It seems kind of corny but watching them get excited about the family in the boat kind of draws me in.

I wonder if we are supposed to get more emotional because the family is so much like the Andersons.

That's one of my favorite episodes. This show's cast and crew had a talent for transcending the normal bounds of a sitcom.

When they show the shot of that Coast Guard station, they really do a good job simulating the fury of that storm. It makes the whole incident seem way more realistic than if they'd omitted it (which would have been easy to do).