Eight Wasn't Enough: The Classic TV Shows That Spawned 'Jon & Kate'
By Angel Cohn, TWoP | Wednesday, July 1, 2009, 5:56 PM
'The Brady Bunch'
Paramount Pictures
Our culture seems to be obsessed with TV shows about plus-sized families, whether it's "Jon & Kate Plus 8," "Raising Sextuplets" or "18 Kids & Counting." But we shouldn't blame their respective networks for this disturbing trend -- no, giant families have been part of the television landscape for decades, and it's these scripted shows that we hold responsible.
"Eight Is Enough"
Total offspring: 8
We're still not sure how a newspaper columnist and a school teacher managed to support a family of eight, even though some of the kids were old enough to have jobs. Perhaps frugality was why they had to get poor little Nicholas that unfortunate bowl haircut?
"Just the 10 of Us"
Total offspring: 8
After appearing on "Growing Pains," Coach Lubbock got fired in a round of budget-cuts and had to pack up his family to take a job at an all-boys school, giving viewers the misleading impression it was easy to move that many kids across country and give them all a private-school education.
"The Partridge Family"
Total offspring: 5
This show about a family band put underaged (and only moderately talented) children to work for nothing, in order to support their mom. We can only hope Kate Gosselin doesn't own a copy on DVD.
"The Brady Bunch"
Total offspring: 6
This campy classic was the result of the blending of two families. They had to deal with three girls, three boys, Greg's alternate personality, a live-in maid, a dog and the occasional appearance by an annoying cousin.
"Party of Five"
Total offspring: 5
These five Salinger siblings really made a go of it, despite the fact that they constantly bickered, had no real parental skills to speak of and had a disturbing mention penchant for calling everyone by stupid short nicknames.
Watch a full episode of "Party of Five" here:
"The Cosby Show"
Total offspring: 5
This is actually probably one of the few quality shows on this list, because it was funny without being too annoying, and the kids were real, and fully formed instead of stereotypical brats. A reality version of this might be refreshing.
"The Waltons"
Total offspring: 7
Well, at least this series showed how a cash-strapped family, complete with parents and live-in grandparents, had to struggle to raise this large amount of kids (no corporate sponsors from them) during the Depression era. Their secret? Ending every night with a story and a round of good nights.
Talk About It: Which fictional plus-sized TV family is your favorite?
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