Family (TV Series) Such a Fine Line (1980) User Reviews

Such a Fine Line

[BenTramerLives78 · 9/10 · 29 June 2023]

Jeff returns to Pasadena. He has been living in Hawaii and managing a rock band. Willie lets him stay in the guest house. A man shows up in the middle of the night looking for Jeff, and apparently Jeff owes the man a lot of money. Doug doesn't trust Jeff, and Willie must decide if he should help out his friend.

Meanwhile, 14 year old Richard Topol (Michael J. Fox) has an intense crush on Kate, because of course he does. Kate tries to get rid of him, but he won't budge. How can Kate get rid of her admirer gently?

This is a great episode dealing with friendship, drugs and schoolboy crushes. It's worth watching for Michael J. Fox alone, but the whole episode is entertaining.

disappointed in the Jeff storyline

[stancym-1 · 6/10 · 4 August 2023]

It was rewarding to watch Michael J. Fox guest star in a storyline involving his crush on Kate. However, I had always had an affection and sympathy for Jeff's character. He truly loved Nancy, always, and his son, Timmy. I did not think he would become a person who goes into debt buying drugs for a band. There was previously the background established that Jeff had money. Had the money all stopped? Maybe his parents cut him off from some allowance he had been receiving. He was no longer working for his dad, to get that salary, either. But we just have to assume, there is no discussion of why Jeff was rich and now has money problems. I think this is the end of Jeff in the series, and I dont think it was a convincing way to treat his character, as someone who has descended into being someone else rather than the Jeff we knew for several seasons. Whatever Jeff's flaws, I doubt he would have become an illegal drug dealer. And would he have put his friend and former brother in law in jeopardy the way he did? The writers "disposed" of Jeff in an unsatisfactory manner.