Fantastic Four Director Matt Shakman Starred In A Spin-Off To A Classic '80s Sitcom

Matt Shakman has been in the public eye a lot recently, as he has directed two of the better-known Marvel Cinematic Universe projects of recent years. Shakman helmed all nine episodes of the 2021 miniseries "WandaVision," and had a hit with the 2025 film "The Fantastic Four: First Steps." His career since 2002 has been directing episodes of multiple hit TV shows, from "Judging Amy," to "Six Feet Under," to "Psych," to "House." He directed four episodes of "Revenge" and six episodes of "The Good Wife." Even after "WandaVision," Shakman worked on shows like "The Consultant" and "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters." 

Before his directing career, however, Shakman was a child actor who rose into the public eye playing the young J.R. Lubbock, Jr. in the hit 1985 sitcom "Growing Pains." As a kid, he rotated through many, many sitcoms of the era, including "Diff'rent Strokes," "The Facts of Life," "Webster," and "Night Court." He appeared in a truly bizarre feature film in 1989 called "Meet the Hollowheads," a bleak, Reagan-era dystopia comedy set in a world that combines 1950s suburbia with slime-dripping sewer mutants. Shakman was a showbiz veteran from an early age and stuck with acting for many years. He would eventually found a theater troupe in Los Angeles. 

"Growing Pains" was Shakman's highest-profile acting job, though, as that series lasted 166 episodes over the course of its seven seasons. "Growing Pains" was a pretty typical suburban sitcom about a working psychiatrist (Alan Thicke) living with his wife and children in Long Island. Shakman only appeared in two episodes of "Growing Pains," but his character's family — the Lubbocks — were striking enough to get a sitcom of their own. "Just the Ten of Us" debuted in 1988, and Shakman appeared in all 47 episodes. 

"Just the Ten of Us" followed the familial adventures of the Lubbock family, overseen by the outsize Coach Graham Lubbock, played by Bill Kirchenbauer. Coach Lubbock was a semi-regular on "Growing Pains," having appeared in eight episodes. The pilot episode for "Just the Ten of Us" was actually a mid-season episode of "Growing Pains" where it was revealed that Lubbock was about to lose his job, which was unfortunate, as he was soon expecting his eighth child (!). The new series that spawned from that episode saw Lubbock moving his family to Eureka, California, to take a job at St. Augustine's, an all-boys Catholic school.

The twist of the series was that Lubbock's four teenage daughters were given special permission to attend St. Augustine's with the male population, causing a great deal of consternation for everyone. The four daughters were the lead characters, and they were played by "Nightmare on Elm Street" star Heather Langenkamp, Jamie Luner, Brooke Theiss, and JoAnn Willette. Luner and Theiss played twins. The younger kids were usually seen playing at home. Shakman played J.R., only 11 years old. The matriarch of the brood, Elizabeth, was played by Deborah Harmon.

The first season of "Ten of Us" was something of an experiment, lasting only four episodes in April and May of 1988. When those four episodes got good ratings, ABC ordered a full series, and the show's second and third seasons ran for a more traditional 20 to 23 episodes. J.R. wasn't a mere background figure, and sometimes was given stories of his own. In "Puberty Blues" (April 14, 1989), he develops a crush on a Girl Scout. "Skateboard" (December 8, 1989) saw J.R. trying to build, well, a skateboard. In "Ratboy Lives" (March 16, 1990), J.R. tags a wall at the school with the titular epithet. 

"Just the Ten of Us" petered out in 1990, only ever getting modest ratings. It is now a footnote in sitcom history. Thanks to Shakman's prolific and high-profile directing career, however, we now have reason to talk about it again. Sadly, the show is not on streaming.