Dead Television: The Torkelsons / Almost Home

[TMC]

https://dekkareviews.wordpress.com/2...elsons-part-i/

November 2, 2024
Dave Cameron



Before Michael Jacobs became a household name with “Boy Meets World” and its sequel “Girl Meets World”, he produced a lesser-known but charming sitcom called “The Torkelsons”. Airing from 1991 to 1993, this family-centric show can be seen as something of a predecessor to “Boy Meets World”, offering an early glimpse into Jacobs’ signature blend of heartfelt storytelling, quirky humor, and coming-of-age themes.

In this two-part review, we’ll take a deep dive into “The Torkelsons”, starting with its first season, which introduces us to the lovable, eccentric Torkelson family and their small-town struggles. While part II will tackle its retooled second season.

The series gives the same feel of both shows, but instead focuses on a lower-class family trying to get by in the world, dealing with realistic situations, while learning important life lessons, but here it’s about a single mother, raising her five children, in a lower-class environment.

PLOT

The first couple of episodes deal with a single mother, Millicent Torkelson, and her five children. Of the five, who’s given the most screentime and development, it’s the oldest, Dorothy Jane Torkelson, a brilliant young lady with an old soul, and dreams of a better life. The episodes also tackle the difficulties of living in poverty, specifically, not having enough money for everyday necessities, and desired luxuries. The Pilot deals with the family getting their washer and dryer repossessed, while Dorothy Jane has to deal with the embarrassment that comes from letting her new neighbor, Riley, see what kind of home she lives in. The next episode deals with Dorothy Jane trying to cover-up the fact that her dress for the school dance was bought at a thrift store and dealing with the bullying that comes from it. Episode three delt with how, The Torkelson’s are a religious family, but never go to their local church, due to the church donating things to them, and they didn’t really appreciate that, as they wanted to be seen as a family that could serve the community, rather than be served by them.

So, the only other character who gets just as much screentime as Dorothy Jane, is her mother, Millicent. In the first few episodes, she acts really goofy, for a woman with five children, living in poverty, whose husband left her less than a year ago. This could be written-off as bad acting, but later in the Pilot, when Dorothy Jane calls out Millicent for wacky behavior, and giving away her bedroom (more on that shortly), Millicent drops the act, breaks down, and admits she just acts this way just make her and the kids feel better. Even after this scene, Millicent continues to wacky, but as the season progresses, she mellows out, and becomes more like a realistic mother, and open up more to other adults, most notably, Wesley “Boarder” Hodges, a kind old man who starts renting out the basement (initially, Millicent rented out Dorothy Jane’s room, but he changed his mind after eavesdropping on their conversation). Mr. Hodges evolves into a surrogate grandfather figure for the family, he doesn’t intrude on any of their personal lives but does provide the best simple and to the point advice that the kids and sometimes, even Millicent need. A great example is in the fourth episode, when Millicent, ditches her odd jobs career, and gets a regular 9-5 job, where she’ll make more money, but she’ll be home a lot less, and wouldn’t see the kids as much. While her job would give her $17 more than she was making before, Mr. Hodges, nudges her that an extra $17, isn’t worth keeping you away from your children, and she goes back to doing odd jobs.

Episode five, “Poetry in Motion”, is where the show starts hitting its stride. As mentioned earlier, Dorothy Jane has a huge crush on Riley, but Riley is a little older than her, and realistically, it’ll never happen. But, because of Dorothy Jane has the heart poet and dreamer, she only sees the fantasy she’s created for her and Riley. She’s actually so bold about her feelings, that she throws herself at Riley and kisses him, and goes home, hoping he’ll follow her and do the same. Millicent tries to tell her it won’t happen, but Dorothy Jane holds on to her dreams. Riley comes over, and everyone, except Dorothy Jane knows what’s coming. We don’t see what happens, since we can guess how it plays out, all we see is Dorothy Jane sitting on the porch, and Millicent just silently holding her, since that’s all she can do. The sixth episode, while not as strong, but still pretty strong. Revolves around Dorothy Jane trying to enter a contest to win a trip to Paris, but the contest judges want to meet her at her home. Dorothy Jane’s been pretty vocal about anyone meeting her family, but this is the episode where she finally comes around and accepts them as they are. A change that lasts, for the rest of the series.

The series hits a major turning point in episode seven, “Men Don’t Leave”, As Millicent was getting the kids psyched up to go to the town fair, their father Randall shows up after not seeing his children for almost a year. The younger kids are happy to see their father, but Millicent and Dorothy Jane are cautious. Randall claims to want to be part of the family again and is upset about Millicent wanting to finalize their divorce. On one hand, you hope there’s some truth in what Randall’s saying, but we learn later that Randall’s lived on and off with his family for 15 years and he’s never stayed at the home for longer than 36 days at one time. Millicent being a religious person, stayed loyal to him despite his wrongdoings (which includes cheating). Throughout the episode, she never speaks out against him to the children and tries to get Dorothy Jane to hang out with him or at the very least give him a hug, but she resents him more than the other kids. As expected, Randall does leave, but he does request Millicent’s wish and sign the divorce papers, also before he leaves Millicent sternly tells Dorothy to hug her father, as she feels this could be the last time they’ll ever see him (it won’t be, but we’ll get to it). The next episode, “Thanksgivingmesomething”, loosely continues from the previous episode, with Millicent unsure of how to move forward on the dating scene, but with some nudging from Dorothy Jane, she invites Reverend Wilson over (he also happens to be single), they also invite a Native American man, Dave (for some reason, I like this guy), for Thanksgiving (he’s also single and raising a daughter on his own). He had one of the funniest lines when he meets Millicent: “It (The First Thanksgiving) was supposed to be a going away party for you people. You never went away”. Millicent freaks out when she realizes she’s surrounded two single men. She hides out in Dorothy Jane’s room, and Dorothy Jane comforts her mother, acting like sisters mostly when it comes to certain issues. And while the episode ends with Millicent playfully flirting with both of them, she doesn’t choose either of them but is ready to move forward.

We then get one of my favorite episodes, “Return to Sender”, the only episode that focuses on Mr. Hodges. Back in episode two, we were teased a little of Mr. Hodges life, when several letters were mailed back to marked return to sender, and Millicent and her best friend/mother-in-law (more on that in the review) Bootsie were curious about this. When confronted about this, he tells then the person he was writing, was his granddaughter, Molly Jeffers, but her step-father doesn’t want him in her life. Only to turn around, and troll them, and say that she’s an old girlfriend of his. This episode is the payoff of that previous episode. After trying (and failing) to send Molly a birthday gift, he opens up to Millicent about his life prior to moving in, after his son (Molly’s dad), Michael died, and his daughter-in-law re-married to a wealthy man, and wanted sever ties that come from a poverty-stricken environment. But Millicent and the kids arrange to have Mr. Hodges see Molly and daughter-in-law, Catherine, played by Patty Duke. And we learn there’s more to this story than meets eye, while Molly’s stepdad hates Mr. Hodges, he still invited him to live with the family, but he turned down the offer, as seeing Molly being raised by someone other than his son, would’ve been too painful. The episode ends with Mr. Hodges saying goodbye to his family, then eating all alone only to be joined by Mary Sue. This episode was great, William Schallert carries this well-written story, and the reunion between him and Patty Duke was great.

So now we have a more lighthearted episode called “I Fought the Law”, with the family trying to run a food stand business, but the law gets in the way, until Dorothy Jane finds a compromise and Millicent can run her business outside a grocery store on Saturdays. “A Sigh is Just a Sigh” marks one of the few time the other kids get focus, in this case its Steven Floyd and Chuckie Lee, who both have to deal with school bullies. Its your average sitcom plot about dealing with bullies, there’s not much to say.

But then we get “Educating Millicent” (which was co-written by Connie Ray), the episode deals with Millicent having trouble helping Dorothy Jane with her math homework, why? Well, after finding some old yearbooks, the kids learn that Millicent never finished high school, but it gets even worst (at first) later when Dorothy Jane figures out why she dropped out: she was pregnant with her and resents herself for Millicent not graduating and having a better life. But things get better when she encourages her to take the GED, but as the episode progresses, Millicent declares it too hard and is ready to give up, but help comes in the form of Elmo, yes that Elmo. After some words of encouragement from a formerly celebrated muppet, Millicent gets back on the horse, and successfully gets her diploma.

Episode Thirteen, “Double Date” is another lighter episode, and deals with Millicent and Dorothy Jane’s love lives, but also introduces yet another best friend for Millicent, Kitty Drysdale, the Love Professor. Normally, Kitty handles these things on her radio talk show, but this time, she makes a house call and sets the two up on dates. Kitty’s actually a really great character, not just with the two Torkelson ladies, but in every scene she’s in. She’s kind and caring but can also be loud and crazy. She has no boundaries in how far she’s going in helping people lives, but still puts their needs first. Dorothy Jane and Millicent go on their respective dates but recognize how the experience will help them move forward.

The rest of the season is mostly simple stories, like one episode has Dorothy Jane wearing a blonde wig and changing her personality to attract more boys, but learns its better to just be herself. Another episode (which would never fly today) has Dorothy Jane dealing with an annoying boy named Kirby Scroggins (possible relations), TLDR he’s a reoccurring character, he likes her, she doesn’t. He gets some bad advice from his uncle Drew Carrey, and starts harassing her, and then there’s a follow-up episode, where Dorothy Jane and Kirby taking care of an egg baby, but it’s here that she learns why she’s likes older guys like Riley, because of Randall’s leaving, and Millicent raising them, she fantasizes about traveling the world and marrying exotic men. Oh, speaking of Randall…

Randall returns in episode seventeen, “The Long Goodbye”, Randall shows up again, and tries to win Millicent over, despite finalizing the divorce. At the same time, he tries to help Dorothy Jane out after he learns that a boy she liked moved away, and he tells her that if a boy leaves without saying goodbye, that means he really likes her. Randall’s advice is trying to paint his advice as good and convince his daughter that those types of things are OK, as a means to validate what he did. Unsurprisingly, Millicent finds out, and calls him out on this, and once again Randall leaves, but thankfully, he does say goodbye to his family instead of sneaking away. Near the end of the season, we get “It’s My Party”, where Dorothy Jane finally has a shot at popularity, but to keep it at a high standard, she excludes a girl she befriended from an even worst poverty situation than her. Of course, she learns a lesson in the end, but its nice to see how much she’s grown.

The season ends with “Aunt Poison”, where Millicent inherited her late aunt’s basset hound. Millicent’s not happy about this, because her aunt always resented her for the married and motherly life instead of the career-driven and single life that she lived. But, through her aunt’s video will, Millicent learns a successful career-driven life, isn’t worth living without family or friends. Millicent feels a lot better now, and proud of what she’s accomplished. She made bad choices sure, but it was out of love and that’s something that should be celebrated.

REVIEW

“The Torkelsons” is a decent show that was still finding its groove during its first season. While it never quite settled into a fully cohesive rhythm, it had its moments, especially in its portrayal of family dynamics and small-town life. One sign of the show’s growing pains was the inconsistent handling of Millicent Torkelson’s best friends. Early in the season, Millicent’s inner circle shifted between characters like her mother-in-law and a guy named Butcher in the pilot, before finally settling on Kitty, who was by far the best of the group. Millicent and Kitty’s interactions had a relaxed, natural chemistry that gave their scenes a much-needed spark. However, Millicent’s scenes with Mr. Hodges, also stood out, with the two bouncing off each other with sharp comedic timing.

Where the show faltered was with Millicent’s children, at least, most of them. The four younger Torkelson kids rarely developed beyond their basic roles, often serving as background props to remind viewers that Millicent is raising five kids, and yeah, raising five kids is hard. There just wasn’t enough time devoted to giving them distinct fleshed-out personalities, which left them feeling underutilized. The one exception was Rachel Duncan as Mary Sue, whose interactions with Mr. Hodges were consistently delightful. Rachel brought a precociousness to the role that managed to feel sweet rather than cloying, and her scenes added warmth to the show’s quieter moments.

Comedy, however, was a bit of a struggle for “The Torkelsons”. The pilot felt like it was trying too hard, with one-liners and jokes that landed awkwardly more often than not. Fortunately, the writers seemed to recognize this and eased off on the humor as the season progressed. Instead, the show found its strength in more dramatic storytelling. Like its successor, “Boy Meets World”, “The Torkelsons” excelled at tackling real-life problems without talking down to its audience. It had a way of making the struggles of a single mother feel relatable and honest, without becoming too heavy-handed or sentimental.

The heart of the show lies in the performances of the leads, Connie Ray and Olivia Burnette. Both actresses handled the more serious moments with emotional depth, giving weight to stories about loneliness, growing up, and financial hardship. While the comedy often fell flat, the drama resonated, making “The Torkelsons” feel more like a dramedy, a blend of heartfelt moments and light humor.

Overall, “The Torkelsons” had some growing pains in its first season, but it also showed promise. Though it struggled to fully develop its ensemble and find the right balance between comedy and drama, it succeeded in telling meaningful stories that resonated with real-life challenges. With stronger character development and a refined focus on relationships, especially between Millicent, Kitty, and Mr. Hodges, the show hinted at the potential for something more.

While audiences enjoyed the show enough, the execs at NBC, weren’t too keen about it, but still renewed the show… With some caveats. We’ll go more into the show next time, I know these two-parters can be a pain, but don’t worry, we’re Almost Home.

OK, I’ll admit that was a stretch.

https://dekkareviews.wordpress.com/2...-home-part-ii/

For those who came in late…

Michael Jacobs made a sitcom called “The Torkelsons”, it is for all intents and purposes a precursor to “Boy Meets World”. But, unlike BMW, this wasn’t a huge, breakaway success. But that was the least of Jacobs’ problems…

While “The Torkelsons” was renewed for a second season, the higher-ups at NBC made it clear they weren’t satisfied with the original concept. The rural setting and focus on a struggling, lower-class family didn’t align with the network’s vision for primetime success. So, in an effort to make the series more appealing, the show was heavily retooled and rebranded as “Almost Home”. Gone was the small-town charm of Season 1, Millicent and her family were uprooted to an upscale suburban setting, where Millicent took a job as a live-in nanny for the wealthy Morgan family. Along with the new setting came a much smaller cast: only Millicent, Dorothy Jane, and two of the younger kids made the transition to the new season, leaving much of the Torkelson family behind.

This second part of the review will explore how these sweeping changes impacted the series. Was “Almost Home” able to build on the potential of “The Torkelsons”, or did the drastic retooling take away what made the original special? We’ll take a closer look at the new dynamics between the Torkelsons and the Morgans, as well as how the remaining characters developed in their new environment.

PLOT

The season begins with Millicent getting her home repossessed, as she couldn’t pay the mortgage. We get some time say good-bye to the exterior set of the house and we as mentioned above, we see Millicent, and two of the younger children (Chuckie Lee and Mary Sue) getting ready to leave. So, explaining what happened to others, headcannon, says Mr. Hodges left The Torkelson’s basement to move in with his granddaughter and daughter-in-law, as for Ruth Ann and Steven Floyd… I got nothing. Part of me wants to assume Randall took custody of them, but that really doesn’t make sense, or maybe their grandmother, Bootsie took them in or something… Anyway, the new dynamic does have the type of conflict you’d expect, the two teens Millicent’s serves as nanny to Molly and Gregory don’t like her or her kids, but they slowly learn to adapt and get along with each other. The most surprising moment comes later in the episode, when Millicent confronts her new employer, Brian. Brian initially seems like the atypical TV parent who only cares about business, and has no time for his kids, until he has a heart-to-heart with Millicent, that essentially can serve as a parallel with Millicent and Dorothy Jane’s scene in the pilot. Brian explains to Millicent how his wife started a mail-order business for kid’s products called Molly-Gregory, but after she passed away, Brian left his law firm to run her business to carry on her memory.

As the season progresses, Millicent does find ways to get Brian to spend time with his kids, even getting him to spend more time at home, just as much as her. The rest of the series is just standard family sitcom fluff. Which is surprising considering how great “The Torkelsons” was, but here it just stuff you’ve seen a million times: kids and adults living in a middle-class home in the big city, get in wacky hi-jinx, learn a lesson, and grow. That being said, it’s still better than average sitcom fluff, I mean remember who made this.

So, the two teen characters (Molly and Gregory), are pretty entertaining Brittany Murphy did a great job playing a slacker girl, but also while also adding plenty of personality, and Jason Marsden was the best addition to the series. Even if his lines weren’t the best, his deliveries were the great. The writers also knew how great he was at one-liners as every episode had Jason saying funny one-liners and great witty dialogue. He also had some great emotional moments, like in episode 10, “The Dance”, in that episode, Gregory has a friend named Sam, but he doesn’t know his tomboy friend has a crush on him. The episode features Jason Marsden at his best as he tries to sort out his feelings toward his best friend.

The only other storyline is between Millicent and Brian. They tease in a couple episodes that they might have romantic feelings, but it never goes anywhere. Instead, they more or less become co-parents, spending time with their own kids and the other’s kids, equally. By the end of the season/series, Millicent and Brian are doing everything a couple would do, except anything romantic. This could be because they’re both a year into losing their respective partners, and just aren’t ready to go into romance just yet.

Additionally, there’s some other great stuff mixed in with the simple sitcom fluff, the fourth episode, “Is That All There Is?”, Dorothy Jane finally gets a steady boyfriend, but just any boyfriend, Batman! No, seriously, Ben Affleck appears in this episode, as her boyfriend, Kevin. He’s just one of many surprising guest stars that appear in the show, before they hit fame. Later episodes would see Dorothy Jane and Molly become more sister-like (in a best friend way) and start to care for one another.

The series finale sees the blended family spending time together, closer than ever, as both parents see what the other brings to the table. Plus the kids care for both parents and every child in the house. Had the show continued we would’ve seen them become an actual family, but after 33 episodes, “The Torkelsons/Almost Home” was cancelled.

REVIEW

With its retooled format, “Almost Home” shifted away from the unique, small-town charm of “The Torkelsons” and took on a more polished, mainstream feel. By moving the Torkelsons to an affluent suburban setting and centering on Millicent’s new role as a nanny for the wealthy Morgan family, the show aligned itself more closely with other sitcoms of the time like “Fresh Prince”, “Full House”, and “Who’s the Boss?”. This new format made the series more predictable, and unfortunately, it lost much of the heartfelt dramedy elements that had made Season 1 stand out. Still, “Almost Home” managed to remain entertaining, with strong comedic elements and engaging characters who could hold their own.

NBC even tried to draw in more viewers with a fun pseudo-crossover, Joey Lawrence from “Blossom” guest-starred as Dorothy Jane and Molly’s boss in one episode (the episode included a sly reference to his more famous role), possibly as a subtle attempt to boost ratings. Unlike Season 1, this time all the characters were given room to grow. Each member of the cast had chances for real development, moving beyond being props to support Millicent and Dorothy Jane’s struggles. The one exception was Mary Sue, who didn’t see much progression but had plenty of charming scenes with the Morgans’ patriarch, Brian. As mentioned above, the casting additions of Brittany Murphy and Jason Marsden as the Morgan siblings, along with Perry King as their father, Brian, brought a fresh energy to the season and made for some great onscreen dynamics between Millicent and her kids.

One of the season’s unexpected perks was its lineup of pre-fame guest stars, including Alyson Hannigan, Jared Leto, Ben Affleck, and Donal Logue. These appearances added an extra layer of interest to the show, though they didn’t overshadow the primary cast’s chemistry. Some of the elements that fans loved from “The Torkelsons” eventually found a new home in Michael Jacobs’ later hit, “Boy Meets World”. The character Shawn Hunter, in particular, seems like a spiritual successor to Dorothy Jane; he shares her lower-class background and even a love of poetry later on in the series, which added a rare, introspective layer to his character in “BMW”.

In an interview, Michael Jacobs shared his insight into why “The Torkelsons/Almost Home” ultimately faced cancellation despite similarities to “Boy Meets World”. NBC executives felt that focusing on a rural family setting was outdated and “backwards,” a view that clashed with the show’s premise. Another factor was its unfortunate Saturday night timeslot, which was a tough slot for any family show to find success in during the ‘90s. Saturday nights simply didn’t draw the viewership NBC had hoped for, and historically, no family series that premiered on a Saturday night made it past one season. Although “The Torkelsons” later found a second life in reruns on Disney Channel, it aired during the days when it was still a premium channel that wasn’t accessible to everyone, and most households tuned into children’s programming on other networks.

Overall, “Almost Home” wasn’t able to maintain the originality that made “The Torkelsons” special. But it still delivered a solid season of heartfelt, family-centered entertainment. It may not have been as groundbreaking, but it holds a unique place in ’90s TV history as a transitional series that showcased the evolving voice of Michael Jacobs, who’d make an even bigger mark on ABC with “Boy Meets World”. The entire series isn’t on Disney Plus, but all 33 episodes are on YouTube.

RANK: 5 out of 5