Mind Games

An aspiring actress tries to start a career in New York, getting encouragement from her boyfriend, Don, and her family.

A nostalgic comedy series about kids growing up in a dysfunctional family in the 1980s.

Created by Michael Elias and Rich Eustis, the weekly, half-hour ABC sitcom Head of the Class was partially based on Eustis' own experiences as a substitute teacher in New York. Howard Hesseman starred as substitute teacher Charlie Moore, who was assigned to take over the Individual Honors Program (IHP) at New York City's Monroe High School (later known as Fillmore High). In a neat reversal of the Welcome Back, Kotter premise, Charlie's charges were not underachieving "sweat hogs," but instead were all academic geniuses. The IHP was the pride and joy of the school's pompous principal Dr. Harold Samuels (William G. Schilling), who cared only about high GPA averages and winning academic trophies. Charlie on the other hand was concerned that his brilliant students lacked the social skills and emotional equipment to survive in the "real" world. Thus, rather than merely sit at his desk and allow the students to read and study all by themselves, Mr. Moore endeavored to prepare them for adulthood by enthusiastically teaching them a few pages from what he called "The Book of Life." Dr. Samuels didn't care much for Charlie's freewheeling approach, but assistant principal Bernadette Mehra (Jeanetta Arnette) was a firm supporter of the unorthodox Mr. Moore -- as long as he got the right results, of course. Several of the IHP students remained with the series throughout its five-season run, even though logic dictated that they would have probably graduated sometime in the third or fourth year. Among the longest-lasting regulars were Robin Givens as pampered preppy Darlene Merriman; Tony O'Dell as Darlene's male counterpart Allan Pinkard; Dan Frischman as the requisite geek Arvid Engen (pocket protector and all), Khrystyne Haje as aspiring poet Simone Foster; Dan Schneider as chubby, wisecracking chemistry whiz Dennis Blunden; Brian Robbins as the brilliant but thuggish Eric Mardian, who regarded himself as way too cool for the room; and Kimberly Russell as artistically gifted Sarah Nevins. Of the "original" students, a handful left the series at the end of season three -- the overambitious Maria Borges (Leslie Bega), who practically went into shock if she ever got any grade below an A, transferred to the High School of Performing Arts; Jawarhalal Sodhury (Jory Husain), the obligatory "funny foreigner" Indian-born student, moved to California; and 12-year-old child prodigy Janice Lazorroto (Tannis Vallely) entered Harvard. Later additions to the IHP included Rain Pryor as streetwise Theola June "T.J." Jones, an underachiever with an attitude who fought long and hard to qualify for the "smart class" and finally made it after two seasons; De'Voreaux White as budding filmmaker Aristotle McKenzie; Lara Piper as the gorgeous Viki Amory; Michael de Lorenzo as Alex Torres; and finally, Jonathan Ke Quan as Jasper Kwong. When star Howard Hesseman left the series at the end of the fourth season, it was explained that Mr. Moore had landed an acting job (the same reason that series co-creator Rich Eustis had quit teaching himself). At the beginning of season five, Scottish comedian Billy Connolly replaced Hesseman as the IHP's new teacher, perennial jokester Billy McGregor, a character who later resurfaced in Connolly's 1992 series Billy. Debuting September 17, 1986, Head of the Class ran until June 25, 1991, for a total of 112 episodes.

Triple Oscar winner Walter Brennan is Amos, head of a West Virginia clan on a California ranch, in a popular sitcom that paved the way for such rural hits as 'The Beverly Hillbillies' and 'The Andy Griffith Show.' Amos is the granddad who 'roars like a lion but [is] gentle as a lamb,' sharing his wisdom with kin like grandson Luke and daughter-in-law Kate, and the farmhand Pepino.

Debuting September 24, 1985, the weekly, half-hour ABC sitcom Growing Pains was set in Long Island, the home of the Seaver family. Alan Thicke starred as Dr. Jason Seaver, a psychiatrist who had moved his practice from New York City into his home in order to spend more time with his family. The move was largely the idea of Jason's wife, Maggie (Joanna Kerns), a reporter for the "Long Island Herald," who believed that at least one parent should be home at all times to keep an eye on the kids. After a couple of seasons in the newspaper world, Maggie landed a job as a local TV reporter, using her maiden name, Maggie Malone. The original three Seaver children were Mike (Kirk Cameron), 15 years old when the series began; Carol (Tracey Gold), initially age 13; and Ben (Jeremy Miller), aged 9 at the outset. In the series' fourth season, Maggie gave birth to a fourth child, a daughter named Chrissy, who via typical TV-series shorthand turned six years old only two years later, at which point she was played by Ashley Johnson, taking over from twin infants Kirsten and Kelsey Dohring. Described by his dad as "a hormone with feet," oldest son Mike spent most of his high school career trying to impress girls, usually in the company of his best buds Boner (Andrew Koenig) and Eddie (K.C. Martel). When the series' fourth season began, Mike entered junior college, moving out of the Seaver's house -- and into the apartment above the family's garage. At the end of the same season he proposed to Julie Costello (Julie McCullough), who'd been hired as baby Chrissy's nanny, but eventually the couple decided not to wed. The following year Mike began taking acting classes, where he met and fell in love with Kate McDonald (Betty McGuire). In season six Mike moved to New York to pursue an acting career, but by season seven he was back in his garage apartment, even though he'd landed a steady (but not particularly rewarding) role on a daytime soap opera. During his New York stay Mike had briefly taught remedial classes at an inner-city community center. Here he met a 15-year-old homeless kid named Luke Brower (played by a decidedly pre-Titanic Leonardo DiCaprio), who would briefly live with the Seaver family. Meanwhile, overachiever Carol enjoyed her first romance with Bobby (Kevin Gerard Wixted), a fellow high school freshman whom she was tutoring. In the series' fifth season, Carol went to work for a publishing company, hoping to earn enough money to attend Columbia University, which she did the following year. By the final season, Carol was studying abroad in London, a plot development created to compensate for the fact that actress Tracey Gold had been forced to drop out of the series due to her debilitating struggle with anorexia. As for Ben, he established himself as the family's prime troublemaker early on. As he grew older, Ben began to emulate older brother Mike, especially in his tireless pursuit of the opposite sex. His best friends included Stinky and Vito, played respectively by Jamie Abbott and Kenny Morrison. Among the series' recurring characters were Gordon Jump and Betty McGuire as Maggie's parents Ed and Kate; Jane Powell as Jason's widowed mom Irma; Robert Rockwell as Irma's new husband, Wally; and Bill Kirchenbauer as local high school athletic coach Graham Lubbock. In 1987, Lubbock would be spun off into his own weekly comedy series, Just the Ten of Us. Growing Pains' theme song was "As Long as We Got Each Other," sung by B.J. Thomas and Jennifer Warnes. Created by Neal Marlens, Growing Pains ended its ABC run on August 27, 1992.

A successful family man worries that his four children are losing touch with black culture because they are growing up in an affluent, mostly white neighbourhood.