Calling it quits

Press, 6 October 1988, Page 12

Calling it quits

By

ANNE EATON

When “Family Ties” goes off the air for good at the end of next season, N.B.C. programming executives will not be to blame. TV’s most famous nuclear family has decided to self-destruct — the show has cancelled itself. Like “M.A.5.H.,” "Family Ties” is leaving the air, not because of poor ratings, but because the cast feels they have better things to do. It was not a hasty decision; as early as a year ago, Gary David Goldberg, the show’s creator and producer, announced he would not remain with “Ties” after the 1988-89 season.

“People will say my successful film career killed off the show, but it’s not true,” says Michael J. Fox, whose portrayal of Alex Keaton, Boy Republican, turned him into a superstar. ‘“Family Ties’ is ending after seven years because it was a mutual decision and we all wanted to stop while it was still good.”

Michael Gross agrees. "Everybody’s happy,” he says. “Seven years is enough. I’d rather leave while the audience is still

applauding than when they’re asking us to leave. I hate too many curtain calls.”

Goldberg says he simply ran out of things for the Keaton family to do. “One hundred and eighty episodes is a lot,” he says. “There are touches of burnout now, when we say, ‘Haven’t we already done that before?’ I think it’s good to be at risk creatively. The one thing that’s missing from ‘Family Ties’ is we’re not at risk.”

And Fox adds, “There are these questions that are nagging us. Why is Alex still in that house? Why do I care if Mallory is on the phone? Doing the show is getting a little bit like sparring on a muggy day — it gets harder to lift the arms up one more time.”

Notwithstanding, Fox says he never thought about leaving the show, despite the fact that, in order to stay, he has turned down roles in feature films worth millions of dollars. “Work is work,” he shrugs. “The more you do, the better you get. As my father would say, if you set a full plate in front of yourself, make sure you eat it neatly, quickly and completely. And then you belch.” Fox expects the last taping, like all final farewells, to be emotionally wrenching. “But it’s going to be followed by a pact that we do no reunion films,” he says. “That’s the one thing for which I want everyone’s word of honour. Ten years later, we are not going to get together and try to salvage our careers by walking through that kitchen again.”

Like the rest of the cast, Gross is not worried about finding work. “‘Family Ties’ has given me a visibility on which I can trade,” he says.

Goldberg is hoping to direct feature films. He has adapted William Wharton’s bestseller, “Dad,” into a screenplay.

Fox’s legacy from “Family Ties” is more than just the launch of a successful career. He recently tied the knot with former cast member Tracy Pollan, whom he met when she played Alex Keaton’s girlfriend, Ellen, for a season. Having just finished filming “Casualties of War” with Sean Penn, he will be working a double shift this season, doing “Ties” during the day and a “Back to the Future” sequel at night. He also has a production deal with Paramount to produce a prime-time sitcom. But Fox doesn’t need to work so hard. He commands $3 • million per film, has a multi-million dollar deal with Pepsi and reportedly gets six figures per “Ties” episode. Last

year, he is said to have made $25 million.

“I guess I’m set for life,” he says, “but I’m very careful not to fall into that whole Sylvester Stallone kind of mentality where you want to be the richest guy in Hollywood. If that’s your motivating force, you’re never going to be happy, because there’s always -someone out there with more.”

Fox’s family has helped him keep his perspective and develop sound values. “I’ll never forget when I won my first Emmy. I flew home with it to show my parents, and proudly put it on the hall table. The next day . when I came down, my brother’s boxing trophy, my mother’s bowling trophy and my father’s bridge trophy were all sitting next to it. And no-one said a word.”

After years of being a part-time Keaton, the cast members make it a point to distance themselves from their characters off the set. Gross always shaves off his beard at the end of each season. “It’s not that I don’t like the beard,” he says. “It’s that I don’t like looking in the morror and seeing Steven Keaton. All of us on the show are now concerned about breaking away.” Fox, too, feels the need to escape doing Alex-like characters who are, he says, impossibly smug. “I get tired of being called lovable and endearing or whatever,” he complains. “I have to challenge that squeaky-clean perception of me.” But even though Michael J. Fox is about to grow up, “Family Ties” fans may rest assured that Alex Keaton, like Peter Pan, will remain a boy always. ■ “I’ve done Alex Keaton for six years and I’m going to do him for one more season,” he says. “And now he’s in syndication. If you like him, you can see him and enjoy him any time — he’s going to be around forever.” Copyright Los Angeles Times Syndicate.