All in the family
Mums and dads, brothers and sisters, the spudniks have had a whole slew to choose from over the years.
WHEN you talk about TV families, a few come to mind immediately — the Huxtables (from The Cosby Show), the Bradys ( The Brady Bunch), the Ingalls ( Little House On The Prairie), the Cunninghams ( Happy Days), the Keatons ( Family Ties), the Simpsons ( The Simpsons), the Barones ( Everybody Loves Raymond) and more recently, the Walkers ( Brothers And Sisters), the Bravermans ( Parenthood) and the Reagans ( Blue Bloods), among many others.
At various points in my life, I imagined myself part of some TV family or the other. Never the Huxtables, though – they seemed too perfect to be any fun at all. In fact, I found them a little stifling. Instead, the family I secretly dreamed of being a part of was ... wait, I don’t know what their surname is.
I am talking about Lois, Hal, Francis, Reese, Malcolm and Dewey from Malcolm In The Middle. Do you know their surname? According to Wikipedia, their surname was only alluded to a couple of times – like in the pilot when eldest son Francis had a tag on that read “Wilkerson”. Actually, I rather like the idea of there not being a surname. It kind of suits the crazy bunch pretty well. So, yeah, I secretly dreamed of being a sister to the idiotic boys because they have so much fun all the time — they were always devising some prank or other and driving their parents up the wall (not to mention playing one parent against the other in oh-so-clever ways). And even though they always got caught, they seemed to be having such a fun-filled childhood. What’s not to envy, right? Although, I’d never want to be Lois or Hal — I can just picture myself having daily stress attacks parenting those terrors!
In my rebellious teenage years, I openly wished I was a Keaton kid ( Family Ties), mostly because parents Steven and Elyse Keaton seemed like such cool parents — as former hippies, they were kinda laissez faire in their approach to parenting, which was a stark contrast to my mum (whom I love dearly), who was super strict.
At some point though, I changed my mind about wanting to be a Keaton. Why? I’d fallen in love with Alex, the eldest son played by Michael J Fox. I am not sure if it was Alex I was in love with or Fox. Maybe both. But, yeah. I wanted to be his girlfriend and not his sister. He was so cute. And then Alex started dating – first, he dated a pretty blonde named Ellen Reed (played by Tracy Pollan, whom Fox went on to marry) and then Lauren Miller (Courteney Cox). I was crushed. They were so beautiful. What shot did I have? Gah!
And then there is my all-time favourite family: the Simpsons. Yeah, they are dysfunc- tional, but which family isn’t? Being a cartoon, The Simpsons could go where no other family programme could: it is completely acceptable, for example, for Homer to be the self-centered drunkard that he is and still be funny and utterly endearing. Remember when he advises Bart against drinking? “Now son, you don’t want to drink beer. That’s for daddies and kids with fake IDS.” Have you ever seen a live-action TV dad get away with that? Never!
As drunk and goofy as he is though, Homer loves his family dearly and together with Marge (who is the backbone of the family), they run a pretty neat family who look out for each other when push comes to shove. Yeah, even Bart. Homer has good intentions even in the worst of times when he is lying to Marge and finding ways to get out of being with his children. Ultimately, The Simpsons, like The Cosby Show, is all about positive family values – they just relay the message in very unconventional ways. The difference is, everyone can relate to the Simpsons, not so much the Huxtables.
I will end with one my (many) favourite quotes from Homer: “When I look at the smiles on all the children’s faces, I just know they’re about to jab me with something.” Or wait, here’s another: “When will I learn? The answer to life’s problems aren’t at the bottom of a bottle. They’re on TV!” True that. – Indra
n WHO doesn’t want to be in the Simpson family? Even retired greyhound Santa’s Little Helper found a home with them. And I, too, think I wanted to be part of the Keaton family ( Family Ties) ... although when I envisioned it, I think I was Alex Keaton. I wanted to be that smart. In my very early years, I remember watching The Waltons a lot with my family (maybe it was the only show on TV then, I can’t remember). But we loved it because the drama was about a BIG family, and we empathised. Wait ... it was about a family in rural Virginia during the Great Depression ... how could we possibly have anything in common? But we did. Perhaps it was how the family members always fought with each other, but in the end, stood by each other, and how they strove through the bad times, had dinners together, and bid each other good night every night (we still fool around every now and again, with a “good night John Boy” greeting). The stories were always told by John Boy (the eldest son, who was a journalist, if memory serves me right). And then was Jason, Erin, Mary Ellen, Ben, Jim Bob and Elizabeth. Aah, those were the days.
Little House On The Prairie came soon after and everyone wanted to traipse down those rolling hills like Laura Ingalls week after week, chop wood, get water out of the well and sleep with silly looking hair bonnets. Luckily, that phase didn’t last too long. I grew up quickly once Dallas became “the” series to watch. With Dallas, my eyes were opened. Is this what really goes on in families? I’m not sure if I really wanted to be in the Ewing family ... yes, the money was great and I absolutely loved the fact that the whole family lived in one huge mansion, but the underhanded way loved ones treated each other was a huge letdown. Did anyone really love anyone in that show (apart from everyone loving the family matriach Miss Ellie, of course)?
Fast forward to the noughties. I completely fell head over heels for the Fisher family, and so wanted to be a part of it ... or strangely felt like I was already. Alan Ball’s HBO classic Six Feet Under, set in California, revolved around the members of a dysfunctional family that runs a funeral home. It was dark, it was witty, it was full of interesting life and death scenarios. The family members – Nathaniel and Ruth, and kids, Nate, David and Claire, were outstandingly cast. Even supporting characters Brenda Chenowith (Nate’s girlfriend) and Frederico Diaz (the mortician) were so well thought-out and had a huge impact on the family. I so wanted to be a part of this family, whose days were filled with various problems related to interpersonal relationships, infidelity, religion and death! It was drama at its best — dark, deep and complicated — but set in beautiful Californian hues. In fact, each scene and each character was immaculately fashioned together — as were the dead bodies — like a piece of art. Man, I think I still want to be a Fishergirl. Time to dig out that old boxset and live a little ... vicariously. – Ann Marie