Spurred by the success of ”The Cosby Show,” NBC`s family cash cow, all three major television networks unleashed a plethora of copycats in 1986, with one notable difference: Unlike the nuclear Huxtables, an overwhelming majority of the new entries involved non-traditional families or variations thereof. Some are still on the schedule.
For the record, the year gave us:
”Melba” (black woman teams up with white ”sister”), ”Valerie”
(suburban Mom endures three sons and absentee-husband airline pilot),
”Morningstar/Eveningstar” (burned-out orphans move into senior citizens`
residence), ”You Again?” (teenage son shows up on doorstep of father after seven years), ”Perfect Strangers” (shepherd from Mediterranean island shows up on doorstep of far-distant cousin in Chicago), ”My Sister Sam” (teenager shows up on doorstep of older sibling in San Francisco), ”Our House” (three generations under one roof, dominated by crusty grandfather), ”The Ellen Burstyn Show” (three generations under one roof, dominated by meddling grandmother) and ”Life with Lucy” (three generations under one roof, dominated by bossy grandmother).
Along with:
”Easy Street” (down-on-luck codger moves into Beverly Hills mansion owned by blond, buxom niece), ”Heart of the City” (widowed, sensitive L.A. police detective broods over role as single parent of two teenagers), ”ALF” (extraterrestrial alien joins suburban family in already far-out Southern California), ”Starman” (extraterrestrial guy returns to Earth to help out human son he left behind 14 years ago), ”Sidekicks” (disheveled bachelor cop becomes guardian of 10-year-old Asian boy/karate expert), ”Together We Stand” (sporting goods store owner and wife adopt Vienamese boy and black girl, ”Better Days” (Beverly Hills teenager moves in with deli/candy store- owning grandfather in Brooklyn), ”The Cavanaughs” (showgirl moves back to volatile Irish-Roman-Catholic-blue-collar family) and ”Dads” (single fathers share one household with various teenage persons).
