by Moe Zilla

Created on: January 31, 2008

Michael J. Fox became a star on "Family Ties." He played one of the three children of former 60s activists, but Fox's character became so popular that he became a large part of the show.

Fox brought his smart, sarcastic delivery to the character of Alex Keaton, a money-hungry schemer. But though the show was a situation comedy, the writers worked to include earnest family drama as well, covering topics like Alzheimer's disease and children with disabilities. This mix of comedy with the occasional warm moment made the show hugely popular, and it ran for seven years starting in 1982.

In the third season the family adds a fourth child, leading to a funny interplay between the older children as he grew towards kindergarten age. (One kindergarten classmate told Alex that he'd heard about him already. "You like money.") His sister Mallory exasperates their parents by her unenlightened interest in shopping, and she eventually falls for a high school drop-out named Nick. (In a recurring joke, hip and diffident Nick always says "Hey" instead of "Hi.") And as the youngest daughter Jennifer, actress Tina Yothers ultimately found herself offering an honest bewilderment to the craziness around her.

But it was the show's commitment to quality that made it more than a typical situation comedy. Meredith Baxter Birney, playing the family's mother, had received two Emmy nominations in just the five years before the show aired. And probably the most dramatic moment came when Alex followed a woman that he loved, trying to reach her and share his feelings at the train station before she gets married. The episode ends with Alex missing her train, standing alone in a train station as a sad song plays. For the episode producers resurrected a 1981 love song by Billy Vera and the Beaters called "At This Moment," and it became a #1 hit after being featured on the show with its sad refrain, "If I could just hold you again."

In later seasons Alex girlfriend became a psychology student named Lauren, played by Courteney Cox (who went on to play Monica on the series Friends). But throughout the seven years, Alex remained an impish smart aleck who would eventually do the right thing.

Audiences came to realize that they'd hear some very funny lines on "Family Ties," but also good stories about family life and some genuinely likeable characters.

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