Set DVD.

Other appearances edit

Some characters were featured on Mickey's 60th Birthday, broadcast on November 13, 1988, on NBC, and featured Justine Bateman, Tina Yothers, and Brian Bonsall as their Family Ties characters, trying to help Mickey Mouse when everybody fails to recognize him due to a spell. Michael J. Fox additionally had a cameo in a flashback using archive footage.

Episodes edit

SeasonEpisodesOriginally airedRankRating
First airedLast aired
122September 22, 1982 (1982-09-22)April 4, 1983 (1983-04-04)56[15]
222September 28, 1983 (1983-09-28)May 10, 1984 (1984-05-10)4216.0 [16]
324September 20, 1984 (1984-09-20)March 28, 1985 (1985-03-28)522.1
FilmSeptember 10, 1985 (1985-09-10)
424September 26, 1985 (1985-09-26)May 1, 1986 (1986-05-01)230.0
530September 25, 1986 (1986-09-25)August 13, 1987 (1987-08-13)232.7
628September 13, 1987 (1987-09-13)May 1, 1988 (1988-05-01)1717.3
726October 30, 1988 (1988-10-30)May 14, 1989 (1989-05-14)3514.5 [17]

Awards edit

Emmy Awards edit

  • 1986: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Michael J. Fox)
  • 1987: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Michael J. Fox)
  • 1987: Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series
  • 1987: Outstanding Technical Direction
  • 1988: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Michael J. Fox)

Golden Globes edit

  • 1989: Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series (Michael J. Fox)

TV Land Awards edit

  • 2008: Character You'd Pay to Do Your Homework for You (Michael J. Fox)
  • 2011: Fan Favorite, Presented by Ben Stiller to the Family Ties cast

Young Artist Awards edit

  • 1985: Best Young Actress in a Television Comedy Series (Justine Bateman)
  • 1985: Best Young Supporting Actress in a Television Comedy Series (Tina Yothers)
  • 1986: Best Young Actor Starring in a Television Series (Marc Price)
  • 1988: Best Young Actor Under Nine Years of Age (Brian Bonsall)
  • 1989: Best Young Actor Under Ten Years of Age in Television or Motion Pictures (Brian Bonsall)

Syndication and international broadcast edit

NBC aired reruns of Family Ties weekday mornings from December 1985 until January 1987 before it was replaced by the Bill Rafferty version of Blockbusters. In the fall of 1987, the series went into syndication in the United States. Currently, reruns air on Antenna TV, Rewind TV and Pluto TV. Reruns previously aired on FamilyNet, TBS, Nick at Nite, TV Land, Hallmark Channel, The Hub and Pop.

In Canada, reruns of Family Ties began airing on CTS, a Christian-based network, on September 6, 2010. On May 15, 2011, Netflix began to stream seasons 1–7 on its "watch instantly" streaming service.[18]

In Australia, Family Ties originally screened on the Seven Network from 1983 onwards. It became a perennial favorite repeated many times before being bought by the Nine Network which screened it up until 2008.[citation needed] It later screened on pay TV network TV1 before airing on 10 Peach (then known as Eleven) in the afternoons and late night until June 2013. As of June 2020, two episodes are shown on Saturday afternoons between 1 and 2 p.m.

In the UK, Family Ties aired on Channel 4 from July 1985.[19]

In Indonesia, Family Ties aired on RCTI and SCTV between 1990 and 1993.

In Italy, the show aired on Italia 1 under the name of Casa Keaton (Keaton House) from 1986 until 1992.

In the Philippines, the show aired on GMA Network and was simulcast on RPN-9, IBC-13, PTV-4 and ABS-CBN from 1983 to 1991. It moved to ABC-5 Pilipino and was dubbed in 1998–2000.[citation needed]

The show screened in New Zealand on TVNZ in the 1980s and early '90s, but has never been repeated.

Home media edit

DVD edit

CBS DVD (distributed by Paramount) has released all seven seasons of Family Ties on DVD in Region 1, as of August 13, 2013. The second through fifth season releases contain special features, gag reels and episodic promos. The second season contains interviews with Michael Gross and Michael J. Fox along with other cast members. The fourth season contains the made-for-TV movie, Family Ties Vacation. Paramount has also released the first three seasons on DVD in Region 4.

On November 5, 2013, CBS Home Entertainment released Family Ties - The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1.

On November 11, 2014, CBS Home Entertainment re-released a repackaged version of the complete series set, at a lower price, but did not include the bonus disc that was part of the original complete series set.[20]

In Australia (Region 4), after the first three seasons were released, no further release came to light. In 2016, Via Vision Entertainment obtained the rights to the series and re-released the first three seasons along with season four on July 6, 2016. The remaining seasons were released each month after including a 'Complete Series' box set.

DVD name No. of
episodes
Release dates
Region 1 Region 4
The Complete First Season 22 February 20, 2007 April 9, 2008,

July 6, 2016 (re-release)[21]

The Second Season 22 October 9, 2007 September 4, 2008,

July 6, 2016 (re-release)[22]

The Third Season 24 February 12, 2008 April 2, 2009,

July 6, 2016 (re-release)[23]

The Fourth Season 24 August 5, 2008 July 6, 2016[24]
The Fifth Season 30 March 10, 2009 August 3, 2016[25]
The Sixth Season 28 April 9, 2013 September 7, 2016[26]
The Seventh Season 26 August 13, 2013 October 5, 2016[27]
The Complete Series 176 November 5, 2013/November 11, 2014 November 2, 2016[28]

Digital format edit

In addition to DVD, the TV series is available through a variety of services such as Prime Video and Vudu in the digital format.

References in other media edit

Over a decade after the end of Family Ties, Michael J. Fox's final episodes on Spin City featured numerous allusions to the show. In these episodes, Michael Gross played a therapist for Fox's character Michael Patrick Flaherty[29] and the episode contained a reference to an off-screen character named "Mallory".[30] In the episode, after Flaherty becomes an environmental lobbyist in Washington, D.C., he meets a "conservative junior senator named Alex P. Keaton."[31] Meredith Baxter also portrayed Mike Flaherty's mother, Macy Flaherty, in the two-part episode "Family Affair".

The main cast of Family Ties (minus a few other recurring cast members) has reunited publicly on three occasions (along with series creator/producer Gary David Goldberg on two occasions). They first reunited on February 7, 2008 (minus Tracy Pollan, Scott Valentine, Marc Price, Brian Bonsall and Courteney Cox) for an interview on The Today Show to help promote Goldberg's memoir Sit, Ubu, Sit.[32] The cast reunited again (minus Valentine, Bonsall and Cox) for a second time for the 2011 TV Land Awards in March of that year, which included Pollan alongside her husband Fox. That awards show would be the final appearance of Goldberg with the entire group.[citation needed] In October 2015, the main cast reunited for a third time with a second appearance (which included Pollan alongside Fox, but minus Price, Valentine, Bonsall and Cox) on The Today Show, and the first cast reunion since the 2013 death of Goldberg from cancer.[citation needed]

WandaVision edit

The 2021 Marvel Cinematic Universe series for the Disney+ video streaming service, references the series in the fifth episode, "On a Very Special Episode...," such as a stylized title sequence partially parodying the Family Ties opening that depicted the family first as a penciled sketch before finishing as a painted portrait, along with an upbeat theme song praising the family's love and closeness. In the episode, Wanda Maximoff and Vision are attempting to navigate raising their new children Tommy and Billy, both of whom are developing superhero abilities of their own.

References edit

  • Fox, Michael J. (2002). Lucky Man: A Memoir. New York: Hyperion. ISBN 978-0-7868-6764-6.
  • Goldberg, Gary David. "Comedy Stop: What Would Alex Keaton Do?." The New York Times, March 3, 2008.
  • Haglund, David. "Reagan's Favorite Sitcom: How Family Ties spawned a conservative hero." Slate. March 2, 2007.
  • Hurst, Alex. "." The Daily Pennsylvanian, April 24, 2001.
  • Patterson, Thomas. "What would Alex P. Keaton do?." CNN, November 1, 2006.
  • Saenz, Michael. "". - Museum of Broadcast Communications
  • Stewart, Susan. "The Parents Ate Sprouts; the Kid Stole the Show." The New York Times, February 25, 2007.

Notes edit

  1. ^ Clements, Erin (October 7, 2015). "Family Ties cast reflects on show 3 decades later: 'We all loved each other'". USA Today. from the original on June 2, 2017. Retrieved June 20, 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d Saenz, Michael. . Museum of Broadcast Communications. Archived from the original on June 6, 2016. Retrieved January 9, 2018.
  3. ^ Patterson, Thom (November 1, 2006). "What would Alex P. Keaton do?". CNN. Retrieved September 26, 2021.
  4. ^ Kiehl, Stephen (June 7, 2004). "What he left behind: From Tom Clancy to Alex P. Keaton, Ronald Reagan's legacy extends beyond the political and into the cultural". The Baltimore Sun. from the original on June 14, 2018. Retrieved January 9, 2018.
  5. ^ a b Primetime Propaganda: The True Hollywood Story of How The Left Took Over Your TV" by Ben Shapiro, Broadside Books, 2001, p. 125
  6. ^ Primetime Propaganda: The True Hollywood Story of How The Left Took Over Your TV" by Ben Shapiro, Broadside Books, 2001, p. 127
  7. ^ a b Haglund, David (March 2, 2007). "Reagan's Favorite Sitcom: How Family Ties spawned a conservative hero". Slate. from the original on May 16, 2010. Retrieved August 3, 2008.
  8. ^ The Biography Channel - Matthew Broderick Biography February 20, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ "Almost a KeatonWhat if actress LAURA DERN". Chicago Tribune. August 2004.
  10. ^ "The Lost Roles of Cheers". March 2012.
  11. ^ "Ed O'Neill". Television Academy Interviews. October 22, 2017.
  12. ^ Baxter, Meredith (2011). Untied: A Memoir of Family, Fame, and Floundering. Random House LLC.
  13. ^ Amazon Video: Family Ties October 8, 2020, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved February 18, 2013
  14. ^ Netflix: Family Ties February 5, 2013, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved February 18, 2013
  15. ^ . Archived from the original on June 30, 2018. Retrieved July 20, 2021.
  16. ^ . Archived from the original on January 18, 2018. Retrieved July 20, 2021.
  17. ^ . Archived from the original on January 18, 2018. Retrieved July 20, 2021.
  18. ^ "Netflix: Family Ties (1982–1988) Seasons 1–7". Netflix.
  19. ^ . December 26, 2004. Archived from the original on December 26, 2004.
  20. ^ Lambert, David (August 22, 2014). . TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on August 26, 2014. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
  21. ^ "Family Ties - Season 1". Sanity. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
  22. ^ "Family Ties - Season 2". Sanity. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
  23. ^ "Family Ties - Season 3". Sanity. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
  24. ^ "Family Ties - Season 4". Sanity. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
  25. ^ "Family Ties - Season 5". Sanity. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
  26. ^ "Family Ties - Season 6". Sanity. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
  27. ^ "Family Ties - Season 7". Sanity. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
  28. ^ "Family Ties - Season 1-7 | Collection". Sanity. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
  29. ^ Wallace, Amy (March 20, 2000). "Putting His Own Spin on 'City's' season finale". Los Angeles Times. from the original on July 15, 2012. Retrieved August 5, 2008.
  30. ^ Shales, Tom (May 24, 2000). "Michael J. Fox, Playing 'Spin City' to a Fare-Thee-Well." The Washington Post. p. C1.
  31. ^ Michael J. Fox Database November 19, 2004, at the Wayback Machine
  32. ^ "Family Ties: Reunited After Almost 20 Years!". TVSeriesFinale.com. Archived from the original on August 11, 2007. Retrieved February 7, 2008.

External links edit

family, ties, other, uses, disambiguation, american, sitcom, television, series, that, aired, seven, seasons, premiering, september, 1982, concluding, 1989, series, created, gary, david, goldberg, reflected, social, shift, united, states, from, cultural, liber. For other uses see Family Ties disambiguation Family Ties is an American sitcom television series that aired on NBC for seven seasons premiering on September 22 1982 and concluding on May 14 1989 The series created by Gary David Goldberg reflected the social shift in the United States from the cultural liberalism of the 1960s to the conservatism of the 1980s 2 Because of this Young Republican Alex P Keaton portrayed by Michael J Fox develops generational strife with his ex hippie parents Steven and Elyse Keaton portrayed by Michael Gross and Meredith Baxter Family TiesGenreSitcomCreated byGary David GoldbergStarringMeredith Baxter Michael Gross Michael J Fox Justine Bateman Tina Yothers Brian BonsallTheme music composerJeff Barry Tom ScottOpening theme Without Us performed by Dennis Tufano and Mindy Sterling season 1 episodes 1 10 Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams remainder of series run Ending theme Without Us instrumental ComposerTom ScottCountry of originUnited StatesOriginal languageEnglishNo of seasons7No of episodes176 one film list of episodes ProductionExecutive producersGary David Goldberg Lloyd GarverProducersSusan Borowitz Ruth Bennett Michael J Weithorn Lloyd Garver Alan Uger Marc LawrenceCinematographyMikel Neiers Christopher Lynch Dominic Palmieri Robert F LiuEditorsGary AndersonEd BrennanJohn CarrollCamera setupMulti camera VideotapeRunning time24 minutesProduction companiesUbu Productions Paramount TelevisionOriginal releaseNetworkNBC 1 ReleaseSeptember 22 1982 1982 09 22 May 14 1989 1989 05 14 RelatedThe Art of Being Nick TV pilot Day by DayThe show won multiple awards including three consecutive Emmy Awards for Michael J Fox as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 2 1 Main cast 2 2 Recurring cast 2 3 Notable guest stars 3 Production 3 1 Theme song 3 2 At This Moment 3 3 Connection to Day by Day 3 4 Other appearances 4 Episodes 5 Awards 5 1 Emmy Awards 5 2 Golden Globes 5 3 TV Land Awards 5 4 Young Artist Awards 6 Syndication and international broadcast 7 Home media 7 1 DVD 7 2 Digital format 8 References in other media 8 1 WandaVision 9 References 10 Notes 11 External linksPlot editSet in Columbus Ohio during the Reagan administration the show depicts Steven and Elyse Keaton Michael Gross and Meredith Baxter as baby boomers 3 liberals and former hippies 2 raising their three children ambitious aspiring millionaire entrepreneur Alex Michael J Fox fashion conscious gossipy Mallory Justine Bateman and tomboy Jennifer Tina Yothers Married in 1964 Elyse is an independent architect and Steven a native of Buffalo New York is the station manager of WKS a local public television station Much of the humor of the series focuses on the cultural divide during the 1980s when younger generations rejected the counterculture of the 1960s and embraced the materialism and conservative politics which came to define the 1980s 4 Alex the eldest is a Young Republican who embraces Reaganomics and exhibits conservative attitudes In contrast to her feminist mother Mallory is an apolitical and materialistic young woman 2 presented as a vacuous airhead fodder for jokes and teasing from her brother Jennifer an athletic tomboy and the second youngest child shares more of the values of her parents and just wants to be a normal kid Steven and Elyse have a fourth child Andrew who is born in early 1985 Alex dotes on his young brother and molds Andy in his conservative image Regarding the concept show creator Goldberg observed It really was just an observation of what was going on in my own life with my own friends We were these old kind of radical people and all of a sudden you re in the mainstream but now you ve got these kids and you ve empowered them and they re super intelligent and they re definitely to the right of where you are They don t understand what s wrong with having money and moving forward 5 A recurring theme involved Alex hatching a scheme involving some amount of greedy money making which led to a humorous misadventure and ended with Alex being forced to apologize for his choices According to Goldberg We actually had this structure that we d inherited from Jim Brooks and Allan Burns which was six scenes and a tag And then the last scene became Alex apologizes in every show we just left it up Alex apologizes Some version of it 6 Nevertheless Fox s portrayal of a likable Alex proved to be an important part of the show s success Goldberg again stated With Alex I did not think I was creating a sympathetic character Those were not traits that I aspired to and didn t want my kids to aspire to actually But at the end of Family Ties when we went off the air then The New York Times had done a piece and they said Greed with the face of an angel And I think that s true Michael J Fox would make things work and the audience would simply not access the darker side of what he s actually saying 5 Cast edit nbsp Cast of Family Ties from left Tina Yothers Brian Bonsall added in season five Michael Gross Meredith Baxter Michael J Fox and Justine BatemanMain cast edit Meredith Baxter as Elyse Donnelly Keaton Steven s wife and the mother of Alex Mallory Jennifer and Andy She is a successful architect and an ex hippie liberal who lived in California in the 1960s She is a patient caring and loving wife and mother She met Steven in college where they later married Michael Gross as Steven Keaton Elyse s husband and father to Alex Mallory Jennifer and Andy He is a branch manager of the local PBS station the fictional WKS who is an ex hippie liberal who lived in California in the 1960s He can be argumentative at times but in the end is a diligent and supportive father who cares about his family deeply He met and married Elyse in college in Berkeley Michael J Fox as Alex P Keaton the eldest child and elder son of Steven and Elyse and brother to Mallory Jennifer and Andy He is an intelligent and ambitious Young Republican with two goals in life to be successful and make money He goes on to attend Leland University and has long term relationships with two women Ellen Reed and Lauren Miller He often clashes with his parents about their liberal politics which conflict with his own conservative views Justine Bateman as Mallory Keaton the second eldest child and elder daughter of Steven and Elyse and sister to Alex Jennifer and Andy She is an unscholarly material girl but kind hearted and inoffensive whose main interests are shopping and boys She has a longtime relationship with Nick Moore In the episode Designated Hitter it is revealed that Mallory has a higher I Q than scholastic overachiever Alex Tina Yothers as Jennifer Keaton the second youngest child and younger daughter of Elyse and Steven and sister to Alex Mallory and Andy She is a tomboy whose cares mostly include athletics She skews more closely to her parents liberal views in contrast to her siblings more conservative views She is shown to be aggressive but sweet She is shown to be jealous at first of Andy but later cares for him Brian Bonsall as Andrew Andy Keaton seasons 5 7 Garrett and Tyler Merriman as Baby Andrew Andy Keaton season 4 the youngest child and younger son of Elyse and Steven and brother to Alex Mallory and Jennifer He is born during season 3 coinciding with Meredith Baxter s real life pregnancy After he is born the whole family quickly shows affection and a loving attitude towards him especially Alex who attempts to imbue him with conservative values He quickly ages by about four years between seasons 4 and 5 Recurring cast edit Marc Price as Irwin Skippy Handelman Scott Valentine as Nick Moore seasons 4 7 Tracy Pollan as Ellen Reed season 4 Courteney Cox as Lauren Miller seasons 6 7 Notable guest stars edit River Phoenix as Eugene Forbes in the episode My Tutor Jeff Cohen as Marv Jr Dougie Barker in 2 episodes Corey Feldman as Student Walter in the episode The Disciple Tom Hanks as Ned Donnelly in 3 episodes Martha Plimpton as Jessie Black in the episode You ve Got a Friend Wil Wheaton as Timothy Higgins in the episode D Is for Date David Faustino as Keith Baily in the episode To Snatch a Keith Geena Davis as Karen Nicholson in 2 episodes Maura Tierney as Darlene in the episode My Best Friend s Girl Crispin Glover as Doug in the episode The Birthday Boy Christina Applegate as Kitten in the episode Band on the Run Julia Louis Dreyfus as Susan in the episode Read It and Weep Part 2 Brownie McGhee as Eddie Dupree in the episode The Blues Brother The show had been sold to the network using the pitch hip parents square kids 7 Originally Elyse and Steven were intended to be the main characters However the audience reacted so positively to Alex during the taping of the fourth episode that he became the focus on the show 2 7 Fox had received the role after Matthew Broderick turned it down 8 Laura Dern was considered for the role of Mallory Keaton 9 Ed O Neill auditioned for Steven Keaton 10 but he later turned it down as he felt he was not right for the part 11 Supporting cast and characters include neighbor Irwin Skippy Handelman Marc Price who has an eternal crush on Mallory Nick Moore Scott Valentine Mallory s Sylvester Stallone esque artist boyfriend Lauren Miller Courteney Cox and Alex s feminist artist girlfriend Ellen Reed Tracy Pollan whom Michael J Fox later married in 1988 In season 3 episode 17 Elyse gave birth to her fourth child Andrew who was played by Brian Bonsall from season 5 onward Twins Garrett and Tyler Merriman played baby Andrew Production editMain stars Meredith Baxter and Michael Gross are exactly the same age sharing the same birthday on June 21 1947 In the series their characters were intended to be approximately five or six years older given that their on screen son played by Michael J Fox was in fact only fourteen years younger than Baxter and Gross in real life 12 The show had several similarities or parallels to Baxter s prior series Family In addition to similar names for both series the shows both initially featured three children the youngest a tomboy and later added another child to the cast Baxter played the eldest child on the earlier show and assumed the role of mother in Family Ties Theme song edit The theme song Without Us credited in season one as Us was composed by Jeff Barry and Tom Scott in 1982 During the first ten episodes of the first season it was performed by Dennis Tufano and Mindy Sterling 13 14 From episode 11 onward the song was performed by original recording artists Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams as producers were displeased with Tufano s and Sterling s version A full length version of Without Us is featured on Mathis and Williams duet album That s What Friends Are For released by Columbia Records on the 2003 CD release of the album At This Moment edit This section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed July 2020 Learn how and when to remove this template message At This Moment was a 1981 single written by songwriter and recording artist Billy Vera and recorded live by Vera and his band Billy Vera amp The Beaters Five years after its original release a studio recording of At This Moment was featured at the beginning of several episodes of the fourth and early fifth seasons as the love song associated with Alex P Keaton Michael J Fox and his girlfriend Ellen Reed Tracy Pollan Its exposure on Family Ties renewed a huge interest in the song People called and wrote NBC asking for the name of the song and its singer The tune then began a revived chart run eventually hitting 1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts in January 1987 It also hit the Billboard R amp B Chart and the Billboard Hot Country Chart At This Moment quickly sold over a million copies in the United States becoming one of the last Gold certified singles in the 45 RPM format The song crossed over to the R amp B and Country formats reaching 42 Country as country was moving away from pop influence at the time At This Moment would be the last song to appear on the country charts and reach number one on the pop charts for 13 years The first Billy Vera amp The Beaters album was recorded live so when At This Moment was used in Family Ties only the live version existed Vera later explained We re recorded pieces of the song In other words they d need 12 seconds here or 20 seconds there in the show So we went in and recorded just those pieces in the studio without the audience because the audience would have been annoying to the TV viewer The thing that made it work better the second time was that the story of the song boy loses girl was the story of the episode Boy Loses Girl The first time they used the song it was when he met the girl Family Ties writer Michael Weithorn would later recall In 1985 I had written an episode of Family Ties to start the fourth season and we needed a sort of a sad romantic song I just happened to go into a bar in Los Angeles and saw Billy and the Beaters That was the perfect song and the rest was history In an interview Vera talked about his meeting with Family Ties writer Michael Weithorn One afternoon I got a phone call and this guy said Hey I produce a show called Family Ties and some of us were at your show the other night and we heard you do this song that we thought would be perfect for an episode that we have coming up I got my publisher to make a deal for that with them and America responded like crazy NBC called us up they said My God we ve never had any response like this in the history of the network for a song The switchboards are lighting up we re getting letters telegrams where can we find this song People started calling radio stations which never happens I mean it was a total organic hit On the DVD releases of both Family Ties fourth and fifth seasons At This Moment is still included and heard in those episodes In an interview with Rachael Ray in 2007 Michael J Fox good naturedly said Tracy and I couldn t get on the dance floor anywhere in the world for like ten years without them playing What did you think At the 2011 TV Land Awards held in New York City Billy Vera performed At This Moment with the main Family Ties cast in attendance that also included Michael J Fox and Tracy Pollan as the show had been nominated for and won Outstanding Fan Favorite Connection to Day by Day edit During its final two seasons Family Ties was scheduled on Sunday nights often followed by Day by Day another series from Ubu Productions Michael Gross and Brian Bonsall brought their respective roles of Steven and Andy Keaton to the Day by Day episode Trading Places which reveals that Steven went to college with Brian Harper Doug Sheehan This episode is included on a bonus special features disc in the Family Ties The Complete Series Deluxe Family Album Collection Edition Box Set DVD Other appearances edit Some characters were featured on Mickey s 60th Birthday broadcast on November 13 1988 on NBC and featured Justine Bateman Tina Yothers and Brian Bonsall as their Family Ties characters trying to help Mickey Mouse when everybody fails to recognize him due to a spell Michael J Fox additionally had a cameo in a flashback using archive footage Episodes editMain article List of Family Ties episodes SeasonEpisodesOriginally airedRankRatingFirst airedLast aired122September 22 1982 1982 09 22 April 4 1983 1983 04 04 56 15 222September 28 1983 1983 09 28 May 10 1984 1984 05 10 4216 0 16 324September 20 1984 1984 09 20 March 28 1985 1985 03 28 522 1FilmSeptember 10 1985 1985 09 10 424September 26 1985 1985 09 26 May 1 1986 1986 05 01 230 0530September 25 1986 1986 09 25 August 13 1987 1987 08 13 232 7628September 13 1987 1987 09 13 May 1 1988 1988 05 01 1717 3726October 30 1988 1988 10 30 May 14 1989 1989 05 14 3514 5 17 Awards editEmmy Awards edit 1986 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Michael J Fox 1987 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Michael J Fox 1987 Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series 1987 Outstanding Technical Direction 1988 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Michael J Fox Golden Globes edit 1989 Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series Michael J Fox TV Land Awards edit 2008 Character You d Pay to Do Your Homework for You Michael J Fox 2011 Fan Favorite Presented by Ben Stiller to the Family Ties castYoung Artist Awards edit 1985 Best Young Actress in a Television Comedy Series Justine Bateman 1985 Best Young Supporting Actress in a Television Comedy Series Tina Yothers 1986 Best Young Actor Starring in a Television Series Marc Price 1988 Best Young Actor Under Nine Years of Age Brian Bonsall 1989 Best Young Actor Under Ten Years of Age in Television or Motion Pictures Brian Bonsall Syndication and international broadcast editNBC aired reruns of Family Ties weekday mornings from December 1985 until January 1987 before it was replaced by the Bill Rafferty version of Blockbusters In the fall of 1987 the series went into syndication in the United States Currently reruns air on Antenna TV Rewind TV and Pluto TV Reruns previously aired on FamilyNet TBS Nick at Nite TV Land Hallmark Channel The Hub and Pop In Canada reruns of Family Ties began airing on CTS a Christian based network on September 6 2010 On May 15 2011 Netflix began to stream seasons 1 7 on its watch instantly streaming service 18 In Australia Family Ties originally screened on the Seven Network from 1983 onwards It became a perennial favorite repeated many times before being bought by the Nine Network which screened it up until 2008 citation needed It later screened on pay TV network TV1 before airing on 10 Peach then known as Eleven in the afternoons and late night until June 2013 As of June 2020 two episodes are shown on Saturday afternoons between 1 and 2 p m In the UK Family Ties aired on Channel 4 from July 1985 19 In Indonesia Family Ties aired on RCTI and SCTV between 1990 and 1993 In Italy the show aired on Italia 1 under the name of Casa Keaton Keaton House from 1986 until 1992 In the Philippines the show aired on GMA Network and was simulcast on RPN 9 IBC 13 PTV 4 and ABS CBN from 1983 to 1991 It moved to ABC 5 Pilipino and was dubbed in 1998 2000 citation needed The show screened in New Zealand on TVNZ in the 1980s and early 90s but has never been repeated Home media editDVD edit CBS DVD distributed by Paramount has released all seven seasons of Family Ties on DVD in Region 1 as of August 13 2013 update The second through fifth season releases contain special features gag reels and episodic promos The second season contains interviews with Michael Gross and Michael J Fox along with other cast members The fourth season contains the made for TV movie Family Ties Vacation Paramount has also released the first three seasons on DVD in Region 4 On November 5 2013 CBS Home Entertainment released Family Ties The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1 On November 11 2014 CBS Home Entertainment re released a repackaged version of the complete series set at a lower price but did not include the bonus disc that was part of the original complete series set 20 In Australia Region 4 after the first three seasons were released no further release came to light In 2016 Via Vision Entertainment obtained the rights to the series and re released the first three seasons along with season four on July 6 2016 The remaining seasons were released each month after including a Complete Series box set DVD name No ofepisodes Release datesRegion 1 Region 4The Complete First Season 22 February 20 2007 April 9 2008 July 6 2016 re release 21 The Second Season 22 October 9 2007 September 4 2008 July 6 2016 re release 22 The Third Season 24 February 12 2008 April 2 2009 July 6 2016 re release 23 The Fourth Season 24 August 5 2008 July 6 2016 24 The Fifth Season 30 March 10 2009 August 3 2016 25 The Sixth Season 28 April 9 2013 September 7 2016 26 The Seventh Season 26 August 13 2013 October 5 2016 27 The Complete Series 176 November 5 2013 November 11 2014 November 2 2016 28 Digital format edit In addition to DVD the TV series is available through a variety of services such as Prime Video and Vudu in the digital format References in other media editOver a decade after the end of Family Ties Michael J Fox s final episodes on Spin City featured numerous allusions to the show In these episodes Michael Gross played a therapist for Fox s character Michael Patrick Flaherty 29 and the episode contained a reference to an off screen character named Mallory 30 In the episode after Flaherty becomes an environmental lobbyist in Washington D C he meets a conservative junior senator named Alex P Keaton 31 Meredith Baxter also portrayed Mike Flaherty s mother Macy Flaherty in the two part episode Family Affair The main cast of Family Ties minus a few other recurring cast members has reunited publicly on three occasions along with series creator producer Gary David Goldberg on two occasions They first reunited on February 7 2008 minus Tracy Pollan Scott Valentine Marc Price Brian Bonsall and Courteney Cox for an interview on The Today Show to help promote Goldberg s memoir Sit Ubu Sit 32 The cast reunited again minus Valentine Bonsall and Cox for a second time for the 2011 TV Land Awards in March of that year which included Pollan alongside her husband Fox That awards show would be the final appearance of Goldberg with the entire group citation needed In October 2015 the main cast reunited for a third time with a second appearance which included Pollan alongside Fox but minus Price Valentine Bonsall and Cox on The Today Show and the first cast reunion since the 2013 death of Goldberg from cancer citation needed WandaVision edit The 2021 Marvel Cinematic Universe series for the Disney video streaming service references the series in the fifth episode On a Very Special Episode such as a stylized title sequence partially parodying the Family Ties opening that depicted the family first as a penciled sketch before finishing as a painted portrait along with an upbeat theme song praising the family s love and closeness In the episode Wanda Maximoff and Vision are attempting to navigate raising their new children Tommy and Billy both of whom are developing superhero abilities of their own References editFox Michael J 2002 Lucky Man A Memoir New York Hyperion ISBN 978 0 7868 6764 6 Goldberg Gary David Comedy Stop What Would Alex Keaton Do The New York Times March 3 2008 Haglund David Reagan s Favorite Sitcom How Family Ties spawned a conservative hero Slate March 2 2007 Hurst Alex Remembering an icon from the Me Decade The Daily Pennsylvanian April 24 2001 Patterson Thomas What would Alex P Keaton do CNN November 1 2006 Saenz Michael Family Ties Museum of Broadcast Communications Stewart Susan The Parents Ate Sprouts the Kid Stole the Show The New York Times February 25 2007 Notes edit Clements Erin October 7 2015 Family Ties cast reflects on show 3 decades later We all loved each other USA Today Archived from the original on June 2 2017 Retrieved June 20 2017 a b c d Saenz Michael Encyclopedia of Television Family Ties Museum of Broadcast Communications Archived from the original on June 6 2016 Retrieved January 9 2018 Patterson Thom November 1 2006 What would Alex P Keaton do CNN Retrieved September 26 2021 Kiehl Stephen June 7 2004 What he left behind From Tom Clancy to Alex P Keaton Ronald Reagan s legacy extends beyond the political and into the cultural The Baltimore Sun Archived from the original on June 14 2018 Retrieved January 9 2018 a b Primetime Propaganda The True Hollywood Story of How The Left Took Over Your TV by Ben Shapiro Broadside Books 2001 p 125 Primetime Propaganda The True Hollywood Story of How The Left Took Over Your TV by Ben Shapiro Broadside Books 2001 p 127 a b Haglund David March 2 2007 Reagan s Favorite Sitcom How Family Ties spawned a conservative hero Slate Archived from the original on May 16 2010 Retrieved August 3 2008 The Biography Channel Matthew Broderick Biography Archived February 20 2010 at the Wayback Machine Almost a KeatonWhat if actress LAURA DERN Chicago Tribune August 2004 The Lost Roles of Cheers March 2012 Ed O Neill Television Academy Interviews October 22 2017 Baxter Meredith 2011 Untied A Memoir of Family Fame and Floundering Random House LLC Amazon Video Family Ties Archived October 8 2020 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved February 18 2013 Netflix Family Ties Archived February 5 2013 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved February 18 2013 1982 83 Ratings History Archived from the original on June 30 2018 Retrieved July 20 2021 1983 84 Ratings History Archived from the original on January 18 2018 Retrieved July 20 2021 1988 89 Ratings History Archived from the original on January 18 2018 Retrieved July 20 2021 Netflix Family Ties 1982 1988 Seasons 1 7 Netflix BBC Comedy Guide Family Ties December 26 2004 Archived from the original on December 26 2004 Lambert David August 22 2014 Family Ties The Complete Series Gets Re Released in a New Unlimited Box TVShowsOnDVD com Archived from the original on August 26 2014 Retrieved August 24 2014 Family Ties Season 1 Sanity Retrieved December 6 2020 Family Ties Season 2 Sanity Retrieved December 6 2020 Family Ties Season 3 Sanity Retrieved December 6 2020 Family Ties Season 4 Sanity Retrieved December 6 2020 Family Ties Season 5 Sanity Retrieved December 6 2020 Family Ties Season 6 Sanity Retrieved December 6 2020 Family Ties Season 7 Sanity Retrieved December 6 2020 Family Ties Season 1 7 Collection Sanity Retrieved December 6 2020 Wallace Amy March 20 2000 Putting His Own Spin on City s season finale Los Angeles Times Archived from the original on July 15 2012 Retrieved August 5 2008 Shales Tom May 24 2000 Michael J Fox Playing Spin City to a Fare Thee Well The Washington Post p C1 Michael J Fox Database Archived November 19 2004 at the Wayback Machine Family Ties Reunited After Almost 20 Years TVSeriesFinale com Archived from the original on August 11 2007 Retrieved February 7 2008 External links editFamily Ties at IMDb Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Family Ties amp oldid 1180054336, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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