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CBS.com recently posted a number of classic episodes of the ’80s sitcom Family Ties (thanks to Mike for the tip), and I’ve been steadily watching them over the past few weeks. I can remember watching Ties with my mom as a kid, but only very vaguely, and for some reason, I never really encountered the show in syndication while growing up.

It’s fun to watch a show that is dated in so many ways, from minor details, like jokes about “the Russians,” to the show’s very premise: a pair of now-grown-up hippies raising their far more yuppie children in a new era of conservatism and materialism. (Indeed, I wonder what a modern-day Family Ties would be like. Alex P. Keaton would now be old enough to be the dad on the show; what, exactly, would his comically opposite son be like?)

It’s also interesting to explore the development of the situation comedy genre through this lens. In the 1990s, arguably my prime television-watching years, sitcoms were dominated by two generally orthogonal forces: (a) the twin towers of Friends and Seinfeld, and (b) an array of family-oriented sitcoms. The latter group included such well-known hits as Full House and Family Matters (both TGIF stalwarts produced by Miller-Boyett Productions), as well as shows like Home Improvement, which differed slightly in approach but was similar in setup and spirit.

Fundamentally, Family Ties is a family sitcom, and so it’s easy to lump it together with the second group above. The next obvious step, frankly, is to dismiss it, because the Miller-Boyett style that became so emblematic in the ’90s can often be painful to relive, except for the meta-comedic value inherent in such shows. But I think that such a dismissal would be a mistake. Ties really is worth watching, and here’s why:

1) Michael J. Fox is a flat-out great actor. There’s a reason his character, Alex, quickly became the anchor for the show’s success. Fox’s exceptional versatility, which allows him to combine excellent comic timing with capable dramatic acting, put him a cut above the what’s-his-name actors that typified ’90s family sitcoms. Hardly any other show in this genre has benefited from having this kind of megastar at the center of such a highly skilled ensemble cast. Fox somehow managed to make an almost-loathsome character lovable; it’s clear that the writers realized this early on and found ways to make Alex Keaton as complex as the actor playing him deserved. (As an aside, I’ve been listening to Fox’s memoir in the car lately; it’s interesting and engaging.)

2) The drama on Ties is just plain better. The show isn’t weighed down by the schmaltzy music and “awwww” tracks that exemplified the Miller-Boyett modus operandi; as a result, it leaves room for the writers and cast to explore serious situations and their impact on the characters. The Keatons are real people, human and flawed, and they get into real arguments and suffer real heartbreaks that stretch beyond the tidy plot devices of lesser shows. How many family sitcoms have you seen, for example, in which the father figure comes seriously close to an extramarital affair? Or in which the daughter is sexually harassed by her father’s close friend? Or in which the son doesn’t just think about taking drugs but actually does, gets addicted, and suffers the consequences? The degree to which Ties writers were willing to explore heavy situations made for a much higher-quality show than most of the ones I grew up with. (Incidentally, a ’90s family sitcom that does get this right, in many of the same ways, is The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.)

3) The comedy is just plain better, too. Many ’90s family sitcoms relied largely on slapstick and cheap gags for laughs; Ties‘ humor is far more sophisticated. There’s still plenty of cheese, but the show’s writers also drew on political and social commentary for material and made liberal use of sarcasm and deadpan delivery, devices that neither the writers nor the cast of Family Matters were adept enough to employ. It wasn’t just Michael J., either; everyone in the cast, from Tina Yothers’ snarky little sister to Justine Bateman‘s lovable ditz, managed to find their comedic space and exploit it to full advantage.

It always impresses me a little when shows featuring white-collar characters, like Family Ties, The Cosby Show, and Frasier, become successful, because I don’t think most Americans really identify with these characters in any meaningful way. Making these shows work requires both a talented cast and a writing team willing to take risks. I’d say Ties demonstrates both, and so you really should check out a few episodes and see what you think.