As Burt Bacharach sang: What the world needs now is love sweet love. How true. With that i believe we need more of the Bradfords and less of the Kardashians. "Who are these Bradfords?" I hear young folks asking. Just like the Cunninghams, when I was growing up the Bradfords were the ultimate TV family.
Eight Is Enough is a television show that aired on ABC for 5 seasons based upon the 1975 book entitled "Eight Is Enough" by Tom Braden in which he writes about raising his eight children. As in the show, Mr. Braden was syndicated columnist working for a California newspaper. In the show it is the Sacramento Register. In real life Mr. Braden, after leaving the CIA in 1954, purchased the Blade Tribune in Oceanside, CA.
The cast included Dick Van Patten as Tom Bradford Sr., Betty Buckley as Abby Bradford (season 2 through 5), Willie Aames as Tommy Bradford, Adam Rich as Nicholas Bradford and Grant Goodeve as eldest son David Bradford. These were arguably the biggest names coming into the show (Van Patten, Buckley, and Goodeve) and when the show left the air (Willie Aames and Adam Rich). Let's not forget in season 5 Ralph Macchio played Jimmy Andretti, a never before seen or mentioned nephew of Abby's who came to live with the Bradford's for a time. This was before The Karate Kid. In the plot, a relatively unknown Mark Hamill portrayed eldest so David. Mark would get out of his contract to star in a little movie called Star Wars. This was for the best as Grant Goodeve is believable as a construction worker where Mark was probably miscast here.
Abigail Bradford is not based on any character from the book. In season one Tom's wife Joan is played by Diana Hyland. In 1975, Ms. Hyland was diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent a mastectomy and chemotherapy. Unfortunately, her health continued to deteriorate because the cancer had spread. On March 27, 1977, at the age of 41, Ms. Hyland passed away. Show executives had a decision to make. Do we recast the part? Do we have Joan pass away in the show and build storylines around that? If we do, Is Tom going to stay a widower or does he find love again?
they decided to work Ms. Hyland's death into the show. Season 2, episode 2 the character of Abby is introduced as a tutor for Tommy who has a broken leg. A courtship between Tom and Abby happens fairly fast and they are married in episode 6. Storylines throughout the coming seasons would include the family coming to terms with the death of their matriarch and accepting Abby into the family
The show covered, for the time, edgy topics such as teen pregnancy, teen drinking, runaways, etc. As with most shows at the time, the main problem of the episode was wrapped up by the end of the hour. With the love and support of the family, the problem of the day was overcome.
All in all, is the show sweet? yep. Sappy? Yep. Enjoyable? Definitely. It portrayed the idyllic upper middle class family that my friends and I dreamed of having. As Grant Goodeve sings in the shows intro: Eight is Enough to fill our lives with love.
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