"Don't Go Changin'" is the fifth episode in the fourth season of the NBC family sitcom Family Ties. It originally aired on October 31, 1985, and is the seventy-third episode of the series overall.
Synopsis[]
Alex is feeling insecure about not being a part of Ellen's world of art and dance. Fearful that he might lose her, Alex decides to learn all he can about art and dance...including auditioning for a part at Ellen's dance class. Meanwhile, Steven is upset about missing Monday Night Football games because he and Elyse have joined a book club.
Plot[]
Steven and Elyse are taking a class on great literature together. Steven doesn't want to miss a football game. Alex is at an Ingmar Bergman film festival with Ellen (though he calls Bergman a fraud). To try to find some interests to share with Ellen, Alex joins her ballet class (with an interesting interpretation).
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Meredith Baxter as Elyse Keaton
- Michael Gross as Steven Keaton
- Michael J. Fox as Alex P. Keaton
- Justine Bateman as Mallory Keaton
- Tina Yothers as Jennifer Keaton
Guest Starring[]
- Tracy Pollan as Ellen Reed
- John Scott Clough as David
- Pamela Springsteen as Gail
- Jesse Welles as Deborah Henley
- Bronwyn Thomas as Roberta
Co-Starring[]
Quotes[]
Trivia[]
- Parts of this episode are used as flashbacks in "Wrap Around the Clock".
- Steven references a Monday Night Football game between the Detroit Lions and the Los Angeles Raiders. The next week it's the Cleveland Browns and the Los Angeles Rams (neither game was on the 1985 schedule). Interestingly, neither of the Los Angeles teams of 1985 still plays in Los Angeles (as of 2014), and the Cleveland team started playing in Baltimore in 1996 (and a new team was created in Cleveland and started playing there in 1999).
- Alex prefers Ronald Reagan in Bedtime for Bonzo to the Bergman film festival.
- One of Alex and Ellen's friends mentions records with Sibelius music.
- Elyse quotes, "Tyger, Tyger, burning bright, / In the forests of the night;" (The Tyger by William Blake).
- Steven tries to convince Elyse he can read Crime and Punishment at halftime of the football game.
- Alex's dance is an interpretation of the Stock Market Crash of 1929. He says it will go with any music. So the pianist chooses the William Tell Overture
Gallery[]
