Family and Friends (Australian TV series) Family and Friends (Australian TV series) Family and Friends is a short-lived Australian television soap opera debuted on 7 February 1990. The series was intended to be the Nine Network's response to the already successful soaps on the rival channels - "Neighbours" and "E Street" on the Network Ten and "Home and Away" on the Seven Network. Set in a suburban community the series focused on two families - the Chandler and the Italian-Australian Rossi families - who were linked by a long-standing vendetta stemming from an accidental death in the 1950s. Old enmities were renewed by the Romeo-and-Juliet style
Sixteen Candles 86% of critics gave it a positive rating, based on 36 reviews with an average rating of 7/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Significantly more mature than the teen raunch comedies that defined the era, "Sixteen Candles" is shot with compassion and clear respect for his characters and their hang-ups". Ringwald's performance was especially praised; "Variety" called her "engaging and credible" while Roger Ebert wrote that she "provides a perfect center for the story". The character of Long Duk Dong was criticized for being "unfunny" and a "potentially offensive stereotype" of Asian people. In 2008, Alison MacAdam of NPR wrote,