The TV Sitcom Family Ties Had A Serious Undercurrent Beneath The Humor
One of the most popular situation comedies of the 1980s was the NBC show, Family Ties. It ran from 1982 – 1989 and is still remembered fondly by fans, who can re-visit the entire seven season’s episodes on DVD. The basic premise involved a family, made up of hippie parents and their conventional offspring, who lived in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio. It was unusual for the times in exploring social issues, such as drug abuse, racism and suicide, in a sitcom.
The parents of the Keaton family were played by Meredith Baxter-Birney as Elyse and Michael Gross as Steven. One of the four children, Alex, was played by Michael J.Fox, who would go on to star in Spin City and Hollywood films. A lot of the humor arose from the different attitudes between republican Alex and liberal Mom and Dad. Alex rejects his parent’s 1960s flower power attitude and goes to make his fortune on Wall Street in the last episode of Family Ties.
Many people who would later be major Hollywood stars had parts in the series. Courtney Cox, best known playing Monica Geller in Friends, was cast as Alex’s girlfriend. Another girlfriend was played by Tracy Pollan, later to be married to Fox in real life. Other future stars included Tom Hanks and Geena Davis.
There were two different versions of the theme song, called Without Us. The original was recorded by Mindy Sterling and Dennis Tufano and it was later performed by Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams.
A spin off, although one with a tenuous link to the original Family Ties show, aired in 1988 but didn’t even last a season, despite getting an Emmy nomination. Named Day by Day, the cast included Thora Birch, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss and Courtney Thorne-Smith. A special made for television feature length episode was broadcast in 1985. The chief characters from the show appeared in Family Ties Vacation as the story was moved to England. Alex has a place at university there and the whole family follows him to have a vacation and do some sightseeing in London. The special was criticized for not sticking to the spirit of the show and characters behaved away from their normal roles.
The show was a reflection of the political climate during the 1980s and had a serious undercurrent beneath the humor. This was the decade when 1960s idealism gave way to consumerism and big business. Ironically, President Ronald Reagan said that Family Ties was his favorite TV show.
