Family Ties/4 Rms Ocn Vu

4 Rms Ocn Vu
Season 3, Episode 8
Airdate	November 8, 1984
Written by	Alan Uger & Marc Lawrence
Directed by	Lee Shallat
Stream
← 3x07 Hotline Fever	3x09 → Best Man
Family Ties — Season Three

This article about an episode needs to be expanded with more information. Please help out by editing it.

4 Rms Ocn Vu is the eighth episode of the third season of Family Ties, and the fifty-second episode overall.

Steven is away visiting Elyse, who is caring for a sick relative, and while he's gone, Mallory, using her dad's car without permission, gets into an accident. To try to pay for damages to repair the car before he gets home, Alex suggests turning their home into a hotel ... which causes major problems when a large homecoming celebration takes place in the living room, complete with a kangaroo ... and Steven comes home early!

Starring: Meredith Baxter Birney (Elyse Keaton) (credit only), Michael Gross (Steven Keaton), Michael J. Fox (Alex P. Keaton), Justine Bateman (Mallory Keaton), Tina Yothers (Jennifer Keaton)

Guest Starring: Marc Price (Skippy), Sam Whipple (Jack Driscoll), Shawn Schepps (Darlene Driscoll), Earl Boen (Ed Barker), Beverly Archer (Sue Barker), Marcianne Warman (Ellen Barker), Jeff B. Cohen (Dougie Barker), Robert Schanche (Young Man #1), Christopher Joyce (Young Man #2)

Plot Overview

The thing to take from this episode: "There was a kangaroo ... in my living room!"

That's what happens when the kids – while the parents are away – turn the house into Keaton Manor, all in an effort to try to raise money to cover up damage Mallory caused when she got into an accident with the family car and not let Steven or Elyse find out.

To get there, Mallory, who has been forbidden to use the car, indeed takes the car to go shopping. (In fact, before Steven leaves, he reminds Mallory of the rules.) After the accident, Mallory panics, and then so does Alex, knowing he has also been told to make sure Mallory respects their parents' wishes.

They can schedule a repair before Steven returns home, but they don't have enough money and have no insurance. Not wanting to simply confess when he comes back and take the consequences, Alex gets an idea ...

This is Leland University's homecoming weekend, all all the hotel rooms throughout the city are booked solid and there's still a big demand for rooms. So, he gets the crazy idea to rent out several rooms in the house and let complete strangers stay over.

Things go well for awhile, but as more guests – all Leland alumni – show up and saying they need a room, Alex realizes he can't turn anyone away, they can make a lot more money. There's valet parking in the driveway, an improvised "vacancy" sign in the yard and Skippy as the bellhop.

The guests leave for the game, and all seems well until Steven calls, checking on things and making sure Mallory didn't take the car. He then announces that he's coming home early.

Uh-oh!

That's just when the Leland faithful come bursting in, fresh off a huge homecoming victory. And it's time to par-tay!!!! And it's a huge one, with (literally) hundreds of guests.

Including ... a kangaroo ... in the living room.

And then, Steven shows up and sees a wild party in his living room. (Not to mention, the kangaroo!)

Obviously, Steven ends the party immediately and throws everyone out, and it's all he can do to contain his anger and outrage for the kids' stunt.

The scary thing is he seems to have taken it so well. (At least on camera. Alex and Mallory remark about how they've never seen their father so angry when he was telling everyone to leave, and then shouting at them about what they did wrong .. likely such things as breaking several laws and city ordinances and that Steven might have to pay a big fine; that they had guests, complete strangers at that, in the house without permission ... and the matter that started things in the first place: Mallory taking the car without permission.) He also remarks, calmly, about how ... there was a kangaroo ... in the living room.

It takes awhile for Steven to cool off, but a long time before he can forgive the kids for this unforgivable stunt ... not to mention the memory of there being ... a kangaroo ... in his living room.

Notes

• Clips from this episode were shown in a later clip episode – about a later girlfriend of Alex's doing a study on the American family. Jennifer brings up the incident and tries to laugh about it, but Steven isn't doing any laughing as this still hits a sore nerve, since this was a breach of trust, among other things. (It can be implied that it was still some time before Steven was able to cool completely off about this situation and completely forgave his children.)