La famille Torkelson

This show should have been on longer! It's terrific!

In the small town of Pyramid Corners, Oklahoma, Millicent Torkelson (Connie Ray) is struggling to raise her five children with no money after her husband abandoned the family. She needs to rent out a room to elderly loner Wesley Hodges (William Schallert). Dorothy Jane Torkelson (Olivia Burnette) is the oldest child at 14. She is often embarrassed by her family and their poverty. She's been longtime pursued by goofy boy Kirby and has a crush on the new neighbor boy despite him being 4 years older.

This is a sincere family friendly sitcom fare first on NBC and later on the Family Channel. Sometimes, it almost gets to be an afternoon school special movie of the week. Other episodes remind me of other better shows. I do like Dorothy Jane, even her monologues. I thought that they could do more with Riley Roberts although his character was probably always one season and done. He's a senior after all. The high number of kids do keep them from having their own stories other than a couple of episodes. After one season, the show gets rebranded as Almost Home and lose two of the kids.

I just loved "Almost Home" and "The Torkelsons." Both seasons were just great to watch. I remember always wanting to go to my aunts just so I could watch this one show. The acting was wonderful and fun to watch. It's a shame both were cancelled.

This sitcom was great. And the spin-off, Almost Home, was as well. This one had something. But, after a few episodes, we saw re-runs. Oh, why are the good things so short? Maybe it would have helped if ABC, CBS, NBC, or FOX had partnered up with Disney to produce the sitcom.

I now watch this show on the Disney channel where they show The Torkelson's and Almost Home It's spin-off. The Torkelson's was an excellent show that was very original. Each episode has a original plot and is mixed with comedy and drama which makes up a show. Unfortunately the show only survived two seasons and was picked up for a third with almost home. Unfortunately that show got the axe. Why are good shows deep sixed?