Eight Is Enough

Merle recruits the girls for a charity basketball team. Tom is jealous when a publisher offers to publish Abby's thesis and Tom can't get his accepted. They pool their efforts, after competitive feelings are straightened out, to co-author his book. Nicholas gets his friend's mom a job helping with the book. Nicholas's friend is upset to learn that his mom works for Abby and not the other way around.

Abby needs time to deal with memories of her late husband after a fellow prisoner of war shows up in Sacramento. She works out her feelings and returns to the family. Nicholas goes steady for the first time, and finds going steady is not all fun when the girl is more interested in the bracelet he gives her than in him. Nancy gets tired of loaning money to the other Bradford children.

Ernie misreads Elizabeth's friendly gestures. David is jealous that Janet is working long hours with a male colleague. Tom counsels David and Abby counsels Janet, and they end up happily together. Bored with his own house and family, Nicholas has more fun playing at a friend's house but his friend has more fun at Nicholas's house.

Tom's new temporary secretary is overly attentive. Joe Simons, the con man who helped Nicholas return from San Diego, shows up pretending to have struck it rich in the Yukon and drives the family bonkers. He claims to have found a gold mine. Joannie offers to produce a TV commercial for David's construction company.

It's winter break and Joannie, Nancy, and Mary meet strange men that drive Tom and Abby crazy. Tom fixes Tommy up with his boss's niece.

Tommy is upset when Jill's idea of a commitment is not the same as his and then misinterprets signals from Mary's friend, Kerry, and gets deeper into trouble. Tommy presents Jill with a class ring. Abby and the girls plan a surprise baby shower for Susan. Nicholas plays go-between for Marvin but ends up with the girl instead.

Abby tries to cheer Tom up on his 50th birthday. Tom feels the pressure of teh youth movement at work and believes that the Register wants to replace him with a younger columnist. Merle and Susan try to pick names for their baby. Nicholas is helping Merle come up with a name for the new baby.

Tom is upset that everyone is neglecting their household duties so Abby and the kids pool their resources to hire a maid. Tommy tries to help his friend Ernie, who won't admit he has an alcoholic problem. They split-up over this and Bradford steps in to help. Nicholas and Marvin try to get into the Book of World Records.

Upset that an all girl band was chosen to play at prom, Tommy protests by running for prom queen. Joannie pushes her boss for some on-camera work.

Joannie tries to convince her boss that she is ready for more responsibility at work. Joannie wants to do a documentary on her family. Mary learns that being an adult can be painful when she falls for a resident at the hospital who is unavailable. Eager to earn extra money, Nicholas sells guaca dew, a wrinkle remover, door to door.

Tom talks David into hiring Tommy as a construction worker but Tommy has to prove himself to his fellow workers by standing up to them on his own. Nicholas needs to write a speech about Tom and follows him around for a day at the office to get material. Elizabeth is looking for advice on how to meet men in college.

Tom and Abby believe that Susan is depressed because Merle is gone but learn that she is pregnant. The girls try to cheer her up. Joannie meets a psychic and holds a seance to help Susan. Merle arrives to win her back and finds out she is going to have their baby. Ernie and Tommy use Nicholas as bait to meet girls.

The furnace is on the blink, causing a cold front in the Bradford house, but Tom dismisses Mary's offer to fix it; Susan's chance for an internship conflicts with Merle's offer to play winter ball in Puerto Rico; Nicholas goes on strike for a raise in his allowance.

When Tommy is rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery, Mary and Nicholas both feel culpable for different reasons; Merle and Susan adjust to the give and take of married life; Nancy plays travel guide for a visiting colleague from China who doesn't speak English.

Still in Hawaii, Tom and his father contemplate whether they can or should bother to reconcile their relationship.

Tom's sister Vivian sweeps into town with an offer to take the entire family on vacation to Hawaii, where she secretly plans to reunite Tom with their estranged father.

Three Bradfords struggle to meet the expectations of others: Nicholas turns truant to escape the long shadow of his siblings; Tom's boss pressures him to participate in a father-son golf tournament; Nancy feels compelled to date a stockbroker uniquely positioned to help David's slumping business.

Joannie gets a job in the research department of a TV station. Mary finds a hidden home pregnancy test and tries to find the owner. Joannie ""scoops"" Tom on a story on a porno theater for her new job at a television station. The problem is that the theater is owned by a public corporation and Tom is a stockholder. Tom is upset that a porno theater has opened in his neighborhood but then discovers that he is part owner of it.

Things are not as they seem at the Bradfords when Merle's sister, Linda Mae, comes from the farm and visits the Bradfords and is shocked at what she finds. Joannie talks Nancy into playing a stripper in her play. Susan panics when she hears that Merle was injured in a game. It's a comedy of errors when Linda Mae calls the police after misunderstanding the family's crazy life style.

Chaos hits the Bradford house when everyone's activities go around the clock. In order to get her Ph.D. more quickly, Abby attends school full-time and has little time for the family. Tom is upset when no one is home when Nicholas gets home from school. Tired of getting dead-end jobs because of her looks, Nancy gets a job at a brokerage firm. All this drives Tom bananas and he finally calls a family meeting at 3 a.m. by playing loud music to rearrange the goings on.

David and Janet set a wedding date but it turns out to be the same day Merle and Susan decided to move up the wedding day to accomodate Merle's ballplaying career move. Nancy gets a job delivering singing telegrams and is hired to deliver one at the double wedding for David and Janet and Merle and Susan.

David returns and is determined to win Janet back from her new boyfriend. Merle confides to Nicholas that he wants to propose to Susan but Susan is upset when the entire Bradford family knows about before she does. Nicholas acts as the go-between for everyone

Nicholas and Susan meet Merle the Pearl, a local minor league baseball player. Nicholas is upset that his young girlfriend is moving out of town and wants to introduce her to Merle the Pearl to impress her before she leaves. Frustrated by the gas shortage, Tom agrees to buy a new, fuel-efficient car. Merle falls for Susan and Nicholas gets his first kiss

Tom and Abby are surprised to learn that Nicholas is musically talented but Abby is upset when Tom gets him a drum set. Joannie falls for the local drama critic who gave her a good review. Tom thinks he is a phony and tries to break up their romance. An unemployed David decides to open his own construction business and the whole family pitches in to help him

While substitute teaching at the high school, Abby refuses to pass the star basketball player, and troubles begin for Tommy. It's an awkward meeting when Tom meets Janet's parents. Tommy is pressured by the basketball player to get the answers to Abby's test. Tommy learns to stand up for what is right.

Abby uses the family as subjects in a research project for school. Nicholas's new friend, Bobby, runs away from his foster family because he wants to become part of the Bradford family. They decide to sail down the Sacramento river. Abby's friend and his wife begin to consider adopting bobby. Tommy and Elizabeth debate the merits of cosmetic surgery

Tommy offers to marry a pregnant friend who was a girl, Lori, even though he's not the father of her baby. The Bradfords rally to support Tommy's taking of responsibility. Nicholas and Irving open a lemonade stand in front of the Bradford house but face stiff competition when a lavish lemonade stand is opened by the Cappleton sisters around the corner. David and Janet spend a night in the Bradford house when their apartment is sprayed for bugs.

Nicholas tries to avoid a young lady who has a crush on him. Tired of saying goodnight to each other every night, David and Janet decide to live together. Tom is nominated for ""Father of the Year"", but his chance grows slim after David and Janet decide to become roommates.

On a rainy night in Sacramento, the Bradford house is turned upside-down when the power goes out and leaves the Bradfords stuck at home with Nancy's blind date - a Norman Bates look-alike. Joannie is studying the film ""Psycho"" and the lights go out when her date shows up -- a look-alike for Tony Perkins. Tommy and Elizabeth think ""Perkins"" is an escaped convict. Tom is scheduled to participate in a debate on population control but he and Abby get stuck in an elevator when the power goes out. Nicholas and Irving play secret agent. Susan gets stuck.

Abby's mother arrives for a visit and Abby is upset to learn that her parent are breaking up. Abby's father arrives shortly, and musical rooms becomes the name of the game. The girls want to move back home after their rent is raised but are afraid to tell Tom. Tom is picked up by the police after the kids rack up $170 worth of parking tickets on the station wagon

In an effort to keep the remaining Bradfords at home, Tom repeals all curfews but Abby doubts his wisdom. Tom shows everyone that it is possible to have too much of a good thing. The girls learn that having their own apartment isn't as great as they thought it would be. Nicholas has a hard time adjusting to having his own room.

Tired of Tom's strict rules, Nancy, Susan, and Joannie look for an apartment of their own because Tom has trouble accepting that his daughters are growing up. David buys a new truck and agrees to sell Tommy his van. Tom is upset when Abby loans the girls the money to get their own apartment.

Both Elizabeth and Tommy learn that there is no easy way to success. Elizabeth wants to go to an expensive college in Vermont with a good dance program but Tom can't afford the tuition. Nancy takes a correspondence course in hair stying. Abby discovers a dance scholarship. Elizabeth can compete for Elizabeth starts studying dance with a professional dance compoany. Tommy tries to earn some sxtra money.

Tired of not having time to themselves, Tom and Abby conspire to get rid of the kids so they can spent the weekend alone.They send the kids camping for the weekend. Susan brings a nine year old girl home from the day care center. Tommy gets a date with a popular girl at school.

In San Diego, Nicholas is taken in by Joe Simmons, an old con man and bum who was a friend of Sam's. He then performs his best scam trying to get Nicholas back to the Bradfords. Believing that Nicholas is at a friend's house, the Bradford's work on repairing Tommy and Nicholas room.

The Bradford children plan a party for Tom and Abby's anniversary and Nicholas fell left out. Tom and Abby unknowingly bid against each other for ""A Christmas Line"" tickets for their anniversary. Nicholas accidents set fire to his room, destroying the anniversary present Tommy was making for Tomand Abby. Feeling like the family doesn't want him around anymore, Nicholas runs away to find Sam in San Diego.

Abby's parents are flying in from Pasadena for Thanksgiving.Nicholas is surprised when the Vice-President accepts his invitation to Thanksgiving dinner with the Bradfords. He picks the Bradfords as American's typical family. Tommy puts a deposit on a used car.

The male Bradfords refuse to attend a speech that Abby was selected to give. War erupts between the Bradfords men and woman when the woman feel they are not respected by the men. Nancy gets a job pumping gas in a sexy uniform in a local filling station.

David starts living gangerously after a close friend dies oif a heart attack at a young age. The kids try to help and eventually David cleans up his act. Nicholas tries to help by offering David a kitten from a litter of a stray cat he has taken kn. He soon discovers that the cat is pregnant.

Many struggles with medical school and charaviristic professors. Susan, Elizabeth, and Nancy try to reach Tommy to drive is reluctant to do it. Tommu is embrassed top be seen with his teacher, Susan and Nancy. Finally, Tom traches Tommy a lesson in driving. Fed up with Mary's complaints about beeing unable ro study at home, Tom get her an apartment of her own for her to study for exams in medical school. She finally maves back home and the whole family coaches her.

Susan struggles to find the right career after she realizes she's not out to be a professional athlete. So she decides to try out to be a cop. Nancy opens a day care center at the Bradford house, but soon discovers that's not good with kids. While she fails the written test for the cop job, Susan helps Nancy control the kids, who are running amok, and finds that she likes it enought to go back to school as an education major. Joannie makes David's girlfriend jealous when she practices lines from her new play in David's apartment.

Tom is chosen to teach a journalism class at the university and is impressed by one student who is working his way throu college. Nicholas and Irving, who are making prank calls,recieve their own from David and Tommy. Tom is disappointed when Nancy flunkes out of college and decides to find a job, but she doesn't appricate it when he pulls strings to get her back in. Tom finally helps her get a job interview.

Nicholas has a crush on his teacher and buys her self-portrait at her garbage sale, but tries to hide it from the kids, who think there is a valuable painting underneath. The Bradfords because believe Nicholas's painting may be worth a fortune and dream about how they would spend their millions of it is. Tommy's chances with a popular girl are hurt when he contracts trench mouth.

Joannie gets accepted into a theater company and her first role is that of gopher and understudy.When the lead actress quits the play, Joannie has 24 hour to learn her lines and is unaware that Tom will be reviewing the play for the vacationing drama clinic.The Bradford children try to make Abby feel guilty about not sharing her car with tjhe family.Nicholas can't get away from a girl who has a crush on him.

Abby has her own problems when she thinks sha may be pregnant and is relucant to tell Tom. Tom panics when he finds out he is going to be audited by the I.R.S, and the family pitches in for help. Nicholas plays post office for the first time.

Nicholas convinces Tom to coach his little league football team. Tired of having no privacy, the Bradford children have their own phone line installed. Tom resigns as little league coach because of pushy parents but becomes a pushy parents himself when Abby takes over as coach.

Suffering from imsommia and thinking he's going nuts.Tom visits a psychiatrist to find the cause. Tommy develops two personalities, ""disco kid"" and ""mellow man"", to impress the two girls he is dating. Tom's sneaking around leads Abby to believe that he may be having an affair.

Frustrated by the transporation arrangements, Tommy, Elizabeth, Nancy, and Susan buy their own car. Tom is upset that Tommy is failing English and pressures him to get a good grade. Tom learns a lesson about parental pressure when Tommy, trying to please him,buys a term paper from a high school hustler. Joannie wants Nicholas to play Prince Charming in her play.

Susan and Tom are jealous when Abby spends too much time with Susan's new boyfriend she brought home for dinner, and Abby strikes up too much connection with her date. Nicholas is appointed water monitor at home during a water shortage, and gets fired for being too tough. Tommy gets into trouble at school and wrongly assumes he's home-free when the principal calls David instead of Tom.

Joannie, Nancy, and Susan meet new guys at a disco over winter break and love times three drives the Bradford household crazy. David's friend tries to convince him to go on a blind date, so he fixes David with one, but the ""date"" turns out to be totally unexepectely...his sister Mary. Tommy desperatiely tries to win rock concert tickets.

Abby is upset about when David gives Nicholas a BB gun. Tom's column about garbage causes a controverty when he writes a tongue-in-cheek column. That's when his troubles start to pile up, along with his garbage. Tom is prepared to go to jail rather than reveal his source for his column.

With Abby's encouragement, Tom takes a leave of absence to pursue the dream of writing a book about his family. He can't get it published the norman way, but has a special issue done for each member of the family. David goes on a double date with Nancy and they come home with different stories of the same night.

The family gives Tom a day of peace for his birthday, and it drives him crazy. David goes for the weekend and gives Tommy the use of his apartment but Tommy winds up throwing a party. Abby's parenting skills are tested when Tommy gets drunk.

Tom is upset when Abby makes arrangements for Elizabeth to get birth control pills. Tom is drafted into doing a ""Dear Abby"" for the paper. Abby's studies are keeping her busy and leave little time for the family. Abby decides to stay at home more and drives everyone, including herself a little crazy trying to be a Betty Crocker-type. David and Tommy fix Abby's car.

The kids convince Tom to shoiw some Christmas spirit by bailing Sam out of jail and inviting him to the house for Christmas dinner as they celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. Tommy receives a special Christmas present from his mom.

The Bradfords celebrate their first Christmas without their late mother,Joan. Nicholas mistakenly assumes the man he finds in the house on Christmas Eve is Santa Claus and lets him steal the Christmas presents, putting Christmas temporaily on hold.

Tom's eccentric sister Auntie V returns for another visit with the Bradfords. She surprises Tom and Abby with a new house as a wedding present. The kids are excited, but as they fix up the house for sale they begin to fall in love with it again. Nancy wants to expand her horizons by going on a cruise with Auntie V. Nancy falls for the estate agent who is trying to sell the Bradford house.

Abby coordinates Spring cleaning at the Bradford house. Mary is upset when the son of Tom's friend comes to Sacramento to open an army recuriting office on campus, which does not please her liberal anti-war feelings. Over the course of time they learn to respect each other's beliefs. Tom gets the wrong idea when he spots Mary and Richard in a hug. Tommy helps Nicholas deal with a school bully. Another of Tommy's money making schemes backfires.

Tom and Abby take the kids to San Francisco where Tom is scheduled to accept an award for his column anbd the trip doubles as a honeymoon. Mary is upset when she is rejected by a medical school and Abby wants to contact an old friend to help her get in. The kids wrangle their way along the trip as chaos begins.

The children get carried away with the weddind plans and nearly cause the wedding to be canceled. Abby asks Elizabeth to be her maid of honor and develop a special relationship.

After much debate, Tom and Abby decides on November 9th as their wedding date and agree to let the children handle the wedding plans, but it almost does not happen when things get too crazy. Elizabeth and Nicholas are not as excited about the wedding plans as the rest of the Bradford children.

Joannie agrees to do a nude scene in a shakespearean play and is relives when Tom says he can't make it to the show, or so it goes. [Obviously, a sweeps stunt.] Abby's former father-in-law visits and she is hesitant to introuduce him to Tom and tell him about her plans to marry him. David arranges for Tom to buy an engagement ring for Abby through a friend at work, but it turns out to be too hot to handle.

Mary runs for a seat of the Board of Education and enlists the famil's help on her campaign. Abby is too busy to keep her dates with Tom. Tom proposes to Abby after she and Mary are able to work out their difficulties over Mary's running for the school board. Abby accepts Tom's proposal.

Tom throws a party to celebrates paying off the mortage on the Bradford house. Unfortunately, the kids get into a melee when Susan punches a heckler at David and Tommy's singing appreance and Tom has to remortage the house to pay the damages as seven of his children were arrested after a fight in the nightclub. David waits for the results of his contractor's exam. Nicholas felt left out since he was never arrested.

After Tom and Abby break up, the Bradford children set Tom up with another woman in an effort to make Abby jealous. Nancy enters the Miss Scaramento beauty contest. David and Tommy hang aroung a laundromat in hopes of meeting girls.

David's new roommate romance both Susan and Joannie.Tom decides he has been neflecting Nicholas and drives Nicholas crazy by spending too much time with him. Tommy organizes a family garage sale to earn money.

This episode introduces Betty Buckley in the contract role of Sue "" Abby"" Abbott. At first she was a special guest star. Tommy breaks his ankles at a touch football game and will miss school for five weeks. Mary moves in with her boyfriend, a young psychiatry students [Doug] . Sandra Sue Abbott is sent to tutor Tommy while he is absent from school.

Dr. Max shows up on Tom's doorstep after a fight with his wife and ends up staying with the Bradfords, driving them crazy with his fussy ways. David tries to borrow money from his brothers and sisters to cover a bad check he wrote at poker game to cover a debt.

David learns about his life at a party the family throws to celebrates doctor Maxwell's 25th anniversary, as his date and Maxwell don't get along. David helps an older woman stuck in a traffic jam, but his dates seems to cause more trouble with his family than he bargained for.

Topsy-turvy at the Bradfords when Tommy has his ""dream girl"" stand him up. Neither David nor Tom wants to go on their annual hunt. Nancy wants to be a cheerleader. Elizabeth gets grounded over curfew.

Tom's chance at managing the newpapers runs into trouble when the printers go on stike. The whole family pitches in to help earn extra money. Nancy is disappointed by a modeling agent but Joan geta a job as a photographer to earn money during the strike. Tom and Joan argue about her continuing to work after the strike is settled.

Matilda, Mary's very pregnant, unmarriage, friend stays in the Bradford house while she is between apartment, but her attidude toward marriage upsets Tom. She learns the joys of parenthood and paternal Tom helps deliver her baby. Tom is upset that Susan wants to spend the weekend with her bofriend at Square Valley.

""Never try eating nectarines since juice may dispense."" That's how Tom and Joan Bradford remember the names of their childrens: Nicholas, Tommy, Elizabeth, Nancy, Susan, Joannie, Mary, and David.Tired of fighting with his father,David move out of the Bradford house and the youngest Bradford children fight over his bedroom, prompting Tom to learn the importance of having a family relationship.Elizabeth is arrested for possession of narcotics and Tom and Joan have to find 1,500 to pay a lawyer. Nicholas had his tonsils removed.