Eight Is Enough: Season 04 (1979)

As Season Four of Eight is Enough gets under way, David Bradford (Grant Goodeve), the oldest of Sacramento journalist Tom Bradford's (Dick Van Patten) eight children, is eagerly anticipating his marriage to his attorney fiancée Janet (Joan Prather). Romance also enters the life of David's sister Susan (Susan Richardson) when she falls for charming minor-league baseball player Merle "The Pearl" Stockwell (Brian Patrick Clarke). Thus it is that the wedding ceremony becomes a double header when Susan and Merle wed on the same day as David and Janet (conveniently just in time for the Fall ratings sweeps!). Elsewhere in the Bradford household, Tom's wife Abby (Betty Buckley) studies for a PhD in Education; daughter Joannie (Laurie Walters) lands a job at a local TV station, when she meets and falls in love with coworker Jeffrey Trout (Nicholas Pryor); 18-year-old Elizabeth (Connie Newton, previously billed as Connie Needham) enters college; David establishes his own construction business; second-youngest son Tommy (William Aames) organizes a band; Tom's freewheeling sister Vivian (Janis Paige) treats the family to a Hawaiian vacation (no, they don't meet the Brady Bunch); the kids and Abby help Tom come to grips with his 50th birthday; youngest son Nicholas (Adam Rich) "jinxes" the Bradfords by breaking a chain letter; and Susan finds out that she's pregnant--just after Merle has walked out on her. New to the series this season is Michael Goodrow as Tommy's new friend Ernie, who turns out to have a serious drinking problem. As Season Four draws to a close, Susan prepares for motherhood, and Tommy throws a graduation party that gets him into hot water with the local constabulary. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi