Eight Is Enough - General Discussion

[januaryman]

Now streaming free on Tubi.

https://tubitv.com/series/300010076/eight-is-enough?start=true

[Egg McMuffin]

I’ve never understood why this was never as popular in reruns as other 70s family shows The Waltons and Little House. I think the last time it was rerun on TV was on the PAX network in the late 90s. It was based on a book by journalist and later Crossfire co-host Tom Braden (even using all the same first names for his wife and kids). But it had to move past the source material pretty quickly when Diana Hyland, who played wife Joan, passed away before production for the first season was complete.

I thought they did a nice job setting the stage for a new stepmother, Abby. It happened a bit quickly, but that was because ABC didn’t want the show to be about a single father. I thought they dealt with it much more realistically than the Brady Bunch or My Three Sons or Make Room for Daddy, where the biological parent was forgotten and the stepparent immediately became Mom or Dad. Joan Bradford was frequently mentioned throughout the years and even in the reunion movie 10 years later. Abby didn’t become “Mom” either and they really mined the blended family dynamic for stories throughout the run.

Looking forward to catching up on some episodes. Thanks for the heads up.

[Snow Apple]

I loved the theme song. 

I think I started watching when Abby was already in the cast so didn't watch season 1 except when they had reruns. I remember seeing Mark Hamill as the oldest son but prefer the 2nd actor since he's the I'm used to. I also remember when Ralph Macchio joined the cast.

[Bethany]

I really liked this show a lot but if memory serves by the last year I pretty much stopped watching.  One episode I've always remembered is the one where Tommy gets sick and Mary, who is in medical school, doesn't take it seriously and then feels guilty when he is rushed to the hospital for an operation.  It was very realistic and not the kind of storyline you usually were seeing on TV at that time.

[Yogisbooboo64]

6 hours ago, Egg McMuffin said:

Joan Bradford was frequently mentioned throughout the years and even in the reunion movie 10 years later. Abby didn’t become “Mom” either and they really mined the blended family dynamic for stories throughout the run.

I remember that Elizabeth in particular had a really hard time accepting Abby at first.

Every time I see Ralph Macchio I'm thinking 'Jeremy!'

Had the serious hots for Grant Goodeve (David), he still looks great.

[Snow Apple]

I agree how good and realistic it was that Joan was not forgotten. I remember the scene when the dad was telling Abby the story of how Joan loved buying Christmas presents and hiding them throughout the year. How they kept finding the gifts around the house after she passed and how Nancy cherish her mirrored compact that they found. Funny what sticks with you since I can't recall any other specific scenes of the show.

[Bethany]

I remember Joan Braden being quoted as saying she wished they had had a second wife with the same or similar name and giving examples of famous people like Johnny Carson where this had happened.  It must have been odd for her to have a show that was based on her family, where the cast had the same names and because, sadly, Diana Hyland, the actress portraying her died (IIRC after only being in a handful of episodes from the first season) there's a new mom in the Bradford family.

[Egg McMuffin]

6 hours ago, Elizabeth Anne said:

I really liked this show a lot but if memory serves by the last year I pretty much stopped watching. 

One of the challenges of starting the show with most of the kids as young adults is that it had a shorter shelf life. By the last season, all the kids were adults except for tween Nicholas, so that limited the types of stories they could do. There were no teenagers (except for Jeremy) or little kids to carry different types of stories.

During the last season, ABC moved it from Wednesday to Saturday night. I’ve read that several of the actors were struggling with substance abuse issues by then, and wouldn’t surprise me if ABC moved it to Saturday to kill it. It was played out by then anyway.

[Egg McMuffin]

1 hour ago, Elizabeth Anne said:

I remember Joan Braden being quoted as saying she wished they had had a second wife with the same or similar name and giving examples of famous people like Johnny Carson where this had happened.  It must have been odd for her to have a show that was based on her family, where the cast had the same names and because, sadly, Diana Hyland, the actress portraying her died (IIRC after only being in a handful of episodes from the first season) there's a new mom in the Bradford family.

ABC wanted to recast the role of Joan and the producers were adamantly against it. The producers wanted the show to go on with widower Tom entering the dating scene and testing out future stepmothers and hiring the right actress if/when they found her. But ABC wanted a two-parent family and had marketed the show as being focused on a traditional family. The compromise was that Tom would meet Abby early on in the second season and would be married by midseason. And they wound up marrying them off even quicker - by November sweeps! That’s how we ended up with an episode where the first Christmas without Joan was also the first Christmas with Abby.

[Bethany]

2 minutes ago, Egg McMuffin said:

The producers wanted the show to go on with widower Tom entering the dating scene and testing out future stepmothers and hiring the right actress if/when they found her.

Yes I love how on TV it's very much off with old, on with new as quickly as possible!  I think they should have recast the role of the original mother, I checked IMDB and Diana Hyland was only in 4 episodes (which really sounds wrong to me, perhaps IMDB has it wrong) but at any rate she was not on long enough for the audience to have found a new Joan unacceptable.  Or at least I didn't think so then and I still don't think so now!

[Egg McMuffin]

Yep, it was just four episodes where Joan appeared onscreen, plus two episodes where they had voiceovers from her as she spoke on the phone to Tom while she was away. I have a wonderful book called “Written Out of Television” where Diana Hyland and Eight is Enough were the subject of one of the chapters. The producers didn’t want to recast because they didn’t want the young actors on the show - many of whom were in their first job - to think that Hyland was just a cog that could be replaced. Kudos to them for that.

[partofme]

15 hours ago, Egg McMuffin said:

never understood why this was never as popular in reruns as other 70s family shows The Waltons and Little House

I’ve only ever seen Eight is Enough in reruns, but it was in the late 80’s on the local nyc station WPIX.   My favorite characters were Nicholas and Mary.  I also loved the theme song.   The ages  kids were very confusing, other than Nicholas they all looked like twenty somethings.  

Edited February 17, 2023 by partofme

[Cobb Salad]

20 hours ago, partofme said:

 The ages  kids were very confusing, other than Nicholas they all looked like twenty somethings.  

I watched it during the original run.  About the ages of the kids there were a few of them who looked like they were very close in age - Joanie, Nancy and Susan come to mind.  Yeah, they seemed old for the parts they were playing.   Of the older kids I think David was the only one out on his own?

Then the actress who played Abby, Betty Buckley, is the same age as the actress who played Joanie who was playing a middle daughter.  I remember reading an article about the show a while back about Betty Buckley having some issue at the time about playing a “mother” to characters being played by actors who were around her age.  I guess they didn’t cast someone older as a 2nd wife since it always seems like when shows do that there’s always a kid in the deal.

[Bethany]

19 hours ago, Cobb Salad said:

About the ages of the kids there were a few of them who looked like they were very close in age - Joanie, Nancy and Susan come to mind.  Yeah, they seemed old for the parts they were playing.   Of the older kids I think David was the only one out on his own?

I am guessing for the older kids they went with actors aged at least 18 to get around the rules about minors on a film set. But it was interesting in looking up the actresses who played the older sisters (all of whom were supposed to still be in their teens, or 20 at the most) that they were all in their 20s and one of them was 30.  They may have been written as teens but none of them looked it!

In the pilot Elizabeth was supposed to be 15 (although the actress was 18)  and David 21 and I think Nicholas was around 8 or 9.  So having the older girls look around the same age makes sense as they must have been meant to have been all born in a very short space of time!  I can't remember now, was Tommy meant to be older than Elizabeth or younger? 

With regard to being out on their own I don't remember any of the other kids moving out, at least not for any length of time.  Even Susan, who got married and had a baby, didn't she end up living in some kind of cottage (or room over a garage or something) in the Bradford backyard?

Edited February 18, 2023 by Elizabeth Anne

[chitowngirl]

3 hours ago, Elizabeth Anne said:

  I can't remember now, was Tommy meant to be older than Elizabeth or younger? 

Tommy was second youngest. Dumb Martians Just Sit Nearby Eating Tender Noodles is the pneumonic for remembering the order of the kids. Don’t ask why THAT is in the recesses of my brain!!

iIRC-pregnant Susan moved back home because her husband was a ball player on the road a lot.

[Blergh]

It seemed Tom and Joan Bradford had had their first six kids David, followed by the five daughters, in rather staggered succession, then waited until the youngest daughter was a toddler to have Tommy ..then when he started grade school to have Nicholas!  I can imagine (had Diana Hyland not died so soon and tragically)the show would have gone in a very different direction with Joan being the more hands on parent with Tom occasionally refereeing while putting the bulk of his energies to earning a living for the ten of them.

Instead, it wound up that Tom became the de facto single parent soon after Joan's death and even his remarriage to Abby didn't truly change that dynamic with her, at best, being a supportive spouse to him and friend to the eight but never truly becoming a parent to them, IMO.

BTW, Abby (Betty Buckley) 's actual name had been Sandra Sue Mitchell Abbot prior to her marriage to Tom and she'd been a widow (IIRC, her 1st husband had died in Vietnam years years before after a very brief union)but she had no offspring by either husband. Yes, she actually had derived her nickname from her 1st marital surname!  Amazingly enough, her once-battling stepdaughter Susan would bestow Abby's original given names to her own firstborn baby (which would incur the wrath of the late Joan's surviving father).

However, in the last year, she and Tom would become guardians for her troubled teenage nephew by her late sister - Jeremy Andretti (Ralph Macchio[!]) who somewhat took up Tommy's slack of being the mouthy, misbehaving teen as the latter became more stable.

Edited February 18, 2023 by Blergh

[greekmom]

Content unavailable for Canadians :(

I always wondered if Tom was a Mormon or what?  Eight freaking kids!!!

I loved Abby's car.

[Bethany]

25 minutes ago, greekmom said:

I always wondered if Tom was a Mormon or what?  Eight freaking kids!!!

I'm not positive but I think the Bradens were Catholic.  At any rate I remember reading Tom Braden's book (the one this TV show was based on) and he does talk about a good natured rivalry his family had with another large family (not sure if the no politics rule would apply here or not so won't name names just in case!)  - the other family eventually won.  Well, if you think having even more than 8 kids is winning!

Edited February 19, 2023 by Elizabeth Anne

[JAYJAY1979]

I do recall one episode when Nicolas was being compared to his older siblings by a teacher..and he ditched school.

I think Abby found him, listened to him and sympathized with him because she knew how it felt to be compared to someone (Joan).

I am curious to watch to see how the original mom was.

[Egg McMuffin]

Unfortunately, we didn’t get to know Joan all that well even in the episodes in which she appeared. Just not enough time. The episode where she has the biggest role is “Pieces of Eight,” where she takes a job to help support the family when Tom’s paper goes on strike. But I remember another episode where they did a scene of Joan in her darkroom (she was a photographer) and just showed her hands developing a photo as she and Tom were speaking to each other through a closed door. Clearly a device used because Diana Hyland was not able to shoot that scene, so she just did a voiceover instead.

In the episodes where she appeared, Joan was a warm, maternal presence, and the peacemaker for Tom and David. But the conflict between those two was pretty much eliminated once Joan was no longer around to mediate.

[Blergh]

What's a bit astonishing in retrospect is that, while the show (barely)changed the family surname from Braden to Bradford, it not only kept the same number (and gender proportions) of RL offspring but also had the characters have their EXACT given names!

[SoMuchTV]

23 hours ago, chitowngirl said:

Tommy was second youngest. Dumb Martians Just Sit Nearby Eating Tender Noodles is the pneumonic for remembering the order of the kids. Don’t ask why THAT is in the recesses of my brain!!

It’s been years but I remember enjoying this show as a teen. I have to laugh at 1) the autocorrect of pneumonic, and 2) that there exists a mnemonic for remembering the order of the kids!  (As a side note, I appreciate the shows that name the kids in alphabetical order - lookin’ at you, Fresh Off the Boat!)

[Blergh]

On 2/18/2023 at 5:48 PM, greekmom said:

Content unavailable for Canadians :(

I always wondered if Tom was a Mormon or what?  Eight freaking kids!!!

I loved Abby's car.

Sorry you can't find it in the Great White Way for now!

Yes, I also  loved Abby's car even though it was most impractical to drive in the US with its driver's seat being on the right- instead of the left-hand side.

And I know that even in Sacramento, it rains far less frequently in California than in the Eastern half of the US but I always got antsy when she'd leave it outside without putting on the canvas roof to protect it from possible flash storms.  I'm amazed that it never seemed to have been vandalized. .or taken for 'joy rides' by her stepkids  (as far as I recall).

[chitowngirl]

13 minutes ago, Blergh said:

taken for 'joy rides' by her stepkids  (as far as I recall).

Susan DID take it without asking. The rule in the house is what belongs to one belongs to all because there are just too many kids to not share belongings. Susan took advantage of Abby not knowing this and knowing that it would most likely not apply to Abby’s car.

[Blergh]

31 minutes ago, chitowngirl said:

Susan DID take it without asking. The rule in the house is what belongs to one belongs to all because there are just too many kids to not share belongings. Susan took advantage of Abby not knowing this and knowing that it would most likely not apply to Abby’s car.

Thanks for the memory jog! IIRC, this led to a big 'discussion' between the semi-newlyweds Tom and Abby in which Tom tried to explain the Bradford history behind the 'share and share alike' rule and Abby resisting. ..until she finally compromised that the kids could drive her car -IF they agreed to follow her list of over 50 Rules for how to drive and maintain it. At first all the driving teens  and 20-somethings were are all-aboard but by the 50-somethingth rule Susan alone hadn't decided the car windfall wasn't worth the rules. IIRC, she had her heart set on that car due to wanting to meet up with/impress some one-episode swain- and soon discovered she'd gotten herself over her head on both counts.

[Egg McMuffin]

7 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

It’s been years but I remember enjoying this show as a teen. I have to laugh at 1) the autocorrect of pneumonic, and 2) that there exists a mnemonic for remembering the order of the kids!

LOL, I know. It’s not like Tom and Joan had 20 kids. They should be able to remember the order of their kids without a trick. BTW, the name of the pilot episode is “Never Try Eating Nectarines Since Juice May Dispense” and the elder Bradfords tell their friends they use that pneumonic to remember the order of the kids youngest to oldest.

[AgathaC]

I seem to recall seeing an E! True Hollywood Story about this show and being struck by all the problems some of the kids had. If I remember right, it was half-and-half as far as those who had big issues and those who were relatively stable.

Also, with the stories of how kind and supportive Dick Van Patten was of them all. Very much like a father. Adam Rich really struggled and DVP would continue to show up for his legal hearings long, long after the show ended.

[Egg McMuffin]

Dick Van Patten by all accounts was a standup guy. He was at Diana Hyland’s bedside when she passed away (she was a friend prior to their work on EIE). And Betty Buckley wrote a lovely tribute to him after his death, talking about how Dick and his wife supported her when she moved to LA to work on the show, and how they became lifelong friends.

[Blergh]

Mr. Van Patten had been a child performer himself and,in fact had played the teenaged son of Norwegian immigrants in Mama (1949-1956) so he knew how fleeting fame and fortune could be and did his best to tell his costars to enjoy the time they were having!

On a lighter note, it's kind of funny how so many of the sitcom misunderstandings (e.g. Nicholas 'volunteering' Tom to coach the little league baseball team) that lasted entire episodes or more that could have been easily cleared up with a vid call in this Smartphone age!

[JAYJAY1979]

So I've been watching episodes from various seasons on Tubi...and it's interesting how the show managed to balance the story focus amongst the 8 siblings plus 2 adults (haven't seen much from season 4 or 5 yet).

My impressions on the 8 Bradford kids

David was the oldest, so he was out of the house..doing the single guy stories plus working in blue collar jobs.

Mary is pretty intense..and even though Lani was younger than a few of her co stars, she had a more mature vibe so I can see why she was cast as the oldest Bradford daughter.

Joani... from what I can tell is more dramatic (and studying to be a performer).  Does she not have a lot of love interests on the show? While the actress was the oldest in real life, she had a more youthful spirit so she looked younger (till she had dark hair and super curly hair).

Susan: She seems more quirky and the athletic one.  I'm sure the actress becoming pregnant in real life around season 4 made the show change how she's written...but haven't gotten there yet.

Nancy: lost soul...kind of think she was this shows Denise Huxtable with not fitting in, not being a college student and trying different jobs.

Elizabeth: she's a dancer...but she didn't seem to get a lot of focus.

Tommy: heart throb of the 70s

Nicolas: cute kid..getting into schemes with his friends.

[Egg McMuffin]

I thought they did a nice job giving each of the kids distinguishing characteristics without making them stereotypes.

I liked Mary a lot and I thought she was attractive in her own way, until they gave her the old lady haircut in the third or fourth season.  She had more to do when the show was in between moms. I remember the episode where Tom’s free-spirit sister first came to visit and Joan was “away” during this period. So Mary inherited her part as the one who disapproved of the aunt’s frivolity.

In fact, I thought all of the sisters were attractive, even if they weren’t all pretty blondes like Nancy.

I liked the recurring cast, too, for the most part. Tom sister Vivian, played by Janis Paige, showed up pretty much every year. Tom shared his secretary with Oscar Goldman from “The Six Million Dollar Man” and she was always good for comic relief. And it was nice that they had a best friend for Tom, Greg Maxwell, who showed up regularly. The one I didn’t like was Tommy’s friend Ernie, who thought he was cool (not) and was a bad influence. And talk about a face only a mother could love.

[Cara]

So I remember watching this show when I was a kid and it first aired. I think I had seen a rerun here or there but basically I am watching it now for the first in years. I too find the girls ages confusing. From what I’ve seen so far it didn’t hold up very well. A lot of their issues seem definitely ’70’s and dated!

[Egg McMuffin]

Many of the family shows at the time were either period pieces (“The Waltons”, “Little House”, “Happy Days”) or they were like “The Brady Bunch” where they avoided mentions of the time period they took place in. I think that’s why those shows were successful in syndication for so long. They were timeless in a way.

But Eight is Enough really leaned into the 1970s issues: Elizabeth getting busted for drugs, Mary moving in with her boyfriend, David having premarital sex, Elizabeth wanting birth control, Abby struggling with balancing her career with responsibilities to the family, distrust of institutions like government and police, etc. I think it was influenced by the Norman Lear sitcoms of the time. Also, Tom and Joan Bradford started their family in the 1950s, and raising kids changed a lot from the 1950s (“children should be seen and not heard”) to the 1970s, where parents were closer to their kids, who were now speaking their minds much more. The show addressed how Tom dealt with that.

Perhaps that’s why the show was never all that popular in syndication. I remember seeing the early episodes in reruns in the 80s, and even then, some of it seemed dated.

[Bethany]

The show leaned in heavily on the book it was based on in this regard.  I mean they certainly changed some things but the gist of the book really was what it was like raising kids through the 60s/70s - especially for a dad parenting 5 daughters in turbulent times.  One story from the book I've always remembered - and really it could have been done on the show as well but I don't remember if they did it - was father Tom lamenting that his daughters never wore dresses and were always in jeans.  Then having an epiphany and realizing how much it would cost him to dress 5 daughters in the way he would have wanted them to dress!

[Blergh]

IMO, it was interesting how Tom had attempted to verbally guilt trip the 20-something medical student Mary into not moving in with her boyfriend and nearly derailed his nascent courtship with Abby when he believed Abby had openly encouraged her to do so. Of course, the boyfriend (played by the then-unknown Don Johnson)  wound up sabotaging the move due to being totally condescending to her and everyone connected to her and it wasn't too long before she was back at the crowded family home.

[Bethany]

I don't remember any of the episodes well but my memory of the show is that they handled the reality that these older teen/twenty somethings were going to have adult relationships pretty well.  Of course Tom was going to be less than thrilled but it wasn't the end of the world either. I don't think the other family themed dramas at the time were dealing with this - as others have noted likely because most were set in earlier eras so they could wiggle out of dealing with things like sex, drugs and rock & roll!

[Cara]

So I‘ve now watched the first season. For some reason I was under the impression that they made excuses for the mother’s absence by saying she was out of town. Then when the second season began he was suddenly a widower. I haven’t been paying super close attention but it appears they just ignored her absence in the first season, without any explanation for her absence!

 

Edited March 7, 2023 by Cara

[Egg McMuffin]

So I’m kinda embarrassed how much I know about this, but here goes. There were nine episodes in the first season. Diana Hyland appeared as Joan in four of the first five. Then there were two episodes where they said Joan was away helping a relative with a new baby. Tom spoke to Joan over the phone in these and Hyland was well enough to record voiceovers. She was completely absent during the last two episodes of the season and Joan wasn’t mentioned.

When ABC reran season one during the summer of 1977, they only showed the five episodes in which Hyland did not appear. They re-edited the two episodes where she did the voiceover/phone calls to eliminate them (for example in “Quarantine”, one of the phone calls has been edited so that Tom is talking to Dr. Maxwell instead of Joan). And they attached the new season 2 “pyramid” opening credits to all five of those episodes. This was done to ease the transition for viewers. ABC did something similar when Dick York left Bewitched; in the summer prior to Dick Sargent’s debut, they only reran episodes in which York was absent.

When EIE went into syndication in the early 80s, the original edits of the season one episodes were used. But since then, Warner Bros has only distributed the ABC summer edits of those episodes on cable, DVD, and now streaming. So Joan just disappears without any mention until the season 2 premiere where they acknowledge her death.

BTW, I also think those first two episodes of season 2 were meant to be shown in reverse order. Abby doesn’t show up until the second episode of the season as Tommy’s tutor. In the season premiere, where Dr Maxwell separates from his wife and moves in, one of the kids jokes at the end about Tom being interested in dating “Mrs. Abbott”. But he hasn’t met her yet. Tom and Abby meet in the second episode, where he tells her that Joan died not long ago and that Tommy is taking her death especially hard.

There you go - more than you ever wanted to know. 😀

Edited March 7, 2023 by Egg McMuffin

[Cara]

Thank you @Egg McMuffin that explains my questions.

[Blergh]

IIRC, Joan Braden (1922-1999) was unhappy that the show had her counterpart semi-namesake die offstage upon Miss Hyland's death rather than have just cast a new performer to have played the part. I guess she didn't like the idea of the show having her husband's counterpart semi-namesake dating then remarrying in fast order.

[Cara]

21 hours ago, Blergh said:

IIRC, Joan Braden (1922-1999) was unhappy that the show had her counterpart semi-namesake die offstage upon Miss Hyland's death rather than have just cast a new performer to have played the part. I guess she didn't like the idea of the show having her husband's counterpart semi-namesake dating then remarrying in fast order.

I understand why she didn’t like it. With all due respect to Ms. Hyland recasting would have seemed the way to go!

[Blergh]

I just read Ralph Macchio's autobio which waxed on/off a bit about the whole Karate Kid enterprise.

However, he just gave EiO the tersest mention just stating that he'd been on it-despite the fact that this show had somewhat yanked him out of obscurity and, FWIW, he did a fairly good job playing Abby's troubled teen nephew. Yet whatever POV he may have had  about the show and any of his colleagues from it, he avoided detailing.

[izabella]

This was one of my favorite shows.  The big family dynamic was fun, and I really liked that the girls all stood up for themselves with their dad, and didn't hesitate to express their views.  For a young girl, it was a great message:  your thoughts, opinions and feelings matter; don't be afraid to speak up.  Sure, sometimes Tom put his foot down, but he did care about what his kids were saying even if it took a while to get through to him.  I remember so many arguments in Tom's home office with one or more of the kids.

When I think of this show, I always remember that staircase by the front door.  So much running up and down, especially for the phone.  Now THAT is a relic.  No one has to run up and down stairs to get to the phone anymore.

I haven't seen the show for years, but I remember it as being progressive in terms of women's rights, with Mary becoming a doctor, Janet being a lawyer, David and Janet struggling with who wears the pants in that family, Elizabeth considering going on the pill, Nancy learning about modeling, harassment and exploitation, and of course, Abby's career and Tom's struggles with that.  Women's legal and employment rights were evolving at that time, as were social expectations, and no one struggled more with it than Tom.  In some ways, this show may be dated, but in some ways, those struggles are still ongoing.

Edited March 10, 2023 by izabella

[Egg McMuffin]

21 hours ago, izabella said:

When I think of this show, I always remember that staircase by the front door.  So much running up and down, especially for the phone.  Now THAT is a relic.  No one has to run up and down stairs to get to the phone anymore.

Now that you mention the staircase, EIE is unique among television shows in that it actually has a foyer, like the houses I grew up in. I think most of the houses on TV have a front door that opens right into the living room, presumably for easier character entrances.

[Blergh]

20 hours ago, Egg McMuffin said:

Now that you mention the staircase, EIE is unique among television shows in that it actually has a foyer, like the houses I grew up in. I think most of the houses on TV have a front door that opens right into the living room, presumably for easier character entrances.

Interesting. Of course, it needs to be said that they likely could have more easily gotten away with it due to it not being filmed/taped before a studio audience AND it's also likely that said foyer got used to sneak closeups,etc. during the establishing wideshots without the 2nd unit so easily caught on camera.

[Irish Mermaid]

I’ve been binging and just finished season 2. The season finale was the one with a variety show to benefit children. I was so annoyed with everyone for how they treated David — the poor guy was guilted into giving up his pre-existing plans that he’d already paid for, and then when he did participate, holier-than-thou Joanie was still treating him like a pariah. Ugh. (I’m the eldest of 4 and frequently relate to David’s situation, LOL) I also had to laugh when they were coming up with their acts and Abby said “Well, I guess I can sing a little.” 
.

I don’t actually recommend binging, and am going to slow down for now. The Tom character is always so cranky — he comes off pretty awful when you see him blowing his top every episode back-to-back. It’s a credit to Dick Van Patten’s likability that he made this character beloved instead of despised.

.

I’ve also been going down the rabbit trails reading about everyone since then. I’m the exact same age Adam Rich was - such a sad loss earlier this year. Also sad about Lani O’Grady … she was very talented and had a wonderful speaking voice. Grant Goodeve is almost 71 and has aged *very* well, still extremely handsome. 

[AgathaC]

23 hours ago, Irish Mermaid said:

I don’t actually recommend binging, and am going to slow down for now. The Tom character is always so cranky — he comes off pretty awful when you see him blowing his top every episode back-to-back. It’s a credit to Dick Van Patten’s likability that he made this character beloved instead of despised.

.

I’ve also been going down the rabbit trails reading about everyone since then. I’m the exact same age Adam Rich was - such a sad loss earlier this year. Also sad about Lani O’Grady … she was very talented and had a wonderful speaking voice. Grant Goodeve is almost 71 and has aged *very* well, still extremely handsome. 

I remember watching this some in syndication (I was too young/not born yet the first time around) and my dad was not a fan. He said something about not liking the dad. I didn’t get it then, but now, as an adult, I do. You’re right. He was so cranky.

Yet, from what I recall from some of those “True Hollywood Story” shows, DVP was a kind, caring man in real life and he stayed a part of the kids’ lives long after the show ended — particularly the ones who had problems.

If I remember right, it was about half-and-half. Four of the kids had pretty uneventful lives, while four really struggled.

Edited May 30, 2023 by AgathaC

[Egg McMuffin]

I saw an interview with Betty Buckley where she said that while the show was still in production, she flew back to NY every few weeks to take voice lessons. One of the producers asked her why, and she told him it was her dream to sing on Broadway. And the producer told her that she had delusions of grandeur and that she’d be lucky to play a mom on TV for the rest of her career.

😁

[chicagofan]

Interesting timing on the previous post in that on Jeopardy today there was a category on Andrew Lloyd Webber and a video clue showed Betty Buckley as Grizabella singing a portion of Memory from Cats, for which she won the Tony just a few years after Eight Is Enough ended.

[Katy M]

So, I've been watching and find myself getting mad on the characters' behalf.

Like when Tom and Abby were going to get married and Elizabeth and Nicholas were upset.  Nobody cared.  Elizabeth talked to Nicholas and then the dad did, but seriously, Tom told Abby Elizabeth just had to get over it.

And, then the first Christmas when Tommy was upset about the mom not being around.  Again, the dad just said he should get over it.

And my especial favorite was when Susan, Joni and Nancy got an apartment and Nancy was paying more and had more of a commute and the other two pulled seniority and grabbed the bedrooms.  No, Nancy, you're paying more and already being inconvenienced.  You demand one of those rooms!!!!

OK, had to get that off my chest.