But I would have looked at his Playgirl centrefold - to point and laugh.

Edited September 22Sep 22 by Stevel

Should Eight Is Enough fans be glad that Ralph Macchio's Jeremy Andretti character is not brought up in this video?

Also, how did Eight Is Enough compare to Family, the 1976-80 Aaron Spelling TV series that had Kristy McNichol as a regular cast member?  People might want to check out this blog commentary by James M. Tate.  Curiously, Kimberly Beck never appeared on Family even though she appeared in the Eight Is Enough pilot as well as on various other Aaron Spelling TV shows (Dynasty, Fantasy Island, T.J. Hooker, etc.).

Edited September 22Sep 22 by FlyRightOrchestraGuy

21 hours ago, FlyRightOrchestraGuy said:

@SoapDope78 Which types of roles do you think Kimberly Beck fit?

I think she fit playing snotty preppy rich girls. She could also play a trophy wife that married an older man for his money while having an affair with the pool boy, gardener, husbands' business partner etc...Maybe a rich bitch CEO of a modeling agency that verbally abuses her female models and they develop eating disorders etc...she would have affairs with the male models. Similar to the Joan Collins character in the campy 80's TV movie " Making of a Male Model" with Jon Erik Hexum. 

21 hours ago, SoapDope78 said:

I think she fit playing snotty preppy rich girls. She could also play a trophy wife that married an older man for his money while having an affair with the pool boy, gardener, husbands' business partner etc...Maybe a rich bitch CEO of a modeling agency that verbally abuses her female models and they develop eating disorders etc...she would have affairs with the male models. Similar to the Joan Collins character in the campy 80's TV movie " Making of a Male Model" with Jon Erik Hexum. 

@SoapDope78 Have you seen a 1991 episode of the Michael Chiklis TV series The Commish known as "Behind the Storm Door"?  I can't say I have, but Kimberly Beck's in it.  A certain Facebook friend of mine has told me that she essentially plays "a crazy woman stalker."  When you get a chance, check out this relevant link.

By the way, I legitimately own Making of a Male Model on DVD. 

3 hours ago, FlyRightOrchestraGuy said:

Have you seen a 1991 episode of the Michael Chiklis TV series The Commish...

 

 

We called that show The Knish

 

On 9/22/2025 at 12:12 AM, Stevel said:

And Susan Richardson got on my last nerve.

Did Susan Richardson act like a total brat as Susan Bradford?

She was no Nicholas 

Susan was always flipping out about the least little thing especially during her marriage to Merle. She put him through the ringer. David was also like her and treated Janet like crap.

One thing that EIE made a mistake of doing was use a laugh track during comedic/lighthearted scenes. 

 

I never understood or liked the addition of Jeremy. They spent nearly that entire last season focusing on him which was boring and annoying. 

The writers should have spent more time working with the cast they already had and fleshed out the character of Elizabeth who basically had no real storyline. 

1 hour ago, SoapDope78 said:

I never understood or liked the addition of Jeremy. They spent nearly that entire last season focusing on him which was boring and annoying. 

The writers should have spent more time working with the cast they already had and fleshed out the character of Elizabeth who basically had no real storyline. 

I agree about Elizabeth, but there was one episode in season 4 that I thought could have been an interesting springboard to fleshing out her character.  It was the episode where Willie decided to run for Prom Queen as a protest and after the toxicity of Mary and Susan's reactions (Mary was such a Karen)...and Nancy being Nancy, Elizabeth got a bit of focus with her speech to the feminist group at her high school.

She rightly pointed out that mocking Willie for trying out for a female dominated event was just as bad as mocking a woman for trying out for a male dominated event.. and she gave a rational and calm speech about that... even pointing out that they were no better than men.

To me, she came across as rational and logical.. the pragmatic Bradford child.   It was harder to come up with stories for that characterization.. but good writers could have continued to flesh out Elizabeth as a true blue feminist instead of the toxic ones that her sisters were.

10 hours ago, Soaplovers said:

I agree about Elizabeth, but there was one episode in season 4 that I thought could have been an interesting springboard to fleshing out her character.  It was the episode where Willie decided to run for Prom Queen as a protest and after the toxicity of Mary and Susan's reactions (Mary was such a Karen)...and Nancy being Nancy, Elizabeth got a bit of focus with her speech to the feminist group at her high school.

She rightly pointed out that mocking Willie for trying out for a female dominated event was just as bad as mocking a woman for trying out for a male dominated event.. and she gave a rational and calm speech about that... even pointing out that they were no better than men.

To me, she came across as rational and logical.. the pragmatic Bradford child.   It was harder to come up with stories for that characterization.. but good writers could have continued to flesh out Elizabeth as a true blue feminist instead of the toxic ones that her sisters were.

You made some excellent points about the Elizabeth character. She could have been a trail blazer if the writers had written decent material for her. They could have had her regularly challenging her father on a lot of social issues since he was so conservative in the changing times of the late 70's. I remember there was an episode where she wanted to go on the pill and Tom was not happy about it. I could also see them doing a " Guess Who's Coming To Dinner' plot where she brings home her fiancé and Tom's reaction to it. 

On 9/21/2025 at 4:20 PM, SoapDope78 said:

Another actress that I could picture in the role of Julie on Capitol is Amanda Wyss. 

@SoapDope78 Do you think Robin Mattson would have fared well as Julie Clegg on Capitol?  It is worth noting that Ms. Mattson left General Hospital around the same time that Kimberly Beck left Capitol.

I ran across this old 1977 ad for Pentel Rolling Writer Pens. The model looks like it could be Dianne Kay. Does anyone else think so?

 

Um, is it safe to say that The Fitzpatricks and Mulligan's Stew, two short-lived family series that aired during the 1977-78 season, were both ripoffs of Eight Is Enough? In any case, both The Fitzpatricks and Mulligan's Stew are brought up in this video.