Fox looks back on his playfully antagonistic screen relationship with his sitcom sister in his memoir &34;Future Boy.&34; Why Justine Bateman's Family Ties character stopped 'taking it' from TV brother Michael J. Fox Fox looks back on his playfully antagonistic screen relationship with his sitcom sister in his memoir &34;Future Boy.&34; By Ryan Coleman :maxbytes(150000):stripicc()/RyanColemanauthorphoto0081ce8f0254478080f35972c433877b.jpg) Ryan Coleman Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

Fox looks back on his playfully antagonistic screen relationship with his sitcom sister in his memoir "Future Boy."

Why Justine Bateman's Family Ties character stopped 'taking it' from TV brother Michael J. Fox

Fox looks back on his playfully antagonistic screen relationship with his sitcom sister in his memoir "Future Boy."

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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December 24, 2025 7:00 p.m. ET

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Justine Bateman and Michael J. Fox on 'Family Ties'. Credit:

NBC/NBCU Photo Bank

Michael J. Fox made it nearly impossible for his *Family Ties* costars to get the last word over his quick-witted junior conservative Alex P. Keaton. But it was Justine Bateman who put the emphasis on *nearly*.**

"Many of Alex's best scenes in the show were with his sister, Mallory, the brilliant and beguiling Justine Bateman," Fox reflects in his recent memoir *Future Boy*, which chronicles the making of the time-hopping '80s classic *Back to the Future*.

Fox filmed season 2 of the sitcom that first lit his star simultaneously with *Back to the Future*, meaning *Future Boy* is replete with digressions and sidebars about his "day job" shooting *Family Ties*. The NBC show revolved around the dysfunctional dynamic of the Keaton family, with Fox's right-wing firebrand constantly at odds with his hippie parents (played by Meredith Baxter and Michael Gross) and materialistic sister Mallory.

"Justine was always learning, always willing to do whatever it took to get the laugh," Fox writes. "Too many times, those laughs came at Mallory's expense." That is, until Bateman figured out how to flip the script.

Michael J. Fox, Tina Yothers, Scott Valentine, and Justine Bateman on 'Family Ties'.

NBC/NBCU Photo Bank

As Fox notes, his Alex "unleashed" all manner of setups, one-liners, and zingers "on her mercilessly."

In the show's first season, Mallory usually took the tack of rolling her eyes, scoffing, or otherwise letting Alex's barrage of provocations bounce off her. "She always had to take it," Bateman recalls to Fox in the book. "It started to bother me personally, to have to keep taking it. And I thought, well, what if Mallory didn't think it was an insult? What if she responded to Alex's digs by saying, 'Thank you.' And that would confuse him: 'No, I meant that to be an insult. You can't take it as a compliment!'"

As soon as Bateman switched up her approach, the audience responded. "Justine employed this technique on her own, putting a spin on the dialogue that the writers might not have intended," Fox explains. "But hey, it got laughs, and soon her character evolved in that direction."

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Despite their series-long acrimony, punctuated by brief but meaningful moments of reconciliation and understanding, both Fox and Bateman said the enmity was all for show. "Alex and Mallory's sibling tension did not mirror real life," Fox writes. "Our characters were always at odds, but as actors and people, Justine and I had a certain sympatico. We became the best of friends."

Bateman adds that "Working together was so easy… It was like two well-­fitting pieces."

*Family Ties* ran for seven seasons, airing its series finale in 1989. By that time Fox had already transformed into a superstar thanks to the mega-successes of films like *Back to the Future* and *Teen Wolf*.**

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Bateman continued working steadily as well, appearing in TV shows and movies like *Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman*, *Desperate Housewives*, and *High Ball*. She also evolved into an outspoken critic of the entertainment industry. In her 2018 memoir *Fame*, Bateman mined her experiences as a young adult on one of the most popular series on television to unpack the trap that celebrity can lock actors into.

"There's an attention paid to the fame, the sort of sheath that's on you, this sort of cloud that's covering over you, and that's what people want to touch. It's not even really you that they want to touch," she told ** at the time. "And then when it starts slipping away [like losing anything else in life, it can be] very traumatic for a human."**

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Source: Comedy

Published: December 25, 2025 at 06:00AM on Source: ANDY MAG

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