La famille Torkelson

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.

Although The Torkelsons was an ensemble comedy, Connie Ray and Olivia Burnette were the obvious stars. They took characters who could have been caricatures (the frazzled, whacky southern mama and her precocious wannabe-poet daughter) and gave rich, realistic and complex performances. Dorothy Jane's crush on Riley was realistically poignant, exciting and angsty as only unrequited teen love can be. The jokes were cute, the lessons learned didn't clobber watchers over the head, and the Torkelsons had a moral-center much more admirable and realistic than most "family values" programming. Networks didn't know what to do with this show. It was so unique that it was difficult to fit smoothly into programming blocks. It was bounced around in the schedule so much that devoted fans set up calling networks to alert each other when they happened to find an episode on the air.

Almost Home tried to put The Torkelsons' heart and wit into a more marketable package, but the sarcastic city kids' reaction to the earnest Oklahomans mirrored the condescension shown by network executives.

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?

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

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).