Family Ties

Mike says: I have definitely been spoiled by modern television.

Family Ties was one of the staple shows of my childhood, yet I didn't really connect much with it. Michael J Fox was cool and all, but the whole liberal family in a conservative world wasn't really my family- we were Mormons in southern California.

Watching the show now, I get it. I even grin at the stereotypical Republican and liberal ideals clashing. I even think this show was needed- it effectively told the tale of the transition between two generations- two times of change. The Conservative revolution of the eighties is definitely worth comparing to the liberal uprising of the sixties. And to do it in a family setting really is brilliant.

The problem is- I just found the whole thing annoying.

To be fair, I only watched the first few episodes, and every show gets better with time: the actors learn their roles, the production runs smoother, etc. But watching the first disc of Family Ties was not an entirely joyful experience for me. As I said, I think I've just been spoiled by higher production budgets and modern technology.

Aside from the overall look of the show (bleh), the acting was bordering on awful. There were some cute jokes, and some nice ideas, but as the show hit every required mark for a family sitcom, it just wasn't fun to watch. I knew how each episode would end, I knew where it would go, and I wasn't terribly interested in finding out if I was right.

I can absolutely see why this show was so loved, as I think it reflected exactly what was going on in the homes during this time. That transition of the baby boomers into adults really was an interesting time. But, it doesn't really apply to me. To get that, I have to watch Big Bang Theory.

Kate says I get a kick out of Family Ties, but I have to agree with Mike that it comes off as slightly dated in a way that, oddly enough, much older shows like Barney Miller don't. I think this is due to the 80's--it suddenly became a requirement that all shows have a sentimental theme where people hugged at the end. Family Ties does this to the nth degree.

Having said that, I think Family Ties did a few things right, namely, the real middle-class aura to the family/home, the conservatism of Alex B. Keaton, and Michael J. Fox. First, the family/home feel real to me--the house seems lived in; the family relationships believable. Second, Alex B. Keaton's conservatism is treated as a joke (and Alex is almost always proved wrong by his super-enlightened parents), but his conservatism isn't treated like a dangerous disease that must be cured but rather as a characteristic that makes him unique. It's a kind of tolerance that I sometimes think modern television is missing.

Third, Family Ties is also great to watch as the vehicle that propelled Michael J. Fox deservedly to fandom. He, Michael Gross, and Meredith Baxter push the show forward. His comedic ability shines (in the first season, Tom Hanks shows up for a two-parter; he also shines; within a year, Tom Hanks was in movies, and Fox wasn't far behind; this was in the days when moving over to movies was the raison d'etre of television stars).

I do think the show improves later as it becomes more about the family and as some characters, like Skippy, gain bigger comedic roles. Ultimately, I think the family makes us care about them. I would agree, however, that the writing is not quite as high as most of the shows on this list. For the 80's, though, it was fairly impressive. Hmmm, what does that say about the 80's?