This is another under the radar gem, I'm normally not a sitcom fan but some of them are childhood relics of mine in which I hold a special place for, this show is one of them as it's another of my personal favorites. It's true it didn't last long and never really gained the same popularity as certain other 80's sitcoms but it came pretty close and as time went on has became a cult classic.
This show is basically a spin off "Growing Pains" as Graham Lubbock was a supporting character on the show as Mike Ceiver's high school coach. Sadly, the guy got fired no thanks to the dumb ass principal (whose last name sounds like dimwit ironically). But that's beside the point that moment pretty much set up the spin off we have and I really like this spin off, it's one of those ones that are done right as it does it's own thing and isn't trying to imitate it's predecessor which is a fundamental mistake most spin offs make, and I almost like this show a bit more than "Growing Pains" not to say I like that show any less but I personally don't love that show that much, that's just me.
Really like the theme song which is an honorable mention in favorite theme songs, it perfectly signifies the family and their struggles. The comedy is soild, really like some of the dialog there are some memorable lines and scenes and really like the family and characters whom are all well rounded and feel like any regular family with their imperfections, disagreements and befuddlements. But what makes this family stand out a little is they all do grow and develop a little which is something most sitcoms/comedy shows at the time did very little of as if the characters we're on arrested development.
The daughters better known as "The Lubbock Babes" are solid characters, as each of them have unique personas and it's funny whenever they either work with each other or against one another depending on the scheme or pursuit. Most of the time they would always fail not just because of one undermining the other but mainly due to their own petty follies they don't always swallow. But they all have a strong bond together which works to their advantage as it helps in actually prevailing in certain sittuations but most importantly living life they way they all want to.
My favorite of the daughters and character is Marie played by Heather Langenkamp. Believe it or not, I honestly never knew about her as the lead in the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" film since I wasn't even old enough to see the movie at the time. It wasn't until my adolescence I saw the film and it surprised me seeing Heather from the sitcom I watched fighting Freddy Kruger that was cool. But learning the fact that she did "Just the Ten of Us" after "Nightmare on Elm Street 1 and 3" made it even better. I'll admit is really is surreal seeing a horror alumni in this show but same can be said about a lot of others out there.
Despite those spectacles she still looks good, kind of like with Rachel Leah Cook on "She's All That" just can't hide it. Heather Langenkamp is a capable actress, she surprising can-do comedy and in one episode could actually sing, just seeing those things this makes me wonder why she didn't get more. I really like how most of the time she is really uptight as she is trying hard to stay true to the teachings of Christianity, in her mind she is the only good daughter in the room which is almost true due to the nature of the others. But by her nature she is just a power keg waiting to explode and her sisters are the match. It's just funny how at time we see cracks form when some of her sisters or certain circumstances give her lots of grief that she just loses her cool, which makes her really attractive what can I say I love girls with fire. But what also makes her stand out is despite her uptight nature she slowly but surely learns to loosen up a bit and experience more of what life has to offer which is what she really wants deep down inside.
Graham Lubbock is loveable and funny as the dad that is trying to keep things together in not just his family but even the school itself. Love the fact that he's not just a coach but he's also a health teacher and on occasion drama, I just thought that was cool showing how multifaceted and intellectually he is and not just the stereotypical one note sports coach. But what's really funny about his is how insecure and overprotective he can be, whenever he's give grief or thrown into circumstances produced most of the time by his daughters that he didn't ask for, I think a lot of parents can emphasize with that as they've sometimes faced certain things like that and had trouble dealing or sometimes deal with it incorrectly, but at least they try.
One of my favorite moments with him is in one of my favorite episodes of the show Graham is nauseated from the horror film he saw with his son Graham Jr which involved giant exploding eyeballs, it just cracks me up how sensitive he is at seeing one imaging of an eye being a reminder of the movie and making him upchuck.
My third favorite character is Graham Lubbock Jr, his character is awesome not just the fact that he's a mischief maker that sometimes gives the sisters and even his father some grief sometimes when it suits him, in that one episode where Graham saw the eyeball horror film he went out of his way to prank him by making it seem like his eyeballs were exploding, that was comic silver.
Really loves peanut butter but what I really love about this character is the fact he's a horror movie fan which is awesome since I'm one myself, from some of the elaborate props and makeup he sometimes uses and carries around, make me think he could be an make up and effects artist in the future. But I also love his room which is just decorated with horror memorabilia like his walls which have some cut outs of images from horror films wall papered. It's kind of ironic he would be a horror fan, since Heather Langenkamp playing one of his sisters is a horror alumni but also two of the other sisters were in the "Elm Street " films also from Brooke Theiss in the fourth film and Jo Ann Willentte the second film; so in a horror fan perspective it's kind of a dream come true having horror alumni living within the same roof as you.
The only bad thing is that he's not really in the show that much nor focused on very much. Maybe if we did have another season, we could of seen a few more episodes focused on him, and even some development on his character like seeing him have a girlfriend, but this never happened which I'll explain latter.
What also makes the show stick out is it's a bit of a Christian sitcom but in the best possible sense. In some episodes they do take on some Christian themes and issues but with subtlety, yeah, the Lubbock's are Christians and work in a Christian school but they don't let the whole thing get to there head, which I like because it shows how any family associated with the faith can and are the every day people we pass by. Yeah, they're not perfect but they admit it, and they do their best to abide by some of the lessons their faith teaches, though I said some not all their not always successful at it but at least they try.
The only other bad thing was this show didn't go on longer which was too bad, personally I felt there could have been two or three more seasons. The show I know was a hit if not as big of one as certain others but all the same it was one, when they didn't renew the show they replaced it with some crappy forgettable sitcom which was stupid I honestly don't know what they we're thinking, they had the ball but stupidly dropped it blowing the game. Sadly, the only way we'll know more of what happened to the Lubbock's is in the world of Fanfiction. Though if all possible you could make a sequel where we would see one of the Lubbock daughters (Marie most likely in my book) married and have either the same amount or a slightly higher sum of children (11 or 12 are good numbers) and we would see the next gen of Lubbock babes attending St. Augestine's and get into shinangans, while Marie and her significant other are parienting them all doing the best they can. Well it's a thought to consider but I see no reason why not as there are a lot of shows with sequels these days, this show getting a sequel would be a nice break from shows that get the most attention but also draw in another generation of fans, as I said a thought to consider.
This vintage family sitcom scores.
Rating: 3 and a half stars.
This show is basically a spin off "Growing Pains" as Graham Lubbock was a supporting character on the show as Mike Ceiver's high school coach. Sadly, the guy got fired no thanks to the dumb ass principal (whose last name sounds like dimwit ironically). But that's beside the point that moment pretty much set up the spin off we have and I really like this spin off, it's one of those ones that are done right as it does it's own thing and isn't trying to imitate it's predecessor which is a fundamental mistake most spin offs make, and I almost like this show a bit more than "Growing Pains" not to say I like that show any less but I personally don't love that show that much, that's just me.
Really like the theme song which is an honorable mention in favorite theme songs, it perfectly signifies the family and their struggles. The comedy is soild, really like some of the dialog there are some memorable lines and scenes and really like the family and characters whom are all well rounded and feel like any regular family with their imperfections, disagreements and befuddlements. But what makes this family stand out a little is they all do grow and develop a little which is something most sitcoms/comedy shows at the time did very little of as if the characters we're on arrested development.
The daughters better known as "The Lubbock Babes" are solid characters, as each of them have unique personas and it's funny whenever they either work with each other or against one another depending on the scheme or pursuit. Most of the time they would always fail not just because of one undermining the other but mainly due to their own petty follies they don't always swallow. But they all have a strong bond together which works to their advantage as it helps in actually prevailing in certain sittuations but most importantly living life they way they all want to.
My favorite of the daughters and character is Marie played by Heather Langenkamp. Believe it or not, I honestly never knew about her as the lead in the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" film since I wasn't even old enough to see the movie at the time. It wasn't until my adolescence I saw the film and it surprised me seeing Heather from the sitcom I watched fighting Freddy Kruger that was cool. But learning the fact that she did "Just the Ten of Us" after "Nightmare on Elm Street 1 and 3" made it even better. I'll admit is really is surreal seeing a horror alumni in this show but same can be said about a lot of others out there.
Despite those spectacles she still looks good, kind of like with Rachel Leah Cook on "She's All That" just can't hide it. Heather Langenkamp is a capable actress, she surprising can-do comedy and in one episode could actually sing, just seeing those things this makes me wonder why she didn't get more. I really like how most of the time she is really uptight as she is trying hard to stay true to the teachings of Christianity, in her mind she is the only good daughter in the room which is almost true due to the nature of the others. But by her nature she is just a power keg waiting to explode and her sisters are the match. It's just funny how at time we see cracks form when some of her sisters or certain circumstances give her lots of grief that she just loses her cool, which makes her really attractive what can I say I love girls with fire. But what also makes her stand out is despite her uptight nature she slowly but surely learns to loosen up a bit and experience more of what life has to offer which is what she really wants deep down inside.
Graham Lubbock is loveable and funny as the dad that is trying to keep things together in not just his family but even the school itself. Love the fact that he's not just a coach but he's also a health teacher and on occasion drama, I just thought that was cool showing how multifaceted and intellectually he is and not just the stereotypical one note sports coach. But what's really funny about his is how insecure and overprotective he can be, whenever he's give grief or thrown into circumstances produced most of the time by his daughters that he didn't ask for, I think a lot of parents can emphasize with that as they've sometimes faced certain things like that and had trouble dealing or sometimes deal with it incorrectly, but at least they try.
One of my favorite moments with him is in one of my favorite episodes of the show Graham is nauseated from the horror film he saw with his son Graham Jr which involved giant exploding eyeballs, it just cracks me up how sensitive he is at seeing one imaging of an eye being a reminder of the movie and making him upchuck.
My third favorite character is Graham Lubbock Jr, his character is awesome not just the fact that he's a mischief maker that sometimes gives the sisters and even his father some grief sometimes when it suits him, in that one episode where Graham saw the eyeball horror film he went out of his way to prank him by making it seem like his eyeballs were exploding, that was comic silver.
Really loves peanut butter but what I really love about this character is the fact he's a horror movie fan which is awesome since I'm one myself, from some of the elaborate props and makeup he sometimes uses and carries around, make me think he could be an make up and effects artist in the future. But I also love his room which is just decorated with horror memorabilia like his walls which have some cut outs of images from horror films wall papered. It's kind of ironic he would be a horror fan, since Heather Langenkamp playing one of his sisters is a horror alumni but also two of the other sisters were in the "Elm Street " films also from Brooke Theiss in the fourth film and Jo Ann Willentte the second film; so in a horror fan perspective it's kind of a dream come true having horror alumni living within the same roof as you.
The only bad thing is that he's not really in the show that much nor focused on very much. Maybe if we did have another season, we could of seen a few more episodes focused on him, and even some development on his character like seeing him have a girlfriend, but this never happened which I'll explain latter.
What also makes the show stick out is it's a bit of a Christian sitcom but in the best possible sense. In some episodes they do take on some Christian themes and issues but with subtlety, yeah, the Lubbock's are Christians and work in a Christian school but they don't let the whole thing get to there head, which I like because it shows how any family associated with the faith can and are the every day people we pass by. Yeah, they're not perfect but they admit it, and they do their best to abide by some of the lessons their faith teaches, though I said some not all their not always successful at it but at least they try.
The only other bad thing was this show didn't go on longer which was too bad, personally I felt there could have been two or three more seasons. The show I know was a hit if not as big of one as certain others but all the same it was one, when they didn't renew the show they replaced it with some crappy forgettable sitcom which was stupid I honestly don't know what they we're thinking, they had the ball but stupidly dropped it blowing the game. Sadly, the only way we'll know more of what happened to the Lubbock's is in the world of Fanfiction. Though if all possible you could make a sequel where we would see one of the Lubbock daughters (Marie most likely in my book) married and have either the same amount or a slightly higher sum of children (11 or 12 are good numbers) and we would see the next gen of Lubbock babes attending St. Augestine's and get into shinangans, while Marie and her significant other are parienting them all doing the best they can. Well it's a thought to consider but I see no reason why not as there are a lot of shows with sequels these days, this show getting a sequel would be a nice break from shows that get the most attention but also draw in another generation of fans, as I said a thought to consider.
This vintage family sitcom scores.
Rating: 3 and a half stars.