When Did Family Ties Jump the Shark?

[TMC]

https://popculturereferences.com/whe...ump-the-shark/

In a feature looking at if or when a TV series "jumped the shark," Brian asks you all to determine when (or if) Family Ties jumped the shark.

Today, we look at when (or if) you folks believe that Family Ties “jumped the shark.”

This is “Just Can’t Jump It,” a feature where we examine shows and whether they “jumped the shark.” Jumped the shark (coined by Jon Hein) means that the show had a specific point in time where, in retrospect, you realize that show was going downhill from there (even if, in some rare occasions, the show later course-corrected). Not every show DOES jump the shark. Some shows just remain good all the way through. And some shows are terrible all the way through. What we’re looking for are moments where a show that you otherwise enjoyed hit a point where it took a noticeable nose dive after that time and if so, what moment was that?

Family Ties was a long-running sitcom that was based around the idea of two former hippies raising kids who were very much of the 1980s. However, their eldest child, Alex P. Keaton (Michael J. Fox) became such a breakout that the series evolved a bit into the Alex P. Keaton show, featuring these other Keatons, as well (including an occasional Jennifer spotlight episode if you’re unlucky). It was very critically acclaimed, and Fox won a number of Emmys for Best Actor in a Comedy Series.

So first…DID IT JUMP THE SHARK? I am going to say no.

WHEN DID IT JUMP THE SHARK Clearly, like any other long-running sitcom, Family Ties got worse as it went on, but Fox was just too good as Alex to let the quality dip too low, and the supporting cast of Michael Gross and Meredith Baxter-Birney as the parents were similarly too good to let things fall apart around him. The show certainly got progressively wackier as time passed (and characters, like Justin Bateman’s Mallory, became more and more cartoonish) and there was a late-in-the-series baby (who got aged up), and the show was sort of stuck with Tina Yothers’ Jennifer, but still, the quality never dipped low enough for me to say that it ever jumped the shark.

[BestTVever]

This is an easy answer: When the baby came. Sitcoms always believe when the kids grow up and ratings go down that a new younger and cute kid is the answer and it never works. He was a baby and then a toddler and was annoying IMHO. He would always appear in the first scene and get a cute line with Alex and then leave the room. He added nothing to the show except a cute face and a dumb cute line in the opening.

[jets4life]

Originally Posted by BestTVever

This is an easy answer: When the baby came. Sitcoms always believe when the kids grow up and ratings go down that a new younger and cute kid is the answer and it never works. He was a baby and then a toddler and was annoying IMHO. He would always appear in the first scene and get a cute line with Alex and then leave the room. He added nothing to the show except a cute face and a dumb cute line in the opening.

That was going to be my #1 answer. When Andy debuted.

Another possible moment, was when a "friend" of Alex (who was never in any other episode), ends up drinking and driving, and gets killed in a car crash. It was a 2-part special, and it was so melodramatic, especially the acting Michael J Fox did.

[rusty spike]

Didn't baby Andy age by 4-5 years within a single season?

That changed the dynamics of the show (for me at least) with the the previous youngest member, Jennifer. I realize that the kids are growing up, but they little kid didn't add value to the show.

Also, the prominent message of the show: parents to Alex- Money doesn't solve problems. Yet, most parents would want their kids to have money and success.

[paul.austin]

Originally Posted by jets4life

That was going to be my #1 answer. When Andy debuted.

Another possible moment, was when a "friend" of Alex (who was never in any other episode), ends up drinking and driving, and gets killed in a car crash. It was a 2-part special, and it was so melodramatic, especially the acting Michael J Fox did.

CLIP OF MICHAEL J. FOX: "When i was told i had Parkinson's i thought to myself..."

CLIP OF ALEX P. KEATON: "Why, am I alive! Why, am i alive! WHY, AM I ALIVE!"

[BestTVever]

Originally Posted by rusty spike

Didn't baby Andy age by 4-5 years within a single season?

That changed the dynamics of the show (for me at least) with the the previous youngest member, Jennifer. I realize that the kids are growing up, but they little kid didn't add value to the show.

Also, the prominent message of the show: parents to Alex- Money doesn't solve problems. Yet, most parents would want their kids to have money and success.

You're right. He went from a baby to a walking toddler within a season. When I watch today it just annoys me how he was used. He was always in the opening scene to look cute and tell a cute joke and then walk out. He was never seen again until the end for another cute joke. He was almost like a robot. Be cute, tell a cute adult joke and then leave the room. He had no chemistry with the family at all.
IMHO he was worse than cousin Oliver
At least cousin Oliver had scripts based around his character.

[DJM77]

Originally Posted by BestTVever

You're right. He went from a baby to a walking toddler within a season. When I watch today it just annoys me how he was used. He was always in the opening scene to look cute and tell a cute joke and then walk out. He was never seen again until the end for another cute joke. He was almost like a robot. Be cute, tell a cute adult joke and then leave the room. He had no chemistry with the family at all.
IMHO he was worse than cousin Oliver
At least cousin Oliver had scripts based around his character.

There were a few scripts based around his character. Off the top of my head, there was the episode where he got jealous of Lauren because Alex was spending so much time with her. Then there was the episode where be befriended a deaf boy.

[paul.austin]

I actually prefer that alternate pop cultural history where Elise has a miscarriage and the Keatons adopt a little girl.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.p...Alternate1980s

[just1paul]

It jumped the shark when it became the "Michael J. Fox show" and it seems everything revolved around him.

If I had ever done some of the things he did that were not funny IMO or spoken to my parents the way he did (again not funny) I would haver been launched into outer space.

I watched today the episode where his friend Doug got married and that entire episode was so out there, especially when Alex shows up at the wedding. None of this was funny.

[CJMD03]

When Andy came.

[icecream]

Family Ties never jumped the shark, it was good all seven seasons.

[Rich3]

A baby is always an Omen. A jinx. A bad sign. A messenger of doom.

[TMC]

Somebody else has argued that Family Ties really "jumped the shark" when when Mallory's boyfriend, Nick, was getting more screen time than Jennifer or Elise.

[Rich3]

Nick's character was just too silly and one dimensional. Mallory never developed either.

[rusty spike]

At the end of Season 5 (the 2 part It's my party) Jennifer experiences a character assassination. She becomes a valley girl speaking some strange dialect. I didn't see the first part because of streaming glitches, but Jen is so bizarre in the 2nd part. I can't get past the "cool kids" fashions. They are all dressed in weird shaped skirts- they look like garment bags (full length) with slits for legs. Maybe I am too harsh, but Jen (Tina) is/was about my age. I never saw anyone dressed like Jen's new friends at my school and I even went to church and dances (formal ones). After Jennifer runs off the teenage party-goers, she becomes a normal Keaton again who can articulate her sentences and enjoys sports. The weirdo Jen disappears.