YMMV / The Torkelsons

• Alternative Character Interpretation: No doubt that Millicent is admirable for raising five children on her own. But she does make some questionable parenting decisions.
  • In A Kiss Is Still a Kiss she freaks out, scolds and punishes 12-year old son Steven Floyd for French kissing a girl. Both boy and girl were 12 years old, the kiss was consensual and nothing more happened physically.
  • When her daughter Dorothy Jane (who is always the cardboard picture of the perfect daughter, and a straight-A student) and Molly (who is always defying her father's rules, and is a much worse student) sneak out of the house to go to hang out with college guys on a college dorm, Molly's father grounds Molly for three weeks. Millicent thereupon grounds Dorothy Jane for FOUR weeks for the same sin. Her reasoning? "Cause Molly's still learning." So, actually conducting well all the time merits you to get punished harsher the one time you DO something off-limits, compared to someone who slacks and breaks rules all the time?
  • In Season 2 Duelling Birthdays when her daughter Dorothy Jane shares her birthday with spoiled Molly, Molly gets a materialistically extravagant birthday party of her father Brian. When Dorothy Jane expresses interest in going to Molly's birthday party, Millicent says if Dorothy Jane will do so she will take that as Dorothy Jane rejecting her family as "not enough", and she challenges Dorothy Jane to chose between "us" (the Torkelson's low-key birthday celebration) OR "them" (Molly's extravagant birthday party). This leads to a whole lot of drama, until Brian, the Only Sane Man in this episode, makes the totally logical suggestion the Torkelsons baffingly haven't thought of themselves: why don't the Torkelsons first share their cake and exchange their presents privately, and then go together to Molly's party for the rest of the evening? In the end, this is what happens and everybody is happy, but it is despite of, and not thanks to, Millicents efforts.
• Replacement Scrappy: Those who enjoyed the down-home family dynamic of the first season didn't appreciate seeing Stephen Floyd and Ruth Ann replaced by the more shallow and antagonistic Morgan children.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Brittany Murphy was one of the main cast in Almost Home, playing Molly Morgan.
  • Jason Marsden played her brother Gregory Morgan.
  • Perry King played their father.
  • Ben Affleck appeared in a guest role, as Dorothy Jane's love interest in "Is That All There Is".
  • Jared Leto appeared in a guest role.
  • Alyson Hannigan appeared in a guest role, as Gregory's best friend in "The Dance".
  • Joey Lawrence appeared in a guest role in "Girls and Boy".
• Values Dissonance: Dorothy Jane and Molly's co-worker at Chicken in a Hat, Mel, smokes on the job. Not only among his co-workers, but in a restaurant, with families present and eating. In 1992 when this took place, this wasn't outlawed, but nowadays not only is smoking outlawed in most public situations in Real Life, but also the portrayal of smoking on television (especially family-oriented shows like this one) is heavily restricted.