MJF Pick of the Day: A VERY Special Episode

If you grew up in the 80s, like I did, you were always stoked when a "very special episode" was going to be aired. The previews leading up to the show would build the anticipation up to a mind-numbing hilt. I would talk up the "very special episode" at dinner throughout the week. I would make sure everyone in my family knew that I had dibs on the TV during the "very special episode." I would hype up the event at school, too, asking my friends if they were going to tune in. A lot of people make fun of the "very special episodes" today. (And, YES, I will continue to use quotes.) In fact, I've read one particularly nasty review of the special Keaton episode I'm about to discuss. However jilted, disillusioned, and pessimistic TV viewers have become in the 21st century, it's nice to look back and relish the times when the passing of a best friend, and the process of coming to grips with said loss, was a monumental bit of television that was hyped up the week preceding it's airdate.

" 'A' My Name is Alex" is one of my favorite two-part episodes of Family Ties, and many critics think it was this two-parter that snagged Michael J. Fox his THIRD CONSECUTIVE Emmy for the 1986-1987 season of Family Ties. The first part opens on a sullen Keaton crowd conjugating around the kitchen island, trying to decide how to comfort Alex over the loss of a dear friend. (No, not Skippy! One we never met before, which remains odd to me...but anyway...) Alex bounds through the door, a wide grin on his face, hands outstretched, "Was that a funeral or what!?" Classic Alex: hiding his true feelings and emotions, trying to have a stiff upper lip for the family. What shortly follows is a meltdown of epic 80s proportions: Alex crumbling on the kitchen floor, shouting it should've been him, Elyse embracing her oldest son, etc. Alex then finds himself in counseling, breaking the fourth wall, confiding in a psychiatrist, and divulging his deepest emotions...a very un-APK thing to do.

I love the episode(s). It's the one episode of Family Ties I kept recorded on VHS for years. I still think it holds up. I don't care what all the despondent, cynical viewers who loved the show growing up and now only want to watch meth dealers, misogynistic ad men, and sexed up vampires say: " 'A' My Name is Alex" is required MJF viewing, and I'll do my best to relive this "very special episode" before 10/26/11.