Shark Bytes

It jumped for me the time that did that horrible tv movie. Before that they only had the random bland episode, but two hours of total blandness was way too much.

FT is one of my all time favorite shows, but it jump the shark. It didn't jump with the birth of Andrew (although the fin started to surface some when that happened), but from when baby Andrew when from being an infant to being a mini-Alex kid. Also they started to show all those flashback episodes . Around season 4 (the season before mini-Alex)the show had started to show more and more cracks. The show started to rely more on silly gags that had no bearing on realty and less of the family drama. It became more centered on Alex and less about the other members of the family (admittedly Alex was the breakthrough character on the show, but they would go overboard with his character too much). Nick was a good addition to the cast(which is rare among tv shows), but the show was already starting to become a parody of itself by then. Still the first 3 seasons (as well as some of season 4) renk among my favorite tv shows ever.

One word.....Ellen.

Tracy Pollan and her annoying accent made me want to cringe ever time she was on. She wasn't funny in any way and why they brought her on board is beyond me. I never saw the chemisty between she and MJF so I was surprised when they married in real life.

FT's definately jumped when Ellen was brought in and their horrible love song that others have mentioned. What a shame. It was a great show before that.

Jenifer and Mallory became annoying. Episodes that concentrated on them became boring. Mallory lost her looks bigtime. With each passing season she looked thinner than a rake, and jennifer began looking more and more like shamu.

If you're gonna get someone to play a drunk uncle, don't get the king of love stories. Come on, Tom Hanks. I could just imagine him wearing a lamp shade saying "Whaleson! Whaleson! I've got mail from talking toys!"

Does anyone remember the episode of Extreme makeover: Home edition where that one guy got kidney stones?

Hi everyone. My name is Ray, from Utica, NY. I will be visiting Poland soon, and I am hoping to meet my Polish relatives. I also hope some people from here may help me in contacting my relatives before my visit. Thanks and looking forward to meeting some great people on here!

Wonderful show,brings back alot of great memories of my brother and I watching great TV shows in the 80s. Family Ties was a great show in the beginning but like other family oriented shows, the kids get older and the show becomes stale. I wasn't a big fan of Andy (you should see what Brian Bonsall aka Andy looks like today...yikes)and I always wanted to slap Jennifer, but other than that great show. I would've voted "never jumped" although I don't think I can, I think the show JTSed once the "kids" got to old. I actually didn't mind Nick, Mallory's boyfriend, he was funny. Although Alex became more and more annoying as time went on. Anyway, great show, great memories.

I hope to God that was a joke.

Hi everyone. My name is Ray, from Utica, NY. I will be visiting Poland soon, and I am hoping to meet my Polish relatives. I also hope some people from here may help me in contacting my relatives before my visit. Thanks and looking forward to meeting some great people on here!

The liberal mentality of the parents was a little hard to take but it was tolerable. I had no issue with any of the characters on this show with the exception of the younger girl who suffers a near nervous breakdown over global warming (what the hell?) and the mother turns into a major bitch on the last episode of the series when she has to deal with her feelings about Alex moving away. Seems to be a common trend - the ascent to bitchiness among sitcom wives/mothers.

A previous poster (Francesca) said that Tina Yothers had to be related to someone to get the role she did. You were right:
Yothers was born in Whittier, California. Her father, Robert Yothers, was a television producer.

By the way, Mallory was hot.

FT jumped with the addition Andrew. When you see a new baby, run for the hills for the show is going down the tubes.

PS: I'm glad I wasn't the only one who dispised that "What...did...you...think.." song moment.

The poster below me is correct with the point about serious episodes vs. funny episodes - especially since FT started of with serious episodes. In the first half of the first season you had 1.the Keatons buying a gun after a burglary 2.the parents getting arrested on Thanksgiving 3.Steven's father dying 4.Keaton uncle (or was it a family friend) coming on to Mallory 5.Mallory's pregnant friend and more.

Also, in a very early episode - Alex loses his virginity. The network that I watch FT on conveniently skips over this episode. I read that episode got good reviews and was one of the earliest indicators to the producers on how popular Alex could become.

Some serious topics were done well - the one where Alex gets hooked on speed or the one where Skippy finds out he's adopted I like, but generally the serious topic episodes especially the episodes about Elyse - are my least favourite episodes.

The middle years are my favourite and the later years are missing something. I saw FT in its original run and the last two years (87-89)I wasn't as into the show and at the time couldn't put my finger on as to why. I have now figured out that toward the end of FT run, MJF was outgrowing the part although the best episodes were still the Alex ones.

The serious side got to be overbearing at times, but when they stuck to the simple things this show could be extremely funny. All shows age over time in regards to wardrobes & styles. Best to look at it for the time it was in production. FT, at it's best, had it's fair share of timeless humor to go w/ the topical jokes of the day as well.

Mostly, I agree with "fred" below almost word for word. To those being insulting to Tina - I ask you to think of most of the Cosby show kids (a group of really baaaad actors, except the one who played Sondra), and think of Darlene on Roseanne - good actress? hardly, she was the sister of Melissa Gilbert, but not a good actress, nor did she get "cuter" as she aged.

On family ties, I liked Justine Bateman better than MJF & I guess that's just personal taste, but I thought she was funnier.