Matt Shakman, who played horror buff J.R., was constantly wearing A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) clothing and referencing the films. Heather Langenkamp, JoAnn Willette and Brooke Theiss, who played his sisters, appeared in Elm Street films. Theiss did hers between seasons of "Just the Ten of Us."
Deborah Harmon, who played the mother of the Lubbock family, was only 13 years older than TV daughters Heather Langenkamp and JoAnn Willette.
In one episode, Heather Langenkamp and Deborah Harmon are sitting in a diner and one of the patrons says, "Hit me with another cup of joe, Mabel. I'm heading all the way to Nickel Mountain tonight." Nickel Mountain was the name of Heather Langenkamp's first movie.
The series was part of ABC's inaugural TGIF lineup in 1988. The lineup consisted of Full House, Perfect Strangers, Mr. Belvedere, and Just the Ten of Us.
The series was part of of ABC's successful Friday-night TGIF lineup. Nevertheless, despite garnering decent ratings and winning its time slot, the show was abruptly cancelled in the spring of 1990. During the 1989-90 television season the TGIF lineup consisted of Perfect Strangers, Full House, and Family Matters, all developed by production company Miller-Boyett, and Just the Ten Us which was not a Miller-Boyett show. All four were family-oriented series. ABC, which had a deal with Miller-Boyett to create new series, wanted the company to develop a more adult-oriented show to serve as a lead-in to its 10 PM news program 20/20. Thus the sitcom Going Places, starring Alan Ruck and Heather Locklear, was created. With no available time slot on the other nights of the week in which to place Just the Ten of Us, ABC had no choice but to cancel the series. Going Places was a ratings and critical disaster and was cancelled in the spring of 1991. Ironically the 48 episodes of Just the Ten of Us were sold into syndication to the USA Network, where they enjoyed great ratings. After the cancellation of Going Places, ABC admitted publicly that cancelling Just the Ten of Us had been a mistake. Going Places was replaced by another family-oriented Miller-Boyett show, Step by Step, starring Patrick Duffy and Suzanne Somers, in the fall of 1991.