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From: kbirdusa
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  • Forever "Eight is Enough!!.."

  • Producer Eric sent me here

  • And thank you so much for the post !

  • Compare this quality family show to any of the trash that passes for TV today . The story lines and language these days is embarrassing to watch with your kids today !

    What happened to television standards , and the Family Hour ?

  • Nobody who had 8 kids retains a figure like the mom in this series. Sorry.

  • Fantastic news! Warner Brothers is finally releasing the first season in April! (Unfortunately since the show was a midseason replacement the first season was only nine shows.)

  • No fertility drugs? 8 is enough, tell that to the dugards

  • pick your bike up off the sidewalk ya little bastard!

  • @parachuteboi....

    No i'm referring to the characters...not the actors. I was too young to remember what was going on... But still in the 70's abd 80's in real life...could you be a columnist a support a family that large in that middle-UPPER middle class standard? A friend was explaining to me yes. If it was syndicated as it was and he had a large following which he did. Also they say it was based on a real man with his family!

  • Great Show...Loved its snappy opening...

    Tommy was so adorable...just the cutest...Loved his curly, blond locks:

    although my cousin would beg to differ; she was in love with David....

  • 8 is not enough for 6 people

  • And he was able to support all eight of them in a comfortable middle-upper middle class lifestyle in the 80's as a columnist? I was child in the 80's so tell me was this realistic of just T.V. magic? LOL

  • @Keonny77 with so much of them in the show it wasnt very much salary with so much of them to be paid

  • It was b/c of this show that I wanted a big family when I had a family of my own.

  • Shows with big familes were popular back then.

  • 0:27 minutes

    (old school plastic Niners helmet).. u used to get a generic looking jersey to go with the helmet too. looks like one from an old Sears set. They got your head hot as hell, like the old string in the back Halloween masks, but they were badass.

  • @sumyoungay

    um...yes.. the Waltons was set in the 30's. But it wasn't filmed in the 30's. My comment was that both shows (EIE and the Waltons) were filmed in the 70's. Although I did miss mashwatchers point that EIE was an updated version of the "Waltons family" . When I first read it, I thought he meant that the Waltons was made before the 70's. But yes, obviously the Waltons was set in the 30's.

  • Dianne Kay in the first 3 season was the hottest thing hollywood has ever produced

  • I guess you could say that the bradford`s were the 1970`s version of the waltons

  • @TheMashwatcher585 No, The Waltons was a 1970's TV show too. You do realize you are on the internet don't you? You can look this up.

  • @chicagowhynotme In fact, the Waltons was still on the air when EIE began in '77. Wow, things sure were "groovy" in '77. The scharmy music, hideous clothes for scraggly-looking kids. But what else would you expect then? In '77, a peanut farmer became our President (and wore a $100 Garanimals suit to his inauguratio), then wrecked the economy even further, essentially pushed the Soviets ahead of us in the arms race, humiliated America during the hostage crisis then thankfully being pummeled in 80

  • I bet Dick van Patten was banging his daughters

  • @ClearwaterMMA

    Yeah, I'm sure they would have nothing better to do.

  • great cameltoes in this show

  • wow! i certainly do remember this famous TV show with Dick Van Patten back in the late 1970's-i believe it was a drama-right?-but i also remember that 4 some reason, i barely watched it-lol-but whatever i did watch it was very nice-i will certainly remember 2 buy this TV show on DVD or Blue-Ray Disc.

  • I would love to return to this time, cheesy as it may seem. Even though there were not any cell phones, home computers or even microwaves in most homes it was a more relaxed time. Now with all the technology & conveniences we are all more tired, always on the run, not time for family etc. I'm not that old but I miss this time.

  • @tonlo92 I would give up technology for that too man. Aside from our current economic state, I don't care for the moral majority of people as a result of what these conveniences have given us.

  • :26 OU-WUCH!!

    

  • 0:48 Now that there was a fine piece of work.

  • My father hated Dick Van Patten. "These TV dads think they have all the answers! What a load of crap!" My dad was a bit, uh, angry at the world in those days...

  • The 80s sucked.

  • wierd movie

  • the dad seemed like a wife beater to me, i think he molested the girls too, he always creepd me out!

  • @frsnduffy i remember watching this show as a kid seemed dick van patten was ready to blow a gasket in every episode

  • @richmjr67 yeah he seemed kinda pervy too

  • Lani o grady was my favorite!!!

  • Oh, to be 1977 again.

  • Took dad about 3 hours to have that slut abby move in after he buried the Mrs.

  • A 70s style Waltons.

  • I was wondering why Grant Goodeve looked so familiar, then it struck me: Rick from Northern Exposure !

  • Let's see. That house appears to have no more than 2 bathrooms for the kiddos. The constant smells emitting from them would be devastating. No, Eight is More Than Enough TYVM.

  • @buck62sugar LOL I got such a kick reading your post. LOL True, maybe they only had 2 bathrooms, but I'm guessing they had a toilet unlike the Brady Bunch household!  LOL

  • @Beautifulmusiclistnr No toilet? hmmm. I suspected the Brady's had a little low-rent hillbilly in them. Maybe they go where Tigger....and Alice.... go :-)

  • Comment removed

  • @buck62sugar I think you're right! LOL @ low-rent hillbilly in them. :) Where did Alice, as you say, .....go? lol Tiger was missing in action after about the first or second season. Love those Brady's and those Bradford's! :)

  • I don't know how a newspaper columnist makes enough money for a family of ten without his wife working.

  • @sgreen4 Hmmm ,lets see ... I dont need 2 cars, 3 vacations, partying everynight, being a responsible adult without a habit ! Actually , it was a two income family :) This wasnt a bastard factory household listening to yo yo yo ! You moron !

  • I'm sorry for the loss of Ms. Hyland. 

  • How did this show end?

    Why does Dick Van Patten look the same now about 30 years later?

    Where is Adam Rich? I heard he is living in prison.

  • It is because of PAX television that I learned about and grew to love this show! Whatever happened to PAX?!

  • Whatever happen to the PAX channel?

  • @quelita1971 PAX eventually became ION TV... 

  • I don't know about 8 but 6 was enough for my grandmother.

  • tvland should put this show on

  • You could have 8 kids in the 70's, and all it meant was more batteries you would have to buy for toys on Christmas. You have 8 kids today, you better like eating KD and SPAM. Not only that but Nicholaus would have to work fulltime in todays econaomy, probably in a blast furnace or drop forge.

  • Mark Hamill should NOT have backed out of playing "David"...he could have broken out of his Typecasting problem of Luke Skywalker

  • In 1975, Hyland was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy. However, the cancer spread and her health deteriorated. She died on March 27, 1977 in Los Angeles.

    .

    In 1976, she appeared in the television movie The Boy in the Plastic Bubble for which she won a posthumous Emmy Award. The following year, she signed on to play the wife of Dick Van Patten's character in the series Eight is Enough. It would be her last role.

  • I was always HOT for Dianne Kay. She was SO HOT!!!

  • Mark Hamill had wanted to get out of his contract after the first Star Wars movie had really taken off but could not. Then he nearly killed himself in an accident (which is why he looks so different by the 2nd Star Wars movie) so he was replaced by Grant Goodeve

  • This theme was a lot better than when they replaced it with Grant Goodeve's off key caterwauling

  • could you imagine being a single man with all those damn kids! thats alot of mouths to feed.

  • Year I know what I'd put in Grant Goodeves mouth!

  • This family sure did play a lot of opening credit football!

  • There was a few different openings. The pilot was a different variation of this theme. Then there as this one.  Then they changed it again after Diana Hyland died, which was the pyrmaid one, but it had the same theme. Then they added Abby to the pyrmaid. I believe season 2 was when they changed the theme to the lyrical version. I have actually grown to love the pilot theme the best. It had a great 70's vibe to it and the music was cued to different variations during the episode.

  • I remember when Diana Hyland died so young... she was going with John Travolta at the time.

  • Why is Grant the only child to get billing?

  • David was originally intended to be a third lead in the show, alongside the parents (sort of like how Johnboy was on "The Waltons"). David had a major role in the pilot. But when Grant Goodeve replaced Mark Hamill, the producers seemed to lose interest in the character a bit. He didn't even appear in every episode.

  • And now, your first lesson in mnemonics:

    Oldest to the youngest

    Dumb

    Martians

    Just

    Sit

    Nearby

    Eating

    Tender

    Noodles

  • Back when it was OK to tackle the hell out of your brother.

  • Good observation. Now a days, the lady holding the camera wouldn't be someone taking a photo of their family, it would be your neighbor spying on you to make some extra cash, by turning you into the Feds.

  • i know dick van patten

  • diana hyland was so awesome! what a special soul

  • i want willie aames

  • BEST, BEST, BET!

  • This show deserves a DVD release. Seriously.

  • wonder what dianne and connie look like now? betcha they are still hot!

  • Does anyone anywhere know when the hell they are going to put this great series on DVD. I have only been waiting forever now. I can't believe all the crap they have out but not the best show of the 70's.

  • R.I.P. Tom Braden, the author of the fine book 'Eight is Enough'.

  • Every "Bradford" daughter? Hot. The mother(s), both of them? Hot. Dick Van Patten (the father)? Eh.....not so much.

    Go figure.

  • I wouldn't say "every" Bradford daughter...definitely Elizabeth and Nancy and the two moms. I think the father was supposed to look fatherly, which is why he was middle aged and balding.

  • I hate to be mean but the show was so unbelievable to me because of the casting of Dick Van Patten. Especially, after they replaced the first beautiful wife with the 2nd beautiful wife. Why didn't they cast someone who would fit it with him. He as very fuddy duddy and average looking and just your average Dad. It was an insult to the viewers intelligence to cast him with these gorgous sexy wives.

    The show may have worked for me if he

    wasn't the dad.

  • They probably had the "hot" moms cast to grab male viewers. Let's be honest...how many grown men would want to watch a show about some goofy family that avoided birth control and had kids constantly whining about relationship problems? I'm sure most of the older male TV viewers during the 70's had their dials tuned to Three's Company and charlie's Angels, right? I know I did...;-)

  • stooge81 -

    They had some sexy daughters on the show - that should have been used to attract the male audience. The mother should have matched Dick Van Patten for the show to be the least bit credible. Or, they could have cast a sexy father and sexy mother. A lot of people liked this show and to be honest, I watched it. And I like Dick Van Patten. He was probably cast right but the wives were not cast right.

  • @stooge81 Actually all three shows were on ABC, so they wouldn't have aired against Eight is Enough. Plus I remember reading in TV Guide back in the day that Charlie's Angels actually rated higher among women then men!

  • Haha, that's totally true!

    But the show was still hella awesome!

  • They didn't "Replace" the first wife with the 2nd wife "Abby" they had no choice, the actress who played the first wife (Diana Hyland) died after the 4th episode in the first season.

  • I don't understand why you say that they didn't replace the first wife with Abby. Isn't that exactly what happened -- as you yourself say?

  • Abby was the stepmom because the actress, Diana Hyland died. So they made the dad get married again to Abby. Diana Hyland died young and was involved with John Travolta at the time.

  • @Bootlegteen47

    Yeah....Diana Hyland died.....

    There was a LOT of Drama on this show.

  • Aren't you kinda painting the kettle black a

    little too far??

    'Speically with man of his likeablity like

    Dick,BTW??

  • joboots007 -

    I am just being honest. In real life "Abby" a beautiful, fun woman - would not fall for your average Joe with 8 children and raised them like they were her own. The show was more like a fairytale. I like Dick Van Patten. He was cast right - but the women who played his wifes were not cast right to be crediable.

  • The characters, as portrayed by both wives, were women who would appreciate a man for more than looks. It gets lower on your list as you get older, if you're wiser. And I always thought he was cute, I'd date him!

  • the mother was only in 4 shows as she fell ill and died in real life

  • wow i spell wrong i suffer from seiuries my spell is bad shoot me i not as good as you i gusse your the best must feel good to bully some 1 with prbs hope u have a good day maybe you can kick some 1 over ina wheelchair there or skin a k. bear or a kagroo i ask god next time make us smarter

  • p.s mark hamail from stat wars was the frist david

  • spell check

  • sry i not a good speller you sure know how to make some 1 fell good about them self i got a freind from your area he a good freind never give me heck from not being smart he even got a son who got austins i tell him from you that he should be in a home with me

  • I had such a crush on Nicholas, even though I was too young to watch it when it was on primetime...I also watched him in that show Code Red...I was like, five.

  • Comment removed

  • Dick Van Patten is one of the finest Americans of the past century and a half

  • @antpile99 ... You are too funny

  • To Antpile99: I totally agree with your comment. I like him much better than some of these stars -- like Charlie Sheen -- in the past 40 years. Take Care!! Rest Easy!!

  • i counted 10!!

  • Those of you who want this show on DVD, raise your hand.

    This show taught many of you about mnemonic devices. More on that later.

  • 0:13

    "Come on, pile into my van of LOVE!"

  • I think it's so sad how Diana Hyland died. Sudden deaths of young people bother me. It's like a theater just ending a movie before it's done. It's like... wtf. :0(((

  • I live in Rome...I'm still waiting for the DVD to come out

  • I remember watching one episode of this show and then nicknaming it Enough is Enough.

  • Ralph Macchio!

  • blech.

  • Oh my gosh, these brings back such memories!!!

  • I remember PAX

  • dianne kay was so hot!

  • who in the hell keeps thumbs downing my complimenting dianne kay. go fuck yourself! she is hot

  • I had a thing for Elizabeth lol

  • Luke Skywalker, Marc Hamill, had the original part that was given to Grant Goodeve, as Marc quit when the success of STAR WARS became apparent. Ya better believe it!

  • I agree with you. I live in Uruguay and I was a teenager when the series appeared on TV, but I remember very well Mark Hamill appeared only in the 1st. chapter of the series. As a Star Wars saga fan, that was fantastic. I was going to watch one of my heroes on TV every week, in an absolutely different plot of course, but he just disappeared in the very second chapter, pity!

  • Loved this show, love both theme songs.

  • This show could give you diabetes, it was so sugary...

  • rip diana hyland.....you will always be missed!!...great show...lets see it on dvd

  • I loved willie Aames--thought he was fuckin hot--

  • Fat Albert and the gang live next door

  • cannot stand that adam rich

  • Call me crazy but I always liked this theme tune more...

  • R.I.P beautiful Diana

  • Don't forget to add the gal who played Mary Bradford to the "death" list. Lani O'Grady died from a life of drugs and alcohol a about 5 or 6 years ago. Sad!

  • Actually, this coming September will mark eight years since Miss O'Grady passed away.

    Oh, yes, she was the sister of Don Grady of My Three Sons-----their family name was Agrati.

  • I loved this show so much.  I could just cry when I think of how some of the "kids" turned out in real life: drugs, depression, and all that shit. Willie Aames reformed, and is a Christian entertainer now. I think Grant Goodeve is, too. They were such hunks.

  • I looks like Dick Van Patten had a comb-over in the first season, and that it was later replaced by a wig. Is that right?

  • this theme was much better than that sappy song they changed to in subsequent seasons

  • Everyone on the set loved diana hyland and were devestated by her death RIP Diana

  • if anyone wants the show on dvd i know where to get it...

  • VW bus and looks at that kid's bicyle with the big handlebars, so 70's it's cool.

  • U shaped handle bar and banana seat...oh those were the days!

  • I think that this show is making a comeback! On AOL videos there are 35 uncut episodes posted including the RARE pilot with Mark Hamill!!!!

  • The title refered to how many cents it would take to keep Nicholas' noggin safe by buying him a bike helmet at Goodwill.

  • Write letters to Warner Brothers, let's get this show Eight Is Enough, restored and on DVD...ALL of it not just the first season. Write: Barry M. Meyer Chairman and CEO, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

    Time Warner Inc. One Time Warner Center

    New York, NY10019-8016

    Alexdog8

  • Wrote on, brother!

  • This and Three's company were my favorite shows as a kid and didn't know until like the second season that eight is enough was supposively in sacramento where I live.

  • Diana Hyland is the best! RIP! Cant wait to see her on the 1st season box set!

  • John Travolta was one lucky son of a bitch to get w/ the lovely Diana Hyland.

  • You said it. Not only was Miss Hyland beautiful, she was also talented.

  • 8 Is To Much - my dad use to call it.

  • Fave episode, of course, is when Heather Locklear played Ingrid, and drove Ralph Macchio crazy.

    Melrose Place meets Karate Kid?

  • I liked the one with Will Geer (aka Grandpa Walton) who disguised himself as Santa Claus, and stole all their presents.  In typical fashion, the Bradfords forgave him and befriended him after he was caught, even though the cops had to keep all their present as evidence and so they couldn't enjoy Christmas. That must have been not to long before Will Geer died.

  • If I were Grant or Willie, I wouldn't have left the house.

  • After having 8 children, you think Miss. Bradford would be cringing every time Mr. Bradford got too close. " Keep it in your pants you horny bastard"

  • you sure can tell the difference between season 1 and season 5--season 1-4 being good

  • I just ordered the dvd box set I will tell you guys about the quality

  • wear did you fine it

  • I loved diana hyland! RIP

  • I watched this back when I was in the sixth grade.

    I really had a hard-on for 'Lizabeth.

  • Did you see the 2 hour episode where the family goes to Hawaii? I have it and Connie's bod in a tiny red bikinni is INCREDIBLE

  • Dianne kay was so hot!

  • thats great got any with dr maxwell in played by michael thoma

  • When I see that, I think about The Simpsons Opening :))

  • In the pilot ep. David was played my Mark Hamil (Star Wars)

  • Diana Hyland, died after five episodes in John Travolta's arms. That's why, Betty Buckley joined.

  • Wan't she the mum in The Boy in the Plastic Bubble ??

  • yes

  • Unfortunately I've never had the chance to watch the first season which I think was never broadcast in Italy. I wish they released a dvd!

  • yes, I remember the first season with Diana , in Italy was broadcast by Rai TV then commercial tv took the other seasons, I wish for dvd too!

  • It must have been broadcast with the title "Otto bastano", because I remember watching a couple of episodes on RAI but I can't remember Diana anyway.

  • the mom died during the 2nd year of the show? and was she married to john Travolta

  • Diana Hyland, who played the mother, became ill in the middle of the first season, and missed half the episodes during that shortened season. Joan was said to be away for the remainder of the season. Hyland died after production for the first season finished, and Joan's death was mentioned in the second season premiere. Hyland was involved with John Travolta at the time of her death.

  • She was engaged to Travolta, but died before they could be wed.