As of the time of this writing, it has been almost forty years since the show Family Ties premiered on NBC. With that in mind, it makes sense that a lot of people have simplified the show’s legacy. After all, most people these days think of Family Ties as being the show that launched Michael J. Fox’s career, and almost made it so he didn’t star in Back to the Future. While Fox wasn’t paid very much to star in Back to the Future, starring in the film trilogy is his main claim to fame so it would have been a shame if he missed out on the role.
Even though Family Ties’ legacy has been simplified, the truth of the matter is that at its peak, the show was a huge hit. In fact, to this day, Family Ties’ finale is one of the highest-rated TV episodes of all time since it was viewed by more than 36 million homes. Given the fact that the show went out on top, that begs an obvious question, what was the real reason the cast of Family Ties lost their jobs.
How Family Ties Became A Huge Hit
In a lot of ways, Family Ties was a show that was perfectly designed. After all, the show’s parents were democrat hippies and it also featured a cartoonishly over the top Reagan era republican in Micheal J. Fox’s Alex P. Keaton. As a result of that fact, it allowed every potential viewer to have a character to relate to while also having someone to laugh at and mock. With that in mind, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that when Family Ties premiered, it was one of the highest-rated television shows.
When the show was still on the air, Family Ties was so popular that NBC tried to give Nick his show several times and while that didn’t work out, a lot of spin-offs fail. Since Family Ties was so popular early on, it was shocking to see the show come to a premature end. When looking back at the show’s history, however, it is abundantly clear that a decision made by one of the most powerful people in television at the time is what led to Family Ties being canceled.
When Family Ties premiered in 1982, the show had a huge advantage over every other series that debuted on television that year. After all, Family Ties aired on Thursday nights immediately after the most popular series on television at the time, The Cosby Show. Luckily for NBC and everyone involved with Family Ties, it managed to hold on to most of The Cosby Show’s viewers. On top of that, Family Ties won several prestigious awards including Emmys and Golden Globes.
Once Family Ties began airing, it didn’t take long for the show’s stars to become famous. Of course, Micahel J. Fox remains very popular to this day even though it has been years since he has been seen on screens regularly at this point. At the time that Family Ties was still being produced, the show’s other stars Meredith Baxter, Michael Gross, Justine Bateman, and Tina Yothers were very famous as well.
Why Was Family Ties Canceled?
After Family Ties was a huge hit for its first five seasons, the decision was made to move the show from its Thursday night timeslot to Sunday night. Thanks to PVRs and streaming services, a show moving timeslots isn’t a big deal these days. However, since viewers had to watch shows live when Family Ties was on the air, it was common for shows to flounder in the ratings after moving timeslots at that time. After all, once fans were used to watching a show at one time each week, it is asking a lot for them to move around their schedule to watch on another night.
Since shows moving timeslots often led to their failure when Family Ties was on the air, it seems strange that NBC risked once of their most successful sitcoms like that. However, as it turns out, the people in charge of NBC had little choice at the time. The reason for that is that when A Different World began airing, the series creator Bill Cosby forced NBC to air the spin-off series immediately after The Cosby Show.
Since he was one of the most powerful people in entertainment at the time, when Bill Cosby insisted that A Different World be given Family Ties’ timeslot, the network gave in. Immediately after the show moved nights to Sunday, Family Ties’ ratings went downhill which resulted in the show ending after two seasons in its new timeslot. When it was announced that Family Ties was ending, many of the show’s former fans made sure to tune in one last time for the finale.