100) The Real Thing (Family Ties)

Family Ties was about how family values are cyclical. Sometimes it was hard to tell what opinions the creators held about the conservative movements of the 1980s, but they definitely embraced the generation gap that arose from it as a source of conflict. The Keatons (Michael Gross and Meredith Baxter) were hippies. Find a liberal cause, they probably fought for it. Name a social revolutionary, they probably smoked pot with them.

Revolutionaries… right…

However, much as the baby boomers were largely people rejecting the behavior and values of their “conservative” families, the Keaton children represented the counter-rebellion to the ’60s upheaval. Rather than taking after his generous, bleeding heart father, Alex P. Keaton (Michael J. Fox) was a greedy, ambitious, get-rich-quick scheming go-go ’80s guy in training. His sister, Mallory (Justine Batemen), was a fashion conscious and materialistic “girly girl” that constantly argued with her feminist mother. The youngest Keaton…