More Atticus, Less Homer

A few weeks ago, two friends and I were hanging out when a rerun of Family Ties came on television. None of us had seen it in years, and we kept remarking on how unrealistic the premise was, how stuffy and cheesy. I was shocked by this, because, apart from its liberalism in the age of Reagan, I'd remembered this show as reflecting the experience of many middle-class American families in the 1980s. I'd felt like it reflected my own family in many ways: a busy household, parents who both worked, kids who played sports and took part in after-school events. But watching it as a grown man, something seemed off. Only recently did I realize why the show struck me as strange: in this age of Homer Simpson and Peter Griffin, the thing that seemed "off" about Family Ties is the show's portrayal of father Steven Keaton. He wasn't an idiot.