open/close all folders
Keaton Family
Elyse Donnelly Keaton
- Played by Meredith Baxter
Steven's wife, and an architect who was a hippie in the past.
- The Ace: A successful architect, and the Class Reunion episode reveals that she was a successful student loved by all her classmates.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Has blonde hair, and is a sweet and caring mother.
- Happily Married: Has a good relationship with her husband Steven.
- Hippie Parents: Steven and Elyse tried to keep the spirit of the hippie movement alive while still living their upper middle class lifestyle.
- Nice Girl: She's a very caring mother and wife.
- Out of Focus: She barely appears in the first half of season 3, even being completely absent in several episodes, due to the pregnancy of her actress.
Steven Keaton
- Played by Michael Gross
Elyse's husband, and general manager of WKS, who was a hippie in the past like his wife.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Steven is generally a mellow, understanding person. But if you make him mad, you had best vacate the premises at once.
- Happily Married: Has a good relationship with his wife Elyse.
- Hippie Parents: Steven and Elyse tried to keep the spirit of the hippie movement alive while still living their upper middle class lifestyle.
- Nice Guy: While he disagrees with some of Alex's opinions, he's very loving towards all his children, Alex included.
- Papa Wolf: Steven is a very nice guy who generally gets along with everyone; but harm his children and he will get you.
- Where Did We Go Wrong?: Towards Alex in the pilot, when the latter wants to hang out with socialites at a country club. As it's normal for a Dom Com, the episode ends with a Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other moment with his son.
Alex P. Keaton
- Played by Michael J. Fox
The eldest child, an ambitious Republican, and the Breakout Character.
- Aloof Big Brother: To Mallory and Jennifer. He's an overachieving Insufferable Genius who mainly thinks about himself. He has little in common with his sisters and is not very close to them, save for their occasional Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other moments.
- Big Brother Instinct: He gives up his opportunity to attend Princeton to look after his sister Mallory, who was having an emotional breakdown during Alex's interview.
- Breakout Character: Michael J. Fox even went from losing an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor to winning three consecutive awards for Outstanding Lead Actor.
- Brutal Honesty: Alex is rarely shy about telling people exactly what he thinks or how he feels about something. This often leads to him (usually unintentionally) hurting people's feelings.
- The Comically Serious: He's always stiff and serious, but can be funny in his own way.
- Competition Freak: A very competitive person, and he doesn't take it well when someone gets a better result than him
- Cool Big Bro: He's seen this way by Andy, his youngest brother who looks up to him.
- Deadpan Snarker: Usually makes snarky remarks towards both Mallory and his friend Skippy (though Mallory is equally snarky towards him). The crowning moment of this trope is his long Sarcastic Confession to his boss Rebecca, when they share a room in "A Tale of Two Cities".
- Disappointing Older Sibling:
- Mainly due to his pretentious attitude. While Mallory and Jennifer love him, they are often snarky towards him. This is more often seen with Mallory, but even Jennifer often shares this. Jennifer even asked Alex's girlfriend Ellen What Does She See in Him?. Mallory insists the P in his name stands for "Pompous".
- In the episode where Jennifer feels neglected by her older siblings, she says that in that case, Mallory is the one who disappointed her the most... because Jennifer has never expected anything from Alex.
- Ditzy Genius: He's a hyper-competitive straight-A student and math genius who was doing his parents' taxes when he was five years old and advised his parents on mortgage rates when they bought their house. Yet in everyday activities, he often proves completely incapable. His little sister frequently beats him in sports, and he fails at things like building kites, cooking or fixing cars even with extensive directions.
- Encyclopedic Knowledge: Politics, economics, math, and history to name a few.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The hard-working Responsible to Mallory's unscholarly Foolish.
- Induced Hypochondria: The multi-part episodes, "Heartstrings", has Alex in the throes of anxiety after having convinced himself that he no longer has a pulse and is on the brink of death.
- Inferiority Superiority Complex: Despite coming across as arrogant and overly-confident, Alex is often shown to be quite insecure and anxious a lot of the time.
- Insufferable Genius: He often looks down on people he considers less intelligent than him.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He dreams of reaching the top of the corporate ladder and being rich — and he often acts pompous about his intelligence. His views also sometimes appear sexist and he often appears to hold a certain contempt for people who lack intelligence (particularly his sister Mallory) or wealth. However, he has shown many times that he truly is a lovable and compassionate person.
- Like Parent, Unlike Child: He's a hard right-winger, very different from his liberal parents, Steven and Elyse.
- Mysterious Middle Initial: Both actor Michael J. Fox and character Alex P. Keaton. It's been suggested that the P stood for Peace. Mallory at one point suggests, not necessarily jokingly, that it stands for Pompous.
- Nervous Tics: Alex tends to wrap his arms around himself, rub his hands over his leg, or rock when nervous. He is also prone to Hand Behind Head.
- No Social Skills: While extremely intelligent and possessing knowledge across many different subject matters, Alex often struggles to connect with and appropriately interact with others. He often comes across as standoffish, blunt, and emotionally detached.
- No Sympathy: Alex often comes across as aloof to the thoughts and feelings of others. He sometimes only sees his own perspective or considers how a particular decision/event will impact him rather than how it will affect those around him.
- Opposites Attract: Despite being old-fashioned and conservative, his two most important girlfriends were feminists Ellen and Lauren, as well as his very strong attraction to the somewhat flaky and carefree Marty.
- Performance Anxiety: When appearing on an academic quiz show with Mallory, Alex finds himself struck with severe stage fright that leaves him unable to speak and also causes him to pass out.
- Repression Never Ends Well: Alex tends to bottle up his emotions until they become too overwhelming for him to handle on his own. The episodes, "A, My Name is Alex" and "How Do You Sleep?" are good examples of this.
- Shorter Means Smarter: He's one of the shorter characters. His less intelligent foils (his sister Mallory and his friend Skippy) are taller than him.
- Smart People Play Chess: Alex is so good at chess that he competes against a player from the Soviet Union.
- Tiny Schoolboy: He's stated to be short for his age but is very ambitious. He also has a taller friend as Bumbling Sidekick.
Mallory Keaton
- Played by Justine Bateman
The second-eldest child, a Book Dumb teenager who loves fashion and boys.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Her eventual boyfriend Nick looks like a Greaser Delinquents.
- Book Dumb: She is frequently portrayed as a below average student who posits that there may be "special verbs for dead people" since they don't "do" anything. However, she is clearly a very talented fashion designer who nearly beats Alex in the PBS scholarship contest of her own accord.
- Bratty Teenage Daughter: She is into fashion, shopping, gossip, and is very boy-crazy, even choosing a rebellious bad boy disliked by her parents.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: She gets low grades, but in one episode, it is revealed that she has a higher I.Q. than Alex, much to the latter's horror. This is never brought up again though.
- Dating What Daddy Hates: And mommy too. Everyone in the family has a What Does She See in Him? reaction when she starts dating Nick. They warm up to him eventually.
- The Ditz: Downplayed. She's not an exaggerated example of Brainless Beauty like similar characters are usually portrayed, but she's vapid and superficial, and often comes off as ignorant when it comes to academics. She usually displays more common sense than her brother though.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The unscholarly Foolish to Alex's hard-working Responsible.
- Lovable Alpha Bitch: She's popular, shallow, boy-crazy, a bit rebellious, and snarky towards her nerdy brother Alex. But for all her flaws, she's still a kind and sweet-natured person, and it's also lampshaded by her mother.
- Middle Child Syndrome: She sometimes feels like this in the family, being the Book Dumb middle child between her Teen Genius older brother and her Academic Athlete younger sister. A plot point in a later episode where she feels nobody in her family respects her.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: In early seasons, she's the girly fashionista to Jennifer's athletic tomboy. In later seasons, they are equally girly.
Jennifer Keaton
- Played by Tina Yothers
Originally the youngest child (before Andrew's birth), she starts off as an athletic tomboy and later grows up to be a normal teenager.
- '80s Hair: Jennifer's hair in later seasons was a fairly extreme case.
- Academic Athlete: She is initially a sporty tomboy who gets good grades. After her Girliness Upgrade in later seasons, the "athlete" part is removed, but there is more focus on her intelligence and she is stated to be just as much as a Teen Genius as Alex (possibly smarter according to the final episode).
- Bratty Teenage Daughter: In later seasons, she becomes a typical teenager who likes boys, fashion, music, and tries to fit in with the popular crowd.
- Girliness Upgrade: Over the years Jennifer went from a sport-loving tomboy to a music-loving Girly Girl with massive '80s Hair. Her interest in sports disappears and she starts dressing and acting like the typical girly teenager.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: She has blonde hair and is usually the nicest of the children.
- Infant Sibling Jealousy: She gets hit with this hard when baby Andrew comes home and turns the household on its ear. One episode has her freaking out at her parents because the baby has woken everyone up in the middle of the night and she has an important test in the morning.
- Little Miss Snarker: In the early seasons. Full on Deadpan Snarker as she gets older.
- Only Sane Woman: The most down-to-earth of the three siblings. She's smart without being a pompous Insufferable Genius like Alex, and also grows up to be a normal teenager without being superficial and Book Dumb like Mallory.
- Soapbox Sadie: Sometimes in later episodes, such as when she becomes obsessed with envinroment in "Rain Forests Keep Falling on My Head".
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: In early seasons, she's the athletic tomboy to Mallory's girly fashionista. In later seasons, they are equally girly.
Andrew "Andy" Keaton
- Played by Brian Bonsall
Born towards the end of season 3, he's the youngest child of the family.
- Big Brother Worship: He looks up to Alex and even dresses like him.
- Cousin Oliver: He's the youngest Keaton child, who was born in season 3 (due to actress Meredith Baxter being pregnant in real life at the time).
- Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome: He went from an infant in season 4 to about four years old in season 5.
Other Characters
Irwin "Skippy" Handelman
- Played by Marc Price
Alex's dorky best friend, and neighbour of the Keaton family.
- Abhorrent Admirer: Has a crush on Mallory, who can't stand him.
- Bumbling Sidekick: He's a clumsy and awkward nerd, often annoying his best friend Alex.
- Butt-Monkey: Hardly anyone on the show respects him and is also unlucky in love.
- Dumber Than They Look: He looks and acts like a nerd (socially inept, nerdy clothes, Nerd Glasses), but he has no academic intelligence. Alex considers him even less intelligent than Mallory, Alex's Book Dumb superficial sister. In "Designated Hitter", it's revealed that Mallory is Smarter Than She Looks, while Skippy has an Improbably Low I.Q. that can't even be calculated.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Always referred to as "Skippy" and nobody calls him Irwin.
- Straw Loser: An unpopular nerd who is not even intelligent, and he's pretty much there to make the relatively nerdy Alex (but of the Nerds Are Sexy and Teen Genius variety) look good.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: In season 5, he finally finds Amy, a girl who likes him back, thouh she's only seen in two episodes.
Nick Moore
- Played by Scott Valentine
Mallory's most important boyfriend, starting in season 4.
- Book Dumb: He's even more ignorant than Mallory, and doesn't have a high school diploma. Alex will later help him to pass a test.
- Face of a Thug: He has the Greaser Delinquents appearance, but he's a good person.
- Hell-Bent for Leather: Wears a leather jacket that gives him a "bad boy" image.
- Real Men Wear Pink: A Fonzie-like greaser who also has an interest in art.
- Troubled, but Cute: A bad boy with long hair, leather jacket, and earrings, and has Mallory falling for him.
Ellen Reed
- Played by Tracy Pollan
Alex's girlfriend in season 4.
- First Love: Alex's first serious girlfriend. She lasts for an entire season.
- Opposites Attract: With Alex. He's Reagan-loving and conservative, while she's an artsy feminist. Although they have different ideologies, they are equally stubborn and argumentative.
Lauren Miller
- Played by Courteney Cox
Alex's girlfriend in seasons 6-7.
- Second Love: Alex's second serious girlfriend, after Ellen is Put on a Bus.
- Opposites Attract: Though she and Alex are actually very similar personality-wise—driven, overachievers—much like him and Ellen, they have differing opinions on everything.
