Alex P. Keaton
Encyclopedia
Alex P. Keaton is a fictional character
on the American
television
sitcom, Family Ties
, which aired on NBC
for seven seasons, from 1982 to 1989. Family Ties reflected the move in the United States
away from the cultural liberalism of the 1960s and 1970s to the conservatism
of the 1980s. This was particularly expressed through the relationship between Young Republican
Alex (Michael J. Fox
) and his hippie
parents, Elyse and Steven Keaton (Meredith Baxter
and Michael Gross
). American president Ronald Reagan
once stated that Family Ties was his favorite television show.
) is the oldest child of Elyse and Steven Keaton (Meredith Baxter-Birney
and Michael Gross
), who were Baby Boomers and Democrats during the early years of the Reagan administration. Married in 1964, Elyse, an independent architect, and Steven, a manager in a local public television
station, were hippies during the 1960s. According to the episode, "A Christmas Story" in Season One, Alex was born in 1965 while his parents were on assignment in Africa, having been influenced by John F. Kennedy
to participate in the Peace Corps
. Alex has two younger sisters, Mallory (Justine Bateman
) and Jennifer (Tina Yothers
). Mallory was born while her parents were students at the University of California, Berkeley
in 1967, and Jennifer was born the night Richard Nixon
won his second term in 1972
. The family lives in suburban Columbus, Ohio
.
In the beginning of the series, Alex is a high school student who has a passion for economics
and wealth
. In particular, he is a proponent of supply-side economics
. His heroes are Richard Nixon
(going so far as to have a lunchbox with Nixon's likeness), William F. Buckley, Jr.
, Ronald Reagan
, and Milton Friedman
. His favorite television show is Wall $treet Week
and he is an avid reader of The Wall Street Journal
. He also enjoys music of the big band and swing era, but secretly enjoys rock music (as seen in the episode, "A, My Name is Alex"). Alex spends the first two seasons of the series preparing to attend Princeton University
. While attending an on-campus interview, Mallory, who tagged along to pay a surprise visit to her boyfriend Jeff who was attending Princeton, has an emotional crisis when she finds Jeff is seeing another woman. Ultimately, Alex chooses to tend to Mallory rather than complete his interview, thus destroying any possibility of attending Princeton and getting into the Ivy League.
Alex receives a scholarship to fictional Leland University, which is located close enough for Alex to continue to live at home and commute. Keaton excels at Leland University and teaches an economics course as a teaching assistant
. Alex also holds a disdain for nearby Grant College (which Mallory later attends), and goes as far as mocking their classes. While attending Leland, he has two serious girlfriends. His first was artist/feminist, Ellen Reed (Tracy Pollan
, whom Fox later married). After they break up, Keaton pursues a liberal psychology
student with feminist leanings, Lauren Miller, who was played by Courteney Cox
. This relationship ends when he has an affair with music major Martie Brodie (played by Jane Adams
) while Lauren is out of town. After graduation, Alex accepts a job on Wall Street
.
and embracing the wealth and power that came to define the '80s." While the youngest, Jennifer (an athletic tomboy) shares the values of her parents, Alex and Mallory embraced Reaganomics
and consequent conservative values: Alex is a Young Republican and Mallory is a more traditional young woman in contrast to her feminist
mother.
In the Museum of Broadcast Communications
entry for Family Ties Michael Saenz argues that
In 1999 TV Guide
ranked him number 17 on its '50 Greatest TV Characters of All Time' list.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
on the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
sitcom, Family Ties
Family Ties
Family Ties is an American sitcom that aired on NBC for seven seasons, from 1982 to 1989. The sitcom reflected the move in the United States from the cultural liberalism of the 1960s and 1970s to the conservatism of the 1980s. This was particularly expressed through the relationship between young...
, which aired on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
for seven seasons, from 1982 to 1989. Family Ties reflected the move in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
away from the cultural liberalism of the 1960s and 1970s to the conservatism
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
of the 1980s. This was particularly expressed through the relationship between Young Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Alex (Michael J. Fox
Michael J. Fox
Michael J. Fox, OC is a Canadian American actor, author, producer, activist and voice-over artist. With a film and television career spanning from the late 1970s, Fox's roles have included Marty McFly from the Back to the Future trilogy ; Alex P...
) and his hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
parents, Elyse and Steven Keaton (Meredith Baxter
Meredith Baxter
Meredith Baxter , also known for some years as Meredith Baxter-Birney, is an American actress and producer. She is known for her acting roles including three television series: Family , an ABC television-network drama, Family Ties , an NBC television-network situation comedy, and Dan Vs. , a...
and Michael Gross
Michael Gross (actor)
Michael Gross is an American television, movie, and stage actor who plays both comedic and dramatic roles. His most notable roles are as the father Steven Keaton from Family Ties and the Graboid hunter Burt Gummer from the Tremors franchise.-Early life:Gross was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son...
). American president Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
once stated that Family Ties was his favorite television show.
Character arc
Alex (Michael J. FoxMichael J. Fox
Michael J. Fox, OC is a Canadian American actor, author, producer, activist and voice-over artist. With a film and television career spanning from the late 1970s, Fox's roles have included Marty McFly from the Back to the Future trilogy ; Alex P...
) is the oldest child of Elyse and Steven Keaton (Meredith Baxter-Birney
Meredith Baxter
Meredith Baxter , also known for some years as Meredith Baxter-Birney, is an American actress and producer. She is known for her acting roles including three television series: Family , an ABC television-network drama, Family Ties , an NBC television-network situation comedy, and Dan Vs. , a...
and Michael Gross
Michael Gross (actor)
Michael Gross is an American television, movie, and stage actor who plays both comedic and dramatic roles. His most notable roles are as the father Steven Keaton from Family Ties and the Graboid hunter Burt Gummer from the Tremors franchise.-Early life:Gross was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son...
), who were Baby Boomers and Democrats during the early years of the Reagan administration. Married in 1964, Elyse, an independent architect, and Steven, a manager in a local public television
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
station, were hippies during the 1960s. According to the episode, "A Christmas Story" in Season One, Alex was born in 1965 while his parents were on assignment in Africa, having been influenced by John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
to participate in the Peace Corps
Peace Corps
The Peace Corps is an American volunteer program run by the United States Government, as well as a government agency of the same name. The mission of the Peace Corps includes three goals: providing technical assistance, helping people outside the United States to understand US culture, and helping...
. Alex has two younger sisters, Mallory (Justine Bateman
Justine Bateman
Justine Tanya Bateman is an American actress, writer, and producer. She is best known for her regular role as Mallory Keaton on the sitcom Family Ties...
) and Jennifer (Tina Yothers
Tina Yothers
Kristina Louise "Tina" Yothers is an American actress and singer. Beginning a career as a child actor at the age of 8, she is perhaps best known for her role as Jennifer Keaton on the hit NBC series Family Ties, as well as for her roles in numerous television films throughout the 1980s and early...
). Mallory was born while her parents were students at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
in 1967, and Jennifer was born the night Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
won his second term in 1972
United States presidential election, 1972
The United States presidential election of 1972 was the 47th quadrennial United States presidential election. It was held on November 7, 1972. The Democratic Party's nomination was eventually won by Senator George McGovern, who ran an anti-war campaign against incumbent Republican President Richard...
. The family lives in suburban Columbus, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...
.
In the beginning of the series, Alex is a high school student who has a passion for economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
and wealth
Wealth
Wealth is the abundance of valuable resources or material possessions. The word wealth is derived from the old English wela, which is from an Indo-European word stem...
. In particular, he is a proponent of supply-side economics
Supply-side economics
Supply-side economics is a school of macroeconomic thought that argues that economic growth can be most effectively created by lowering barriers for people to produce goods and services, such as lowering income tax and capital gains tax rates, and by allowing greater flexibility by reducing...
. His heroes are Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
(going so far as to have a lunchbox with Nixon's likeness), William F. Buckley, Jr.
William F. Buckley, Jr.
William Frank Buckley, Jr. was an American conservative author and commentator. He founded the political magazine National Review in 1955, hosted 1,429 episodes of the television show Firing Line from 1966 until 1999, and was a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist. His writing was noted for...
, Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
, and Milton Friedman
Milton Friedman
Milton Friedman was an American economist, statistician, academic, and author who taught at the University of Chicago for more than three decades...
. His favorite television show is Wall $treet Week
Wall $treet Week
Wall $treet Week was an investment news and information TV program that was broadcast weekly each Friday on Public Broadcasting Service in the United States. It had a host and guest experts participating in discussions on the stock market and focuses on forecasts...
and he is an avid reader of The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
. He also enjoys music of the big band and swing era, but secretly enjoys rock music (as seen in the episode, "A, My Name is Alex"). Alex spends the first two seasons of the series preparing to attend Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
. While attending an on-campus interview, Mallory, who tagged along to pay a surprise visit to her boyfriend Jeff who was attending Princeton, has an emotional crisis when she finds Jeff is seeing another woman. Ultimately, Alex chooses to tend to Mallory rather than complete his interview, thus destroying any possibility of attending Princeton and getting into the Ivy League.
Alex receives a scholarship to fictional Leland University, which is located close enough for Alex to continue to live at home and commute. Keaton excels at Leland University and teaches an economics course as a teaching assistant
Teaching assistant
A teaching assistant is an individual who assists a professor or teacher with instructional responsibilities. TAs include graduate teaching assistants , who are graduate students; undergraduate teaching assistants , who are undergraduate students; secondary school TAs, who are either high school...
. Alex also holds a disdain for nearby Grant College (which Mallory later attends), and goes as far as mocking their classes. While attending Leland, he has two serious girlfriends. His first was artist/feminist, Ellen Reed (Tracy Pollan
Tracy Pollan
Tracy Jo Pollan is an American actress. She is perhaps best-known for her recurring role as Ellen Reed on the sitcom Family Ties in the mid-1980s. It was on this show that she met future husband Michael J. Fox.-Personal life:...
, whom Fox later married). After they break up, Keaton pursues a liberal psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
student with feminist leanings, Lauren Miller, who was played by Courteney Cox
Courteney Cox
Courteney Bass Cox is an American actress, she is best known for her roles as Monica Geller on the NBC sitcom Friends, Gale Weathers in the horror series Scream and as Jules Cobb in the ABC sitcom Cougar Town, for which she earned her first Golden Globe nomination....
. This relationship ends when he has an affair with music major Martie Brodie (played by Jane Adams
Jane Adams (actress)
Jane Adams is an American film, television and theatre actress.- Early life :Adams was born in Washington, D.C., the daughter of Janice, an administrative assistant, and William Adams, an engineer. She has a younger brother, Jonathan, and was raised in Wheaton, Illinois and Bellevue, Washington...
) while Lauren is out of town. After graduation, Alex accepts a job on Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
.
Reception and influence
The humor of the series focused on a real cultural divide during the 1980s when the "Alex Keaton generation was rejecting the counterculture of the 1960sCounterculture of the 1960s
The counterculture of the 1960s refers to a cultural movement that mainly developed in the United States and spread throughout much of the western world between 1960 and 1973. The movement gained momentum during the U.S. government's extensive military intervention in Vietnam...
and embracing the wealth and power that came to define the '80s." While the youngest, Jennifer (an athletic tomboy) shares the values of her parents, Alex and Mallory embraced Reaganomics
Reaganomics
Reaganomics refers to the economic policies promoted by the U.S. President Ronald Reagan during the 1980s, also known as supply-side economics and called trickle-down economics, particularly by critics...
and consequent conservative values: Alex is a Young Republican and Mallory is a more traditional young woman in contrast to her feminist
Second-wave feminism
The Feminist Movement, or the Women's Liberation Movement in the United States refers to a period of feminist activity which began during the early 1960s and lasted through the early 1990s....
mother.
In the Museum of Broadcast Communications
Museum of Broadcast Communications
The Museum of Broadcast Communications is an American museum that currently exists exclusively on the Internet and not in any physical capacity. Its stated mission is "to collect, preserve, and present historic and contemporary radio and television content as well as educate, inform and entertain...
entry for Family Ties Michael Saenz argues that
- few shows better demonstrate the resonance between collectively held fictional imagination and what cultural critic Raymond WilliamsRaymond WilliamsRaymond Henry Williams was a Welsh academic, novelist and critic. He was an influential figure within the New Left and in wider culture. His writings on politics, culture, the mass media and literature are a significant contribution to the Marxist critique of culture and the arts...
called "the structure of feeling" of a historical moment than Family Ties. Airing on NBC from 1982 to 1989, this highly successful domestic comedy explored one of the intriguing cultural inversions characterizing the Reagan eraRonald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
: a conservative younger generation aspiring to wealth, business success, and traditional valuesTraditional valuesTraditional values refer to those beliefs, moral codes, and mores that are passed down from generation to generation within a culture, subculture or community.-Summary:Since the late 1970s in the U.S., the term "traditional values" has become synonymous...
, serves as inheritor to the politically liberal, presumably activist, culturally experimental generation of adults who had experienced the 1960s. The result was a decade, paradoxical by America's usual post-World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
standards, in which youthful ambition and social renovation became equated with pronounced political conservatism. "When else could a boy with a briefcase become a national hero?" queried Family Ties creator, Gary David GoldbergGary David GoldbergGary David Goldberg is a United States writer and producer for television and film. Goldberg is best known for his work on Family Ties , Spin City , and his semi-autobiographical series Brooklyn Bridge .-Background:Gary David Goldberg was born on June 25, 1944, in Brooklyn, New York, the son of...
, during the show's final year.
In 1999 TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
ranked him number 17 on its '50 Greatest TV Characters of All Time' list.