Eight Is Enough 1977 To 1981

The series seemed silly and kind of pointless until the second season.

It annoyed me that none of the siblings bore even a passing resemblance to one another.

I remember the weirdest random plot points, like Tommy finding the Christmas gifts his now-deceasedmom had wrapped and hidden in the kitchen cabinet…

Tommy getting busted for plagiarizing one of Mary’s old term papers (they both used “…and by that sane token..”)…

Joanie’s theatre troupe mounting a production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” that featured nudity…

David’s sensible girlfriend Janet; and Susan’s stud, “Merle the Pearl”…

Abby’s classic British roadster and her statement scarves

R2- That's true. None of them looked like they were related in any way.

After Adam Rich's death, I started watching some clips on YT(especially the theme song) and it brought back some nice memories... what can people tell me about this show? Was there drama behind the scenes especially with DL fave Betty Lynn Buckley? She looks like she wants to cut Grant around 2:30 while everyone else looks so joyful

Mark Hamill he was involved in a serious auto accident where he sustained serious facial injuries and was forced to quit the show. Best thing that ever happened to him. Poor Diana Hyland had to die to get out of that damn show...

I thought Mark quit when he got Star Wars and he had his accident in-between Star War movies

[quote] It annoyed me that none of the siblings bore even a passing resemblance to one another.

Right?!

With all that long hair, I imagine lice was ever present in the Bradford house.

The entire show is free on tubi

R9 Not to mention all the fur pie.

Dianne Kay could have been the breakout star . I don’t know what happened

[quote] Was there drama behind the scenes especially with DL fave Betty Lynn Buckley?

Being a stage diva she thought doing television was beneath her. From what I've head she did a lot of coke and was very high-strung and controlling.

I always thought Willie Aames was kinda ugly.. I wish some washed up sitcom star from that era would write a truthful book about working on Network TV back then.. Battle of the Network Stars, cocaine, Flippers Skate Rink..All the replacing of actors in established roles..

R13 Good thing Betty Lynn and Linda Lavin never shared the same stage.

Grant Goodeve had a nice booty.

R13, Betty resented the corniness and bad writing on show . She’s a lot nicer now than she was. Dianne Kay says she was bothered by the fact the girls playing her step daughters were not that much younger than her.

I wonder if Betty Buckley and Robert Reed ever drank white wine spritzers and bitched about the corniness and bad writing of their shows.

Michael Goodreaux should've received an Emmy for his incredible performance as an alcoholic on that one episode.

I was 11 when the show aired and my older sister was 18. We loved it. It's easy to hate everything that seems corny or out of step with today. But as a kid I wanted to be like the Bradfords. DVP always bugged the shit out of me with his New Yawkese and combover.

I followed Adam Rich on Twitter. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy. Really a shame he was struggling with depression and drug abuse that caused him to end his life so suddenly.

What kind of old man name is Merle in the late 70s?

Mark Hamill’s accident happened in January 1977 supposedly on the night the EiE pilot aired. He’d already finished Star Wars, which was to be released that summer. He didn’t like the comedic direction the show was going in and didn’t want to be in a 5 year contract, so the facial disfigurement from the crash was a good excuse to get off the show. I guess he didn’t know Star Wars would be the biggest movie of all time though. They did a remarkable job of putting his face back together. He should have had a bigger career, he was pretty cute, but I don’t remember him in anything outside the Star Wars movies. Obviously Carrie and Harrison went on to other success.

Yeah, Adam seemed like a good guy. So is Mark if you’ve seen his social media.

R22 It was a popular Southern name that I guess the producers thought was fitting for his character.

It’s ugly r24

So was Joanie's perm R25

R21, Adam had 7 years of drugs . I wonder if he decided to slowly kill himself by getting loaded again . He was in such pain . He was a great guy! Funny, intelligent and charisma up the wazoo.

[quote]He should have had a bigger career, he was pretty cute, but I don’t remember him in anything outside the Star Wars movies.

Hamill was in a couple of high-profile movies between the original Star Wars installments, Corvette Summer (avec Annie Potts) and The Big Red One. Corvette Summer even made a lot of money, because it was heavily promoted as starring the Star Wars heartthrob, and came so soon after initial Star Wars mania. But he never seemed to find any lasting career traction outside of Luke Skywalker.

In the early '90s, I saw him in a really terrible movie called Black Magic Woman, a supernatural thriller with Apollonia Kotero as a sexy witch who puts a spell on Hamill. It's just the kind of thing that used to be on HBO or Showtime in the middle of the night, and I'd think, "How did this get made at all, and with people whose names I know?" The 4.0 score it has on IMDb may be generous.

Shortly thereafter, he was mostly doing voice work.

Adam Rich died of a drug overdose. Was he a homo who just couldn't accept himself?

R27 here I meant Adam Had seven years drug free .

Hamill's career really got a reboot in later life with all the SW remakes.

R31, he seems very grateful too ☝🏼

One thing I liked is that the characters wore clothes/costumes over and over agin just like real life.

R29 Adam was very supportive of gay rights on social media so I imagine if he were gay he wouldn't have an issue with it.

He was not gay . He had a type - blonds like Dianne Kay ( his first crush).

The kids were competing with the Diff’rent Strokes kids in the “most fucked up child actors” sweepstakes.

Lani O’Grady-dead, overdose

Susan Richardson-batshit crazy, thinks she was kidnapped by South Koreans

Willie Aames-drunk

Adam Rich-drug addiction

And was Betty doing a lot of coke when she was shooting this?

I love the story that Betty and Laurie Walters either wanted Laurie to fall in love with Abby or have a lesbian affair. They pitched it to the producers and were told NO.

What happened to Dianne Kay in season. 5? She lost a lot of weight and seemed withdrawn

8 kids and not a single homo in the bunch? Totally unbelievable. At least one of them should've dabbled in the homosex.

Also, it is bizarre that a family friendly tv show would be based on Tom Braden’s book. Braden was a CIA agent and deeply connected in Washington politics.

His wife Joan was friendly with Jackie and Ethel Kennedy. She tried to fuck Bobby and steal Robert McNamara from Katherine Graham, who hated her with a passion and allowed megacunt Sally Quinn to write an attack piece on the Joan Braden and the Braden marriage in the Washington Post.

Does anyone remember the TV series "Apple's Way?" It was very similar to EIE and had Vincent Van Patten and Kristy McNichol.

R37 I've heard stories from Jill Whelan about how horrible women on TV were treated by the producers at ABC. Forcing actresses to lose weight and threatening to fire them if they are above a certain weight. I remember issues about Susan's weight during her pregnancy being discussed on the EIE True Hollywood. I'm sure all the stress of this was too much for Dianne.

R41, true . I also think the constant disgruntled, and drug usage vibe on set in later seasons was too much for a sensitive person like Dianne . Dianne did not use drugs

Dianne had her chance at stardom, appearing in a Spielberg film during the run of Eight is Enough, unfortunately that Speilberg film happened to be 1941 which was a huge flop. Between the film's failure and other things that have been addressed in this thread, she might have lost motivation to pursue a bigger career. I have to say that it is suprising that not one of the actors from the show (save Betty Buckley) had any semblance of a career after the series ended.

It's tough to get a break after starring in a popular TV series. You're forever tied to that show.

R`4- Not ugly but he always seemed rather average looking to me.

Poor Ralph Macchio looked so malnourished in it.

R36- That doesn't seem likely and of course even it were true there's NO WAY that ABC would have allowed even a hint of a Lesbian affair in the late 1970's.

R41 interesting. I wonder if they were able to pull that kind of shit with their very top stars though, or just the second/third tier child -teen star types.

I was very disappointed with the pilot when I learned that the "eight" did not refer to Goodeve's cock inches. Never watched it again.

Family was far more progressive than Eight Is Enough was in the 1970's- Willie's gay friend and Miss Jessup the LESBIAN teacher.

R49- Is SEVEN enough for your MUSSY?

Except for that dyke Mary who was in med school, the daughters were all lazy bitches who sat around and did nothing.

If Nancy and Joanie wanted to be a model and an actress, why the fuck would you stay in SACRAMENTO and not move to New York or LA?

Unless-it was really a whorehouse and Abby was their madam, and she put Tommy on a corner in short shorts too. That sounds more interesting.

[quote] I was very disappointed with the pilot when I learned that the "eight" did not refer to Goodeve's cock inches. Never watched it again.

Goodeve's not in the pilot, ya dork.

I’m still here, gays!

That goddamned Jeremy character ruined the whole show for me.

R55- He was the Cousin Oliver of Eight Is Enough

Lani was so butch compared to her sisters on the show.

That low voice.

Grant Goodeve should be better remembered.

I'm sure he was the catalyst for a lot of young boys to start thinking about things in a different way.

R57, Lani and Dianne were close friends for decades.

[quote] It's tough to get a break after starring in a popular TV series. You're forever tied to that show.

Bro, I know. I know :(

r28, I think you can say that Mark Hamill found his career traction in voice work. Very regularly whenever either magazines or online sites do surveys ranking the different actors who played the Joker, he always comes out on top--even above Heath Ledger and Joaquin phoenix, who both won Oscars for playing the part--because his take was so indelible.

Hamill was absolutely beautiful before he had his big accident, and thereafter he always seemed physically insecure about his face. (He retained his nice body though--I recently saw "Empire Strikes back" again, which was filmed right after his accident, and was impressed by his body and his ass both.) But he did not become a good actor until the 80s, and by then he had really become an accomplished character actor.

I could see Lani O'Grady and Betty Buckley being scissor sisters, they should've written that into the show.

R61 tbf I do think the material helped--everyone who saw The Killing Joke & Death In The Family was moved and horrified and intensely taken by the entire plot and premise. Not that Hamill wasn't fantastic as The Joker--he was. But the entire project stayed with people and was taken seriously.

Kind of wish Hamill had done VA for Under The Red Hood, as well. Imagining how he'd have played Jason Todd's murder...brrr.

My mom was always fast to tell me that Mary (Lani O’Grady) was the lesbian character on the show. I was 5 yrs old when it debuted on tv.

You have no idea how much I loved it when Willie Aames was shirtless. We were both teenagers at the time.

I didn’t realize Grant Goodeve also paid tribute to Adam Rich.

R65 ugh that just reminds me how annoying Charles In Charge was. It hasn't aged well at all.

[quote] that just reminds me how annoying Charles In Charge was. It hasn't aged well at all.

Neither has Scott Baio!

I wish Grant would fap and nut in my mouth

Eight ropes is enough

Didn't Willie Ames become a fundy nut asshole like Kirk Cameron?

I remember having a crush on Grant Goodeve back in the day and wanting to see him shirtless. Didn't he play one of Steven Carrington's boyfriends on "Dynasty" during one of the times that show let Steven be gay?

Lani was deeply closeted and I believe this caused her extreme anxiety disorder that led to self medicating. She was a good soul

David and his dopey singing. I’d rather have Merle adorn me with his pearl necklace!

[quote]Didn't he play one of Steven Carrington's boyfriends on "Dynasty" during one of the times that show let Steven be gay?

He did, when Jack Coleman played Steven.

Joannie is older than Abby.

I bet Betty traumatized poor Willie Aames by trying to seduce him.

They were filming and when the scene was over she brushed up against him and told him to come to her dressing room to run lines.

When Willie got there, Betty was wearing a robe. Like a good hostess, she offered him coke, Stoli and Quaaludes. Then, she took off her robe,, revealing the tiniest breasts this side of Bonnie Franklin and the hairiest bush this side of Jackie O’s nude Penthouse pics.

“It’s time for you to become a man, Willie,” Betty said, putting his hands on her nonexistent bosom.

Willie ran screaming from the dressing room and turned to the bottle to cope with the trauma.

R76- Enough of your HETERO fantasies.

Betty Buckley is a DYKE.

Adam on Twitter called Betty , “ Mom”

Poor Adam, r78. Calling that harridan “Mom”-that tells you all you need to know about his parents and home life if he was looking to that cunt for maternal warmth.

Easy, Patti! Easy!

I didn't care for this show.

Eight is not enough to fill my life with love...sorry.

Has Adam’s autopsy come out yet?

I'm sorry people but Adam Rich looks like an elderGAY in this photo.

This photo-

Or a skinny Patton Oswald.

It was only two more siblings than the Bradys, but I couldn’t keep the names or ages of this group straight. And the first mother’s death was sad and cast a dark shadow over this show, unlike the dead Brady parents who were hardly mentioned. And (sorry I forget her name)’s death was so early on that Eight is Enough could’ve just replaced the actress, they didn’t need a dead mother.

Diana Hyland would be 87 now.

When Diana passed the entire cast and crew were deeply saddened and in shock . Everyone loved her

With 8 siblings, one of them was bound to find Tommy's Playboy stash or Mary's box of dildos.

[quote] I couldn’t keep the names or ages of this group straight.

You're in good company. It took Rose Nylund 2 years to learn everyone's names.

Joanie/Susan/Elizabeth blurred together for me. Mary was memorable because she was so dykey and Nancy looked completely different from everyone else, so much prettier, like she didn’t belong to the family.

Nancy was stunning

Say “Doggie Style”!

Grant Goodeve in speedos on "Murder, She Wrote"

Did he sell bottles of Dr Good in the evening?

grant goodie was the only reason to watch this dreck

I love his part in License To Drive.

I LOVED the Susan Richardson story where she was "kidnapped and was held captive by Filmmakers in South Korea". So many lies and none of it makes sense. I think this was the nail in her coffin. Kinda like the Paula Abdul plane crash - No record of it EVER happening.

I LOVE this - I can't imagine what she's like NOW, this clip is 20 years old!

Nancy was the Marilyn MUNSTER OF Eight is Enough

Totally ☝🏼

Tom Bradford had gay tendencies.

There were rumors on set that Dianne Kay and Lani were more than friends due to their inseparability on set

Tom Bradford was type A personality. Probably died from out of control high blood pressure or stroke.

DVP Was a great man. He was so generous and kind . He helped Adam Rich many times . He was deeply respected by his peers

Yet he was also good friends with Robert Evans from childhood. Strange pairing, huh?

Bob Evans was awesome!

R100's clip reminds me of that religious nut character from Edward Scissorhands.

I just remember Kathleen Madigan talking about when she was on Politically Incorrect with Dick Van Patten. She said every time he'd make a point and nod his head, all she could focus on were his skin tags jiggling around.

Mad Magazine Eight is TOO MUCH!

You guys just can't quit me.....

[quote] I just remember Kathleen Madigan talking about when she was on Politically Incorrect with Dick Van Patten. She said every time he'd make a point and nod his head, all she could focus on were his skin tags jiggling around.

What a cunt.

DVP dog and cat food brand , Natural Balance is a top , healthy food. He gave so much food to shelters

[quote] There were rumors on set that Dianne Kay and Lani were more than friends due to their inseparability on set

From what I've read Lani would invite Dianne to go topless sunbathing on the rooftop somewhere on the studio lot. It was a private spot where Richard Anderson would also sun while filming The Bionic Woman.

Sadly, Laurie Walters lost her husband in a hit-and-run accident in 2017

R116, ☝🏼 he was drunk and successfully ran and was caught at LAX the next day . They could not prove driving under the influence, so they gave him a slap on risk sentence. Laurie was so devastated by her soul mate’s death. She was in her late 40’a when they married. They were perfect Together. So awful

So. Much. Hair.

"I said, 'Adam, 8 is enough for me ANY time.' He said, 'I'm 10.' I said, 'Even better!'"

[quote] I LOVE this - I can't imagine what she's like NOW, this clip is 20 years old!

Well ,this was from 6 years ago.

Joan Prather was arrested for a 2008 hit-and-run. She was also the one responsible for introducing John Travolta to Scientology.

Joan had the eyes of the mind controlled back then . It wasn’t her fault . I hope she left Scientology

When Susan dies I'd be surprised if any of the cast says anything. When they were all on the Today show a while back it was like Susan was never a part of the show. Adam wasn't there yet they read a letter from him. And the interviewer mentioned the character of Susan but not the actress who played her. None of the cast said a word about her. Pathetic.

R117- That being said her husband did not seem heterosexual.

R123, Dianne Kay said on a podcast interview that Susan was so creative and fun like David Lee Roth of the kids .

R124, I don’t believe Laurie is either . But they loved each other

Ralph Macchio was 47 when he appeared on Eight is Enough.

Joanie came home for the family reunion with Meryl’s career.

R128, yes and Nancy was married to a small time rancher in Wyoming. It was so Ludicrous and insulting

R126- So Lani AND Lauri were BOTH DYKES?

R128 Reunion Joanie was awful. The way she was made into some worldly thespian living in Paris and showing up dressed in Lawrence of Arabia garb was ridiculous. If they gave Joanie that, they could've at least given Nancy a better storyline than being the wife of a shepherd.

R123 I got the feeling they were being careful mentioning anything about Susan because of all the bad press she had gotten over time. They didn't really say much about Adam either.

The most cringeworthy moment was Susan's monologue during the girls' heart talk in the bedroom. So, so bad.

Laurie Walters and Barbra Streisand have a very similar profile.

Apparently Betty Buckley cruelly shouted to Susan R during a scene “ You can’t act!”

Why is Betty Buckley such an angry cunt?

☝🏼 it was ego and coke at the time . She’s so much healed now .

R137- She must have pulled in some quality PUSSY back then.

Willie Aames well-formed ass in jeans was always a highlight.

Or out of them, R139.

R132 Maybe, but at least have the decency to mention her name.

R134, I was convinced that Laurie was Jewish, but nope , total wasp . BTW, she’s a good lady who was so devastated by her husband’s death

Laurie and Betty are avid fans of Barbra Streisand.

Grant Goodeve had a great big penis...

Anyone who is familiar with character actress Lin Shaye (she's in all the Insidious movies and is recognizable from other roles) might want to check out her playing a young punk rocker on the episode where the Bradford house is for sale.

Lin Shaye was young once?

I believe it is season 2 'The Return of Auntie V"

If Nancy had followed Auntie V's advice about becoming a model she would've never ended up a lowly shepherd's wife.

“Eight is enough, to fill our lives with love.”

Lin Shaye was great in a creepy little movie called Room for Rent where she plays an unstable landlady who becomes obsessed the cute young guy she rents a room to.

Janis Paige was great as Tom’s free spirit sister

Did Dick’s nepo-babies make cameos during the run of the series?

His sons were hot!!

R152 They did. In fact, Nels is very good friends with Brian Patrick Clarke.

I've been watching EiE on Tubi, and in the fourth episode, it's pretty obvious that they've given Joan's lines to Joanie (and in one scene, to Mary) because of Diana Hyland's illness. Suddenly Joanie is lecturing and acting like a mother to all the other kids, and it's quite weird.

The opening also is different in this episode: no more Joan taking a picture of the family in front of the house; now it's everybody forming a human pyramid.

Has the ever been another TV show in which one of the main stars dies only a few episodes in?

I was in character for a production of Mother Courage at the Sacramento Playhouse, r155!

[quote] Tom Bradford had gay tendencies.

Tendencies?! They never did quite explain how the first Mrs. Bradshaw died falling down the stairway...

R120 - Did she buy the trailer from the estate of Erin Moran or Dana Plato?

[quote] Tendencies?! They never did quite explain how the first Mrs. Bradshaw died falling down the stairway...

It turns out she really was attacked by Nicholas’ pet owl, which he acquired by trading his entire baseball card collection with Kenny P. Landers.

Joan’s death was never explained. How did she die

r160, she died of a broken heart when she walked in on her lover John Travolta getting a "massage" from a Venice Beach bodybuilder.

It wasn't a bodybuilder, it was Grant Goodeve.

Which one of you bitches ate out Lani O’Grady’s snatch?

She looked the best she ever could appearing on Jenny Jones. Almost quite pretty actually.

I wonder why they had Tom remarry so quickly. You think they would have gone a little longer with Tom as the single father of 8 kids. I think I started watching the show in season 2 when Tom met Abby, and just assumed the first wife had been gone a long time and was never part of the show. They did not make it seem like he was a recent widower and barely remember the first wife being mentioned much (although my memories of the show are a bit fuzzy).

Maybe they had a pile of scripts that relied on a mother figure for the plots? I agree they could have gotten a lot of mileage out of Tom being a single dad of eight kids, and maybe the show would have made it past four seasons. Was it was, they ran out of steam early and even adopted another kid to try to squeeze a bit more life out of the concept! What middle-aged man with eight kids adopts a stray??

Auntie Vi was the Bradford's answer to the Brady's Aunt Jenny.

I wonder if Tom ever had fooled around with his secretary, Donna.

Interesting tidbit about Lani O'Grady's death. The neighbor who discovered her in dead in her trailer was none other than Kathy Coleman who played Holly on TVs Land of the Lost. At the time she was living in an RV right next to Lani.

Did Lani and Kathy bump pussies?

R170 No, Lani yearned for Dianne Kay's pussy.

When Diana Hyland died they should have just recast the role. Joyce Van Patten would have been perfect.

[quote] Joyce Van Patten would have been perfect.

No. Faye Dunaway would've been perfect.

[quote] Lani yearned for Dianne Kay's pussy.

We ALL did.

Susan killed her mother, she was secretly a teen prostitute (pimp played by Lawrence Hilton Jacobs). When she tried to leave with him to work a truck stop in hot pants and a tube top, Joan tried to intercede and was bludgeoned by Susan with a candlestick.

Larry hid the body, Tom used his connections as a newspaper publisher to keep it quiet and the Bradfords moved on witj that cunt Betty Buckley.

Adam Rich said that Betty Buckley was a cunt to him.

R176 When was this? I got the impression on social media that they were pretty close.

What I did hear from someone I knew who was a guest star on the show as a child was that Dick Van Patten was horrible and continuously yelling at everyone.

Faye Dunaway should have played Nancy.

Based on…

R177, he may have yelled at everyone else, but I bet her never yelled at Dianne Kay, you know, 'the pretty one.'

Dianne Kay, Dick Butkus *and* Corey Feldman...what went wrong?

Dianne looked so corny in the 80’s

Dianne was stunning in the late 70’s

[quote] When Diana Hyland died they should have just recast the role. Joyce Van Patten would have been perfect.

No, but if they'd hired Elaine Stritch I would have actually watched.

Is they revamped this show, who should play Tom Bradford? All the real Van Patten sons are too old. Tom should be in his early 40s.

Italy's answer to Dianne Kay.

Early 40s with a 22-year old son, R185? No, he should be late 40s.

That reminds me: Tom turned 50 on an episode of the show, then again about ten years later in a TV movie!

R186, Dianne was much prettier.

No wonder Lani wanted Dianne’s snatch. She was gorge.

Steve Zahn as Tom Bradford.

Viola Davis as Abby. Imagine the preaching to her white step children!

In today's woke climate, the children would look like an ad for Benetton.

I don't remember too many actual episodes of EIE but there's a fun one from season 3 called Horror Story that should have been a Halloween episode. Most of the kids are home during a storm when the power goes out and Nancy's mysterious blind date arrives looking like a young Anthony Perkins. Creepy hijinks ensue.

Great episode ☝🏼. Nancy looked so hot in this episode

The dim candle-lighting made Laurie Walters look really attractive too.

I remember that horror episode! My parents were out and the babysitter and I watched it when it aired and it freaked my shit out. Didn't want to go to sleep until my parents came home!

R14- I did not think he was ugly but rather average looking and I was never the least bit attracted to him.

I hated Susan Richardson.

Past tense?

Loved the hot eldest son

I remember "Apples Way". All those shows remind me of happier days as a 70s kid. My siblings were teens. I wish I could go back in time. At least for a day.

Can anyone explain Dick Van Patten to me. Why in the WORLD was that man famous, allowed to be on television or even in a TV commercial? He's horrible. Hamfisted acting. A ridiculous comb over and what was the NY accent? It was absurdly out of place.

He got acting gigs for just about all of his children. They were all on television all the time. His sister Joyce too. After a while though he became annoying.

I was the same age as Willie Aames and I appreciated how good he looked in tight jeans. And out of them.

I'm ashamed to admit I've always thought Joyce was Dick's first wife.

This show was the only real one to define the 4 Carter Years (as it had over 90% of its episodes airing during his only term in office) & was cancelled soon after he left in '81.

Adam drooled over pretty women on his social media accounts & wished he was taller. I got the impression he wanted to be a married guy with some kids before 40.

Grant (slammed gays on the 700 Club) & Willie (a.k.a. Bibleman) were both right wing Christians ala Pat Robertson. Willie might've mellowed out some of his right-wing positions in the past 2 decades.

I recall Dick Van Patton (a moderate repub who enjoyed betting at the racetrack) doing an early 80s ad in Out Magazine which mentioned HIV patients (when it still wasn't "acceptable" to have it) & animal welfare so I loved him more after that.

^ That's "an early 90s ad in Out Magazine".

The Bradford house was torn down. Wonder if the real house had that hideous green carpet like the set did?

They never seemed to write for Elizabeth. She was just kinda there. The only time I ever remember her figuring prominently in any episode was when Tom and Abby were going to get married.

R36, I read the same story somewhere.

I always wondered how dweeby Dick had such hot sons

R28 Hamill still looked pretty good in 1991. It's a pity George didn't get around to making the sequels between 1988 -1992 when the Batman movies were doing business.

“There’s a plate of homemade wishes on the kitchen windowsill” are some of the worst lyrics ever.

I was surprised Tom Bradford was based on Tom Braden, who wrote the autobiographical book the series was based on, and was the co-host of CNN's old show, Crossfire, with Pat Buchanan (Braden being "left", Buchanan being "right").

I was also surprised Willie Aames (one of the few TV teens I ever had a crush on, as a fellow teen) was only five foot six.

I was surprised Dick Van Patten was a protege of the Lunts, who thought that, as a young actor, he was "another Montgomery Clift" (their previous protege). I didn't think Van Patten was all that good. But I had a new respect for him after that.

I didn't like Grant Goodeve. He seemed so pompous. I wasn't attracted to him.

[quote] Can anyone explain Dick Van Patten to me. Why in the WORLD was that man famous, allowed to be on television or even in a TV commercial? He's horrible. Hamfisted acting. A ridiculous comb over and what was the NY accent? It was absurdly out of place.

He was on a famous, very popular TV series (Mama, based on I Remember Mama) all through the '50s. Because it was live, not on film, it wasn't seen much afterward (just kinescopes). There were no ubiquitous reruns, in the '60s-'70s and beyond, like Lucy, Honeymooners, Father Knows Best, etc. If there were, everyone would know who he was. My mom remembered him from Mama.

He was very into tennis, very onto poker playing and horseracing, and his sons seem to have taken after him since Vince was a pro tennis player and now is a pro card player, I think.

Betty Buckley, Van Patten's co-star on the series, said "Every day on the set he was a happy, jovial person, always generous and ready to play, tease, and always keep us all laughing. He was the consummate professional, a wonderful actor, master of comedy, and a kind and generous human being." (Wikipedia)

PS I don't really get it, either.

Van Patten seems like he was a genuinely good guy. I never cared for him as an actor, though I really only know him from EIE. But he was very generous to Adam Rich and Susan Richardson and probably his other TV kids long after the show ended even though he didn’t need to be.

Mostly that accent was what drove me crazy about DVP. He always seemed exasperated with the kids. Look Tom, don't have 8 fucking kids if you can't handle it. He always looked like an ad for high blood pressure medicine. Abby!!!! Have you seen my blue sport coat?? Tommy, where's Nicholas? Has anyone seen Elizabeth? Always a lot happening at the Bradford home.

Remember when Tommy got trench mouth? I thought it was a teenage thing that we all would get like wet dreams or acne. Never heard of it since. "Tommy you can't go around kissing every girl in town" Translation: Tommy quit sucking dicks down at the Y steam room.

I liked Merle the Pearl. There was a funny episode when his sister was staying at the house and got the wrong ideas by what she was seeing.

Connie Needham had a great head of hair.

Other than Grant Goodeve, I think the cast has a resemblance. What are you going to do? How did Sada Thompson and James Broderick create a blond kid with a Jew 'fro, on Family? How did he look like Buddy? How did Buddy look like Nancy? Maybe they all looked like Timmy.

Go, Connie, go!

It's so strange that it only ran for 4 seasons - it seems like it ran for longer.

Merle the Pearl.

America's Sweetheart's sweetheart?

[quote]Other than Grant Goodeve, I think the cast has a resemblance.

Really? I always thought it was amazing they cast 8 kids who looked nothing like one another

Adam Rich and Susan Richardson could have been brother and sister, and both somewhat resembled Dick Van Patten, but otherwise I don't think any of them looked as though they might have been related.

For the first episode or two they leaned hard into the whole "wow, life sure is different when you have eight kids!" thing, but then they sort of forgot about showing us assembly line toast in the morning or a line to get into the sole bathroom. Instead of became increasingly obvious that at least five of the eight "kids" were well into their twenties and should have left the nest, already.

Five seasons, R234. It was a mid-season replacement in the 1976-77 season. Only six episodes in the first season.

Enough is a very peculiar word and quite frankly, I'm done with it. I've had enough of enough.

They were all mostly blondes or light browns. Obviously you have to cast eight actors, you're not going to find eight, all magically the right age, who seem compatible, who fit the roles as written, and also bear an amazing resemblance to each other.

I didn’t understand why the lazy yet pretty middle girls (Joanie, Elizabeth, Nancy) all wanted to do something creative (act/model/dance) , but continued sitting on their lazy asses in nasty Sacramento instead of moving to LA or New York.

. At least Susan got knocked up and landed a husband. Dykey Mary knew she couldn’t use her looks to make it in this world so she went to college.

[quote] I didn’t understand why the lazy yet pretty middle girls (Joanie, Elizabeth, Nancy) all wanted to do something creative (act/model/dance) , but continued sitting on their lazy asses in nasty Sacramento instead of moving to LA or New York.

Probably because they were on a show called Eight Is Enough, not Eight Minus Three Is Enough.

The Waltons looked more like each other, but half of them looked challenged. Also it's easier to make kids resemble each other when they all wear more or less the same thing,

I just saw a clip of Susan Richardson a day or two ago. She has no teeth and looks about 80. Totally unrecognizable.

Here she is.

R231 What did Elizabeth wind up doing?

R223 There's plenty of editing in that performance =

Georgia did a Hip Hop routine at age 69.

Maybe there is still hope for Connie =

I am lost.

Goodeve’s singing voice was so fluttery when he sang the theme song.

I knew a girl who loved Grant and was convinced stardom lay ahead. I said I doubted it.

The house location...formerly

My mom liked this show and The Waltons. It only occurred to me just now that part of the reason may have been because she came from a family of eight, herself. She liked most family shows (like Family).

Eight was TOO much.

Both “The Waltons” and EIE were Lorimar productions.

R101- That is a funny/true comment. I gave you an approval of your comment but Elizabeth was pretty too- the rest so so.

R242- Did she also like Little House On The Prairie ?

R20- They never explained his New York accent.

Dick didn’t age well at all. Really bad skin and teeth. I think he had melanoma.

When I think of Dick Van Patten all I can picture is crooked teeth and lots of chest hair.

When I think of Dick Van Patten, I wonder who his wife had cheated with to produce such hot sons.

Then, the sons aged and the family resemblance became everso painfully clear.

R246 Yeah.

R243 If you hear someone with a New York accent and they don't live in New York, do you require an explanation?

R252 You really do in this case. He that old timey NY accent that felt almost vaudevillian. That should have given him a backstory as having been a cub reporter for the NYTimes back in the turbulent 60s. He just stood out in California like turd in a punchbowl.

Like Rhoda on MTM. Her character was a NYer.

Not sure if it's like Rhoda. Valerie Harper was putting on an exaggerated accent for the character.

R255 True. DVP had that hard to shake accent that many men of his generation had. That and his sweet comb over and sansabelt slacks.

[quote]I have to say that it is suprising that not one of the actors from the show (save Betty Buckley) had any semblance of a career after the series ended.

You've forgotten Ralph Macchio, who brought in during the final year.

They all had PTSD from working with Betty Buckley

Gavin McLeod also had an inexplicable New York accent on "The MTM Show." I was always surprised is Murray and Rhoda didn't identify with each other as Brooklyn transplants to Minneapolis, but Murray never mentioned from being from anywhere except Minnesota.

The EiE colonial was so charming. Sad that it was torn down and replaced by that SoCal style cul-de-sac of cookie cutter crap. Maybe I just prefer a more traditional aesthetic, which the original had. Not being from California that 90s style of suburban houses leaves me cold.

Grant “700 Club” Goodeve is a sot.

Goodeve was in the Twin Peaks revival is the guy tryi g to buy the diner from Peggy Lipton.

It's honestly the only hour long show I can remember having a laugh track. And boy was it annoying.

It didn't bother me that the kids didn't look alike. It kind of worked. Nicholas hair though. What was that? Grant and Tommy made me know I was gay. Especially David.

My biggest problem with that show was how controlling the father was. He would always try to force the kids to do what he wanted by invoking "The Bradford Way." In one episode Joanie, Susan, and Nancy move out of the house to an apartment elsewhere in Sacramento and he becomes so furious with them he won't speak to them for weeks. They're all adults and they still are living in the same city!

Here's a 2019 photo of Vince Van Patten and wife Eileen Davidson (Young & Restless, Ashley). They're married. Eileen was on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. They showed her house: UGLY! I got compulsive gambler vibes from Vince.

There's a magic in the early morning, we've found,

When the sunrise smiles on everything around.

It's a portrait of the happiness that we feel and always will,

For eight is enough to fill our lives with love.

Though we spend our days like bright and shiny new dimes,

If we're ever puzzled by the changing times,

There's a plate of homemade wishes on the kitchen window sill,

And eight is enough to fill our lives with love.

This is a show that I did watch but have no desire to watch, now.

I come from a fairly large family and I now think people are crazy to have more than 3 children, total. I'm talking about same mother, same father. People who combine two large families after divorces are crazy, as well.

If I were Abby I would sold those middle daughters into white slavery and use the money to get the fuck away from the rest of them.

R88- The Scientology homo is posing with his FAKE girlfriend.

R266 Eileen got chunky.

I don't think she's chunky but she's in her sixties, and bodycon dresses are not a good idea at that age, no matter how much time you may spend at the gym.

Vince came across as a terrible husband on RHOBH. I recall Eileen was having a hard time time after her mother's death and Vince was like "It's been eight months, man up and put it behind you!"

I thought Eileen may have needed to do Housewives because of his gambling. He’s a high roller and I recall a comment about losing a ton of money gambling. She got a huge salary for a Housewives cast member.

R262 Grant slammed Twin Peaks for the gay friendly/liberal atmosphere the show had on The 700 Club & it seemed like his return appearances on the show dropped off after making those comments.

R263, “The Love Boat” also had a laugh track.

I didn’t like how the show was filmed. Can’t remember why but it didn’t look good.

It had a laugh track? What a terrible idea.

R276- It was under the genre

Comedy/Drama like Mash

The laugh track was quieter and more subdued than that of a half hour sitcom but yes, not terribly appropriate. And the sets were weirdly cheap and underdressed.

[quote]I have to say that it is suprising that not one of the actors from the show (save Betty Buckley) had any semblance of a career after the series ended.

Willie Aames had a 5 season run on Charles In Charge which kept him in the public eye longer than any other cast member. After that ended, though, he quickly joined the EIE unemployment line and had to slum it as Bibleman to get work.

[quote]Grant slammed Twin Peaks for the gay friendly/liberal atmosphere the show had on The 700 Club & it seemed like his return appearances on the show dropped off after making those comments.

By the time Twin Peaks season 3 aired filming had been completed for well over a year. His comments wouldn’t have affected his role although I suppose they could have axed some of his scenes if he made them while the show was still first airing. But I seriously doubt Lynch would care about something like that and be so petty as to cut his part because of it.

Not many Waltons cast members had big careers, either. Not unusual.

Excuse me?? Judy Norton Taylor!!

My older brother and I watched it. He would always mock Abby/Betty Buckley’s frequent “You want to talk about it?” And we would laugh at the earnestness. In fact, this still pops in my head when things are not going well.

The joke was probably on us. My family never talked about anything, which is why my brother and I found the idea so laughable.

Maybe it was all the coke but Buckley always looked like she was on the verge of tears even when she was supposed to be happy or smiling

I didn't know Grant sang that dreadful theme song. The song sounds like something you'd have playing in the background while swallowing a bottle of pills, not something to set the tone for a family dramedy.

Did Tom and Abby have to go to a motel to have sex? There wasn't much privacy in that house.

Love it or hate it, it was at least an improvement over the original generic instrumental theme song

And Abby was a screamer, R286. The kids were all traumatized.

It must've also been hard for Tommy to find some privacy to beat his meat. I hope that bathroom had a lock.

Grant had a pleasant but limited singing voice. It seemed better geared to folk and easy listening genres. The song itself was weak and a bad choice. With all the songwriters out there this was the best they could do?

Grant Goodeve was dreamily handsome.

R291- Grant Goodeve sounds like a very Protestant name.

The idea of a lesbian storyline between Abby and Joanie between 1978 and 1961 staggers the imagination.

(INTERIOR: The living room of the Bradford house on a weekday afternoon. ABBY is alone, absorbed while reading a paperback novel on the sofa. Enter JOANIE from hallway.)

JOANIE: Hi Abby, I just finished my audition for the new production of "The Three Sisters" for the Sacramento Playhouse! Whatcha reading?

ABBY: (looking up) It's called "Rubyfruit Jungle." It's by an author named Rita Mae Brown.

JOANIE: Oh, is it about the citrus industry?

ABBY: No, it's not. (Pause.) Joanie, I need to tell you something. Your father just isn't meeting my womanly needs very well. I'm in desperate need of having my carpet munched, and munched properly. I need someone to spend her sweet time down there, spending it like bright and shiny new dimes.

(Another pause.)

JOANIE. Oh. I see. (Another pause.) Well, how much time before Nicholas gets home from school?

*1981, not 1961.

I binged it recently on Roku. I really liked the Abby character. She was kind and had a sad quality (death of her 1st husband in Vietnam) that made her very empathetic. And she had a great voice. The song Betty wrote So-La accompanied by Tommy on guitar was beautiful. Grant Goodeve sang Eight Is Enough in the same talent show and it was so much better than the version they used for the theme song.

Eight cocks is enough to fill my hole with love.