Free to Be... a Family

Free to Be... A Family is a television special hosted by Marlo Thomas broadcast on December 14, 1988.^[1] It was a joint production of ABC and Soviet Union television (the USSR then three years before its collapse). It was nominally a sequel to the popular 1974 ABC Afterschool Special Free to Be... You and Me, also hosted by Thomas.^[2] Among the performers on the 1988 show were The Muppets, Jon Bon Jovi, Penn and Teller, Carly Simon, Lily Tomlin, and Robin Williams.

After her husband, talk show host Phil Donahue, hosted a series of U.S.–Soviet space-bridge telecasts throughout the '80s, Thomas decided that this kind of international understanding and cooperation should start at a much earlier age. "The purpose of the special was to emphasize the fact that kids in the U.S. and Russia are much the same and can relate to one another, in hopes of bringing peace between the nations."^[3] Prior to the television special, there was a book, with contributions by Christopher Cerf among others, and a record album, both under the same title.^[4]

It won the 1989 Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Program.^[5]

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Marlo Thomas as herself
Tatyana Vedeneyeva as herself
Robin Williams as himself
Lily Tomlin as Ernestine the Telephone Operator
Carly Simon as herself
Penn and Teller as themselves
Jon Bon Jovi as himself
Jim Henson as Kermit the Frog
Frank Oz as Miss Piggy
Kevin Clash as Elmo, Unemployed Bear
Camille Bonora as Meryl Sheep
Natalia Derzhavina as Khryusha

A&M Records SP 5196, 1988 soundtrack, Free to Be... A Family
Family Home Entertainment, 1993 VHS, Free to Be... A Family
Marlo Thomas. Free to be a Family: A book about all kinds of belonging, Bantam, October 1987, ISBN 978-0553052350

[1]
Rotskoff, Lori (November 2012). When We Were Free to Be: Looking Back at a Children's Classic and the Difference It Made. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0807837238.
[2]
Douglas, Susan Jeanne (February 2004). The Mommy Myth: The Idealization of Motherhood and How It Has Undermined All Women. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0743259996.
[3]
Leal, Andrew (May 2009). Garlen, Jennifer C.; Graham, Anissa M. (eds.). Muppets and Money. McFarland & Company. p. 213. ISBN 978-0786442591. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
[4]
Mickenberg, Julia; Vallone, Lynne (March 2011). The Oxford Handbook of Children's Literature. Oxford University Press. pp. 533–534. ISBN 978-0195379785.
[5]
"Outstanding Children's Program – 1989". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved September 5, 2014.

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[1] [1]
Rotskoff, Lori (November 2012). When We Were Free to Be: Looking Back at a Children's Classic and the Difference It Made. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0807837238.

[2] [2]
Douglas, Susan Jeanne (February 2004). The Mommy Myth: The Idealization of Motherhood and How It Has Undermined All Women. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0743259996.

[3] [3]
Leal, Andrew (May 2009). Garlen, Jennifer C.; Graham, Anissa M. (eds.). Muppets and Money. McFarland & Company. p. 213. ISBN 978-0786442591. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)

[4] [4]
Mickenberg, Julia; Vallone, Lynne (March 2011). The Oxford Handbook of Children's Literature. Oxford University Press. pp. 533–534. ISBN 978-0195379785.

[5] [5]
"Outstanding Children's Program – 1989". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved September 5, 2014.

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Free to Be... a Family

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