Just the Ten of Us
Encyclopedia
Just the Ten of Us is an American sitcom
starring stand-up comedian Bill Kirchenbauer
as Coach Graham Lubbock, a teacher and the head of a large Catholic
family with eight children living in Eureka, California
. The series was a spin-off of Growing Pains
, in which Kirchenbauer portrayed the same character on a recurring basis
. As the series progressed, Coach Lubbock's four eldest daughters, the teenagers Marie (Heather Langenkamp
), Cindy (Jamie Luner
), Wendy (Brooke Theiss
), and Connie (JoAnn Willette
), became the primary focus of the show.
Just the Ten of Us aired on ABC
starting with a trial run on April 22, 1988 and ending on May 13, 1988. After the first four episodes in an abbreviated first season were aired, the show was renewed for two more seasons, eventually ending after 47 episodes on May 4, 1990. The show was most notably a part of what would become that network's TGIF
programming block.
The theme song was Doin' It the Best I Can sung by Bill Medley
.
), a Catholic gym teacher at the high school that Growing Pains
characters Mike and Carol Seaver (Kirk Cameron
and Tracey Gold
) had attended; and the father of eight children.
In the pilot episode (which aired on Growing Pains
in the spring of 1988), Graham's job is in jeopardy due to district budget cutbacks. Mike leads a protest after he learns that Lubbock is trying to support a large family (including yet another baby-on-the-way). Word of this spreads, and Graham's fate is sealed; he loses his job. However, he is soon offered a job at St. Augustine's Academy, an all-boys' private Catholic school in Eureka, California. Graham promptly moves his family to California.
Six of Graham's children were girls, four of them teenagers. They were:
His younger daughters were eight-year-old Sherry (Heidi Zeigler
) and infant Melissa. By special arrangement, the older girls were allowed to attend St. Augustine's, much to the chagrin of the school's administration (and, of course, much delight of the male students). Graham and Elizabeth's sons were 11-year-old Graham, Jr. (Matt Shakman
), familiarly known as "J.R.", and toddler Harvey (Jason and Jeremy Korstjens).
The first season consisted of four episodes for a trial run in the spring of 1988. ABC
was pleased with their success and ordered a second season. In the second season, Cindy and Wendy seemed to switch personalities, with Cindy becoming more ditzy, and Wendy becoming the schemer. Also, the show focused more and more on the four older girls and frequently revolved around the family's efforts to save money, dating, and other typical family sitcom
issues. In later episodes, the four teenage girls formed a singing group called "The Lubbock Babes" (partly to help bring in much-needed extra income).
The producers shot a half-hour test pilot for ABC in the fall of 1987 entitled Yo, Coach. It was set at Thomas E. Dewey High, the same high school that Mike and Carol Seaver attended on Growing Pains, and further explored the Coach's life both at Dewey and at home. This original, rough concept saw the Coach with a wife, played by Pamela Brull
, but with no evident children. Kenneth Tigar also co-starred as the principal of Dewey High. The centerpiece of the early premise was Graham's relationship with his students, and how he helped them move through life's various obstacles. ABC praised the pilot when it was screened, and scheduled the Growing Pains spin-off for the following spring.
Major changes, like those that usually occur in the pilot phase, inevitably took place. ABC saw Kirchenbauer's new series as one with lots of family appeal, and insisted that Graham Lubbock be given children of his own. The role of Graham's wife was also recast with Deborah Harmon, and the show's setting ended up being moved from Dewey High and Long Island
altogether. Gunztelman, Sullivan and Marshall eventually decided to add a rather large family to the cast, and this set up a story for a Growing Pains crossover episode that was sure to touch prospective viewers of the new series emotionally. Casting was completed for the new series in early 1988, and to indicate the large brood that Graham Lubbock presided over, the title was by now settled as Just the Ten of Us. The principal cast was introduced in the two-part Growing Pains crossover episode "How the West Was Won" (aired on April 15th and 22th, 1988), in which Graham learns that his job at Dewey High will be cut. As a part of their investigation, Mike Seaver and his friends discover Graham, his wife Elizabeth, and their seven children living in a severely cramped downtown apartment. The second part of this Growing Pains episode, in which the Lubbocks make their move to California, aired as the lead in to the premiere episode of Just the Ten of Us on April 22, 1988.
politics, not ratings issues, canceled Just the Ten of Us in the spring of 1990. The family-friendly Friday night sitcom lineup, which had been dubbed TGIF
the previous fall, was witnessing growing success in the 1989-90 season with three shows from Miller-Boyett Productions
: Full House
, Family Matters
, and Perfect Strangers
. Wanting to complete the TGIF lineup with a program that visually and creatively meshed closely with the three, ABC green-lighted a new pilot from Miller/Boyett and their associates, Robert Griffard and Howard Adler, for placement at 9:30/8:30 in the fall of 1990. Thus, Warner Bros. Television
and producers Guntzelman, Sullivan and Marshall were depending on ABC to move Just the Ten of Us to a night and time that would maintain the show's decent ratings.
They soon found themselves entering a battle over their show's fate. Examining their entire primetime lineup, network executives were finding it difficult to relocate the program. When ABC failed to see the series fitting anywhere else on its schedule, rumors quickly circulated that they would even drop the program altogether, if it meant milking more success with Miller/Boyett in its place. Guntzelman/Sullivan/Marshall had a solid case against such talk: Just the Ten of Us consistently won its time slot, provided an excellent lead-in to news magazine 20/20, and had a great fan base that carried over from Growing Pains
viewership. When the 1990 network upfronts were announced in May, Going Places, the new Miller/Boyett sitcom with an adult "edge" that would serve as the 20/20 lead-in, appeared in the Friday 9:30 slot for September. Just the Ten of Us was nowhere on the ABC schedule, thus giving truth to the rumor. In confirming the show's cancellation, ABC stated that while the series had seen steady growth in its three seasons on the air, it still had yet to achieve commercial and large ratings success. The network felt that the series' Nielsen
ranking alone at the end of season three was respectable enough for renewal, but that another show from Miller/Boyett would have been a greater audience draw than Just the Ten of Us, given the higher ratings and ad revenue yielded for M/B shows at the time. The fact that Going Places had the same visual production values as its other three TGIF siblings (since all were produced at Lorimar Television, which Tens parent company Warner Bros. would acquire in 1993), was also emphasized by ABC at the time of the decision.
Just the Ten of Us left ABC during summer reruns in late July 1990. Although ABC saw even greater success with its TGIF lineup in the 1990-91 season, the new series, Going Places, only lasted a single season before being dropped. In the wake of this action, ABC programming chief Bob Iger filed a press statement nearly one year after the abrupt cancellation of Just the Ten of Us, in which he stated that the network brass "moved too quickly" in canceling the show.
picked up the entire series in reruns shortly after it was canceled, and aired the show on a daily basis until 1996.
To date, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has no plans to release the show on DVD.
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
starring stand-up comedian Bill Kirchenbauer
Bill Kirchenbauer
Bill Kirchenbauer is an American actor and stand-up comic who has appeared in television shows and films since the 1970s...
as Coach Graham Lubbock, a teacher and the head of a large Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
family with eight children living in Eureka, California
Eureka, California
Eureka is the principal city and the county seat of Humboldt County, California, United States. Its population was 27,191 at the 2010 census, up from 26,128 at the 2000 census....
. The series was a spin-off of Growing Pains
Growing Pains
Growing Pains is an American television sitcom about an affluent family, residing in Huntington, New York, with a working mother and a stay-at-home psychiatrist father raising three children together, which aired on ABC from September 24, 1985 to April 25, 1992.-Synopsis:The show's premise is based...
, in which Kirchenbauer portrayed the same character on a recurring basis
Recurring character
A recurring character is a fictional character, usually in a prime time TV series, who appears from time to time during the series' run. Recurring characters often play major roles in an episode, sometimes being the main focus...
. As the series progressed, Coach Lubbock's four eldest daughters, the teenagers Marie (Heather Langenkamp
Heather Langenkamp
Heather Langenkamp is an American film and television actress. She is best known for her role as Nancy Thompson from the A Nightmare on Elm Street films...
), Cindy (Jamie Luner
Jamie Luner
Jamie Michelle Luner is an American television actress, best known for her role as Lexi Sterling on Melrose Place and Rachel Burke on Profiler...
), Wendy (Brooke Theiss
Brooke Theiss
Brooke Theiss-Genesse is an American actress who has starred in film and on television.Her first film role was in 1988's Little Nikita, but later that year, Brooke's big role came in the hit horror movie A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master as Debbie Stevens, where the character was...
), and Connie (JoAnn Willette
JoAnn Willette
JoAnn Willette is an American actress.Willette is best known for appearing in the role of Constance "Connie" Lubbock in the television series Just the Ten of Us from 1988 to 1990. She has also made appearances on a number of other shows including The Facts of Life, T.J...
), became the primary focus of the show.
Just the Ten of Us aired on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
starting with a trial run on April 22, 1988 and ending on May 13, 1988. After the first four episodes in an abbreviated first season were aired, the show was renewed for two more seasons, eventually ending after 47 episodes on May 4, 1990. The show was most notably a part of what would become that network's TGIF
TGIF (ABC)
TGIF was the name of an American family-friendly prime time television programming block on the ABC network. The name comes from the initials of the popular phrase "Thank God It's Friday"...
programming block.
The theme song was Doin' It the Best I Can sung by Bill Medley
Bill Medley
William Thomas Medley is an American singer and songwriter, best known as one half of The Righteous Brothers....
.
Synopsis
The series focuses on Graham Lubbock (Bill KirchenbauerBill Kirchenbauer
Bill Kirchenbauer is an American actor and stand-up comic who has appeared in television shows and films since the 1970s...
), a Catholic gym teacher at the high school that Growing Pains
Growing Pains
Growing Pains is an American television sitcom about an affluent family, residing in Huntington, New York, with a working mother and a stay-at-home psychiatrist father raising three children together, which aired on ABC from September 24, 1985 to April 25, 1992.-Synopsis:The show's premise is based...
characters Mike and Carol Seaver (Kirk Cameron
Kirk Cameron
Kirk Thomas Cameron is an American actor best known for his role as Mike Seaver on the television situation comedy Growing Pains , as well as several other television and film appearances as a child actor...
and Tracey Gold
Tracey Gold
Tracey Gold is an American actress and former child star best known for playing Carol Seaver on the 1980s sitcom Growing Pains. In early 2009, she co-hosted with Fred Roggin on the live show GSN Live.-Early life:...
) had attended; and the father of eight children.
In the pilot episode (which aired on Growing Pains
Growing Pains
Growing Pains is an American television sitcom about an affluent family, residing in Huntington, New York, with a working mother and a stay-at-home psychiatrist father raising three children together, which aired on ABC from September 24, 1985 to April 25, 1992.-Synopsis:The show's premise is based...
in the spring of 1988), Graham's job is in jeopardy due to district budget cutbacks. Mike leads a protest after he learns that Lubbock is trying to support a large family (including yet another baby-on-the-way). Word of this spreads, and Graham's fate is sealed; he loses his job. However, he is soon offered a job at St. Augustine's Academy, an all-boys' private Catholic school in Eureka, California. Graham promptly moves his family to California.
Six of Graham's children were girls, four of them teenagers. They were:
- Marie (Heather LangenkampHeather LangenkampHeather Langenkamp is an American film and television actress. She is best known for her role as Nancy Thompson from the A Nightmare on Elm Street films...
) - the oldest, most responsible, and most pious. - Cindy (Jamie LunerJamie LunerJamie Michelle Luner is an American television actress, best known for her role as Lexi Sterling on Melrose Place and Rachel Burke on Profiler...
) - Wendy's older twin sister, and the most ditzy. - Wendy (Brooke TheissBrooke TheissBrooke Theiss-Genesse is an American actress who has starred in film and on television.Her first film role was in 1988's Little Nikita, but later that year, Brooke's big role came in the hit horror movie A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master as Debbie Stevens, where the character was...
) - Cindy's younger twin sister, and the most flirtatious. - Connie (JoAnn WilletteJoAnn WilletteJoAnn Willette is an American actress.Willette is best known for appearing in the role of Constance "Connie" Lubbock in the television series Just the Ten of Us from 1988 to 1990. She has also made appearances on a number of other shows including The Facts of Life, T.J...
) - the BohemianBohemianismBohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people, with few permanent ties, involving musical, artistic or literary pursuits...
, and also occasionally agnostic.
His younger daughters were eight-year-old Sherry (Heidi Zeigler
Heidi Zeigler
Heidi Zeigler is a former child actress from the United States. Zeigler's most notable roles were in the television series Rags to Riches and Just the Ten of Us...
) and infant Melissa. By special arrangement, the older girls were allowed to attend St. Augustine's, much to the chagrin of the school's administration (and, of course, much delight of the male students). Graham and Elizabeth's sons were 11-year-old Graham, Jr. (Matt Shakman
Matt Shakman
Matt Shakman is an American television/theatre director and actor. He is the founder and Artistic Director of the in Los Angeles, which was named one of "a dozen young American companies you need to know" by American Theatre Magazine...
), familiarly known as "J.R.", and toddler Harvey (Jason and Jeremy Korstjens).
The first season consisted of four episodes for a trial run in the spring of 1988. ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
was pleased with their success and ordered a second season. In the second season, Cindy and Wendy seemed to switch personalities, with Cindy becoming more ditzy, and Wendy becoming the schemer. Also, the show focused more and more on the four older girls and frequently revolved around the family's efforts to save money, dating, and other typical family sitcom
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
issues. In later episodes, the four teenage girls formed a singing group called "The Lubbock Babes" (partly to help bring in much-needed extra income).
Cast
- Bill KirchenbauerBill KirchenbauerBill Kirchenbauer is an American actor and stand-up comic who has appeared in television shows and films since the 1970s...
as Coach Graham T. Lubbock - Deborah HarmonDeborah HarmonDeborah Harmon is an is an American film actress. She is the daughter of actor Frank Harmon.-Filmography:*Imps* .... Mom *Malcolm in the Middle as Parent Volunteer...
as Elizabeth Lubbock - Heather LangenkampHeather LangenkampHeather Langenkamp is an American film and television actress. She is best known for her role as Nancy Thompson from the A Nightmare on Elm Street films...
as Marie Lubbock - Jamie LunerJamie LunerJamie Michelle Luner is an American television actress, best known for her role as Lexi Sterling on Melrose Place and Rachel Burke on Profiler...
as Cynthia "Cindy" Lubbock - Brooke TheissBrooke TheissBrooke Theiss-Genesse is an American actress who has starred in film and on television.Her first film role was in 1988's Little Nikita, but later that year, Brooke's big role came in the hit horror movie A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master as Debbie Stevens, where the character was...
as Wendy Lubbock - JoAnn WilletteJoAnn WilletteJoAnn Willette is an American actress.Willette is best known for appearing in the role of Constance "Connie" Lubbock in the television series Just the Ten of Us from 1988 to 1990. She has also made appearances on a number of other shows including The Facts of Life, T.J...
as Constance Sarah "Connie" Lubbock - Matt ShakmanMatt ShakmanMatt Shakman is an American television/theatre director and actor. He is the founder and Artistic Director of the in Los Angeles, which was named one of "a dozen young American companies you need to know" by American Theatre Magazine...
as Graham "J.R." Lubbock, Jr. - Heidi ZeiglerHeidi ZeiglerHeidi Zeigler is a former child actress from the United States. Zeigler's most notable roles were in the television series Rags to Riches and Just the Ten of Us...
as Sherry Lubbock - Jason and Jeremy Korstjens as Harvey Lubbock
- Frank BonnerFrank BonnerFrank Bonner is an American actor and television director best known for playing sales manager Herb Tarlek on the television sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati.-Life and career:...
as Father Frank Hargis, Headmaster of St. Augustine's Academy - Dennis HaysbertDennis HaysbertDennis Dexter Haysbert is an American film and television actor. He is known for portraying baseball player Pedro Cerrano in the Major League film trilogy, President David Palmer on the American television series 24, and Sergeant Major Jonas Blane on the drama series The Unit, as well as his work...
as Duane Johnson, Coach Lubbock's assistant (1988-1989) - Evan Arnold as Gavin Doosler
- Lou RichardsLou RichardsLewis Thomas Charles "Lou" Richards is a retired Australian rules footballer, who played 250 games with the Collingwood Football Club in the Victorian Football League between 1941 and 1955...
as Father Bud (1989-1990) - Maxine ElliottMaxine Elliott HicksMaxine Elliott Hicks was an American actress. Hicks was born in Denver, Colorado, and began appearing in plays in New York City at age 5. As Maxine Hicks, she was a starlet of the silent film era, with over 200 credited and uncredited roles between 1914 and 1937...
as Sister Ethel (1989-1990)
Development
After Kirchenbauer's portrayal of Coach Lubbock became popular on Growing Pains by the spring of 1987, ABC executives saw that the opportunity was ripe to commission a spin-off with his character. Kirchenbauer quickly accepted ABC's offer to star in his own series, and Dan Guntzelman, Mike Sullivan and Steve Marshall also agreed that a series further exploring the life of Coach Lubbock would have appeal.The producers shot a half-hour test pilot for ABC in the fall of 1987 entitled Yo, Coach. It was set at Thomas E. Dewey High, the same high school that Mike and Carol Seaver attended on Growing Pains, and further explored the Coach's life both at Dewey and at home. This original, rough concept saw the Coach with a wife, played by Pamela Brull
Pamela Brull
Pamela Brull is an American actress.-Career Filmography:*Living in Peril....Det. Siccarelli *The Pretender....Kitty Morgan *The Bachelor's Baby...Pamela Brull (born 1954) is an American actress.-Career Filmography:*Living in Peril....Det. Siccarelli (Feature Film, 1997)*The Pretender....Kitty...
, but with no evident children. Kenneth Tigar also co-starred as the principal of Dewey High. The centerpiece of the early premise was Graham's relationship with his students, and how he helped them move through life's various obstacles. ABC praised the pilot when it was screened, and scheduled the Growing Pains spin-off for the following spring.
Major changes, like those that usually occur in the pilot phase, inevitably took place. ABC saw Kirchenbauer's new series as one with lots of family appeal, and insisted that Graham Lubbock be given children of his own. The role of Graham's wife was also recast with Deborah Harmon, and the show's setting ended up being moved from Dewey High and Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
altogether. Gunztelman, Sullivan and Marshall eventually decided to add a rather large family to the cast, and this set up a story for a Growing Pains crossover episode that was sure to touch prospective viewers of the new series emotionally. Casting was completed for the new series in early 1988, and to indicate the large brood that Graham Lubbock presided over, the title was by now settled as Just the Ten of Us. The principal cast was introduced in the two-part Growing Pains crossover episode "How the West Was Won" (aired on April 15th and 22th, 1988), in which Graham learns that his job at Dewey High will be cut. As a part of their investigation, Mike Seaver and his friends discover Graham, his wife Elizabeth, and their seven children living in a severely cramped downtown apartment. The second part of this Growing Pains episode, in which the Lubbocks make their move to California, aired as the lead in to the premiere episode of Just the Ten of Us on April 22, 1988.
Cancellation
ABC NetworkABC Network
ABC Network may refer to any of the following:*American Broadcasting Company, a private television network in the United States.*Asahi Broadcasting Corporation, regional radio and television broadcaster in Japan....
politics, not ratings issues, canceled Just the Ten of Us in the spring of 1990. The family-friendly Friday night sitcom lineup, which had been dubbed TGIF
TGIF (ABC)
TGIF was the name of an American family-friendly prime time television programming block on the ABC network. The name comes from the initials of the popular phrase "Thank God It's Friday"...
the previous fall, was witnessing growing success in the 1989-90 season with three shows from Miller-Boyett Productions
Miller-Boyett Productions
Miller-Boyett Productions was an American television production company that mainly developed television sitcoms from the 1970s through the 1990s...
: Full House
Full House
Full House is an American sitcom television series. Set in San Francisco, the show chronicles widowed father Danny Tanner, who, after the death of his wife, enlists his best friend Joey Gladstone and his brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis to help raise his three daughters, D.J., Stephanie, and...
, Family Matters
Family Matters (TV series)
Family Matters is an American sitcom about a middle-class African-American family living in Chicago, Illinois, which ran on national television for nine full seasons. The series was a spin-off of Perfect Strangers, but revolves around the Winslow family...
, and Perfect Strangers
Perfect Strangers (TV series)
Perfect Strangers is an American sitcom that ran for eight seasons from March 25, 1986, to August 6, 1993, on the ABC television network. Created by Dale McRaven, the series chronicles the rocky coexistence of midwestern American Larry Appleton and his distant cousin from eastern Mediterranean...
. Wanting to complete the TGIF lineup with a program that visually and creatively meshed closely with the three, ABC green-lighted a new pilot from Miller/Boyett and their associates, Robert Griffard and Howard Adler, for placement at 9:30/8:30 in the fall of 1990. Thus, Warner Bros. Television
Warner Bros. Television
Warner Bros. Television is the television production arm of Warner Bros. Entertainment, itself part of Time Warner. Alongside CBS Television Studios, it serves as a television production arm of The CW Television Network , though it also produces shows for other networks, such as Shameless on...
and producers Guntzelman, Sullivan and Marshall were depending on ABC to move Just the Ten of Us to a night and time that would maintain the show's decent ratings.
They soon found themselves entering a battle over their show's fate. Examining their entire primetime lineup, network executives were finding it difficult to relocate the program. When ABC failed to see the series fitting anywhere else on its schedule, rumors quickly circulated that they would even drop the program altogether, if it meant milking more success with Miller/Boyett in its place. Guntzelman/Sullivan/Marshall had a solid case against such talk: Just the Ten of Us consistently won its time slot, provided an excellent lead-in to news magazine 20/20, and had a great fan base that carried over from Growing Pains
Growing Pains
Growing Pains is an American television sitcom about an affluent family, residing in Huntington, New York, with a working mother and a stay-at-home psychiatrist father raising three children together, which aired on ABC from September 24, 1985 to April 25, 1992.-Synopsis:The show's premise is based...
viewership. When the 1990 network upfronts were announced in May, Going Places, the new Miller/Boyett sitcom with an adult "edge" that would serve as the 20/20 lead-in, appeared in the Friday 9:30 slot for September. Just the Ten of Us was nowhere on the ABC schedule, thus giving truth to the rumor. In confirming the show's cancellation, ABC stated that while the series had seen steady growth in its three seasons on the air, it still had yet to achieve commercial and large ratings success. The network felt that the series' Nielsen
Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre films and newspapers...
ranking alone at the end of season three was respectable enough for renewal, but that another show from Miller/Boyett would have been a greater audience draw than Just the Ten of Us, given the higher ratings and ad revenue yielded for M/B shows at the time. The fact that Going Places had the same visual production values as its other three TGIF siblings (since all were produced at Lorimar Television, which Tens parent company Warner Bros. would acquire in 1993), was also emphasized by ABC at the time of the decision.
Just the Ten of Us left ABC during summer reruns in late July 1990. Although ABC saw even greater success with its TGIF lineup in the 1990-91 season, the new series, Going Places, only lasted a single season before being dropped. In the wake of this action, ABC programming chief Bob Iger filed a press statement nearly one year after the abrupt cancellation of Just the Ten of Us, in which he stated that the network brass "moved too quickly" in canceling the show.
Syndication and DVD release
Cable's USA NetworkUSA Network
USA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...
picked up the entire series in reruns shortly after it was canceled, and aired the show on a daily basis until 1996.
To date, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has no plans to release the show on DVD.
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Result | Category | Recipient |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards | Won | Top TV Series | John Bettis John Bettis John Bettis is an American lyricist who has co-written many famous popular songs over the years. In 2011, John was inducted into both the Songwriters Hall of Fame as well as the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.... |
| 1990 | Primetime Emmy Award Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards are awards presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in recognition of excellence in American primetime television programming... |
Won | Outstanding Lighting Direction (Electronic) for a Comedy Series | George Spiro Dibie (For episode "Highway To Heaven") |
| Young Artist Award Young Artist Award The Young Artist Award is an accolade bestowed by the Young Artist Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 1978 to recognize and award excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young artists who may be physically and/or financially challenged.The Young Artist... |
Nominated | Best Young Actor/Actress Ensemble in a Television Comedy, Drama Series or Special | Heather Langenkamp, Jamie Luner, Matt Shakman, Brooke Theiss, JoAnn Willette and Heidi Zeigler | |
| Best Family Television Series | |
|||
| Best Young Actress Supporting Role in a Television Series | Heidi Zeigler |