16 ‘Family Ties’ Facts All Michael J. Fox Fans Should Know

7. Scott Valentine felt bad about how much he was being paid

Scott Valentine played Mallory’s monosyllabic boyfriend Nick Moore, who didn’t exactly have a lot of lines. “That was some tough stuff there. I’m so glad I went to the [American Academy of Dramatic Arts] and to all the other fine acting institutions so I could grunt on primetime television. The primal dig, the date from hell. It was a lot of fun, but literally there were times where I only had to utter two guttural utterances in a show and they paid me a bundle of cash for it. I felt bad at times.”

8. Mallory Wasn’t Always An Airhead

Mallory ended up being a bit of a ditz, but it didn’t start out that way. Justine Bateman who played her started taking Alex’s digs as faux compliments and the producers decided to go in that direction. By the way, the actress is no dummy in real life. She’s just about to graduate from UCLA’s computer science and management program.

9. Fox had to shoot Back to the Future and Family Ties at the same time

Michael J. Fox couldn’t get time off from Family Ties to shoot Back to the Future, so he frequently went from set to set day and night. “All of a sudden, I came back from Christmas break and I went to work on Family Ties, and then that night I was standing in the parking lot with flaming tire tracks running between my legs—and my whole world changed. I ended up getting about three hours sleep a night for the next three or four months, because they had to get the movie out that summer.”