Remember this one? "Just the Ten of Us"

There wasn't a whole lot to do in the tiny, remote North Dakota town I grew up in. So most nights were spent watching TGIF, Must See TV, or whatever block of prime time programming the networks threw at me.

From 1988 to 1990, Just the Ten of Us was part of ABC's TGIF Friday night lineup (along with Perfect Strangers, Full House and Mr. Belvedere in 1988-89; and Full House, Family Matters and Perfect Strangers in 1989-1990).

A spin-off of Growing Pains, the show was about a gym teacher -- and father of eight -- who moves his family to California to take a job at an all-boys Catholic school. As part of his employment deal, all his kids are allowed to attend the school; but four of his kids are teenage girls. Oh, oh -- you guessed it -- hilarity ensues.

The marriage in this show was an early adopter of the fat-guy-with-attractive-wife theme that is still used in sitcoms today (King of Queens; Still Standing).

The show covered the normal 'special' sitcom topics: cutting class, teenage drinking and smoking. But it never touched on some more fitting subjects such as fertility drugs, Mormonism or sex addiction -- anything that would lead to a couple having eight kids.

I thought the second oldest daughter (played by Brooke Theiss) was the hottest.



An undated later photo shows she has held up over the years:



Here is a link to the show's theme song.