My Two Dads

In West Hollywood in the late 1980s, Sunday meant church, brunch at the French Quarter, cruising at  Mugi or the Faultline, then Chinese take-out in front of the tv, watching 21 Jump Street, Married...with Children, It's Gary Shandling's Show, and Tracey Ullman. We certainly never watched My Two Dads (1987-1990), but we were familiar with the controversy.

The premise: 14 years ago, Marcy Bradford was canoodling with two men at the same time.  She never informed either that she was pregnant, and raised Nicole (Stacy Keanan) alone.  Then she dies, and a family court judge tracks down the men and gives them both custody.  Fortunately, they are both still single, and eager to co-parent a daughter they never heard of before:

1. Suave ladies's man Joey (Greg Evigan, the trucker-adventurer of  BJ and the Bear)

2. Skittish button-down Michael (Paul Reiser, who would go on to star in the popular Mad About You).

Housefuls of parenting men were surprisingly common in the 1980s, like the housefuls of single dads in the 1960s, but with double or triple the hetero-romantic plotlines.

The Judge (Florence Stanley from Night Court) moved into the building to keep an eye on the Full House-Minus-One.

Filling out the cast were former football star Dick Butkus as the owner of the diner downstairs, and two boyfriends for Nicole, so she could be like her mom:

1. Cory (Giovanni Ribisi of Friends and My Name is Earl).  Much older in this shot, of course.
















2. Zach (Chad Allen of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, who is gay in real life).

The familiar cast was augmented by familiar guest stars, such as Scott Baio (Charles in Charge), New York mayor Ed Koch, Russell Johnson (The Professor on Gilligan's Island), and Richard Moll (Night Court).

This was long before anyone in Hollywood would acknowledge the possibility of gay men being parents, so the dynamic duo live in a strictly gay-free New York City.  No gay characters, no pretending to be a couple to get some special gay-only privilege, no being mistaken for gay, not even for a double-take instant.

My Two Dads was strictly about heterosexuals.

Even the howls of outrage by watchdog groups was not about any implication of gayness, but because Nicole's mom was fornicating with two men at the same time.

By the way,  Stacey Keanan went on to star on Step by Step, another gay-free TGIF sitcom full of familiar faces, including Patrick Duffy of Dallas and Suzanne Sommers of Three's Company