Tropes from the 1987-88 TV Series:
- Keep Circulating the Tapes: The show was never reran after its original airing (save for the pilot movie on Lifetime.) Only those who saved their VHS recordings were able to re-watch until the DVD set was released in 2012.
- Retroactive Recognition
- The pilot movie starred a then-unknown Bill Maher as a business associate of Nick's, who suggested that Nick adopt the girls after seeing their story in the newspaper as the way to soften his image.
- Sasha Mitchell, who many remember as Cody on Step by Step, starred in the episode "First Love" as a love interest for Diane.
- Kimiko Gelman is most recently known for playing Venia in The Hunger Games movies.
- Tisha Campbell (later Tisha Campbell-Martin) is better known for her roles on Martin and My Wife and Kids.
- Screwed by the Network: The show had respectable ratings in its Sunday night time slot during the first season. However, NBC gave it the Friday Night Death Slot in the second season and the show was cancelled after twelve episodes.
- The Woobie: With each of the girls having been in an orphange prior to Nick adopting them, three of the girls have their situations examined in greater detail.
- In "High Society"; an argument between Nick and Rose leads to Rose mentioning not wanting to end up like her mother, a young Nisei (2nd generation Japanese-American) girl who got pregnant by an American soldier who left and whose parents forced Rose's mother to give her up; with it being strongly implied Rose's mother committed suicide shortly afterwards by jumping in front of an oncoming car.
- The confrontation in "Business is Business" as Marva attempts to torch her food truck sees her mention having been passed from foster home to foster home after the death of her parents.
- "Patty's Mom" has Patty briefly reunited with her biological mother, a prop comedienne named Gloria Lang, only for Gloria to have no parental skills or interest in her daughter.
