EIGHT IS ENOUGH (ABC 1977-1981) - THE COMPLETE SERIES + 2 REUNION MOVIES - EXCELLENT QUALITY! Dick Van Patten, Betty Buckley, Grant Goodeve, Adam Rich, Connie Needham, Laurie Walters, Susan Richardson, Lani O'Grady, Willie Aames, Dianne Kay, Ralph Macchio
Eight Is Enough is an American television comedy-drama series that ran on ABC from March 15, 1977, until May 23, 1981. The show was modeled on the life of syndicated newspaper columnist Tom Braden, a real-life parent with eight children, who wrote a best-selling autobiography by the same title.
Dick Van Patten starred in this often comical, but always touching family drama as Tom Bradford, a newspaper columnist for the fictional Sacramento Register. Father of eight very independent and individual children. It wasn’t always easy staying sane while guiding Mary (Lani O’Grady), David (Grant Goodeve), Joanie (Laurie Walters), Nancy (Dianne Kay), Elizabeth (Connie Needham), Susan (Susan Richardson), Tommy (Willie Aames) and Nicholas (Adam Rich) through the hardships, joys, challenges and ups and downs of everyday life in a close-knit family.
In the first season of this groundbreaking classic, consisting of only nine episodes, Tom is married to Joan (played by Diana Hyland), a homemaker who loves taking care of her family and enjoys photography.
The series began season two with a gaping hole in the cast – the tragic death of Diana Hyland to cancer. As the season begins, Tom is now a widower, and the Bradford household is still healing. Thanks to the arrival of Nicholas’ tutor Abby (Betty Buckley), smiles come more quickly to the Bradford kids who continue to mix humor and drama while confronting a host of life’s issues.
Highlights of season three starts with Abby suspecting Tom of seeing another woman, then, Susan trains to be a police cadet, Nicholas runs away after he accidentally starts a fire that destroys the celebration of Tom and Abby's first anniversary, an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii for the entire Bradford family and graduation is hardly what the Bradfords expected—with Joanie upset over her future and Elizabeth suspended from her commencement exercises where her father is to be the guest speaker.
The Bradfords bid adieu to the seventies by ushering in even more changes to the family dynamic in season four. First up, minor league ball player Merle "the Pearl" Stockwell (Brian Patrick Clarke) sweeps Susan off her feet. An engagement soon follows, but there's one problem – David has already set their date for his wedding with Janet (Joan Pranther) while Nancy has a singing telegram gig that day…And first comes marriage, then comes Mary finding a positive home pregnancy test! Meanwhile, Joanie and Tom become competing journalists, Nicholas curses the family by breaking a chain letter, and Tommy runs for Prom Queen! On the more tender side, Abby comes to grips with the memories of her deceased husband, while Tom is forced into a reunion with his father who he has not seen in forty years – and he's about to turn fifty!
Eight was no longer enough in the show's fifth and final season. First up, Susan's and Merle's baby girl raises the stakes, then a young Ralph Macchio joins the family as Abby's nephew Jeremy. Tom and Abby have their hands full running their bursting household as they gear up for their fifth anniversary, as life keeps throwing them curveballs. David's and Janet's union goes asunder, Nancy’s modeling career takes off, and Tommy gets serious about love --as in marriage! Meanwhile, Nicholas gets a horse, Joanie goes undercover video-dating, and Elizabeth falls for a friend and one of Mary's patients falls for her. But when Jeremy's father returns, the clan's happiness is threatened.
Notable guest stars include: Adrienne Barbeau, Don Johnson, Charlene Tilton, Will Geer, Janis Paige, Jennifer Darling, Gerald McRaney, Dennis Burkley, Danny Bonaduce, Tracey Gold, Missy Gold, Richard Kline, Beth Howland, Markie Post, Jack Elam, Noah Berry Jr., James Cromwell, Abe Vigoda, Rosanna Arquette, Robin Williams, Corey Feldman, John Shea, Louise Latham, Dennis Patrick, Sylvia Sidney, Dorian Harewood, Judy Strangis, David Wayne, John David Carson, Timothy Van Patten, Ellen Travolta, Sam Chew, Jr., Julia Duffy, Emmaline Henry, Nicholas Pryor, Joe Regalbuto, Charlotte Stewart, David Landsberg.
________________________________