S05-E09 brings back Nancy's ex Jeff (John Rubinstein), now the manager of a rock band called Hard Candy and staying with Willie in the guest-house--over dubious Doug's objections. Despite Rubinstein's generally strong work, Jeff was never a distinct guest character on the show, and yet smart viewers will recall the man always had money. Here, he's broke and in debt to drug dealers to keep his band high and happy. Jeff is suddenly made to look like the proverbial bad example; despite this, and despite being used, Willie stands by his friend (though he does give Jeff a stern third-act talking-to, naturally). Meanwhile, Kate is being sweet-talked by and sent gifts from an admirer--a teenage student at her school (Michael J. Fox). As side-plots go, this is one of "Family"'s most unbelievable, but director James Broderick stages it nicely, even playing up the ridiculousness of the situation by adding a funny tag. Kristy McNichol's Buddy isn't given much to do here, and Meredith Baxter Birney's Nancy is missing-in-action (disappointing since Fox would later play Birney's son on "Family Ties"). Not a bad episode, though the rock scene asides are TV-tame, and I'm not sure whether or not Kate's "loaned" $3K will ever get back to her.
