In the two-part opening episode of Family Ties - The Complete 4th Season, character Alex P. Keaton will fall for "Ellen Reed", and actor Michael J. Fox ("Alex") will meet his future real-life wife, Tracy Pollan ("Ellen")...a true TV love story! Guest stars also included Noah Hathaway, Danny Nucci, Pamela Springsteen (Bruce's sister), River Phoenix, Martha Plimpton, Robert Costanzo, Corey Feldman, Ronny Cox, Jerry Hardin, and Peter Scolari. And this was the last season we saw new son Andrew Keaton as a baby (by the start of the fifth season he would be magically advanced to pre-school age, with Brian Bonsall taking over the role at that time).

This morning Paramount Home Entertainment announced that Family Ties - The Complete 4th Season will arrive on DVD this August 5th. Video will be in full frame, and audio will be in English - mono, as originally aired. Running time is listed as 11 hours and 13 minutes. No pricing or package art is available yet, so stay tuned for that.

There were 23 official 4th Season episodes ("24" if you count the double-length episode "A Word to the Wise" as "two episodes"). Also, just before the season premiere that year, there was a special feature-length "Family Ties Vacation" telefilm. In it, Alex goes to study at Oxford, and the rest of the Keatons join him in England, but all get caught up in a spy caper. The studio info this morning doesn't say whether we can expect this feature to be included in the 4th Season set. We'll try and find out for you!