The Greatest 2 minute 48 second video ever...aka Uncle Ned on Family Ties

I can't believe I found this video. This is the ending of the "very special" episode of Family Ties where Tom Hanks plays "Uncle Ned". Little does the family know that Uncle Ned is a raging alcoholic and goes so far to as to drink vanilla extract (seen earlier in the episode). To this day if I'm out of beers, I'll half think of drinking vanilla extract although I'm not exactly sure what vanilla extract is. I hope this doesn't mean I'm an alcoholic.

In any event, this is the last 3 minutes of this particular episode. Uncle Ned has just failed a job interview because he showed up drunk (hence the suit) and now Alex and Mr. and Mrs. Keaton are trying to help him realize he has a drinking problem. You have to stay with this one. Follow along...




0:00-0:30 - Two future acting legends aka Marty McFly and Forrest Gump show off their chops as Alex shows his momentos he's kept out of love and admiration he's had for his Uncle since he was a little kid. Uncle Ned responds by trying to burn them in the fireplace.

0:32 -0 :34 - The slap heard round the world. How did Micheal J. Fox get flung back so far? Seriously, watch it again. That was some amazing acting. I love the "LEAVE ME ALONE" Uncle Ned yells.

0:35 - 0:36 - Yes, the Dad gets fired up...gotta love the "What the hell are you doing???" line as his wife tries to retrain him.

0:38 - 0:42 I love this moment...Tom Hanks is doing his laughing/crying thing and the way he says "I don't know" the first time is the way I enunciate it when I got into trouble. The things you absorb as a child.

0:42 -0:44 - Michael J. Fox seals up the Emmy award for 1985 with that close up.

0:45 - 1:05 - Mr. Keaton, aka Michael Gross, does a little warmup for his future role as the gun toting local in the Kevin Bacon classic movie Tremors.

1:06 - 1:37 - More award winning work from these two acting legends. Although Alex shied away from Uncle Ned touching his knee in hatred, I'd shy away from ANY relative if they tried to grab my leg like Uncle Ned did.

1:40-1:45 - I love how they bring the laugh track back into play as Uncle Ned walks to the phone to call AA. If I was in the studio audience watching this, I'd be afraid to laugh.

2:00-2:08 - Tom Hanks shows why he will will two Oscars and be nominated for many more with the way he says the "drinking problem" line.

2:10 - end... roll credits. I forgot about the sax version of the "How About Us" theme song. Too bad Mallory and Jennifer weren't there to witness Uncle Ned's meltdown or even better, have Uncle Ned slap the youngest child Andrew in the face. That would have awesome.

WOW!!! You don't see stuff like this on TV anymore, that's for sure.

Tid Bits

No specific topic today. Just some rambling thoughts...

1.) Was watching a 1982 Van Halen concert the other day. It reminded me of how confused I was around 1985 when they would show Van Halen videos with David Lee Roth like "Jump" and "Hot For Teacher" along with David Lee Roth solo videos like "Yankee Rose", "Living In Paradise", and the "I Ain't Got Nobody" aka the "Booosey Booosey Bop, diddy bop" song which sounded EXACTLY like Van Halen songs. I was only seven at the time but it blew my mind to try and find out what was going on and how David Lee Roth could be in two different named bands where one was named after guys in the other band. It still sort of confuses me.

2.) Embarrassingly enough, around that age, I thought you had to be quiet while you were watching golf on TV because I believed the players could hear you through the TV. A lot of things make little sense to you when you're 5-8 years old.

3.) The Police play their last ever concert next week at MSG. I have to admit, as awesome as their reunion is and as nice as their reunion tour started off, it has completely become a cash in experience for them. They only play for 90 minutes, play only 13 songs before a 5 song encore, and the ticket prices are insane. I saw Pearl Jam, Genesis, and Rush play for 3 hours for half the cost.

4.) Although I'm not a huge Red Sox fan, it was interesting to see Manny Ramirez be traded to the Dodgers. The Red Sox definitely lost some of their nationwide appeal as he and David Ortiz were the face of that team.

5.) Caught 10 minutes of an episode of "Clarissa The Teenage Witch" this morning while getting ready for work. It featured a random cast of people. Besides Clarissa herself was the actress who played Punky Brewster, the guy who played both DJ Tanner's boyfriend in "Full House and Blossom's boyfriend in "Blossom", and washed up comedian Caroline Rhea. Its on Fox Family every morning from 8-9am on the ABC Family channel followed by Step By Step. I might have to start DVRing these shows.

6.) Top 3 TV Uncles:

a.) Uncle Joey from Full House (can't stand his Popeye impression though)

b.) Uncle Jesse from Dukes of Hazard (the actor's name was awesome too...Denver Pyle. I'd love to name my kid "Denver"...or even better a Long Island town like "Quogue").

c. Uncle Ned from Family Ties (played by Tom Hanks, he was my first exposure to alcoholism when he slapped Alex Keaton in the face and drank pure vanilla extract...this was a family show too).

That's all for now. I'm off on vacation next week heading up to the good old North Country of the 1000 Islands. They're a little behind the times up there as there is no internet access much less paved roads in some areas. I'll try and put together a post towards the middle of the week but we'll see what happens. Otherwise, we'll be back to our normal schedule the week of August 11th. Let me know if there are any topics you'd like me to discuss...I appreciate any feedback positive or negative.