Almost Home

This show, a spin-off of The Torkelsons, was great. But all Disney sitcoms never seem to last long. And some are actually good (a few though). A big primetime producer (ex. CBS) should have had this show on their network, with Disney the producer. Something like that. We need shows like this. Where are they?

The Torklesons, and later Almost Home, were sitcoms originally aired on NBC, and later, canceled mid-season. We faithfully watched each week, until the bitter end.

I was so excited when The Disney Channel -years later- acquired the reruns (Disney went through a phase -before they started producing their own sitcoms- where they aired episodes of several good family shows other networks had dropped or canceled mid-season).

These little-known shows were much-enjoyed by my family. We were able to tape each episode as it aired later on the Disney channel and still play them, marathon-style, on rainy days. Most people are unaware that a very young Brittany Murphy got her start here (as well as a few other sitcoms from that era).

I wish they would be released on DVD before my tape wears out!

This is one of the most charming, sincere shows ever. It is about the coming of age of a young girl. There is no sex or profane language. A truly original show.

I can't for the life of me figure why it didn't last!

Millicent Torkelson (Connie Ray) can't pay the mortgage and her home gets foreclosed. She leaves Pyramid Corners, Oklahoma and moves to Seattle with her three remaining kids, Dorothy Jane (Olivia Burnette), Chuckie Lee (Lee Norris) and Mary Sue (Rachel Duncan). They've been hired by Brian Morgan (Perry King) to live with his family and reform his delinquent kids, Molly (Brittany Murphy) and Gregory (Jason Marsden).

This show got reworked from The Torkelsons. The family loses two kids and moves location. It's really a different show in tone. The previous show is a down-home sincere learning-moment family show. This one is something like Who's the Boss or that sort of show. The young ones are future stars and the show smashes together two different families. Brittany Murphy had done some TV work, but is not a superstar yet. It's almost a battle of values between middle America and the coastal elites. Of course, the middle usually wins as the coastal elites are shown to be morally empty. I would have liked to keep the show's stability. A wholesale change like this rarely succeeds.

I really loved this show. I was a little confused that the spin off only included some of the kids from the original show. It was beautiful portrayed. It made me laugh, cry, and everything in between without going to extremes or becoming crude. =) I really enjoyed this show. Too bad they took it off the air!