''The Hogan Family'' (originally titled ''Valerie'' and later ''Valerie's Family: The Hogans'') is an American

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

television series that began airing on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

on March 1, 1986, and finished its run on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

on July 20, 1991, for a total of six seasons. It was produced in association with Lorimar Productions (1986),

Lorimar-Telepictures Lorimar-Telepictures Corporation, Inc. was an entertainment company established on February 19, 1986 with the merger of Lorimar Productions, Inc. and Telepictures Corporation. Headquartered at the former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (now Sony Pi ...

(1986–88), and

Lorimar Television Lorimar Television, formerly Lorimar Productions, Inc. and Lorimar Distribution, was an American production company that was later a subsidiary of Warner Bros., active from 1969

(1988–91). Under the title ''Valerie'', the show centered around

Valerie Harper Valerie Kathryn Harper (August 22, 1939 – August 30, 2019) was an American actress. She began her career as a dancer on Broadway, making her debut as a replacement in the musical ''Li'l Abner''. She played Rhoda Morgenstern on ''The Mar ...

in the

title role The title character in a narrative work is one who is named or referred to in the title of the work. In a performed work such as a play or film, the performer who plays the title character is said to have the title role of the piëce. The title o ...

as a mother trying to juggle her career as a buyer for an

auction house An auction house is a business establishment that facilitates the buying and selling of assets, such as works of art and collectibles. Overview The auction house is the physical facility where the objects are catalogued, displayed, and presented ...

and raising three teenage sons with an absent airline pilot husband (

Josh Taylor Josh or Joshua Taylor may refer to: * Josh Taylor (actor) (born 1943), American comedy and dramatic television actor * Josh Taylor (baseball) (born 1993), American professional baseball pitcher * Josh Taylor (boxer) (born 1991), Scottish professi ...

). After the first two seasons, due to a salary dispute involving future ancillary profits, Harper made the decision to leave the show. Her character was killed off at the start of season three, and

Sandy Duncan Sandra Kay Duncan (born February 20, 1946) is an American actress, comedian, dancer and singer. She is known for her performances in the Broadway revival of ''Peter Pan'', the sitcom '' The Hogan Family'', and the Disney films '' The Million D ...

joined the cast as Valerie's sister-in-law and the boys' aunt. The series was retitled ''Valerie's Family: The Hogans'', and for the rest of the series, it was retitled ''The Hogan Family''.

Cast

as Valerie Hogan (seasons 1–2) *

as Sandy Hogan (seasons 3–6) who replaced Valerie as the mother figure of the family *

Jason Bateman Jason Kent Bateman (born January 14, 1969) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Michael Bluth in the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox / Netflix sitcom ''Arrested Development'' (2003–2019) and Marty Byrde in the Netflix crime drama s ...

as David Hogan * Danny Ponce as Willie Hogan * Jeremy Licht as Mark Hogan *

as Michael Hogan *

Christine Ebersole Christine Ebersole (born February 21, 1953) is an American actress, singer and comedian. She has appeared in film, television, and on stage (theatre), stage. She has received two Tony Awards, and a Drama Desk Award as well as a nomination for a ...

as Barbara Goodwin (season 1) *

Judith Kahan Judith Ellen Kahan (born May 24, 1948) is an American retired actress and television writer. Early years Kahan was born May 24, 1948, in Roslyn Heights, New York, an affluent area of suburban Long Island, one of three sisters born to Sidney and ...

as Annie Steck (season 2) *

Edie McClurg Edie McClurg (born July 23, 1945) is an American retired actress and comedian. She has played supporting roles in the films ''Carrie'' (1976), ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off'' (1986), and ''Elvira: Mistress of the Dark'' (1988), and bit parts in ...

as Mrs. Patty Poole (seasons 2–6) * Tom Hodges as Rich (seasons 2–5, guest appearance in season 6) *

Steve Witting Steve Witting is an American actor. He began his career in the 1980s comedy series '' Valerie'' (1987) as David Hogan's (Jason Bateman) nerdy friend Bert. Early life Witting began acting by joining Richmond Hill High School drama club in Qu ...

as Burt Weems (seasons 3–6; previously made guest appearances in season 2) *

Willard Scott Willard Herman Scott Jr. (March 7, 1934 – September 4, 2021) was an American weather presenter, radio and television personality, actor, narrator, clown, comedian, and author, whose broadcast career spanned 68 years, 65 years with the NBC br ...

as Peter Poole (seasons 3–4) * Angela Lee as Brenda Walker (seasons 5–6) *

Josie Bissett Jolyn Christine Heutmaker (born October 5, 1970), known professionally as Josie Bissett, is an American actress. She is known for her role as Jane Mancini on the television series ''Melrose Place'' (1992–1999), and for her television film appe ...

as Cara Eisenberg (seasons 5–6) *

John Hillerman John Benedict Hillerman (December 20, 1932 – November 9, 2017) was an American actor best known for his starring role as Jonathan Quayle Higgins III on the television series '' Magnum, P.I.'' that aired from 1980 to 1988. For his role as ...

as Lloyd Hogan (season 6) *

Lisa Rinna Lisa Rinna (born July 11, 1963) is an American actress, television personality and model. She portrayed Billie Reed on the NBC daytime soap opera ''Days of Our Lives'' and List of Melrose Place characters#Taylor McBride, Taylor McBride on Fox B ...

as Annie

Episodes

Early seasons

Like most American sitcoms in the 1980s, the series sometimes dealt with moral conflicts, but not in a heavy-handed fashion. In the

very special episode A "very special episode" is an advertising term originally used in American television promos to refer to an episode of a sitcom or drama series which deals with a difficult or controversial social issue. The usage of the term peaked in the 198 ...

"Bad Timing", which first aired February 7, 1987, David and a former girlfriend debate whether to

have sex Sexual intercourse (also coitus or copulation) is a sexual activity typically involving the insertion of the erect male penis inside the female vagina and followed by thrusting motions for sexual pleasure, reproduction, or both.Sexual inter ...

. The episode featured the first use of the word ''

condom A condom is a sheath-shaped Barrier contraception, barrier device used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy or a Sexually transmitted disease, sexually transmitted infection (STI). There are both external condo ...

'' on a

prime time Prime time, or peak time, is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for television shows. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

television program. After a modest start in the ratings that was countered by critical success, ''Valerie'' had begun to show growth in the Nielsens by the end of the 1986–87 season. Its most significant ratings jump occurred after its moving to Mondays at 8:30/7:30c in March 1987, following '' ALF''. NBC renewed the series for a third season in May. In light of the show's success, Harper and her husband, Tony Cacciotti, approached their producers and NBC about per-episode salary increases and a larger cut of future syndication revenue. When all of the couple's requests were refused, Harper and Cacciotti walked out on ''Valerie''. Harper had prior history in this situation, as she staged a walkout in 1975 following the first season of her hit series ''

Rhoda ''Rhoda'' is an American sitcom television series created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns starring Valerie Harper that originally aired on CBS for five seasons from September 9, 1974 to December 9, 1978. It was the first spin-off of ''The ...

'' (and its parent series, ''

The Mary Tyler Moore Show ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (also known simply as ''Mary Tyler Moore'') is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns and starring actress Mary Tyler Moore. The show originally aired on CBS from September 19, 1970 ...

'') which successfully resulted in a pay increase. The couple continued to negotiate with Miller-Boyett Productions, Lorimar-Telepictures and NBC during the next few months as the behind-the-scenes struggle became well publicized. NBC programming chief

Brandon Tartikoff Brandon Tartikoff (January 13, 1949 – August 27, 1997) was an American television executive who was head of the entertainment division of NBC from 1981 to 1991. He was credited with turning around NBC's low prime time reputation with several ...

, who was unhappy with the feud, publicly stated that he would replace Harper with another actress if the fighting did not cease. Tartikoff suggested

as a replacement to Miller and Boyett, who both sided with the network chief in this possible casting decision. Duncan had recently signed a contract with NBC for a starring vehicle, and Tartikoff felt that this would be the best opportunity for her to make use of it. Though the NBC case was dismissed, Harper and Cacciotti won their trial against Lorimar on September 16, 1988, and were awarded $1.82 million in damages; which they both later donated to various

charities A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a cha ...

. Harper left the show and was replaced by Duncan as the female lead.

Network switch

In 1990, after spending three of the last four years on Monday nights at 8:30/7:30 (having been on Sundays before that), NBC opted not to respond to an agreement made with Lorimar insisting that the network had to exercise renewal options on the series before April 1. Despite the series still sporting decent ratings, NBC stated that it chose not to renew ''The Hogan Family'' "because of the strength of our current development." The show was then picked up by

for the sixth and final season.

Production

Theme music and presentation

The theme song, "Together Through the Years", was performed by

Roberta Flack Roberta Cleopatra Flack (February 10, 1937 – February 24, 2025) was an American singer and pianist known for her emotive, genre-blending ballads that spanned R&B, jazz, Folk music, folk, and pop and contributed to the birth of the quiet storm ...

and composed by Charles Fox. The lyrics were written by

Stephen Geyer Stephen George Geyer (born November 21, 1950) is an American songwriter best known for his work in television. He is also a studio and performance guitarist and has written scripts for TV. Biography Geyer was born in Lima, Peru, the son of a CIA ...

Syndication

''The Hogan Family'' aired in U.S. syndication on local television stations, from September 1990 until Summer 1998. From August 1998 until August 1999, startup broadcast network

PAX TV Ion Television (referred to on-air as simply Ion) is an American terrestrial television, broadcast television network and Free ad-supported streaming television, FAST television channel owned by the Scripps Networks subsidiary of the E. W. Scri ...

aired reruns of the series weekdays at 4/3c.

ABC Family American cable television, cable and satellite television network Freeform (TV channel), Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through four different owners and six different name changes dur ...

previously held the U.S. syndication rights to the program and had aired episodes twice daily for five weeks from September 25 to October 27, 2006. It had discontinued running the show since then. In Canada, the

Crossroads Television System Yes TV (stylized as yes TV) is an independently owned Canadian nonprofit and Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission-licensed religious broadcasting television system in Canada. It consists of three conventional over-the-air ...

held the Canadian syndication rights and began airing the show Wednesday nights. It discontinued airing the show in 2011. ''The Hogan Family'' title was used for syndicated showings of almost all episodes, including those broadcast as ''Valerie'' or ''Valerie's Family'', along with a shortened theme. In 2016,

Antenna TV Antenna TV is an American digital television network owned by Nexstar Media Group. The network's programming consists of classic television series, primarily sitcoms, from the 1950s to the 1990s. Antenna TV's programming and advertising operatio ...

announced that they would air the series in 2017. The Christmas episode was the first to air on the network on December 16, during a marathon of holiday-themed episodes from Antenna TV programs throughout the month, before the show officially joined the lineup on January 2, 2018. The series began airing on Antenna TV's new sister network

Rewind TV Rewind TV is an American digital television network owned by Nexstar Media Group, and is a spinoff/sister network of Antenna TV. The network's programming consists of classic television series, primarily sitcoms, from the 1980s to the early 2000 ...

on September 1, 2021, which features specifically sitcoms from the 80s to the 2000s. In the United Kingdom, the series was shown on

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...

from 1986 to 1992.

References

External links

*
''The Hogan Family'' at Sitcom Online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hogan Family, The 1980s American multi-camera sitcoms 1986 American television series debuts 1990s American multi-camera sitcoms 1991 American television series endings American television series revived after cancellation American English-language television shows CBS sitcoms Fictional quintets NBC sitcoms Salary controversies in television Television series about families Television series about widowhood Television series by Lorimar-Telepictures Television series by Lorimar Television Television shows set in Cook County, Illinois