I don't know, but I do believe there was a pilot episode for a Nick spinoff series that was never produced. I can't remember if that's true or not but I do seem to remember thinking to myself that was the only reason I would have rebought the series, but I ultimately decided not to.

FYI: This is currently on sale at Costco for $32.99. Awesome price!

I love this show and I splurged on the Album Complete set when it was on sale at Amazon.ca. I don't regret it one bit even though I could have bought the cheaper set for less than half of the price I paid for the Album.

As mentioned in the SD bargains thread, some single seasons are now $10-12, and the full set is $43. I never found the latter at Costco so I think I'm going to pull the trigger.

If you love the show (and if I remember correctly from the TV challenge, you do), you can't go wrong with the complete set if you don't have it.

I'm really on the fence with this one. I remember not caring for it as much after Andy came along (but I've *always* hated the "let's throw a baby/new kid into the cast to boost ratings" type ploys) but *did* watch it until the end (and know I enjoyed some episodes). I already own S1-4 (4 being the "Andy is born" season). With the current prices for both the individual seasons and complete series set it's incredibly tempting to pick up those last 3 seasons solely to complete the series (and I'm very much the completist type).

I did go ahead and get the complete set, then discovered that the series is back on Prime. Oh well, it will probably be pulled by the next time I want to binge it so it's good to have the discs.

And yup, I am a fan of the series, and I'm sure I've mentioned that the Alex-Ellen arc is some of my all-time favorite television. I don't remember the later seasons as well (Courtney Cox was a poor Ellen replacement) but I did watch it all the way through. I've also mentioned that I was out of the country for a few months and missed some key late episodes so I'll finally watch those, maybe during the comedy challenge.

Oh, and introducing a baby to "save" a sagging show inevitably makes it jump the shark.

"Andy" was OK with how they had him blindly look up to Alex and his beliefs, but having him go from newborn to small child over the summer was a bit jarring. I don't get why Paramount had some "complete series" sets with bonus discs, and is now putting out new sets without the bonus discs. They should make those available separately- I'm still mad that I bought every Brady Bunch season as it was released, then they released the big set with bonus discs unavailable anywhere else!

Simple solution.
If they stop selling the last couple seasons of a show because they'll lose money, just download them. You're saving them money!

The first 4 seasons of Family Ties are great, but once they 'aged' baby Andy for the 5th season the show was never the same. If you watch the evolution of the characters, Mallory got more ditzy over the years. She wasn't like that in the first season, as she was more of a smartass to everything Alex said, then turned ditzy the next season, and by the end of the show's run she was a total airhead.

I am in the middle of the first season and noticed this. It's been awhile since I have watched the show and I remember the later shows better than the first year. Same seems to go for the Dad. He was a little scattered in the first season but was presented as a near vegetable in some later episodes...though that did make him funnier. Same can't be said for Mallory.

And I forgot how annoying Jennifer was. Did she ever have a decent episode?

I recently watched the first season where one of Michael's friends hit on Mallory and they dealt with it. Very touching and excellent writing and acting. Uncomfortable at times and yet they still could have the funny.

I loved this show as a kid. I was shocked when I watched a few episodes recently to see how poorly the humor held up, like so many 70s and 80s shows with forced jokes and a laugh track that feels even more forced.

Story wise though, I remember it being better than many of the 80s family sitcoms though.

I have been watching the old reruns on AntennaTV for the past few weeks, and I wonder what seasons you were watching? The first season was OK, but the 2nd, 3rd and 4th seasons were the best, while the each season after that got progressively worse. I thought the humor holds up pretty well in those middle seasons, but the last 3 seasons the show is almost unwatchable.

I have to disagree with you about the laugh track as the episode I was watching last night (Alex goes to West Virginia bar with his friends for his 18th birthday), and alot of those laughs sounded authentic. It was a very funny episode and a laugh track is always consistent but in this episode the really funny parts got some big laughs.

Maybe the later season they installed the laugh track?

They showed the studio audience at the end of the last episode. Most likely they were still being told when to laugh.

Wow, great deal, $41.

http://www.amazon.com/Family-Ties-Th...=ATVPDKIKX0DER

$35.20 shipped at jet.com right now.

And use JETCOMSAVE2 for $25 off $50 if you're a new customer, so you could really get a deal on this one if you purchase something else too.

Bumping this up-- Paramount/CBS didn't do this with every show they made full releases of. While the condensed shelf-friendly Brady Bunch release does not have the bonus disc, the condensed shelf-friendly MacGyver release does, which has caused me to wonder why the inconsistency.