Family Ties

Family Ties 80's TV Show

Family Ties was an award winning, popular sitcom that ran from 1982 to 1989 on NBC.  The show starred Meredith Baxter-Birney as Elyse Keaton, Michael Gross as Steven Keaton, Michael J. Fox as Alex P. Keaton, Justine Bateman as Mallory Keaton, Tina Yothers as Jennifer Keaton, and Brian Bonsall as Andrew Keaton.  It was this show that propelled Michael J. Fox into mega stardom, as well as featured a young Courteney Cox in the role of Lauren Miller.  The show was also famous for all the big time guest stars, such as Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, River Phoenix, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Crispin Glover, Wil Wheaton, Corey Feldman, Christina Applegate, and so many more.

Fans of this show will remember that the parents, Steven (Gross) and Elyse Keaton (Baxter-Birney), were liberal hippie throwbacks that their children would follow in their liberal footsteps.  Needless to say, the eldest kids, Alex (Fox) and Mallory (Bateman), have polar opposite view than their parents.  The ambitious Alex and materialistic Mallory are conservative, Regan supporters.  The only child couple managed to sway in their direction was their youngest daughter, Jennifer, who basically just wanted to fit in.  Episodes tended to be rather light-hearted, although they did deal with some topics like sex, drug use, cheating, etc.