[Obadiah]

Family Ties became a hit simply because it accidentally made fun of kooky liberals. They developed this somewhat as a more pronounced theme which led to it's greater success and then sharply backed away from making fun of liberals towards the end of the series run. In fact, they appeared rather repentant near the very end and that's why the show went into decline, because they lost that edge that made fun of liberals and it just became another dumb sitcom.

[Borges]

It was also the first nuclear family on TV in a long time.

[Rides_A_Red_Horse]

In fact, they appeared rather repentant near the very end and that's why the show went into decline, because they lost that edge that made fun of liberals and it just became another dumb sitcom.

---

On one of the last shows, Alex tried to talk his dumb friend out of joining the Marines. The friend “Boner” explained that he wasn't smart, like Alex. Alex could do anything but he was so dumb that the Marines was his best choice.

The narrow mindedness of liberals shouldn't surprise me anymore...

[drjimmy]

Family Ties became a hit simply because it accidentally made fun of kooky liberals.

As with those who claim All in the Family "accidentally" made fun of kooky liberals (Meathead and Gloria, primarily), there was nothing accidental about it. The creators/writers/producers of these shows wanted the largest audience possible, so they put out a product that both liberals and conservatives would watch, while still tipping the scale toward liberalism.

Note that I used the past tense. In today's much more fractured television landscape, it is all about audience segmentation, so appealing to demographic slices (and their purchasing power) is what matters on TV today.