Tina Yothers

When a Michael J. Fox-hosted SNL did the obligatory spoof, the character of Jennifer was played by yet another annoying, forgettable performer, DL - unfave Victoria Jackson, uttering monosyllabic one-liners thus bringing OP’s point home.

For some reason all those old sitcoms found it necessary to have a "cute kid". Maybe Fraus found it cute and it made them want to tune in week after week? I don't know?

She was also really fug for TV.

But she wasn't cute, R2, and neither was that brat who came in later.

Her hair was memorable.

Butterface!

Her hair looks like Ramen noodles.

R7, lol!

Does anyone remember that TV movie she made where she auditions for the Laker Girls and actually gets in? Not only that, but the hottest guy in the movie is after her. Lol!

You have a problem with Top Ramen hair, R7?

R9, I just about to say, that was the last thing I saw her in back in 1990! LOL.

The cute kid never age well!

Is she still alive?

Tina Yothers as a Laker Girl. That's some Blossom shit right there.

Tina inspired me!

Laker Girl Tina

On the 'Family Ties' reunion on "Stars in the House" last month, Tina was excited to share she kept the Tiffany lamp from the living room (she showed it in her Zoom shot), and some fugly macrame thing from the kitchen. She also had a 'Family Ties' logo laser cut from wood right behind her, and Meredith Baxter asked her, "Is that always up, or just for the reunion?" Tina said it was always up...it made me realize how much of her identity is tied up--pun intended--to the show.

"The cute kid never age well!"

Sorry Gary R12. Rudy Huxtable (Keisha Knight-Pulliam) did OK for herself in the looks department.

The Black chick next to Tina @ R16 is Paris Vaughan. Daughter of Jazz legend Sarah Vaughan.

R17, you comment is surprising because right after Family Ties, Tina seemed to want to completely distance herself from her old image. She cut off her long blonde hair, died the rest jet black, quit acting and joined a death metal band! And as far as I know, she's kept that look and continued singing all these years.

Tina as Tonya (Harding), something I never knew I needed to see!

She has all of the sex appeal of a Hostess snowball

She was Meredith's plaything.

Purple suits her well.

She was cute when she was little, like a cocker spaniel. She quickly grew out of the phase. She was hired after producers saw her with Diane Keaton and Albert Finney in Shoot the Moon, in which the director managed to get an adorable performance out of her. It turned out she had no acting talent at all.

She reminds me of another adorable child actor named Huckleberry Fox, who broke hearts as the little boy in Terms of Endearment. It turned out he had no talent either when he was given a starring role in his next movie.

Why would someone name their kid Huckleberry? Isn't that child abuse?

Speaking of Huckleberry, the only Family Ties episodes centered around Jennifer that I remember is when she wrote a book report on the banned book Huckleberry Finn. Such a controversial goddess!

That whole show was annoying and completely unmemorable.

Agreed r27

There were several episodes dedicated to Jennifer. The one where she sings with her band, her coming of age episode, the one where she starts talking like a valley girl to impress her friends.

It had to be hard being part of a TV family in which everyone was good-looking except you. It's not that the others were all exactly stunning (except for Justine Bateman, who in fact grew more gorgeous with age) but at least they didn't look like they'd been hit in the face with a frying pan.

She made Cindy Brady look like a world class thespian and raconteur!

Not bad looking as a grown-up, but her head...her poor mothers crotchetal bone regions surely experience ptsd 50 years and counting. OWWWWWW!

R29 I remember that - she runs away and leaves a note in Valley speak and it was funny when the father reads it out loud trying to make sense of it

R31, I’m glad she didn’t turn into a babbling, idiotic, conservative whack job like Susan Olsen. Susan Olsen is just a step above trailer trash.

“Baby I’m Back In Love Again” was a mega pop hit that launched her music career into superstardom.

[quote] Jennifer was annoying and completely unmemorable!

He wrote 35 years later.

R36 Of course the correct response should have been “I don’t know her???”

She was lucky to grow up in an era of big hair to help distract and balance out her potato face.

Didn’t her father manage her career? I think that she even had a poster out. Her body was nice, but she’s not the most photogenic girl...

She came from the same secret jizz lab as Conan O’Brian - genetically hatched with built-in 5g wifi , lizard people anti-bodies, and odd rhythmic foot placement abilities.

Of all child actresses not to hold up a video store and due time.

Didn't she make a career for herself by soundtracking porn movies?

[quote]Why would someone name their kid Huckleberry? Isn't that child abuse?

He had a younger brother named Dingleberry Fox.

Those two parents really hated their kids.

[Quote] test [quote]

She was supposed to be the only character that could hold their own with Alex. Tina couldn’t carry that off past the first season.

If we had known the series would last that long, we would have cast a kid that would have grown up cuter. She double crossed us.

In different episodes they paired her with three of the best known kid stars of the day as male interests. Noah Hathaway, River Phoenix and Wil Wheaton. They were all one and done.

To be fair I think Tina Yothers as Jennifer basically embodied the Gen X zeitgeist. She was all of us. Plain, forgotten living in the shadow of more accomplished or popular siblings. She's Jan, but a few years later she'd be dropping E at a rave and getting multiple STDs or she'd be Dylan Kleibold.

Little sisters are to be ignored and shunned, OP.

She was very cute as a small child, but most child actors who are cast to be incredibly cute when very young grow up to be homely adults.

There was the funny episode where Michael Gross teaches her to drive by setting up a “car” in the kitchen. Funny because of MG, of course. She was a typical awkward, annoying girl so it worked fine in a family setting. Tomboy stage, liked older, unattainable guys, tried on new personas. At least the writers didn’t shit all over her looks like Tracey Gold.

Does anyone remember Christina Applegate as a member of Jennifer's do wop girl group?

Her hair was a hate crime.

[quote] Her hair was a hate crime.

Against whom? It was par for the course for the 1980s.

God - look at the underbite! Worse than by dog's!

R18 has KKP had a good career post-Cosby? (I know, Google is my friend). She’s got a 25k+ watch on so at the very least she’s invested her Cosby money well.

Tina is exactly what we think of Jersey mall girls of that era to look like. I think Justine was actually prettiest the first couple of seasons (like Brooke Shields her looks peaked early/when girls are still coming out of that awkward phase).

In that Shoot the Moon pic her hair is more strawberry blonde. So I guess her stage parents started dying her hair at an early age (not uncommon).

She also got a nose job at some point after the show. It’s still kind of big but it improves her face a bit.

Yeah.

That was the rare TV show where the children in the family actually looked like they could be related to one another and also to the actress who played their mother.