As much as I love "Family Ties" and it's one of my all-time favorite televison shows, there are still certain episodes that I loathe. The one (or two, actually) that comes to mind is where Alex spends the entire two-parter doing some kind of one man show talking about his recently dead best friend. I guess the thing that irked me the most is that we had never even heard of this supposed best friend before. The entire thing just came across as cheesy to me. How can I care about the death of a character that I didn't know until this episode? Was this just a vehicle to get Michael J. Fox across as a "serious" actor? And him speaking to the "unseen" psychologist or whoever the omnipotent voice is supposed to be (god?) made it even worse. This episode came across like the writer was trying to make a sitcom into Shakespeare. I HAVE to change the channel when this episode is on.

I don't really like that episode either, it was a little melodramatic if you ask me.

I also don't like "The Spirit of Columbus" maybe it's 'cause I've seen it so many times, but regardless, it bugs me.

The episode your referring to was called my name is Alex and is probably my favorite episode. If you notice Alex never really seemed to have too many male friends on the show, so you never hearing of the guy kind of makes sense. I believe Michael won an Emmy for my name is Alex, and it was even ranked by tv Guide I believe as one of the 100 best episodes in sitcom history. It was the only FT episode to make the list. But to each his own.

I think my least favorite episode was the one where Alexe's professor or whoever was involved in some silly scandal. Iv'e only seen that episode once and I don't plan on seeing it again. I can't think of anymore that I disliked at the moment.

Mallory never did care about other people's feelings but her own. Take the modelling episode for instance. I mean, can she help it if Elyse was more stunning than she was? The part where they were filming the commercial really took the cake. That part showed me, IMO, that Mallory was complaining quite a bit.

Another was where she tried to get into that stupid sorority if Alex would go out with her best friend to get a position. Mallory really had that coming to her when she didn't get picked. Good enough for her.

And may I add the "Go Tigers" episode? She practically ruined Alex's chances of getting into Princeton by her sobbing. Come on, man! You think anyone in their right mind would pass up a chance to go to an all-time Ivy League school because of their sibling's nonsense? Get real!

And how about when Nick got a job at Mallory's sorority, and was having the time of his life because he was never involved in a group situation before. I mean, Mallory should have been more supportive instead of being like "Why can;t you just punch in your time card and go home!" I was really mad at Mallory with this scene, I felt like saying "Oh Shut up and let the man have fun! " I mean, it felt like she was totally monopolizing Nick and his choices in this episode. She should have known that Nick would always love her and respect her.

And lastly, The episode where Elyse makes good with a girl that Mallory is doing a college assignment with. The girl and Elyse had one thing in common- Architecture, and they bonded quite well. Mallory went postal here as well when her mom was having fun with her friends. ("This is my life and these are my friend, so stay out f it!) IAnd she's in college, too, she should have known better. But Elyse complied with Mallory's wishes like she did with the modeling episode.

I say, if Mallory wants to succeed in life, she has to learn to respect other people's feelings and opinions about things.

The worst episodes were most of them from 86-88. It turned into The Michael J. Fox Show. Meredith Baxter and Michael Gross, especially Meredith, became supportive players instead of leads. I was glad when Meredith took a stand about her and Michael's part being dimenished. Actually the 88-89 season, even though the show became tired, I enjoyed the episodes because it showed more stories of Steven and Elyse. They were a fun couple to watch and was more realistic.

Originally posted by Jen1982
She had on a rambo-type outfit. The shirt was green and sleeveless and the pants were green.
Ouestion Trivia:
Name the man Elyse's mom went out with in the episode where Elyse was having trouble dealing with her mom's separation and upcoming divorce from her dad.

The actor name is James Karen.

That episode was very powerful. Meredith Baxter definitely shined in that one especially when she displayed her dramatic flair. I was in tears during that episode.

I'll only state an episde in season 3 since that's the only season I've watched in the last almost decade so far:

I didn't care for the one where Alex dreams about his dad being Thomas Jefferson & Alex, who was a stable boy in his dream, convinced his dad to write the Declaration of Independance.