MovieChat Forums > Family Ties (1982) Discussion > Why do viewers feel that Andrew's birth ...

Why do viewers feel that Andrew's birth was the jump the shark moment?

posted 4 years ago by TMC-4 (20178)
22 replies | jump to latest

I know that Meredith Baxter (Birney) was pregnant in real life and instead of simply strategically hiding her belly, they wrote it in that Elyse was pregnant too. Did viewers think that the Keatons having another kid was unnecessary since they were already, a nearly grown nuclear family? And naturally, they had to make the baby a clone/mini-me of the show's most popular character.

https://web.archive.org/web/20061031125219/http://www.jumptheshark.com/f/familyties.htm

[–] pioneergrrrl (2411) 4 years ago

Theoretically they could have hidden it. Fox was essentially carrying the show and very well too--despite juggling numerous movies and partying super heavy off camera. Other stars who drank...etc heavy got written off of their own show.

But they decided to try for 'cuteness'. It was unneeded bc when the show started, Jennifer was not a toddler, she was already older herself. This was a show already for older/sophisticated people who would grasp the reverse "all in the family" scripting.

it wasn't for the type of families who were going to squeal over a 'mystery baby' who was born one season and then aged (other bad decision) dramatically the next. That was never their audience.

[–] Mustang (5443) 9 months ago

That is true, there weren't any catchphrases etc that the characters used and there was never a very young child anyway on the show. The youngest star until Andrew was Jennifer who wasn't cute nor tried to act like it.

I think adding Andrew took from the show and made it like the other sitcoms which played off the cute kid angle. Jennifer already got few storylines as it was let alone adding a fourth kid.

[–] Kowalski (76205) 4 years ago

I LIKED THE ALEX/ANDREW RELATIONSHIP...FAMILY TIES NEVER JUMPED THE SHARK.🙂

[–] Artisan (3464) 4 years ago

Adding a baby or new kid to a show is always a cheap gimmick and is a sign that the show is on it's last few seasons.

[–] Popcorngal (4816) 4 years ago

What is the actor doing now?

[–] Kowalski (76205) 4 years ago

In 1995, Bonsall retired from acting and moved with his mother and stepfather to Boulder, Colorado. He attended Boulder High School, graduating in 2000.[2]

He also became a musician, forming the rock band Late Bloomers with his friends in 1998. He has also been in the Boulder-based punk bands Thruster as well as The Light on Adam's Stereo.[3]

On March 28, 2007, Bonsall was arrested on charges of assaulting his girlfriend. He was sentenced to 2 years of probation on August 31, 2007.[4]

On December 7, 2009, Bonsall was arrested for third-degree assault and failure-to-appear in connection with the 2007 assault on his girlfriend.[5]

In February, 2010, Bonsall was arrested on charges of using marijuana in violation of the terms of his release. He was sentenced in April 2010 to 2 years of probation.[6]

In 2016, Bonsall toured with rock band The Ataris.[7] That same year, he claimed to have been clean and sober since his 2010 arrest: "My drunken run-ins with the law are about 10 years behind me, so I’m pretty happy about that. I’m not proud of my past mistakes but you live and you learn".[8]

In October 2017, Bonsall married Courtney Tuck.[9] Their son, Oliver, was born in August of 2019.[10] Bonsall is currently a member of the band Sunset Silhouette.

[–] Popcorngal (4816) 4 years ago

Good grief, did that show put a curse on all the young stars? I am glad he is still around.

[–] [email protected] (5916) 4 years ago

Well, Meredith Baxter was pregnant in real life. And in her real life, her kids were older too. Pregnancy happens to older moms. I don't see it as a 'jump the shark' moment.

Steven and Elyse were loving parents. They loved their kids and as Elyse said to Steven, "We always said that we'd welcome another child."

My dad's youngest sibling was born when he was a senior in high school. Life happens!

[–] pioneergrrrl (2411) 3 years ago

Even though she was pregnant off screen/real life they did not need to add a kid. Fox essentially was the show--and by that time Alex was in college. there was no need for Andrew. Show actually could have continued doing without Andrew. It was not needed. 'Andrew' never became a fad and Bonsall never went anywhere after the show, none of his lines became catch phrases. He's not on t-shirts etc today.

[–] Mustang (5443) 5 months ago

Did Andy even have a catchphrase? I don't recall, I disliked him. As you say in another post above, the show never had the cute toddler/child. It was unique in that all 3 kids were teens or close to being teen in Jen's case, not sure how old she was supposed to be.

From memory a lot of the time he was just a background character and the show was on it's last legs anyway as Fox became more and more successful with movies.

[–] pioneergrrrl (2411) 5 months ago

No, he didn't have a catch phrase.

It says a lot about Fox and his values that he basically was doing double duty with both the tv show and movies.

[–] Mustang (5443) 5 months ago

I imagine it was win-win for everyone involved, especially the producers of Family Ties. Not many TV shows had a an up and coming mega movie star in the cast. Given the show went till 1989 with Fox in the cast who was already a star by 1985 with Back to the Future I would say it was commendable that he stayed on the TV show. At that point he didn't have to.

[–] pioneergrrrl (2411) 3 months ago

I feel proud when I watch stuff with MJF in it. Such a strong work ethic and devotion to fans.

[–] MeanKitty2022 (145) 3 years ago

All that adding him did was add a bunch of pointless scenes that were just annoying. And took away from other dialogue and scenes they could have had.

[–] pioneergrrrl (2411) 3 years ago

Agree. Just because she was pregnant in real life did not mean they had to add it to the show.

The writers forgot that the show (unlike real life) depended on viewer ratings. And ultimately Meredith was not the source of the viewer ratings. So they should have politely declined any request to make Elyse Keaton pregnant. They needed to focus on what had made them popular.

[–] Mustang (5443) 3 years ago

They were already struggling with three kids in terms of story lines and purpose. The youngest daughter got little attention. Adding the Andrew just allowed them to do cheap cute little kid scenes.Hey annoying it brought the show down.

[–] modica (4169) 3 years ago

Probably. I watched a lot less after that. It threw of the whole dynamic of the show.

[–] Where (1519) 2 years ago

I forgot they added that character. I think I stopped watching a couple of seasons before that happened.

[–] pioneergrrrl (2411) 2 years ago

'Andrew' didn't really do anything....he didn't have catch phrases, t-shirts, a doll, or a spin off cartoon. Fox was probably far too polite to protest a little kid. And besides, he had those things with his likeness.

[–] BillyRosewood84 (20) 9 months ago

And did Alex have any catchphrases? That doesn't really apply. Not only did it address the Birney pregnancy stuff, it gave the writers countless junior Alex jokes to inundate the show with.

You had this massively popular character and now you were giving Andy all of these money jargon, business suit wearing, Republican spouting idiotic lines that audiences were eating up. I'm sure to the sheer delight of the cast.

Why wasn't Andy more like his father or Mallory? Well they're not the stars of the show. I mean shit, Andy's first moment on camera he comes walking through the kitchen door wearing a three-piece suit as a 4-year-old. 🙄🙄

[–] pioneergrrrl (2411) 9 months ago

Alex didn't have any specific catch phrases.

He said different things related to money, power and/or wealth.

But no one-two single phrases ala Gary Coleman....or even Lisa Whelchel who had catchphrases for their respective characters. Coleman was on NBC until the last season of Different Strokes so that network knew catch phrases worked with viewers.

Fox was instead marketed bc of his looks.