This is the season in which Geena Davis guest stars.
Its first season, "Family Ties" aired on Wednesday nights, wedged between "The Facts of Life" and "Quincy, M.E."--programs that weren't exactly geared toward the same audience. And it showed. The fledgling sitcom struggled, even when "St. Elsewhere" bumped Quincy out of his late time slot. But for its third season, this intelligent, realistic family comedy was given the slot right after "The Cosby Show" early Thursday evenings, and that was all it took for NBC to grab an audience for the full hour. If you liked the Cosby clan, you liked the Keatons. It was as simple as that, and "The Cosby Show" finished as the number three show, while "Family Ties" finished in the number five slot as the top-two sitcoms that year.
This was the season that mother Elyse (Meredith Baxter-Birney) learned she was having a late-in-life pregnancy and baby Andrew was born. It's also the year that Alex (Michael J. Fox) finally takes his youthful brand of Reaganomics to Leland College, and this season he and sister Mallory (Justine Bateman) negotiate the sometimes treacherous straits of the dating world. At home, meanwhile, sister Jennifer (Tina Yothers) gets jealous of the new baby and begins acting so childish it's like having two teens and two tiny tots--all of which leaves Steven (Michael Gross) wanting to spend more time with Elyse alone. And this is the season in which Geena Davis guest stars.
Here's a rundown on the episodes this season for an unusual sitcom that paired former flower-child parents with children who were so conservative and materialistic that you'd think they all got switched at birth:
1) "The Gambler." Elyse has to present a paper on architecture at a convention in Atlantic City, and the whole family tags along. But when Alex insists she try his foolproof Blackjack system, Elyse gets so hooked that she ruins the whole trip.
2) "Here We Go Again." While Steven is off camping, Elyse stays behind to work and learns in a phone call that she's pregnant. And the only one around to share the news with is the neighbor boy, Skippy Handelman (Marc Price).
3) "Little Man on Campus." Alex screws up academically his very first day on campus.
4) "Love Thy Neighbor." Jennifer has the hots for a former neighbor, but when he returns for a visit it's not Jennifer he's wanting. It's Mallory.
5) "Keaton 'n Son." Alex loses his job at the bank and reluctantly takes one at his dad's PBS station. But then the bank reinstates him, and Alex can't find the words to tell his elated father.
6) "Fabric Smarts." Mallory finds her calling at a boutique, but when her grades fall, Mom and Dad want her to quit. But (go figure) Alex says he'll tutor her.
7) "Hot Line Fever." Alex volunteers at a crisis hotline in order to satisfy college credit, but gets a caller who's thinking of suicide.
8) "4 RMS OCN VU." Alex rents out the Keaton house to visitors while his parents are away, in order to help pay for damage Mallory did to the family car.
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