Anyone else ever notice how Barb acted like Marty McFly's mother in the before-scene of dinner in Back to the Future? Where she was living a failing marriage, drinking, hating the idea of Marty getting called by a girl (despite her history), and his weak willed father, gorging on peanut brittle, giving advice on not to aim high at all, being as ambivalent as he could to the whole scene?
I guess back then even Hollywood was able to accurately portray what a dysfunctional family looked like. I imagine with a lot of talking up, that could be the Chandlers.