Family Ties

Family Ties is an American sitcom 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 move in the United States from the cultural liberalism of the 1960s and 1970s to the conservatism of the 1980s.[3] This culture was particularly expressed through the relationship between young Republican Alex P. Keaton (portrayed by Michael J. Fox) and his ex-hippie parents, Steven and Elyse Keaton (portrayed by Michael Gross and Meredith Baxter).

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

Plot
Set in suburban Columbus, Ohio, during the Reagan administration, Steven and Elyse Keaton (Michael Gross and Meredith Baxter) are baby boomers, liberalsand former hippies,[3] raising their three children: ambitious, would-be 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] Both Alex, and, to a lesser extent, Mallory, embrace Reaganomics and exhibit conservative attitudes: Alex is a "Young Republican", and Mallory, while not overtly political, is a more materialistic young woman in contrast to her feminist mother.[3] Mallory was also presented as a vacuous airhead, who was fodder for jokes and teasing from her brother. Jennifer, an athletic tomboy and the youngest child, shares more the values of her parents and just wants to be a normal kid. Steven and Elyse had a fourth child, Andrew (or "Andy", for short), who was born in early 1985. Andy is the youngest, on whom Alex doted and whom he quickly molded in his conservative image.

Regarding the concept, show's 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 conservative or greedy scheme, which led to a humorous misadventure, which 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 likeable portrayal of 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]

Main cast
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 "son", played by Michael J. Fox, was in fact only fourteen years younger than Baxter and Gross in real life.[7]
 * Meredith Baxter (Meredith Baxter-Birney) as Elyse Donelly Keaton
 * Michael Gross as Steven Keaton
 * Michael J. Fox as Alex P. Keaton
 * Justine Bateman as Mallory Keaton
 * Tina Yothers as Jennifer Keaton
 * Brian Bonsall as Andrew "Andy" Keaton (seasons 5–7)
 * Garrett and Tyler Merriman as Baby Andrew "Andy" Keaton (season 4)

Recurring cast

 * 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)

Guest stars
The show had been sold to the network using the pitch "hip parents, square kids."[8] 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.[3][8] Fox had received the role after Matthew Broderick turned it down.[9]
 * River Phoenix as Eugene Forbes in the episode "My Tutor"
 * Corey Feldman as Student Walter in the episode The Disciple
 * Tom Hanks as Ned Donnelly in 3 episodes
 * 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	3 episodes
 * Maura Tierney as Darlene in the episode "My Best Friend's Girl"

Supporting cast and characters includes neighbor, and Alex's best friend, Irwin "Skippy" Handelman (Marc Price); Mallory's Sylvester Stallone-esque artist boyfriend, Nick Moore (Scott Valentine); 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.

Theme song
The theme song, "Without Us" (credited in season one as "Us"), was composed by Jeff Barry and Tom Scott in 1982. During the first season, it was originally performed by Dennis Tufano and Mindy Sterling.[10][11] For the rest of the show's run, the song was performed by Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams.

Connection to Day by Day
During its final two seasons, Family Ties was scheduled on Sunday nights often followed by Day by Day, another series from Ubu Productions. Michael Grossand 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).

Episodes
Main article: List of Family Ties episodes

Emmy Awards

 * 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

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

TV Land Awards

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

Young Artist Awards

 * 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
NBC aired reruns of Family Ties weekday mornings from December 1985 until January 1987. In the fall of 1987, the series went into syndication in the United States. Currently, it airs on UP and Antenna TV. Reruns previously aired on MeToo, Disney Channel, FamilyNet, WGN America, TBS, YTV, Nick at Nite, TV Land, Hallmark Channel and The Hub.

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 season 1-7 on its "watch instantly" streaming service.[16]

In Australia, reruns aired on Eleven (a digital channel of Network Ten) in the afternoons and late night until June 2013. As of November 2015, two episodes are shown on weekdays between 11 am and midday. Family Ties was a perennial favourite seen on the Nine Network from 1983 to 2008. Prior to Eleven, the show screened on pay TV network TV1.

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

DVD
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.[17]

Streaming
All seven seasons of the series were made available for streaming through Netflix (removed again August 15, 2015[18]) and Amazon Video as well as Hulu Plus.[19]

As of February 2019, all seven seasons are still available on Prime Video(included with Amazon Prime membership), and also available on CBS All Access, but no longer available on Netflix or Hulu.[20] The first season is also available for free (with commercials) on the CBS website.[21]

References in other media
Over a decade after the cancellation 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[22] and the episode contained a reference to an off-screen character named "Mallory".[23] In the episode, after Flaherty becomes an environmental lobbyist in Washington D.C., he meets a "conservative junior senator named Alex P. Keaton."[24] Meredith Baxter also portrayed Mike Flaherty's mother, Macy Flaherty, in the episodes "Family Affair" (Parts 1 and 2).

The cast of Family Ties publicly reunited for the first time on February 7, 2008 for an interview on The Today Show.[25]