Family Ties: Season 5
Season 5 Lore Primer
Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.
- Directly follows the overarching narrative developments of Family Ties Season 4.
- Faction dynamics and core character alliances shift under escalating external stakes.
- Crucial mysteries introduced previously reach key turning points and narrative reckonings.
- Sets up serialized story arcs that build directly toward the climactic season finale.
Episode Guide
Season 5 Progress Shield
Be True to Your Preschool
Sep 25, 1986 · 25 min
Alex shocks his parents when he visits his 3-year-old brother Andrew's very special preschool class, decides the wrong values are being stressed and withdraws him from the school.
Starting Over
Oct 2, 1986 · 25 min
Distraught that his girlfriend Ellen has gone to Paris on a dance scholarship, Alex desperately tries to find someone to take her place, but finally realizes that falling in love a
The Freshman and the Senior
Oct 9, 1986 · 25 min
Mallory is teamed with 66-year-old Margaret Hollings on a college sociology project and fins that she has a lot to learn about honesty, sensitivity and older people when she almost
My Back Pages
Oct 16, 1986 · 25 min
When Steven is asked by an old college friend to help him re-establish a left-wing political magazine they had worked on 20 years before, Steven realizes he is no longer in tune wi
Beauty and the Bank
Oct 30, 1986 · 24 min
Alex is emotionally torn when he goes to work in a bank and finds that the vice president to whom he reports is Ms. Ryan, a beautiful, smart and self-confident woman and that he's
Mrs. Wrong (1)
Nov 6, 1986 · 24 min
Nick and Mallory make sudden plans to elope when Steven and Elyse vehemently oppose their marriage plans and threaten to ground their teenaged daughter. During a quiet evening tog
Mrs. Wrong (2)
Nov 13, 1986 · 24 min
Alex sees Mallory and Nick leaving the Keaton residence in the predawn hours to elope, and unable to stop them, follows them to New Jersey where he finds the young couple taking a
The Big Fix
Nov 17, 1986 · 24 min
When Terry Bridgeman, a colleague of Elyse's, confides that he has broken up with his girlfriend, Elyse decides to fix him up with a family friend, the beautiful Liz Obeck. What E
My Brother's Keeper
Nov 20, 1986 · 25 min
Alex must choose between his friendship with Skippy and allegiance to his college fraternity when Theta Pi Sigma pledges Skippy with the idea of making him the object of a cruel pr
High School Confidential
Dec 4, 1986 · 25 min
Nick faces a serious dilemma when he learns that to teach an art class he must have a high school diploma. Mallory volunteers to tutor him, but it takes the skills of another Keato
Paper Lion
Dec 11, 1986 · 24 min
While assisting his economics professor in the final stages of an important research paper, Alex faces a serious moral dilemma when he finds that his mentor's conclusions are not s
My Mother, My Friend
Dec 18, 1986 · 25 min
When Mallory brings her new friend, Allison King, home with her to study, little does she expect that Allison will find a kindred spirit in Elyse. Bound together by their love of
O'Brother (1)
Jan 8, 1987 · 25 min
It's bad news for the Keatons when Uncle Rob arrives for a visit and announces that he and his wife, Maureen, have split up. News of Robert and Maureen's separation throws the who
O'Brother (2)
Jan 15, 1987 · 25 min
The emotional roller-coaster continues at the Keaton household with the arrival of Aunt Maureen, Uncle Rob's estranged wife. It seems like Rob has been less than candid when he to
Higher Love
Jan 22, 1987 · 25 min
Mallory's relationship with Nick is put to the test when she joins a poetry reading group and becomes infatuated with its handsome and sophisticated leader, English grad student Co
Architect's Apprentice
Jan 29, 1987 · 24 min
Steven and Elyse are forced to take a new closer look at Nick and his considerable artistic talents when they invite him to compete with other local artists to create a sculpture f
A Tale of Two Cities (1)
Feb 5, 1987 · 24 min
The Keaton's are a house divided over a ""major"" domestic issue whether to redecorate their old-fashioned, but cozy kitchen. Elyse, Mallory and Jennifer think the time has come to
A Tale of Two Cities (2)
Feb 12, 1987 · 26 min
While Steven tackles the job of re-wallpapering the Keaton kitchen singlehandedly, Alex is in Chicago with his boss, Rebecca Ryan, attending an important banking conference. Forced
Battle of the Sexes
Feb 19, 1987 · 48 min
When Alex plays "gentleman" to his mother and two sisters and orders for them at a restaurant without even asking them what they want, the battle begins with Elyse, Mallory and Jen
Band on the Run
Feb 26, 1987 · 25 min
As chairman of the entertainment committee for the Leland College 10th reunion, Alex has big plans, which include hiring some great bands to impress attending alumni in the music b
Keaton vs. Keaton
Mar 5, 1987 · 25 min
Brother and sister go head-to-head when Steven announces a scholarship competition sponsored by his station, WKS. A confident Alex scoffs as the family encourages a reluctant Mallo
A, My Name is Alex
Mar 12, 1987 · 49 min
When Alex's friend Greg dies in a car accident, Alex is thrown into a state of shock and begins to seriously question the meaning and purpose of his own life. Having been asked to
"D" is for Date
Mar 20, 1987 · 24 min
Jennifer develops her first major crush on science lab partner Tim Higgins, the handsome star pitcher of the school baseball team. When Tim comes over to work on their science proj
Love Me Do
Apr 30, 1987 · 25 min
When Skippy falls head-over-heels in love with Mallory's new college friend, Amy Sussman, he's both startled and overjoyed to find himself in his first real romantic relationship.
The Visit
May 7, 1987 · 24 min
When Elyse's sister Michele and her family arrives for their annual visit, Elyse is overjoyed, while the rest of the Keaton clan brace themselves for a long hard week of togetherne
Matchmaker
Jul 23, 1987 · 24 min
When Mallory comes home from her sixth disastrous date in a row, Alex tries to comfort and then help. He will find her a new and perfect boyfriend using a computer that the Keaton'
It's My Party (1)
Aug 6, 1987 · 23 min
In her quest to become one of the popular kids, Jennifer invites her trendy classmates to her thirteenth birthday party. When they become bored and begin grumbling at her ""lame""
It's My Party (2)
Aug 13, 1987 · 24 min
In her quest to become one of the popular kids, Jennifer invites her trendy classmates to her thirteenth birthday party. When they become bored and begin grumbling at her ""lame""