Home Free (1993 TV series)

Matt Bailey (Perry) is a free-spirited, if somewhat lazy, 22-year-old freelance journalist enjoying the good life at home with his indulgent mom Grace (Mercer). He wasn't so concerned about completing his ascent into full-fledged adulthood, nor was he ever in a hurry to get out on his own, until his older, recently divorced sister Vanessa (Canova) returned home with her two kids, so they could pick up the pieces and start their lives over. The unexpected arrangements forced Matt to take some crash courses in responsibility, to not only help out around the house, but to provide a good role model for his 13-year-old niece Abby (Anndi McAfee) and nephew Lucas (Scott McAfee), with whom he had a particularly close bond. Matt's struggle to maintain his wild, free-living lifestyle while facing his new realities were the focus of most episodes. His other world was the newspaper where he worked as a cub reporter, inhabited by co-worker and best friend Walter Peters (Dan Schneider), foxy photographer Laura (Brooke Theiss), to whom Matt was especially attracted; and their gruff editor, Ben Brookstone (Alan Oppenheimer).

• Matthew Perry as Matt Bailey
• Marian Mercer as Grace Bailey
• Diana Canova as Vanessa Bailey
• Anndi McAfee as Abby Bailey
• Scott McAfee as Lucas Bailey
• Dan Schneider as Walter Peters
• Brooke Theiss as Laura
• Alan Oppenheimer as Ben Brookstone

Home Free premiered in a cushy time slot of Wednesdays at 8:30/7:30c, between The Wonder Years (which was about to end its run) and Home Improvement. After only five episodes, due to low ratings, the show was put on a five-week hiatus, which spared it from airing as a part of the important May sweeps month. The series was cancelled during May upfronts, but returned to the schedule on May 28 in the 9:30/8:30c timeslot of ABC's TGIF. Original episodes continued to air in the TGIF slot through July 2, 1993. The last two episodes of the 13-episode order were unaired.

• Home Free at IMDb