Okay, so here's the story. I've recently received many ("many" = "two") e-mails regarding the old sitcom "The Ties That Bind," starring Andrew Dice Clay and Ralph "Why the hell am I in a sitcom with this guy?" Macchio. Basically, Ralph played Clay's brother, blah blah blah. I don't know a whole lot about it; a pilot was made, and the show was never picked up. However, for some reason, several female Macchio Maniacs have been receiving preview, self-destructive copies of this pilot. Could it be making a comeback? Only time will tell! Read on.....

From Juliana: Hi, I just thought you'd find the following of interest since you're a Ralph Macchio fan. Okay, so this company called me and asked me to watch this tape (they sent it express mail) and fill out all these survey questions. So, I get it in the mail, pop it in the vcr, and it's this cheesy but watchable sitcom called "Ties that Bind." It starts Ralph as this 24 year old who's married to this woman and they have a 3 year old. His parents are prominent characters, and his dad owns a bakery. Ralph stays at home to write, and decided he's going to work in the bakery for a while to make extra $$. This is they weird thing, Ralph's cousin is played by Andrew Dice Clay, but he's billed as Andrew Clay. So, I don't know if this sitcom has been picked up by a network or what, but it was definitely interesting. I'm curious to see if it makes it anywhere. I would send it to you, but the tape erases as it plays. Weird, huh?

From Anita: You seemed interested in news about "The Ralph Macchio Show." I saw one version of it a few weeks ago, and it was called "Ties that Bind". I'm sorry I don't remember a whole lot about it because it was a very forgettable sitcom. A marketing firm sent me a cassette of it for my opinion (as a "woman between the age of 18 and 34"), and the tape was designed to erase itself as it played. Ralph played an aspiring writer struggling to make ends meet with his wife (Anita Barone) and a young child. It seemed to be trying to copy the formula of "Everybody Loves Raymond", but the dialogue was boring and the story was trite. His parents were played by Robert Costanzo and Micole Mercurio, and Dad was trying to get Ralph to give up his dreams and work in the family bakery. The "wacky sidekicks" were played stereotypically by Luigi Amodeo and Andrew Dice Clay. Lots of Italian jokes, some toilet humor, but mostly an attempt to warm our hearts with sappy family values and very conventional themes. Ralph gave a solid performance and can certainly carry a sitcom, so I hope they can "tweak" the pilot enough to make it watchable. I raved about the cast but gave "thumbs down" to everything else about it. They gave no clue about who's behind the show, except I remember Ralph was billed as "executive producer" (or was it "executive consultant"?), and the writer and producers were familiar names from successful sitcoms like "Cheers", but their names escape me now. Just thought you might like to know about it. You're to be congratulated for keeping your site so up-to-date.

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