Just the Ten of Us | |
---|---|
Genre | Sitcom |
Created by | Dan Guntzelman Steve Marshall |
Written by | Kevin Abbott Kate Boutilier Bob Burris Dan Guntzelman Steve Marshall Tim O'Donnell Rich Reinhart Rachelle Romberg Craig Shoemaker Brad Slaight Michael Ware Jake Weinberger Mike Weinberger |
Directed by | John Guntzelman Dan Guntzelman Robert Heath Jim Johnston Howard Storm John Tracy |
Starring |
Bill Kirchenbauer Deborah Harmon Heather Langenkamp Jamie Luner Brooke Theiss JoAnn Willette Matt Shakman Heidi Zeigler |
Opening theme | "Doin' it the Best I Can" performed by Bill Medley |
Composer(s) | Steve Dorff |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of seasons | 3 |
No. of episodes | 47 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) | Dan Guntzelman Steve Marshall Mike Sullivan |
Producer(s) | Henry Johnson Nick LeRose |
Running time | 22–24 minutes |
Production company(s) | Guntzelman-Sullivan-Marshall Productions Warner Bros. Television |
Distributor | Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution |
Release | |
Original network | ABC |
Original release | April 26, 1988 | – May 4, 1990
Chronology | |
Related shows | Growing Pains |
Just the Ten of Us is an American sitcom starring stand-up comedian Bill Kirchenbauer as Coach Graham Lubbock, a teacher and the head of a large Catholic family with eight children living in Eureka, California. The series is a spin-off of Growing Pains, in which Kirchenbauer portrayed the same character on a recurring basis. As the series progressed, Coach Lubbock's four eldest daughters, the teenagers Marie (Heather Langenkamp), Cindy (Jamie Luner), Wendy (Brooke Theiss), and Connie (JoAnn Willette), became the primary focus of the show.
Just the Ten of Us aired on ABC starting with a trial run from April 26 to May 17, 1988. After the first four episodes in an abbreviated first season were aired, the show was renewed for two more seasons, eventually ending after 47 episodes on May 4, 1990. The show was a part of ABC's early TGIF programming block.
The series focuses on Graham Lubbock (Bill Kirchenbauer), a Catholic gym teacher who used to teach at the high school that Growing Pains characters Mike and Carol Seaver (Kirk Cameron and Tracey Gold) had attended, and the father of eight children.
In the pilot episode (which aired on Growing Pains in the spring of 1988), Graham's job is in jeopardy due to district budget cutbacks. Mike leads a protest after he learns that Lubbock is trying to support a large family (including yet another baby-on-the-way). Word of this spreads, and Graham's fate is sealed; he loses his job. However, he is soon offered a job at St. Augustine's Academy, an all-boys private Catholic school in Eureka, California. Graham promptly moves his family to California.