Alex (Micheal J. Fox), Mallory (Justine Bateman) and Jennifer (Tina Yothers) really don’t want to take part in the WKS Pledge Week Marathon this year, but no one can seem to tell Steven (Micheal Gross), who is looking forward to it, and Elyse (Meredith Baxter) wants to sing in the telethon. But things are going to go sideways really quick in this two-part episode as the baby decides it’s time to arrive.

Birth of a Keaton: Part 1 was written by Lloyd Garver and first aired on 24 January, 1985.

There’s a subplot involving the water main not working in the Keaton household and having to hire a plumber to hire it.

When Steven asks the kids if they want to be involved, all of them fund something better to do, leaving Steven and Elyse to represent the Keaton family on air. Both parents are a little bitter about it when the kids decide to help out after all, with some nudging from Bud (Ron Karabatsos) the Plumber.

But no sooner do the kids arrive than Steven has to go home to help Bud deal with the plumbing issue, and Elyse has to go on to sing without him there, and promptly goes into labour!

Birth of a Keaton: Part 2 aired a week later on 21 January, 1985 and was written by Alan Uger and Marc Lawrence.

Elyse and the kids are prevented from getting to the hospital to give birth because of the snowstorm which traps them at the studio, and Steven at the Keaton home with Bud and Slippy (Marc Price).

While Alex loses his mind over the imminent baby delivery, he comes around enough to help the family get organized for Elyse to have the delivery in one of the studio offices.

Steven, thanks to Bud’s truck and it’s winter-chain tires races to the hospital, only to find Elyse not there, but with the telethon still on he’s able to get updates, and grabbing Elyse’s doctor, Alexander (Melanie Jones), fights the storm and traffic in an attempt to get to the studio before Elyse gives birth.

He makes it, and the two, with the help from Dr. Alexander, guides a new baby boy into the world. The family is exultant, and Alex is glad it’s not another girl.

The episode concludes with the family surrounding mother and child, and welcoming the newest member of the family into the world, and onto the show.

Cry Baby gives Jennifer a bit of the limelight, though it requires her to be a bit of a brat to do it. Written by Bruce Helford and Bruce David it first aired on 7 February, 1985.

While the entire family fawns over the new baby, we learn here that he’s been named Andrew, Jennifer is less than thrilled to no longer be the youngest and is feeling a little neglected, forgotten about and pushed aside.

Steven is attempting to figure out his new camera to take lots of pictures, Alex is talking up sports in the hopes of turning him into an athlete, and all of them seem to not be able to get enough of the little guy.

Except Jennifer.

She acts out, yells, blames the baby for little things, not to mention keeping her up all night because of his crying, and is feeling decidedly unloved.

When she finally admits this to Steven and Elyse, they make amends, reminding her of their love, and invites her to spend some time with the baby. A bond is finally made, and for the moment, things are quiet in the Keaton household.

I do like when other characters get a chance to shine, it’s just too bad Jennifer had to be a brat to do it in this episode. And you can also tell that the writing is really leaning into Fox’s comic ability and rising star – he was shooting Back to the Future at the same time at this point, so he was really taking off.

More next time!