Eight is Enough

I know a guy who was a grip for the show during season 3 and 4 and boy did he tell me some dirt. First he said Betty Buckely was such an evil bitch that she was universelly despised by the entire cast who already resented her replacing the beloved diana hyland after her death. Betty was a coke head who had a vicious temper and would lash out on everyone. She could be nice as mary poppins one minute the next she was a cunt! Lani O'grady had a serious crush on dianne kay and would get very touchy feely when she was on pills during scenes. I have more to be revealed.

Adam rich's dad used some of adam's money to buy blow and he used it with his son who was only like 11

I always wondered why they never called!

Here's all you need to know

so much coke on that set it was nicknamed "eight grams is enough"

Betty Buckley was a difficult person to work with. A friend of mine who worked in wardrobe for the show told me that Betty had slapped one of the other actresses across the face during shooting.

Is Adam Rich gay?

Linky stinky, R4.

I still love that Dick Van Patten appeared on a talk show during its run and referred to Dianne Kay--when the host didn't know which of the girls he was referring to, Van Patten said, "You know, the pretty one!"

I just bought season 3 from Warner Archives. Can't wait to watch the episode where the power goes out and Dianne Kay's blind date who looks like Norman Bates shows up. Yes, I'm a loser dork.

I thought this was a Michele Bachmann thread!

Things are looking pretty sad for Adam Rich these days.

The show was an effing snoozefest!

R8? That post is almost 3 years old.

Wow, Adam didn't age well. I can't stand that overrated cunt Betty Buckley, got into a fight about singers and singing on FB once about a couple of years ago. She's a loon.

oh really?

I'm going to have to check Warner Archives. Amazon broke season 2 into two parts and is charging an arm and a leg for them.

Connie Needham (Elizabeth) seems to have made a full recovery.

R15 what was the deal with Betty Buckley and musicians on facebook?

Not for nothing, but child stars who can't find fame again can work in retail, food service, the hotel or travel industries, etc. It's not like they don't know how to please people. They were trained to do that as children.

I'm not feeling sorry for Adam Rich or anyone else who doesn't try to work.

R17, season 3 is also broken into 2 parts and runs about $50 for both. I hit a sale and had a coupon so it was more like $35 but it's still pricey.

R20 where can I find one of these coupons?

They sent me a $5 coupon for my birthday this month which I combined with a sale for $10 off orders over $50 or $60 (can't remember.)

If you check around the web you can often find coupon codes that will work and it seems like they have sales just about every week. Check around Father's Day for a sale.

It's crazy that the DVDs are this expensive.

That is the usual price for the Warner Archive DVDs, but they do have sales all the time. The audio/video quality on these are superb. I've never seen the show look so good.

Also, if you get in on the first pressing of the title they're actual manufactured discs, not burned DVD-Rs. Not sure why they do this with their TV series and not their on-demand movie titles.

Willie Aames is now working as a ship cruise director.

Season 2 (Pt 1 & 2) is now on sale through Warner Archive this week for $22.49 each.

r18, it started with her complaining about Randy Jackson on "AI" criticizing singers for sounding "too Broadway." She argued there's no such thing and I argued there is. And she got all incensed, there is a different style of singing that qualifies as Broadway.

I found the complete Season 1 (including the pilot with Mark Hamill!!) at Barnes and Noble for 50% off. I was thrilled!! Rewatching it years later, it actually was a pretty good show...corny yes and it had that bad tv thing that many 70s shows had but the stories were heartwarming and interesting, and it was a nice slice of life dramedy about a "typical" American family in the 70s...I knew so many families like them. Not mine of course, we were fucked up like crazy and no one really seemed loving and nurturing like on that show...but I loved it.

It's kind of sad now too, watching it...I look at Nicholas and feel sad that his life went to hell, Lani O'Grady, the one that played Susan...it's a real bummer, like looking at old family photos where everyone is smiling and so unaware of whatever tragedies were about to happen.

I wonder if all those "nice" families I knew fell apart like the fake tv families I admired...

Is that Enquirer article about Adam Rich accurate or did they find a bad picture of him and are making things up? Last I heard of him around 2008 he supposedly owned a chain of tire stores in the Sacramento area. While not glamorous that should provide a decent living.

No one's mentioning how gorgeous Grant Goodeve was , or how Susan Richardson now lives in a tiny trailer, in Tennessee, and is a bible thumping white trash mess.

R30 I hope so...that would be cool...Susan is a mess...something about all her teeth falling out and she has no health insurance or something...and yes R31 Grant Goodeve was HAAAAWT...

Thanks R27

R30 the bit about him owning a chain of tire stores in Sacramento is untrue. He is living in Los Angeles, but I don't know what he is doing for work these days. He didn't appear (nor did Susan Richardson) for the reunion with the rest of his eight is enough co-stars on the Today Show a couple years back. He is on facebook and seems like a genuinely nice guy, though he doesn't divulge a lot of info about himself and what he's doing these days.

I'll show you my tits if you give me ten dollars.

Some of the Bradford girls have appeared topless in movies:

Lani O'Grady Laurie Walters Dianne Kay Joan Prather

Both Willie Aames and Grant Goodeve have appeared in nude scenes as well.

The show was based on a real family. The wife had multiple affairs.

Never Try Eating Nectarines Since Juice May Dispense

Joan Prather was outed as a Tea Party leader in another thread recently. She's also a $cient0 so she's got all her whack-job bases covered. Too bad. I loved her in "Smile" and on EIE.

Connie Needham played two different characters in Fame.

Lani's brother Don was in My Three Sons.

Tommy's girlfriend Jill was played by Michelle Greene, who was Abby in LA Law.

Diana Hyland was the love of John Travolta's life and

I'm sorry. I couldn't finish what I was going to say. I fell into a fit of laughter over the absurdity of it and just couldn't go on.

Poor Susan Richardson is broke and living in a rotting trailer:

I used to watch that show and look up to Mary, the eldest daughter. She was attending med school and I wanted to be like her. Sad that she died of an overdose penniless and living in a trailer.

What if there had been a 9th?

Would it have been aborted?

Betty with a knitting needle???

Frankly, it should have just been seven. Adam Rich ended up just being a waste anyways.

They burned Lani O'Grady and spread her ashes over Hawaii.

I used to rub one out thinking of Merle the Pearl. And what about Abby crashing the car and making Susan go into labor?

Gosh! after reading the link at the post R42, you would think Dick Van Patton would call Susan Richardson since he is the godfather to Susan's daughter. I am aware the poor man had a stroke ,but still, maybe he could have had someone call and communicate for him? strange!

From what I've read on her FB page Susan does not want anyone's help. Seems she even had fans track her down and try to offer her money at her trailer park.

it's all here: https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/184135854935/?fref=ts

From what I've read on her FB page Susan does not want anyone's help. Seems she even had fans track her down and try to offer her money at her trailer park.

it's all here:

According to Wikipedia van Patten has fully recovered from his stroke.

A friend of mine was a crew member on the show and told me that Betty Buckley had handed out copies of an acting manual to several cast members because she felt they needed work on their performances. He found 2 of them in the trash.

I wanted to blow Grant Goodeve and have him fuck me and I wanted to rim Willie Aames and fuck him.

My favorite part of the National Enquirer article about Susan: "fashion­ing canes for military veterans out of birch branches she collects in the woods."

Is her trailer around the corner from Baby Jane's?

Did Betty Buckley die?

Betty Buckley was the best thing about the movie, "The Happening."

Eight is too much for me. I find six -- or, truth be told, five and a half -- more comfortable.

Just saw Grant Goodeve in the Battle of the Network Stars tug-of-war. He looked likea pretty big guy, but they announced his weight as 157 lbs. the other guys were all 175+ lbs. is Grant pocket-sized?

[quote] Just saw Grant Goodeve in the Battle of the Network Stars tug-of-war. He looked likea pretty big guy, but they announced his weight as 157 lbs. the other guys were all 175+ lbs. is Grant pocket-sized?

Joan Prather's skull looked enormous next to Grant's. Either he was very short or she was an Amazon.

What I'd like to know is how Tommy ever found the solitude to masturbate in a house of 5 sisters and a bedroom shared with Nicholas?

Is Willie Aames still a fundie? I loved him, reminded me of a less feminine Andy Gibb.

Willie is now working as a ship cruise director. He used to date Connie Needham while working on Eight is Enough.

OP stole his title from my Gridr account profile.

"Oh, Tom..."

I love you r38

I don't make the cut, huh r38?

How would you rank the Bradford girls in terms of looks - Best to Worst?

Best -Nancy

2nd -Elizabeth

(Big gap)

Then bringing up the rear - Mary, Joanie and Susan. Actually, Susan wasn't that bad looking, but I found her so obnoxious, I immediately ranked her last.

1 - Nancy 2 - Joanie 3 - Elizabeth 4 - Susan 5 - Mary 6 - Donna (Tom's secretary) 7 - Abby

Elizabeth, Nancy, Susan, Mary, Joanie

Having watched a couple episodes recently I have to say Joanie (Laurie Walters) was actually pretty attractive. Her nose was kind of big and she usually had awful hairstyles but she had pretty eyes and flawless skin. She was probably the most annoying sister, though, after Mary of course.

Nancy (Dianne Kay) didn't seem as pretty as I remember her. She looks like Francine on "American Dad" with her fish lips and tiny nose.

Susan (Susan Richardson) was probably the sister of choice for budding lesbians. Pretty in a tomboy-ish way, like she'd be down for a game of softball before a good scissoring. And then the crazy would come out by date three.

Elizabeth (Connie Newton/Needham) might have had her lesbian fans too. She was pretty stocky for a ballet dancer and looked a lot like Jennifer Jason Leigh circa "Fast Times." She also suffered from that 70s blandness that afflicted a lot of actresses at the time. Long, lifeless brown hair and a tendency to wear browns and beiges. See also: Marcia Strassman, Jan Smithers, Deborah Raffin, Marilyn Hassett.

Mary (Lani O'Grady) was the transgender sibling. Or maybe she was a hermaphrodite - my little brother did always mix her up with Jamie Lee Curtis. Seriously, she wasn't remotely feminine. Or appealing. She was always yelling about something. I'd rather watch a Ralph Macchio episode than a Mary-centric one.

Go nuts? I did.

R70 - Comnie did not look like JJL, nor was her hair limp. She had quite stunning hair. She wasn't lithe, but she she had a nice athletic body & is a rather talented dancer.

A girl friend, who was an exective secretary at Universal Studios, would hook up with Grant Goodeve anytime he was working on the lot. It went on for a while.

Grant probably was seeing lots of girls.

Willie was my first crush, but Grant is gay.

I loved Grant's sexy hairy chest, he was definitely a jerk off fantasy. He always seemed to be acting in another show.

Jesus, Dick Van Patten was the worst actor, all his silly expressions, talk about ham-fisted.

The show was shit, and I knew even then as a 12 year old watching it.

Betty Buckley was a good actress, she seemed sweet as pie, apparently not the case..

I never found Grant or Willie to be as attractive as Brian Patrick Clarke who joined the cast in the 4th season. Nice muscular ass and legs. Was quite hairy too. I wondered whatever happened to him.

Grant is not gay, but he did play a gay character on Dynasty for a few episodes.

You have your Grant's mixed up. Grant Goodeve is most certainly gay.

Brian Clark, Connie Needham, and the guy who played the doctor friend found up guest starring/ having recurring roles on Fame.

I used think the chick that played Joanie was Julie Budd from THE DEVIL & MAX DEVLIN.

Did you know Joanie, Mary and Nancy have all bared their breasts in movies before getting roles on EIE.

I knew "Joanie" and "Mary" had.

I never showed my tits. I'm not sure who you're thinking of R81.

This site is crazy but a lot of fun!

Grant Goodeve was THE HAWTNESS.

Every time I see a VW bus I still get a hard-on.

Dianne never went topless for a movie, however I do remember seeing her breasts exposed in an issue of Celebrity Skin. She had some sort of wardrobe malfunction at a roller disco and was not wearing a bra.

Dianne wasn't very big on top. I think Connie and Susan were reasonable well endowed.

I knew my teenage nephew was gay when he talked way too much about Betty Buckley.

1. Dianne Kay

2. Connie Needham

Theme song for season 2

I lusted for Goodeve -- one of the earliest pure hunks of man I saw on TV. I also liked Ames -- his personality on the show attracted me even too.

Of the women, I'd say the order of the best looking ones is: Nancy, David's wife -- what was her name?, Susan, Elizabeth, Joannie and Abby.

Anyone know Grant Goodeve's Cam4 account name?

I liked the fact that the father was old enough to be the father of his step-wife and the step-wife was younger than the daughters.

Not to mention the real wife died and that turned John Travolta gay.

Oh we spend our lives counting nickels and dimes

If we're ever puzzled by the change in time

It is spring forward, and fall back

Near the kitchen window sill

And eight is enough to fill

Our lives with love....

Not quite R93

There's a magic in the early morning we found, When the sun rise 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.

Oh 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 enought to fill our lives with love.

I've always looked up to Mary Bradford She was the eldest daughter and considered the smart one. Watching her helped me to study harder and get better grades in school. Funny how the actress that played her got hooked on drugs which eventually killed her. This would have never happened to Mary.

Does anyone know where Lani O'Grady is buried?

R95 - it's called playing against type.

DVP is such a mensch.

R95, whatever litterbox her cats shit her out in.

I remember the big two-parter when they went to Hawai'i and their nutty aunt sent them all these little statues (rather than, say, just telling them they were going to Hawai'i) and they were all acting horrified and freaked out by the statues.

So lame.

R99 - EiE copied Brady Bunch there.

R95 Lani O'Grady was burned and her ashes were scattered off the coast of Hawaii.

Where is Betty Buckley buried?

Betty Buckley was an absolute terror on the set. She would get into screaming matches with her agent and was prone to flying into rages after a coke binge. At one point she slapped one of her other castmates across the face. Years later after the show was cancelled, Betty hated when her stage people and fans brought up Eight is Enough.

I just read that Dianne Kay died. Sad.

Link, r104?

Dianne Kay the actress is alive and kicking. And so are her dimples!!!

Dianne is very much alive, but she did have cancer a few years ago.

Sorry, it was a different Dianne Kay.

There is only ONE Dianne Kay!!

She is adorable.

Hell hath no fury like a Betty Buckley meltdown.

[all posts by flame bait troll #11 removed (violent racist homophobic right-wing misogynist), ISP notified with full text of all posts.]

Why was Betty mean to Dianne?

Betty thought Dianna was a complete whore and that's the reason she got the role.

She used to fill condoms with hand creme and tape them to her trailer door.

[all posts by flame bait troll #11 removed (violent racist homophobic right-wing misogynist), ISP notified with full text of all posts.]

Bump

If there's one thing that convinces me there's something called gay culture, it's the nostalgia both lesbians and gay men of a certain age have for Eight is Enough, often for very different yet similar reasons.

Of the girls, Laurie Walters appeared nude in The Harrad Experiment (also starring Don Johnson who appeared nude), Lani O' Grady had her top off in Massacre at Central High, Joan Prather did a nude scene in Big Bad Mama and Dianne Kay had a wardrobe malfunction for a paparazzi photo where she had no bra on and her breast was exposed out of her blouse. The photo was published in High Society magazine.

Of the guys, Willie Aames appeared nude in the 1982 film Paradise, Grant Goodeve appeared nude in Take Two (1988), and Brian Patrick Clarke bared all for a Playgirl magazine spread.

[quote] She used to fill condoms with hand creme and tape them to her trailer door.

I'm doing this!

They still have season 2 DVDs at ridiculous prices, 25 bucks for each half.

Nancy and Elizabeth go snorkeling in the Hawaiian episode.

Willie Aames. Hot at 18,20. Would like to see him on T and star in a Treasure Island Video flick like those with Dawson. Cum whore kind of stuff.

Season 5 preview

When are the DVD prices going to come down?

This is bizarre. Susan claimed to have been abducted by North Korea in 1987.

Every time I hear that story about Susan, it makes me think that the North Koreans could abduct a former sit-com actress visiting Seoul and do things to her because no one would believe her story.

Imagine if Susan had become the dictator's wife and she now ruled North Korea as First Lady??

Anyway, Laurie Walers and Betty Buckley worked on a (rejected) script which hinted at a lesbian vibe between Joannie and Abby. Nothing outright, but the idea was that two women bonding and not in a stepmother/stepdaughter way. Lots of touching, sharing that kind of thing.

The show through the years.

Betty Buckley was younger than every one but Nicholas.

Ha, R129! Have you met her? Pretty much the first thing she'll say to you is that she was younger than Lani O'Grady.

She's so proud of it.

Not quite r129 - she was older than Adam, Willie, Connie, Dianne, and a couple of others.

R128 - Willie Aames' mullet in the reunion!

If you've seen photos of the real Bradens, it is clear that the actors who played them were cast by personality traits rather than looks.

The real Mary went nuts in high school while Mom was away with Jackie Kennedy in India, excusing Lani O'Grady's rather hardened looks.

One of the other girls was raped and impregnated by a black guy, turning the father's Catholicism on its head as he knew she had to have an abortion.

When they traveled, they stuffed all the kids into the back of a station wagon, and Nicholas flew out the back, nearly dying.

The reason Eight Was Enough was because the Bradens were in a competition with RFK to see who could breed the most kids.

The father helped establish the CIA before working as a "journalist."

The family ended up in Santa Barbara where he owned the local paper, not in Sacramento.

This is all just off the top of my head. Mom wrote a book too, where she excused all of her affairs as "friendships" including that with Rockefeller.

There's a magic in the air of we find

If we're doing puzzles in the NY Times

There's a plate of homemade cookies

On the kitchen window still

And eight is enough to fill my heart with LOOOOOVVVVEEEE

Remember the episode where David and Tommy and Merle and the Karate Kid all had their shirts off, but Nicholas didn't?

Why are the DVD prices still so high?

[quote]The family ended up in Santa Barbara where he owned the local paper, not in Sacramento.

I think it was Oceanside, and some guy once walked up the steps to the house from the beach and tried to enter the girls' rooms.

Remember David in his towel?

On another thread, someone said Elizabeth was the most forgettable of the sisters. Agree?

Is two enough? Is six too many?

Where is the Dianne Kay troll?

Betty Buckley fucked most of the cast

I hated this show with the heat of a thousand sons. The Van Patten acting "dynasty" was like a bunch of cockroaches in a tenement slum - everywhere on every network. I hated Dick Van Patten most of all. Susan Richardson was my least fave actress on that show, mainly because she was always showing up in the tabloids at events with her daughter - using her little girl to get publicity. Plus she was ugly with those eyes on the side of her head and ridiculously pointy nose and chin.

Death to them all. Fuckers.

Anyone have any dirt on the actor who played eldest son David? He was the best part of the show for me.

You misunderstood, R142. The rest of the cast uniformly referred to Betty Buckley as "that motherfucker."

R143 - Don't be shy. Tell us what you really think.

R144, grant goodeve loved singing and song writi, he wrote and performed the theme song of the show in later seasons.

[quote]Brian Patrick Clarke bared all for a Playgirl magazine spread.

Link, please

[quote]On another thread, someone said Elizabeth was the most forgettable of the sisters. Agree?

i don't agree. I always had a little crush on Elizabeth. And David, too.

We tried to do that human pyramid but my grandfather got drunk and kicked us all in the ass and knocked us down.

It would be tragic R127 because I would be so very far away from my adoring fans. I was already upset at being kidnapped and almost murdered because I was signed to play Sarah in CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD and they had had to recast the role. I would have won the Oscar instead of Marlee Matlin. I was also in talks to star as Christine in PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, but because of being kidnapped those plans fell through, too.

I wonder how the young adults/kids in the cast felt in Season 5 when they brought in Ralph Macchio as "Jeremy." It's got to be a kick in the teeth when there are eight of you, and they still find you dull enough to need to throw in a ringer.

Yeah, R152, that was an odd decision. Especially given his age.

You would have thought they would have had Abby and Tom adopt a Vietnamese child (social justice storyline) or better yet, a surprise pregnancy for Abby!

Or tommy going out with a trannie hooker

Why would she want to "explore" a lesbian relationship with a girl who was the daughter of her husband (her stepdaughter)?

Did Buckley not realize how incredibly inappropriate that would have been? Especially for a network family show?

Did she think the public would just have accepted it?

Would being smacked so hard by Betty that you fall through the floor of Susan's trailer qualify as outsider art?

[quote]I hated this show with the heat of a thousand sons.

There were only three: David, Tommy, and Nicholas.

And they all took as many BJ's from cast members as possible

The mistake they made with the show was that all the kids except Nicholas were high school age or older. So by the time it was done the kids were all in their twenties or thirties; yet the show is supposed to appeal to younger kids who have a fantasy about being in a large family so they'll never be lonely (like "The Brady Bunch," "Seventh Heaven," "Step by Step," etc.).

[quote[Betty Buckley was the best thing about the movie, "The Happening."

Especially when she bashed her head through the windowpane. That was seriously creepy shit in a terrible movie.

The cast on HOLLYWOOD SQUARES.

My motto is:

'Too much' is not enough.

I liked Betty Buckley in the original "Carrie."

Was there anything between Willie and Connie? Between Lani and Dianne?

Betty used to touch me on my privates.

Mary Frann was better as Abby.

Mary Frann?

For $2 I'll let anyone touch me on my privates.

R167, Mary Frann played Abby in one of the two reunion movies. I don't remember who played her in the other one but it wasn't Betty Buckley.

Thanks R169

I was in elementary school when this show aired and remember being fascinated by shirtless Willie Aames and his very erect nipples in one scene. One of my first sexual memories. Also would get boners while seeing him in his speedo on Battle of the Network Stars. Probably had one of my first orgasms thinking about him.

The house was located on a dead end street directly across the street from Universal Studios on the edge of the LA river/canal. It was actually part of a very small farm with stables, etc. which accounted for the lack of houses on either side of it or across the street. It was used in other shows and also in a 90s gay porno. Reunion was the title I think. Sadly it was leveled in the mid 90s and built over.

There'sh a plate of homemade shitballsh

On the kitchen windowshill ...

I watched it solely for Grant Goodeve who wasn't on it nearly enough. So I was stuck putting up with Willie Aames.

If eight was enough, why'd they adopt the 'Karate Kid'? Answer me that, huh?

Why did father's den take up two thirds of the ground floor? You think they could've used another bedroom or three.

r174

Here's what the 'eight' referred to

,,,,

Laurie Walters (Joanie) is 73(!) today.

Going on ten years now, and this thread never quite has momentum, yet refuses to die. Just like the show!

Take me back to the late 70s. 2020 had already disappointed.

R180 Is it the bombing of Iraq, burning of Australia, death of Elizabeth Wurtzel?

eight is enough, 9 is a lot and 10, well you are just asking for a ruptured colon.

R1: The character you mentioned actually was a cunt in the original books, much like her creator, and at least 30 years older than the actresses they usually cast. It's Walt Disney who watered her down into icky-sticky saccharine mush.

Years later, Adam Rich made a movie for Disney where Bill Cosby played the Devil. Now that was perfect casting, in hindsight.

As for this show, I never watched an episode in my life, if you're still alive, then you're ahead of the curve. Willie Aames deserved better than [italic]Bibleman[/italic] and [italic]Charles in Charge[/italic] and was better-looking than Scott Baio.

You need to watch this for Merle, David, Tommy and the Karate Kid's shirtless scenes alone.

I was younger than all my step daughters

I grew up in age but not in size

My hair generated lice to the entire cast.

This fucking theme song has been stuck in my head all day, you fucking cunts

Oh we spend our day like bright and shiny new diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimes.

WTF does that even mean?

Whenever I think of this show (which is only when I’m in Datalounge), I always think of the queen who posted this, signed by Liza Minnelli:

“There’sh a pile of homemade shitballs/on the windowshill “

I guess you had to be there r191

After 192 posts,: Eight is TOO much.