The seventh and final season of Family Ties got underway with It Happened One Night. Written by Marc Lawrence, it debuted on 30 October, 1988.

Elyse (Meredith Baxter) and Steven (Micheal Gross) are eager to take the family camping, but outside of Andy (Brian Bonsall) the rest of the family elect to not go. After they set out, Alex (Michael J. Fox), Mallory (Justine Bateman) and Jennifer (Tina Yothers) feel guilty and set out to catch up but ending up getting lost along the way, and the car breaks down.

There is some political discussion to open the show as Bush and Dukakis were going head to head, and it made good fodder for Democrats Steven and Elyse, and Republican Alex.

Courtney Cox returns as Lauren, and she’s always wonderful to see. Scott Valentine’s Nick is greeted with audience applause when he arrives at the Keaton household.

As Nick, Mallory, Alex and Jennifer try to survive the night in the forest, they talk about their family, their connections with one another, and how much they really love each other.

The family ends up reunited as Steven, Elyse and Andy decide to come home early because it didn’t feel the same without the rest of the family.

It’s a fun, delightful, entry into the last season, with no real messages except the importance of family, but the Keatons are always a delight to spend time with.

Designing Women first aired on 6 November, 1988 and was written by Katie Ford.

Mallory gets a chance at a dream job, she gets an internship at a fashion company, she has a mentor, Jamie Carter (Debra Engle), and things are looking up for her until she realizes Jamie is passing off Mallory’s designs as her own.

Mallory confronts her about it, but will that do any good? Will there be any changes? Jamie says she’s no good anymore, she’s burnt out, and she stole Mallory’s designs to stay on top, something she struggles with every season. That puts Mallory in a strange spot, where she is forced to choose what to do, and she continues the lie that it’s Jamie’s work.

But in the end, Jamie comes clean, and she arranges a meeting with her boss and Mallory to share more of her designs. Mallory could be on her way!

The episode has some fun moments like a discussion about karma, something Alex has a hard time buying into, but if it’s true, he admits he’s doomed. There’s also Jennifer playing chess with Alex and is beating him, which means she can mop the floor with Steven, who has a great moment when he is on the catwalk.

Hey look everyone, it’s Hank Azaria!!

Truckers starts with a cold open that announces that Bush won the election something that Alex delights in, and rubs everyone’s face in it.

The main story follows Andy making a new friend in Nick’s nephew, Rocco (Kaylan Romero) which leads to Alex feeling rejected when his little brother would rather play trucks than go over financial reports with him. The whole family tries to support Alex in his financial television viewing (Wall Steet Week), but they aren’t Andy.

Alex is really have a tough time dealing with Andy spending so much time with Rocco and Nick, and on top of that, he’s enjoying himself. He lets Andy go, realizing he has to let Andy be his own person and spend time with others, and not just Alex all the time. But of course the pair reunite at the end of the episode, and the pair have some fun together.

Written by Shannon Gaughan the episode first debuted on 13 November, 1988.

Steven meanwhile is upset over the electric and other bills and works to reduce the charges around the house. This provides lots of comic relief, and Gross seems to be having a great time with this, and Fox looks like he’s working to keep a straight face through some of them.

This was a cute one.