Just the Ten of Us

infobox television
show_name = Just the Ten of Us


caption ="Just the Ten of Us" opening sequence
format = Sitcom
runtime = 30 minutes (per episode)
creator = Steve Marshall
Dan Guntzelman
starring = Evan Arnold
Frank Bonner
Maxine Elliott Hicks
Deborah Harmon
Dennis Haysbert
Bill Kirchenbauer
Jason Korstjens and Jeremy Korstjens
Heather Langenkamp
Jamie Luner
Lou Richards
Matt Shakman
Brooke Theiss
JoAnn Willette
Heidi Zeigler
country = USA
network = ABC
first_aired = April 26, 1988
last_aired = July 27, 1990
num_seasons = 3
num_episodes = 47
imdb_id = 0094490
tv_com_id= 497

"Just the Ten of Us" is a situation comedy starring stand-up comedian Bill Kirchenbauer as Coach Graham Lubbock, a teacher and the head of a large Catholic family with eight children. As the series progressed, Lubbock's four oldest teenage daughters, Marie (Heather Langenkamp), Cindy (Jamie Luner), Wendy (Brooke Theiss), and Connie (JoAnn Willette), became more of the focus of the show.

The show aired on ABC from 1988 to 1990, most notably as part of what would become that network's TGIF programming block. The series was a spin-off of "Growing Pains", where Kirchenbauer played the Lubbock character on a recurring basis.

ynopsis

The series focuses on Graham Lubbock (Bill Kirchenbauer), a conservative Catholic gym teacher who would flip-out anytime a boy looked at one of his daughters, at the high school that "Growing Pains" characters Mike and Carol Seaver (Kirk Cameron, Tracey Gold) had attended; and the father of eight children.

In the pilot episode (which aired on "Growing Pains" in the spring of 1988), Graham's job is in jeopardy, in part due to district budget cutbacks. Mike leads a protest after he learns that Lubbock trying to support a large family (including a baby that his wife, Elizabeth, just had). Word spreads, and Graham's fate is sealed and he loses his job. However, he's soon offered a job at St. Augustine's Academy, an all-boys private Catholic school in Eureka, California; Graham promptly moves his family to California.

Six of Graham's children were girls, four of them teenagers. They were:

* Marie (Heather Langenkamp) - the oldest, most responsible, and most pious.
* Cindy (Jamie Luner) - Wendy's older twin, and the most ditzy (from Season 2 on).
* Wendy (Brooke Theiss) - Cindy's younger twin, and the most flirtatious of the four.
* Connie (JoAnn Willette) - the Bohemian, also occasionally agnostic.

His younger daughters were eight-year-old Sherry (Heidi Zeigler) and infant Melissa. By special arrangement, the older girls were allowed to attend St. Augustine's, much to the chagrin of the school's administration (and, of course, much delight of the male students).

Graham and Elizabeth's sons were 11-year-old Graham, Jr. (J.R.) and toddler Harvey.

The first season consisted of four episodes for a trial run in the spring of 1988. ABC was pleased with their success, and ordered a second season. The second season saw some changes: Cindy and Wendy seemed to switch personalities, with Cindy becoming more ditzy, and Wendy becoming the schemer; the show focused more and more on the four older girls. Episodes revolved around the family's efforts to save money, dating, and other typical family sitcom plots. In later episodes, the four teenage girls formed a singing group called "The Lubbock Babes" (partly to help bring in much-needed extra income).

Famous Actors, Minor Characters

"Just the Ten of Us" featured several actors who are well-known for other roles. Dennis Haysbert, who previously played Pedro Cerrano in "Major League" and "Major League II" and then David Palmer in "24", portrayed Duane, Coach Lubbock's assistant. Frank Bonner, who starred in "WKRP in Cincinnati", was Father Hargis, headmaster of St. Augustine's.

Episode Guide

Early Demise of the Series

ABC network politics, not ratings issues, cancelled "Just the Ten Of Us" in the spring of 1990. Since ABC was moving forward to prominently market their family-friendly Friday night sitcom lineup with the new "TGIF" moniker that fall, the brass decided that all 4 comedies were to be produced by Miller-Boyett Productions. The 3 current Friday stablemates of "Just the Ten Of Us" (as of the end of the 1989-90 season) were produced by that company: "Full House", "Family Matters", and "Perfect Strangers". (Another non-Miller-Boyett show, "Mr. Belvedere", had already been off the schedule for months, and aired its last episodes on Sunday nights that summer.) Warner Bros. Television and producers Guntzelman/Marshall entered a battle over their show's fate, and "Ten"'s show runners had a solid case: the series consistently won its time slot, provided an excellent lead-in to newsmagazine "20/20", and had a great fan base carried over from "Growing Pains" viewership. When it came down to the network upfronts, ABC concluded that there would be no other suitable time slot for "Just the Ten Of Us", and they had already committed to a new Miller-Boyett sitcom to join its existing three in the TGIF lineup: "Going Places".

The series wasn't picked up for another season, with no other network as a prospect for giving it a new home. "Just the Ten Of Us" left ABC during summer reruns in late July, 1990. Cable's USA Network picked up the entire series in reruns shortly after. USA aired the show on a daily basis until 1996.

Although ABC saw even greater success with its TGIF lineup in the 1990-91 season, the series that took "Ten"'s place, "Going Places", only lasted a single season before getting the Nielsen axe. In the wake of this action, the Head of Entertainment at ABC filed a press statement nearly one year after the abrupt cancellation of "Just the Ten Of Us", in which he stated that the network brass "moved too quickly" in canceling the show.

A Nightmare on Elm Street Connections

The series had close ties with the "Nightmare on Elm Street" horror film franchise. 3 of the 4 teenaged daughters appeared in various "Nightmare" films:

*Heather Langenkamp starred in the original "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and "" as Nancy Thompson, Freddy Krueger's nemesis; this character is killed off in "Dream Warriors". In addition, Langenkamp plays herself in "Wes Craven's New Nightmare". (When the Lubbocks enter their new home for the first time, Marie says, "this looks like something out of "Nightmare on Elm Street," which was a nod to her character in the movie.)
*Brooke Theiss has a supporting role in "" as "Deb," who goes on to be the last of Freddy's victims in the film.
*JoAnn Willette appeared in A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge. Willette appeared in the opening scene of the film as one of two girls left on the school bus with the title character, Jessie. Jessie has a nightmare where Freddy appears and tortures the 3 teenagers, before (it's assumed) he kills them. This is explained as having been a dream and her character was only a figment of his imagination.In addition, the character "J.R." is often seen sporting a "Nightmare on Elm Street" t-shirt.

"Friends" Connections

Two actors who would later be stars on "Friends" were previously guest stars on "Just The Ten Of Us". Matt LeBlanc played in two episodes as the quarterback of the football team, and had a crush on Wendy's character. Matthew Perry was in an episode as the "fake" date for Wendy, so she could sneak out and go with her real date, a much older man. Interestingly enough, Perry's character also ended up having a crush on Wendy as well.

Perry had also appeared for two episodes of the mother series "Growing Pains", in early 1989 as a boyfriend of Carol Seaver's, who ends up dying from injuries he sustained from a drunk-driving accident.

On the "Friends" spin-off show "Joey", the character Bobbie claims that she burnt down the set of "Just the Ten of Us" in the episode "Joey and the Sex Tape".

External links

*imdb title | id=0094490 |title=Just the Ten of Us
* [http://www.tv.com/show/497/summary.html "Just the Ten of Us" at TV.com]