A Família Hogan

This show really belonged to Valerie Harper, no offense to her replacement Sandy Duncan. Harper left the show under uncertain circumstances. Regardless, the show and network wrote her off sadly. While on, she was the mother to three boys and a pilot husband who was often absent. The cast was first rate including Edie McClurg as a neighbor, Christine Ebersole as her snobby unmarried sister-in-law, and the boys played by Jason Bateman, Jeremy Licht, and Danny Ponce. Ponce and Licht played fraternal twins who were as opposite as night and day. They touched on some issues like AIDS and homosexuality and other issues in this series but the show never fully recovered from the blow of Harper's absence.

I remember watching this show on Sunday afternoons when I was younger and loving them. It wasn't a philosophical show that takes after something by Shakespeare, but it was fun. A lot of my friends during that time loved it, as well. Sandy Duncan took Valerie Harper's place, and it reminded me of my friend's mother. That was another way it connected with me. It let family be funny, safe, and comfortable, just like other sitcoms. There was nothing wrong with it! It was just fun and simple! Other shows like this were "Family Matters", "Family Ties", "Cosby Show", "Roseanne", etc.. If you watch those shows, then you should find "The Hogan Family", sit back, and enjoy!

I know that the Hogan's, and Valerie before it, didn't represent state of the art comedy, being utterly formulaic and looking like the very template for family sitcoms, but darn it, it was nice. The family was nice, the house was nice, the plots were nice. Nice, warm, fuzzy, safe family viewing. Sometimes I want hard-edged, risky comedy, but sometimes I just wanna watch TV safe in the knowledge that every episode will have a group-hug type ending. It's the perfect remedy if you're ever feeling a bit oppressed by all the stuff that's going on in the world right now. The comedy is still nice enough, but boy have the clothes and hairstyles dated!

I have a bunch of episodes on tape but would love to get more.

First of all, back in late-1985, early 1986, NBC was originally gonna name the show "The Hogan Family," but later changed their mind and opted for a name that reflected its original famed star "Valerie Harper." Thus, it was retitled "Valerie."

After, the famed contract dispute over her salary, Valerie Harper left the show, or was fired - depending who's side of the story you hear- thus the show was renamed "Valerie's Family: The Hogan's." This angered "Valerie Harper" very much, and she sued the producers for still using her name as the title of the show without her permission.

Thus, the producers opted to revert back to the original suggested production title: "The Hogan Family."

In reality they were always 'The Hogan Family.'

The transition from "Valerie" to "Valerie's Family" to "The Hogan Family" is surprisingly smooth. However, the content is just not there; which is a shame because I absolutely love this cast and the set. This show was also one of the very first shows to feature an AIDS storyline. That is certainly commendable. I enjoyed maybe 4 or 5 episodes out of the entire series.