Any mother/daughter moments that stand out in your mind?

Between Elyse & Mallory:

Between Elyse & Jennifer:

The ones that stand out in my mind are:

Mallory feeling left out: When Elyse gets carried away during a photo shoot, and then a commerical.
Also when Elyse seems to get along with Mallory's friends better than Mallory.

Jennifer feeling left out: When she has to be babysat.
Also, then when everyone thinks Andrew is so cute.

Although it seemed that Mallory felt left out and less important more often. Mallory mentioned more than once that she didn't feel like much, or didn't feel special.
For example:
"Alex..., Jennifer's great at sports, Andrew's cute, and well I'm nothing, I'm just me"

Anyone else notice this?

I felt bad for Mallory, she needed more attention then she got.

One moment I remember between Elyse and Mallory is when Mallory tells Elyse that Uncle Arthur made a pass at her and I think it was nice to see how Elyse acted so sympathetic and emphathetic towards Mallory and told her of the time that a friend of the family made a pass at her and she had gone to her room and put on American Bandstand and did the twist after it happened. I think the scene showed great love and understanding between mother and daughter. I also think Mallory should have gotten more attention than she got. Most of the episodes revolved around Alex or the parents. There should have been more episodes with Mallory being the protagonist in the show.

I also remember a moment between Elyse and Alex when Alex told Elyse how he felt about Ellen and how he loved a girl he could never be with and Elyse was touched by him expressing those kinds of feelings and said how she saw his father in him for the first time. I thought that was a really nice moment between mother and son.

A touching episode with Elyse is:
When Elyse's mom came and announce her divorce from Elyse's dad. Elyse took it hard and it came out in her behavior especially when her mom began to date immediately. When Elyse's mom expressed her need for support Elyse came around. That was a tear jerker.

Her interacton with Steven were excellent. They displayed what a loving and devoted couple they are.

The moment on Alex's 18th birthday when he defied her and expressed the way she's been treated and not being validated was powerful and touching at the end.

Dealing with her aunt's memory loss and diagnose of it.

The moments with Elyse were always dramatic moments. Meredith Baxter Birney is more of a dramatic actress than a sitcom actress. It is more easier for her to be dramatic than comical.

As for Mallory needing more attention. I think the show put too much attention on Alex and each season from season four to the end more and more stories was on Alex and they were getting repetitious as the years went by. I understand the audiences liked Michael J. Fox better but the producers should not have shove the cast aside and maybe they get to be featured about five episodes divided among themselves a season.

More Elyse moments:
When Steven had his heart attack and the fear of her having to possibly raise Andrew alone. She showed vulnerablility when turning to Alex for support.

On the final episode her displaying hurt and anger over Alex leaving and him not appearing to be concern about leaving the family.

Ironically the final season of the show we got to see more of Elyse in the forefront after Meredith expressed her dissatisfaction of her role being diminished in the previous seasons. If you watch seasons 5 and especially 6 she was more of a supporting player than the star. On Family, where she was a supporting player, she had more to work with on her character than she did with Family Ties.

You're right about there being more episodes with Elyse in the final season. She was on a lot in the first 3 seasons and then in seasons 4, 5, and 6 she was not seen very often at all. This was about the time that Meredith Baxter began to take a stand and say that she did not like her role being diminished, and she actually did have more episodes in the 7th season. I never noticed that before, thanks for mentioning it.
I think the episode where Uncle Arthur makes a pass at Mallory had a very touching scene between mother and daughter and really showed how close they were. This also happens in the episode where Mallory considers losing her virginity.
The best mother and son moment was when Alex told Elyse that he had really fallen in love for the first time and she told him this was the first time she had really seen his father in him. It was such a special moment, for her to see Alex in a new light and vice versa.

Some other great Elyse moments are:

When she looks to Alex for support while Stephen's in surgery, and we see a rare glimpse of her vulnerability.

When she and Mal have a long talk after she falls for the leader of her poetry group

When Stephen returns home in the episode where he almost cheats on her, and she knew all along and she struggles to explain how much it would hurt all of them especially her if he had taken that opportunity.

When she argues with Alex at the end of the last episode because its killing her to lose him and he's acting like its not a big deal at all.

When she tells the story of her ancestors because her aunt who has Alzheimer's can no longer remember it.

When she gets gambling fever and realizes that all the money was worth nothing because she missed a weekend with her family.

When she revives her folk-singing career (I love hearing her sing

:) )

I could go on forever, but that's all I'll say for now....;)

Originally posted by MBFTfan
You're right about there being more episodes with Elyse in the final season. She was on a lot in the first 3 seasons and then in seasons 4, 5, and 6 she was not seen very often at all. This was about the time that Meredith Baxter began to take a stand and say that she did not like her role being diminished, and she actually did have more episodes in the 7th season.

This is exactly why I like Seasons 5-6 the least. Way too much Alex, and not enough Elyse and Steven. I liked Season 4, because it had some really good storylines, though. I'm a huge Meredith Baxter Birney fan, and when it says Starring Meredith Baxter Birney on the credits, they mean it! :) I'm part of the minority there though, unfortunately.

This was a great idea for a thread, Jen!

You're so right. They wrote that part with her in mind, she was the star, and there's a reason that her name came first in the credits. I know how you feel, I too am a huge Meredith Baxter fan. She's the best!!

Originally posted by Jen1982
The following answers the question: Why did the focus of the show beome Alex (MJF)?
This is very interesting. Enjoy!


Alex started to get really annoying over time, so I'm glad that the 7th Season had a lot more episodes for the rest of the cast. I still think Meredith Baxter Birney is better at acting than Michael J. Fox... MJF is too monotone...

People always say the show would have never been popular without MJF, but with MBB and MG as the leads, of course it would. And being after The Cosby Show, it practically was automatically the #2 show since The Cosby Show was EXTREMELY popular at that time. I would have liked Family Ties better if it stayed how it was during the 1st Season.