FAMILY TIES: THE GAMBLER {THIRD SEASON PREMIERE} (TV)
Summary
One in this comedy series about the Keaton family -- Elyse and Steven, two aging ex-hippies, and their conservative, materialistic children. The Keatons are going to Atlantic City so that Elyse can deliver a speech at an architect's conference. Alex tries to encourage Elyse and Steven to gamble using his blackjack system, but they are uninterested. In Atlantic City, Elyse is attempting to concentrate on her speech, but takes a break to go down to the boardwalk with the family. On the way, Alex convinces Elyse and Steven to play a few hands of blackjack. His system appears to work and Elyse finds herself unable to tear herself away from the table. She keeps winning and soon attracts a crowd of onlookers. Later, the Keatons go back to their room, where Alex calculates that Elyse has won well over a thousand dollars. The family is happy for the winnings, but Alex convinces Elyse to continue her winning streak with more aggressive bets. Steven tries to put a stop to it, pointing out that Elyse's conference is coming up soon, but Elyse is single-minded in her desire to keep up her winning streak. She returns to the blackjack table and ignore virtually everything else, but Steven notices she is starting to lose some hands. When her conference begins, she sends Mallory to deliver her speech in her stead so she can continue playing. Eventually Elyse's winnings dwindle to nearly nothing and she tries to borrow money from whoever will listen. The rest of the family tries to get her to stop, and finally Steven takes the kids upstairs. Very late that night, Alex wakes the rest of the family up. Everyone is concerned about Elyse, and Alex feels responsible for what's happened. Elyse comes back to the room and Steven tells her he tried to warn her about falling into "the trap" and being consumed by the desire for more money. Elyse reveals that she ended up winning nearly two thousand dollars, but that winning so much money made her feel "empty and alone," so she pledged it all to a midnight mission. She feels that she cannot keep the money, that it is "tainted." The family reunites and admits that Elyse did the right thing. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: September 20, 1984 8:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:24:09
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:80905
- GENRE: Comedy
- SUBJECT HEADING: Comedy
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1982-1989
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Gary David Goldberg … Executive Producer, Created by
- Lloyd Garver … Executive Producer
- Michael J. Weithorn … Producer, Writer
- Alan Uger … Producer, Writer
- Carol Himes … Co-Producer
- June Galas … Associate Producer
- Will MacKenzie … Director
- Tom Scott … Music by, Theme Music by
- Jeff Barry … Theme Music by
- Johnny Mathis … Theme Music by
- Deniece Williams … Theme Music by
- Meredith Baxter-Birney (See also: Meredith Baxter) … Cast, Elyse Keaton
- Michael Gross … Cast, Steven Keaton
- Michael J. Fox … Cast, Alex P. Keaton
- Justine Bateman … Cast, Mallory Keaton
- Tina Yothers … Cast, Jennifer Keaton
- Arthur Taxier … Cast, The Dealer
- Seth Jaffe … Cast, The Pit Boss
- Charles Walker … Cast, The Waiter