A Family for Joe is an American sitcom that starred Robert Mitchum in the title role. It started out as a television movie that aired NBC on February 25, 1990, before turning it into a series that lasted from March 24 until August 19, 1990. Nine episodes of the series were filmed.

Plot

A Family for Joe is about the Bankston children, 13-year-old Nick (Chris Furrh), 11-year-old Holly (Maia Brewton), 9-year-old Chris (Jarrad Paul), and 7-year-old Mary (Jessica Player) who have been recently orphaned. Rather than have themselves split up into foster care, they find a homeless man, Joe (Robert Mitchum), to live with them and act as their grandfather. It isn't until Joe is granted monitored guardianship of the children by a family court judge when the real trial between him and them all begins.

Cast

Episodes

TV Movie

Episodes

Response

Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly rated the series a D, stating that "the kids are leering little creeps, the jokes are moronic, and Joe's homelessness is already absent from the show's current scripts". In the documentary series The Write Environment, writer Philip Rosenthal (who would go on to create Everybody Loves Raymond) talks about being a staff writer on the series.