"Higher Love" is the fifteenth episode in the fifth season of the NBC family sitcom Family Ties. It originally aired on January 22, 1987, and is the hundred-and-seventh episode of the series overall.
Synopsis[]
Mallory forgets about Nick when she falls head over heels in love with a glib British graduate student. Meanwhile, Steven buys Andrew a fish named Lassie.
Plot[]
Mallory is meeting with a poetry-reading group. She wants to impress Colin Spencer (played by Jonathan Emerson), a literature graduate student (who is very much interested in her). Colin offers to show her so much more than Nick could ever offer her, and Mallory is tempted. Nick becomes concerned that he might lose Mallory to Colin. Mallory finds out Colin is false, each year repeating such advances with freshman girls.
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
- Brian Bonsall as Andrew Keaton
Guest Starring[]
- Scott Valentine as Nick Moore
- Jonathan Emerson as Colin Spencer
- Marc Price as Skippy Handelman
- Penelope Ann Miller as Joyce
- Chad McCann as Delivery Boy
Co-Starring[]
Quotes[]
Trivia[]
- Names for Andy's new fish: Steven - "Mr. Fish"; Alex - "Kissinger"; Andy - "Lassie"
- Names for the companion fish: Steven - "Bubbles"; Alex - "Agnew"
- There are several poems referenced:
- Thomas Hardy - "Neutral Tones"[1]
- Lord Byron - "She Walks in Beauty"
- Robert Burns - "A Red, Red Rose"
- Colin suggests: John Keats - "Ode to a Nightingale", but the group doesn't get to it.
- Mallory tries to write a poem, "Pourquoi".
- John Keats - "This living hand, now warm and capable"