My assessment of the Keatons

[hch]

I love "Family Ties" as much as the next person, but have you ever considered the fact that the Keatons were a very CRAZY family? From watching the show on Nick at Nite, the Keatons would be a great family to visit, but i would go out of my mind if I had to live with people like them, Here's what i mean.

Elyse is the sane one and manages to keep her family under control, but Steven is a crazy control freak! For example: The episode where everything a bill goes up, he goes bananas and tries to control the household or in Mallory's boyfriend Nick, Everyone was somewhat cool with Nick, except Steven. There has been many a times that i would like to say to him "Man, get a life! Get a grip!" The one time I didn't agree with them was when they brought the gun in the house. Me and my sister was thinking "Why are they so worried about it for? It was just an unloaded gun. They shouldn't have to kill another human, they just had to slow them down a bit."

And the kids are no better! It's great that Alex has his belief on the way life should be, but does he have to lord it on everyone else in the family? Yet another person who needed to lighten up. He tried to get people to see his way, and they, in turn, told him to butt out. (Example: He tried to make his Little Brother Ming a facsimilie of himself before he started attacking Andrew; He even pulled Andrew out of preschool because he doesn;t agree with SHARING) Thank God, Lauren and Ellen were there to straighten him out and keep him in line...for the moment anyway. Alex thinks he's all that because of his good grades, and his overachievement. God, man, lighten up! That's what Mallory and Jennifer try to tell him. And he has totally messed up Andrew's child life! Poor Andrew.

Mallory is cool and great to be with, but you know, there are times where she overdid it, too. She's so blinded by superficial things that she neglects to see what really matters in life. But she became a good teacher to Nick and basically got him to adjust to the conventional world, but still allowing him to have artistic freedom. But just the same, Mallory was shallow in the true sense of the word.

The only one that had sense out of that entire family was Jennifer! Jennifer was just sitting around trying to make sense of it all. She was smart, quick-witted and right to the point. But she was totally unappreciated. Mature people are always the unappreciated ones which is not fair. Through all the craziness that went on with the Keatons, Jennifer managed to avoid becoming party to their actions and became a better person for it.

If I was living in that household, I would just go crazy having to listen to old folk music (the parents), Republican and sexists viewpoints (Alex), problems that don't amount to a hill of beans (Mallory). It would be a great family to visit, but I would rather die than live with them. Or I would go into exile and take Elyse, Jennifer and Andrew with me.

[APKJr]

Originally posted by hch
I love "Family Ties" as much as the next person, but have you ever considered the fact that the Keatons were a very CRAZY family? From watching the show on Nick at Nite, the Keatons would be a great family to visit, but i would go out of my mind if I had to live with people like them, Here's what i mean.

Well... There is a reason this on TV buddy.

Elyse is the sane one and manages to keep her family under control, but Steven is a crazy control freak! For example: The episode where everything a bill goes up, he goes bananas and tries to control the household or in Mallory's boyfriend Nick, Everyone was somewhat cool with Nick, except Steven. There has been many a times that i would like to say to him "Man, get a life! Get a grip!" The one time I didn't agree with them was when they brought the gun in the house. Me and my sister was thinking "Why are they so worried about it for? It was just an unloaded gun. They shouldn't have to kill another human, they just had to slow them down a bit."

My guess is that you saw that last night again (If you didn't it was on N@N last night (actually very earlyearlyearly mornin). I know /you/ may find it weird for some people to have something that would have that effect on them, but they're pacifists! They don't believe in violence for solving things. They are totally against it (although somethings can happen in which they do things like (episode in which Alex needs a college reccommendation from his English teacher and both Steven and Elyse punch him)). Pretend that is you and the one thing you hate the most in the world and all of the sudden it was placed in your house... How would you treat it? As for Steven being a control freak I would imagine that he (like most) just likes order and can't seem to find a way to keep order without being a control freak.

And the kids are no better! It's great that Alex has his belief on the way life should be, but does he have to lord it on everyone else in the family? Yet another person who needed to lighten up. He tried to get people to see his way, and they, in turn, told him to butt out. (Example: He tried to make his Little Brother Ming a facsimilie of himself before he started attacking Andrew; He even pulled Andrew out of preschool because he doesn;t agree with SHARING) Thank God, Lauren and Ellen were there to straighten him out and keep him in line...for the moment anyway. Alex thinks he's all that because of his good grades, and his overachievement. God, man, lighten up! That's what Mallory and Jennifer try to tell him. And he has totally messed up Andrew's child life! Poor Andrew.

The way you are putting it people shouldn't express how they feel about things? Alex was doing what he felt he should do as a good conservative-republican should do. He was expressing his theories/ideas/beliefs to those around him. It is only natural. As for Andrew he needed a role-model like Alex. He got taught quite a lot. Even if some values Elyse/Jennifer/Mallory thought were wrong. Most of them were good. He learned more in the first 7 years of his life than an average person would learn by the time they are a senior in highschool (Economics, etc); now he can be in the head of his class, and do well. Alex did nothing but make the child's life better.

Mallory is cool and great to be with, but you know, there are times where she overdid it, too. She's so blinded by superficial things that she neglects to see what really matters in life. But she became a good teacher to Nick and basically got him to adjust to the conventional world, but still allowing him to have artistic freedom. But just the same, Mallory was shallow in the true sense of the word.

Expand on the 'shallow' bit please.

The only one that had sense out of that entire family was Jennifer! Jennifer was just sitting around trying to make sense of it all. She was smart, quick-witted and right to the point. But she was totally unappreciated. Mature people are always the unappreciated ones which is not fair. Through all the craziness that went on with the Keatons, Jennifer managed to avoid becoming party to their actions and became a better person for it.

Jennifer... Sane?! She's the one who always was depressed about one thing or another, always falling for peer pressure. If youw atched the other night they played her 'Rainforest'epsode. Look at how insane that was! As Alex would put it 'Man buys something; he uses it; he enjoys it; he throws it away. It's the natural order of things.'

If I was living in that household, I would just go crazy having to listen to old folk music (the parents), Republican and sexists viewpoints (Alex), problems that don't amount to a hill of beans (Mallory). It would be a great family to visit, but I would rather die than live with them. Or I would go into exile and take Elyse, Jennifer and Andrew with me.

The only thing that would get me mad would be the parents and Jennifer's viewpoints... But the family (other than the libs in the house) is quite sane in my opinion.


PS: (This is an addded comment) Jennifer was extrmely overplayed as the bratty little sister in the first season. Watch a few of the episodes in order...

[~Tropical Punch 19~]

I have to agree with APKjr. I mean the family had it's faults, but don't all family's? I would love to live with the Keaton's they are hilarious.The writers may have overdid everyone's character to an extent, but it is tv.Alex had a good heart he thought he was doing the right thing to make evryone turn republican. He believed it was the right thing,a nd he was only trying to make life easier on his family. Mallory was just so sweet and caring she didn't relieze that there were "important things." what i mean is that she was so happy go lucky that she couldn't seem to understnad that there is hatered and crimes going on and she needed to learn to get through life. (i know that was confussing and sorry if it made no sense to you email me for a better explaination). Like APKjr said Jen was always depressed and always into saving the earth and stuff. It really got annoying. It as like just enjoy life. however, I think what hch meant with Jen was that she was the only character not overplayed. Wich is very true. Andy was a cutie. Alex was only trying to help the kid.It was his only brother and he was just trying ot have fun with him. At least he was nice to Andy unlike some big brotehrs who are totally embarrased to be seen with their younger siblings. Steven and Elyse were the only ones who really irritated me! They were sooo much into the 60s. "in the 60s we did this, In the 60s we did that" It was liek shut up! it is (or was) the 80s! gte over it!! Anyway, thats all I ahve to say!

[80sTrivia]

My own family drive me crazy... doesn't everyone's family?

I wouldn't have minded living in the Keaton household, personally.

[APKJr]

I personally would have liked living with the Keatons... Seem like a much more fun family than mine... but hey! That's TV, right?


One More Thing:

however, I think what hch meant with Jen was that she was the only character not overplayed

That is very true although I think that the reason she wasn't overplayed was because she was (started out as I should say) the youngest child. If she had started out at Alex's or Mallory's age then she would have been played out in a more extravagant manner; this is because she would have her 'personality' set already. Those years when it was like 9-14/15 whatever year she started the REAL enviromentalism stuff she was still developing her personality, getting new ideas about things, etc. This is just like Andy was not overplayued. He first had to develop his personality before he could truly let it all out.

My $0.02

[GoldenFamilyTies]

Jennifer... Sane?! She's the one who always was depressed about one thing or another, always falling for peer pressure. If youw atched the other night they played her 'Rainforest'epsode. Look at how insane that was! As Alex would put it 'Man buys something; he uses it; he enjoys it; he throws it away. It's the natural order of things.'

Excuse me? Being depressed from time to time makes you insane? You make her sound like all she ever did was sit there and mope! The rainforest thing wasn't insane, it depends on how you look at it... or what you think about it. She DID go a bit overboard with that though.

About the peer-pressure thing.... Have you ever seen the episode about the bookbanning? I think she did a pretty good job there of not doing what everyone else did. The person most likely to fall into peer pressure would probably be Mallory, but all of the keaton's have had their strong points.

Originally posted by APKJr

The only thing that would get me mad would be the parents and Jennifer's viewpoints... But the family (other than the libs in the house) is quite sane in my opinion.

Alex has just as strong of viewpoints (if not stronger) than the parents and Jen, and expresses them a lot more... It's not that I don't agree with some of them but just pointing that out.

PS: (This is an addded comment) Jennifer was extrmely overplayed as the bratty little sister in the first season. Watch a few of the episodes in order...

She wasn't really bratty that much, because she was very mature for her age, but she overplayed her sarcasm, (kinda throughout the series) but it makes for great television! And also, they did that because she was so young, they couldn't really give her too many storylines of her own, so she kinda tagged along.

[Janice]

Originally posted by GoldenFamilyTies

She wasn't really bratty that much, because she was very mature for her age, but she overplayed her sarcasm, (kinda throughout the series) but it makes for great television! And also, they did that because she was so young, they couldn't really give her too many storylines of her own, so she kinda tagged along.

Well said GoldenFamilyTies! I think Tina Yothers was a good actress who was often overshadowed by Alex and Mallory. It seems just when she was coming into her own, along comes Andy. She got shortchanged and wasn't given enough opportunities to prove herself, IMO.

[APKJr]

Alex has just as strong of viewpoints (if not stronger) than the parents and Jen, and expresses them a lot more... It's not that I don't agree with some of them but just pointing that out.

I know that; and what I'm saying is I agree with his viewpoints and not JEnn,'s or the parents :LOL: