Super Bowl of Ties

The tradition is this: without a rooting interest in either team, spend the Super Bowl engaging in activities that are very un-Super-Bowl-ish (see: 2011, 2010). This year? A "Family Ties" marathon, babay!

Now, "Growing Pains" and "Family Ties" aired around the same time and were pretty similar in many respects. And although I've never seen a survey done, I'd guess that most people's favorite show was "Growing Pains". While I enjoyed both shows, I always preferred "Family Ties". "Growing Pains" was more purely comical, which is fine, but "Family Ties" had real heart - tackling head-on the important issues of the day. Plus, I'd rather watch Michael J. Fox and Meredith Baxter than anyone on the other show. Of course, "Growing Pains" had a character named "Boner" so it's not an entirely cut and dry issue.

So, get a spoon and some ice cream, it's time to run it down....

S01 E03: "I Know Jennifer's Boyfriend" - Jennifer becomes friends with a boy but after being teased and bullied, has second thoughts. Good, we're easing into things slowly with some standard 80's sitcom fare. Fair enough.

S01 E04: "Summer of '82" - A college girl appreciates Alex's economic views and sleeps with him. When she doesn't want a serious relationship, Alex feels cheap. Wow, that got out of hand quickly. It jumped up a notch, didn't it? Only episode 4 and already 17 year old Alex had pre-marital sex. I was NOT expecting that. We got 7 seasons to go, writers, pace yourselves. Save something in the tank for Season 7.

S01 E05: "I Never Killed for My Father" - OK, we tackled pretty heady stuff in the last episode. It's time to break up the seriousness with some comedic relief. Steven's (the dad's) father makes a visit and reveals he's going to die soon and there's nothing the doctor's can do.

S01 E06: "Give Your Uncle Arthur a Kiss" - With the fluff out of the way, it's back to serious mode. When a friend of the family, known as "Uncle Arthur", makes a pass at Jennifer, it leaves her hurt and confused. I can't believe my parents let me watch this show. "Family Ties" is not for the weak. Geeeeez. Let's move on.

S01 E07: "Big Brother is Watching" - An examination of both the role of a free press in exposing governmental corruption and the moral dilemma of whether truth should be sacrificed in the name of privacy to protect "the little fish".

S01 E08: "No Nukes is Good Nukes" - The Keaton family debates the topic of nuclear proliferation. When the parents' anti-nuclear weapon demonstration lands them in jail, will it ruin Thanksgiving dinner? Here's the thing. Regardless of your views on nuclear weapons (for or against), don't schedule a protest on Thanksgiving Day, please. That's just poor planning. It's just that kind of poor leadership from the left that makes me suspect a second term for Ronald Reagan is inevitable.

S01 E09: "Death of a Grocer" - Cue another fatal disease! Actually, despite what the title would have you believe, no one actually dies. Alex ditches his job at a friendly "mom and pop" grocery store to work at the monster corporation supermarket but soon regrets this decision. Unfortunately, I was fooled by the title and just waiting for the kindly old man to keel over at every turn. Then with one minute to go in the episode, he decides to close the store early to watch the sunset and I'm thinking, "Oh, here it is." but credits roll instead.

And that's it. We shared some laughs. We shared tears. We made cocoa in the middle of the night. dWe're all better people.

Observations

We all think of 80's sitcoms as fluffy bubble gum laughs of non-material saccharin frivolity. Even the "very special episodes", the thinking goes, were tackling the "tough" topics of littering or poor clock management. With just the first few episodes of "Family Ties" as proof, this notion could not be further from the truth. The key though is to be implicit not explicit. You gotta disguise everything using code. Here are some examples:

Elyse: Steven, what do you think your father would like with dinner - beer or wine?

Steven: Well definitely beer, Elyse. You know how my father feels about wine... it's OK for women and interior decorators.

"Women and interior decorators". Has anyone ever used this phrase ever? Still, message received.

Here's how Alex informs his father that he's had sex:

Alex: Well, you know what you think might have happened?

Steven: [Nods nervously].

Alex: That's what happened.

Clever. He says it but he doesn't actually say it.

See, apparently any taboo topic that everyone's covering these days could be an episode of "Family Ties", you just gotta be euphemistic. I didn't know that. I guess they were more 90's than 50's after all. At least, "Family Ties" was. I haven't revisited other shows of the era.

As an aside, I noticed that a poster hanging in the Keaton's kitchen is a concert poster for the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Those crazy hippies.

And that's it.

Sha Na Na Naaaaaaaa.