Tuesday, April 12, 2022

J: Just the Ten of Us

 

#AtoZChallenge 2022 Blogging from A to Z Challenge letter



This was a spinoff from Growing Pains, focusing on Coach Graham Lubbock (Bill Kirchenbauer) moving to California after losing his job at the Long Island high school the Seaver kids attended. He then became coach at St. Augustine's, an all-boy Catholic school that his daughters were allowed to attend. The show began as a two-part backdoor pilot on Growing Pains in the spring of 1988, then was given a four-week trial run. It then lasted two more full seasons.


The Lubbock family was Catholic, with seven kids already and another on the way. 
The rest of the family was his wife Elizabeth (Deborah Harmon) and their children Marie (Heather Langenkamp, from the Nightmare on Elm Street movies), twins Cindy (Jamie Luner) and Wendy (Brooke Theiss), Constance (Jo Ann Willette), Graham Jr "J.R" (Matt Shakman), Sherry (Heidi Zeigler), toddler Harvey, and baby Melissa. Frank Bonner (in between his gigs WKRP in Cincinnati and the The New WKRP) was the school's headmaster Father Hargis and Dennis Haysbert (today  the spokesvoice for Allstate Insurance) was Lubbock's assistant coach for the first full season (1988-89). Evan Arnold was also seen as St. Augustine student Gavin Doosler, and Maxine Elliott as Sister Ethel. The four oldest girls later formed a singing group The Lubbock Babes, and gradually became the focus of the series

This one of the shows I watched on Fridays on ABC. I glad to see someone else named Jamie (series star Jamie Luner) as so few other people ever shared my name (I was surrounded by mainly Jennifers, Karens, Lisas, and Michelles). Even better when I learned she and I are the same age! 

Below is the theme song. I also found some full episodes on Youtube (click here).


10 comments:

  1. I haven't heard of this one, but it does sound good. What a big family!

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  2. How fun to find another Jamie, and someone on TV your age. It sort of shifts from being an outlier into something else entirely.

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  3. Another one I haven't heard of. Where have I been?

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  4. It's always good to see our names in a series / movies

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  5. I remember that show! I had a huge crush on Jamie Luner at the time.

    --
    Tim Brannan
    The Other Side | A to Z of Conspiracy Theories

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  6. Have not heard of this show... what a big family and with twins too


    Jayashree writes

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  7. I so remember the credits but doubt I ever sat through a single episode.

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  8. When I played the theme song, I remembered the show! I didn't watch it consistently, but I did see it on occasion.

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  9. This was a good one,too. I really liked it. :)

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