Post your all-time favorite episode here

[TJ]

What is your all-time favorite episode of Valerie/Valerie's Family/The Hogan Family and why?

[dynoguy88]

Dumb as this may sound, I think my favorite episode was when the Hogan Family's beautful home caught on fire. It had some powerful parts... like when David was running down the street to his house praying that his family was all right saying he just lost his mom, don't take them too. And when he cried over his mom's burnt picture, Sandy walked in and he cried in her arms. Pretty emotional stuff, I know, but it was one of many times where the closeness of the family was shown.

As far as the funniest episodes, I think there is a three way tie.....

The one where the wolverine got lose in the house. (Remember Sandy putting her coat away in the closet and the wolverine ripped her sleeve off? LOL!!!)

The one where Mark got stuck in the fire place.

And the one where Mark and Willy made David think he was losing his hair.

Pretty funny stuff if you ask me.

[Ed Viveiros]

Originally posted by TJ:
What is your all-time favorite episode of Valerie/Valerie's Family/The Hogan Family and why?

Well, I happen to have 2 favorite shows, one from the VALERIE period and one from THE HOGAN FAMILY. My reason for having two favorite episodes instead of one is that I feel the show was drastically different in its VALERIE phase to when it changed to THE HOGAN FAMILY. The in-between stage of the series, the VALERIE'S FAMILY period, was abominable and awkward, no matter how hard the writers tried to work Sandy into the series. Too many times the characters were doing things that were a bit of a stretch, even for them, and it didn't ring true. But I digress...

My favorite VALERIE episode has to be where Willie takes the car out for a spin and leaves David to shoulder the blame. So many things about this show smacked of real life, and to this day I applaud all involved in portraying the episode this way. So many youngsters picture a happy ending when they 'fess up to wrongdoing, and yet the realization that, in the real world, there are consequences to their actions makes for quite a rude awakening. Yet we never ever see that on TV, even to this day. Also, the mention of 'TV's happy ending' was even mentioned by Valerie Hogan, cleverly making the episode seem more like real life.

A close second (in the VALERIE phase)to this episode is when Valerie puts Annie's arm in a sling. I love the episode since it gives insight into David's resentment for having too much responsibility simply for being the eldest child. How many of us can relate to that? In the end, where Valerie & David end up coming to an understanding of where everyone fits into their family, one had a sense that we were seeing the Hogans via a "behind the scenes" look. Sure, not very dramatic nor ratings grabbers, but it was tidbits like this that made this show brilliant.

My favorite episode of THE HOGAN FAMILY has to be where we learn that Rich, David's buddy, has AIDS. This is one of those times where the show's writing matched up to the show's acting. I know many fans of the show claim that the fire episode to be their favorite, but I think that show, again, was mediocre at best and had way too many inconsistencies. While acted brilliantly, I have too many problems with it. First off, where was Annie Steck when all this happened? The woman lived close enough to the Hogans that her tree was clogging their plumbing, but when they need her help, she's not there? Where was Valerie's other family, namely her parents and her sisters? Shouldn't they have been in on this crisis too? Even if all the pictures of Valerie were burned in the fire, surely Val's parents and/or sisters could've given the Hogans more of them. And why were the twins only upset about the inconvenience of having to live without a house? Shouldn't they have commented on how their luck had been lousy lately, first by losing mom, then the fire? The only ones to ever mention Valerie/mom was David, Sandy, & Michael. Why was that? Did the producers think the twins couldn't handle that? If anything, being so young, they'd be more traumatized by mom's death, yet they acted unfazed by it all. This was the Hogans at their worst. The show was brilliantly acted, but I don't know where the hell the writers' heads were...

None of those inconsistencies existed in the AIDS episode. Firstly, enough time had passed that you forgave the show for not mentioning mom. And nothing was taboo here. We saw glimpses of AIDS prejudice, homosexuality (the mention of it anyway), and an overview of the whole thing via a documentary, which not only made for an interesting plot point to involve Jeremy Licht, but also paid tribute to Dave's relationship with Rich. Nothing dramatic had to be forced here since the relationship between the two was real from the get go.

The only thing I would've done was to include Mrs. Poole in there somehow. I don't remember if she had a part in the episode or not but if she did, it was minimal. I think it might have been interesting to utilize Mrs. Poole in a way that served more than comic relief. How would this sweet grandmother-type react to such a thing as AIDS? What would she say? Maybe I'm naive here but I think she may have had pearls of wisdom even for Sandy, let alone the boys.
It was almost like she was reserved exclusively as the clown, and nothing more. Still, the AIDS episode was so brilliantly acted and written that few of us, if any, noticed that little tidbit.

There you have it folks: my favorite shows of VALERIE & THE HOGAN FAMILY. Anyone got any they'd like to share?

------------------
Edward Viveiros, Jr.

To Ed Viveros:

JUST A FEW CORRECTIONS.....
Yes,i also did think that the episodes of "THF" about the house fire and Rich's AIDS had to be my favorite.But there's just a few things you got mixed up.First of all, the episode with the house fire was an original during the 1987-88 season when it was called "Valerie's Family".Second,when David discovered the burnt picture in his room after the fire,it was a picture of HIM,not Valerie.And finally,the character of Annie Steck couldn't have appeared in that episode because her character was dropped from the show the previous season.Mrs.Poole was the only neighbor around,who let the Hogans stay with her and her husband (played by Willard Scott) after the fire.Too bad they just took "THF"reruns of PAX-TV cuz ive been taping them too!!

Mike

[Ed Viveiros]

Originally posted by Mike-87:
To Ed Viveros:

JUST A FEW CORRECTIONS.....
Yes,i also did think that the episodes of "THF" about the house fire and Rich's AIDS had to be my favorite.But there's just a few things you got mixed up.First of all, the episode with the house fire was an original during the 1987-88 season when it was called "Valerie's Family".


I knew this already. The reason I called it by the title of "The Hogan Family" was because that's the title it was given in syndication.

Second,when David discovered the burnt picture in his room after the fire,it was a picture of HIM,not Valerie.

Sorry, pal, but you're wrong. The picture was definitely of Valerie (whether with her family or alone I'm not sure), which is why he wept upon discovering it burned to a crisp. I don't think finding a charred picture of himself would make him any more upset than the rest of his bedroom being burned.

And finally,the character of Annie Steck couldn't have appeared in that episode because her character was dropped from the show the previous season.

No she wasn't. Her very last episode was number 30 ("Shape Up and Move Out") while Valerie's last episode was number 32 ("The Return of Uncle Skip"). This means she was dropped at the beginning of season 3 (the "Valerie's Family" phase). Actually, Valerie's last episode was number 34 (she missed the taping for episode 33) but it never aired (along with the original episode number 33) since she was later fired and the Valerie Hogan character was killed off (sniff!).

Yes, Annie was dropped, but only because the Valerie character was too. My point in bringing it up was that the handling of the switchover from Valerie Hogan to Sandy Hogan was sloppy and poorly done, which ruined any chance of me being entertained with the 'fire' episode.

Don't get me wrong. It was acted brilliantly, especially by Jason Bateman & Sandy Duncan, so don't think I'm putting Sandy down or anything. It's just that the writing and continuity had way too many holes in it. It was like a piece of a puzzle where it fits in nicely but the picture on it is totally different from the rest of the puzzle.

Mrs.Poole was the only neighbor around,who let the Hogans stay with her and her husband (played by Willard Scott) after the fire.Too bad they just took "THF"reruns of PAX-TV cuz ive been taping them too!!
Mike

There was also the neighbor Barbara Goodwin (played by Christine Ebersole) but she was dropped by the beginning of season 2. No explanation was given for her absence either.

But what I'd like to know is what happened to Uncle Skip's wife when he returned to the show in season 3 (re-titled "Valerie's Family")? The actress who played her was a good friend of Valerie's in real-life and I'm wondering how they wrote her out. I suspect that's why Judith Kahan was written out too. She was probably a pal of Valerie's off-screen as well. It's too bad. I enjoyed the friendship of Valerie & Annie, and when paired with Mrs. Poole the situations were sometimes hysterical. Annie was very comical without being silly (unlike Mrs. Poole sometimes) and she should have been made a regular on the show. I just wonder how it would've worked had Annie been allowed to pair up with Sandy Hogan after Valerie died? Does anyone think it would've worked?

Too bad there's no way of knowing.

Take care!



------------------
Edward Viveiros, Jr.

OK...IF YOU SAY SO ED

I swear that on the episode with the fire David dicovered the picture of himself,alone,and it did not look like Valerie.But maybe the reception on my TV (the one without cable)was a little fuzzy on the PAX station the last time i saw the episode,so i could be mistaken.Also i never remembered Annie Steck being in the first season with Sandy Duncan,only Mrs.Poole (who was in it for the rest of the run). I guess i havent seen every single episode.......

Mike

[Ed Viveiros]

Originally posted by Mike87:
OK...IF YOU SAY SO ED

I swear that on the episode with the fire David dicovered the picture of himself,alone,and it did not look like Valerie.But maybe the reception on my TV (the one without cable)was a little fuzzy on the PAX station the last time i saw the episode,so i could be mistaken.

Actually, we never SEE what the picture looked like. That's why I say it was of Valerie. He picked it up and it was completely burned, and then he wept almost uncontrollably.

It was the show's way of semi-mourning Valerie Hogan (even though it was practically as half-assed as the 3rd season opener) but without having Valerie's image being used. At the time they couldn't since Valerie Harper's lawsuit against them restricted any use of Valerie whatsoever, down to her name (which is why the show was re-titled "The Hogan Family"). Also, dramatically it makes sense to mourn some last momentoes of Valerie in the fire. This would almost be more of a loss than the house itself, though if the show had any smarts it would've realized that the Hogans still could've gotten pictures and stuff of Valerie from Valerie's surviving relatives (her parents, her sisters, etc.).

Also i never remembered Annie Steck being in the first season with Sandy Duncan,only Mrs.Poole (who was in it for the rest of the run). I guess i havent seen every single episode.......
Mike

Annie Steck wasn't in the season with Sandy. What I said was that Annie's last episode was #30 and season 2 ended with #32. You remarked that Annie was written out sometime the previous season before Sandy (in other words, season 2) and I was just correcting that.

I just wonder IF it would've worked had Annie been allowed to stay on as a friend to Sandy. You'd think it would've happened too. Both women were involved in schools (Sandy a guidance counselor & Annie a professor) but nope, she was outta there, which is why I suspect that Judith Kahan (Annie) was a real life friend to Valerie Harper just as Uncle Skip's wife Darlene was.

By the way, how was Darlene written out of the show? Does anyone know?


------------------
Edward Viveiros, Jr.

[Gregory Wade]

HOW AWESOME!!! I can't believe I found such a great web-site that has everything I ever wanted to see and know about my favorite sitcom "Valerie/Valerie's Family/The Hogan Family". I wished they had something like this back when the show first started.

I watched the very first episode back in 1986 and was hooked throughout the duration and taped every episode from NBC that I Could (our local NBC affiliate, from time to time would pre-empt it to play some local program)I also liked it when CBS picked up the show for the 1990 - 1991 season. I was working in the control room at KTVA channel 11 (CBS Affiliate) and they gave me a huge "Hogan Family" poster that I'm so thankful to have.

I wish CBS would have kept the show on Monday nights instead of moving it to Saturday. It might have been around for another season or two if that were the case.

I really regret that Valerie was killed off so early in the series, I really liked her and the rest of the family together and it was devastating to watch Entertainment Tonight, hearing about everything being fine and that she had taped a new episode and then the next thing I knew, she was being fired and replaced by Sandy Duncan. Oh well! Can't, of course, change the past. It was meant to be Sandy Duncan, which I really like too.

I hope they do a reunion show and work it out somehow to have the Valerie Hogan character be included!!!!!

All of my "Valerie/Hogan Family" video tapes
have been in storage for several years and I haven't seen an episode since the early 90's.
Finding this web-site makes me want to go dig all of my tapes out of storage and watch them all from start to finish. I'm looking forward to chatting with others about my absolute favorite show in the coming days...

Thanks,

------------------
GDW

[Gregory Wade]

OOPS!! I posted my message in the wrong spot. I meant to post it on the main page and I posted it here on accident.
Sorry!

------------------
GDW

[Gregory Wade]

I think Edward Viveiros Jr. really explained one of my very favorite episodes to a T!!! The one where Willie takes the car for a "joy ride" and crashes and parks it into the garage hoping no one would ever find out.

I have two others that really stand out as being my favorites....The one where Mark and Willie participate in a class project of marriage and end up switching wives. That's such a FUNNY episode!!!!!!!!

The one where David Hogan takes his Dad's brand new really expensive car (the name of it escapes me right now) for a ride and crashes and destroys it and how his Dad handles the whole situation. David has to live with the guilt, not knowing if his Dad will ever forgive him. That's a really great Father/Son episode.

------------------
GDW

[Madness]

Hi Greg,
The car was a gooz-mur-oli(yes, that's not the correct spelling but I don't know how to even begin spelling it!) Great to have you along and posting on the message board Greg!

Keep writing,
Madness

O.k. --here's my favorite episode.
I liked most of the Hogan Family episodes so it is difficult to choose just one but I definitely wouldn't pick the Paris episodes!(I believe this is one of the main reasons NBC dropped them from their line-up) If I had to choose, I'd say one of my favorites is when Willie wanted to train for track and wanted Dave as his personal trainer. Ha Ha! Yes, the fire episode was also good and I too liked the episode where Dave finds out his buddy Rich has AIDS. Sad, yes but it was a VERY well written episode and those episodes are the ones people remember!

Thanks for listening!
Madness

[chris jacob]

crime and missdomenner becasue for once david was right and sandy was wrong I also like the way mike defened wille with mr norris

[khlovesca]

Originally posted by Ed Viveiros
Well, I happen to have 2 favorite shows, one from the VALERIE period and one from THE HOGAN FAMILY. My reason for having two favorite episodes instead of one is that I feel the show was drastically different in its VALERIE phase to when it changed to THE HOGAN FAMILY. The in-between stage of the series, the VALERIE'S FAMILY period, was abominable and awkward, no matter how hard the writers tried to work Sandy into the series. Too many times the characters were doing things that were a bit of a stretch, even for them, and it didn't ring true. But I digress...

My favorite VALERIE episode has to be where Willie takes the car out for a spin and leaves David to shoulder the blame. So many things about this show smacked of real life, and to this day I applaud all involved in portraying the episode this way. So many youngsters picture a happy ending when they 'fess up to wrongdoing, and yet the realization that, in the real world, there are consequences to their actions makes for quite a rude awakening. Yet we never ever see that on TV, even to this day. Also, the mention of 'TV's happy ending' was even mentioned by Valerie Hogan, cleverly making the episode seem more like real life.

A close second (in the VALERIE phase)to this episode is when Valerie puts Annie's arm in a sling. I love the episode since it gives insight into David's resentment for having too much responsibility simply for being the eldest child. How many of us can relate to that? In the end, where Valerie & David end up coming to an understanding of where everyone fits into their family, one had a sense that we were seeing the Hogans via a "behind the scenes" look. Sure, not very dramatic nor ratings grabbers, but it was tidbits like this that made this show brilliant.

My favorite episode of THE HOGAN FAMILY has to be where we learn that Rich, David's buddy, has AIDS. This is one of those times where the show's writing matched up to the show's acting. I know many fans of the show claim that the fire episode to be their favorite, but I think that show, again, was mediocre at best and had way too many inconsistencies. While acted brilliantly, I have too many problems with it. First off, where was Annie Steck when all this happened? The woman lived close enough to the Hogans that her tree was clogging their plumbing, but when they need her help, she's not there? Where was Valerie's other family, namely her parents and her sisters? Shouldn't they have been in on this crisis too? Even if all the pictures of Valerie were burned in the fire, surely Val's parents and/or sisters could've given the Hogans more of them. And why were the twins only upset about the inconvenience of having to live without a house? Shouldn't they have commented on how their luck had been lousy lately, first by losing mom, then the fire? The only ones to ever mention Valerie/mom was David, Sandy, & Michael. Why was that? Did the producers think the twins couldn't handle that? If anything, being so young, they'd be more traumatized by mom's death, yet they acted unfazed by it all. This was the Hogans at their worst. The show was brilliantly acted, but I don't know where the hell the writers' heads were...

None of those inconsistencies existed in the AIDS episode. Firstly, enough time had passed that you forgave the show for not mentioning mom. And nothing was taboo here. We saw glimpses of AIDS prejudice, homosexuality (the mention of it anyway), and an overview of the whole thing via a documentary, which not only made for an interesting plot point to involve Jeremy Licht, but also paid tribute to Dave's relationship with Rich. Nothing dramatic had to be forced here since the relationship between the two was real from the get go.

The only thing I would've done was to include Mrs. Poole in there somehow. I don't remember if she had a part in the episode or not but if she did, it was minimal. I think it might have been interesting to utilize Mrs. Poole in a way that served more than comic relief. How would this sweet grandmother-type react to such a thing as AIDS? What would she say? Maybe I'm naive here but I think she may have had pearls of wisdom even for Sandy, let alone the boys.
It was almost like she was reserved exclusively as the clown, and nothing more. Still, the AIDS episode was so brilliantly acted and written that few of us, if any, noticed that little tidbit.

There you have it folks: my favorite shows of VALERIE & THE HOGAN FAMILY. Anyone got any they'd like to share?

------------------
Edward Viveiros, Jr.

episode that l like on.
The hogan family is the food fight episode the other.
Episode that l like were marc gets stuck in the chimmey.
I guess all the episode from VALERIE AND THE HOGAN FAMILY.
Are the best there all great

[Bloody Demons]

Originally posted by Mike87
OK...IF YOU SAY SO ED

I swear that on the episode with the fire David dicovered the picture of himself,alone,and it did not look like Valerie.But maybe the reception on my TV (the one without cable)was a little fuzzy on the PAX station the last time i saw the episode,so i could be mistaken.Also i never remembered Annie Steck being in the first season with Sandy Duncan,only Mrs.Poole (who was in it for the rest of the run). I guess i havent seen every single episode.......

Mike

I'm not sure about the picture but i have every single episode of the Hogan Family when pax tv gave the reruns except for maybe 5 or 6 from when valerie was in it but i have every single episode with sandy on them and i do not remember annie steck being on any episode when sandy was on either

[Bloody Demons]

I don't even know where to begin here because i have alot of great episodes and can't pick just one. Actually i think Sandy Duncan was a better actresses then when they had Valerie on the show. I will list my favorite episode alittle bit later on when i have time