‘EIGHT IS ENOUGH’--TOGETHER AGAIN

A voice booms over the chatter of 13 people seated at a dinner table.

“Now look, you got bread all over the floor,” Harry Harris says to a child nearby. “Don’t do that, you’ve got to behave.”

The setting could be any family dining room, but it’s not. The family is the Bradfords, TV favorites for five seasons on “Eight Is Enough” (1977-81), and the dining area is located on a soundstage at Lorimar’s lot in Culver City.

Sounding very much like the “father figure” cast members describe him as, supervising producer/director Harris is busy orchestrating a dinner scene for “Eight Is Enough: Reunion,” a two-hour movie to air on NBC this fall. (ABC carried the original series, but passed on the reunion.)

“I feel like I’ve grown up with them,” Harris said, describing the actors with whom he worked on more than 40 of the original episodes. “And I have the type of relationship with them where I can yell or scream and they don’t get offended.”

Relaxing in his makeshift office (a trailer) offstage, Harris explained why he yells: “When they all get together, they talk. I have to control them in some way.”

Things do appear under control, with filming now completed on schedule, and Harris is optimistic about the reunion--”It’s going to be big in the ratings.” It’s an idea he generated more than two years ago after literally bumping into Dick Van Patten (Tom Bradford) outside the Carnegie Deli in New York City.

“Kids were running up to him saying, ‘Mr. Bradford, Mr. Bradford,’ ” Harris said. “I thought to myself, ‘It’s been almost six years since the show was on (though it’s still in syndication). Something should be done.’ ”

“Eight Is Enough: Reunion,” which reunites the clan for father Tom’s 50th birthday, is more than an on-camera reacquaintance of the all-American Bradfords with the viewing public. Producer Frank Fischer says it’s an attempt to say goodby in a classy way.

“When everyone left the set (in 1981), they all said ‘See you in the fall,’ ” Fischer recalled. “No one really told them (about the cancellation). They had no real goodbys.”

“We’re putting it to bed properly,” said executive producer William Blinn, creator of the original series which he adapted from the Thomas Braden book of the same name. Blinn said he saw the cancellation of the show, which placed in Nielsen’s Top 20 three of the five seasons it aired, as the result of ABC’s desire for more adventure-filled and sitcom-styled programming.

“ ‘Eight Is Enough’ is neither,” Blinn said. “The show is warm, funny and sweet. An honest program.”

The feelings generated by the show are evident on the set, where families of cast members visit with each other and watch as the day’s events unfold. Van Patten remembered his reaction when the filming commenced.

“The first day back seemed like we had only been gone a week,” Van Patten said. “Everyone fell right into it. We were so anxious to see each other.”

Not only is he the family patriarch before the cameras, but Van Patten also appears to be a paternal figure behind the scenes. He spends time playing with Susan Richardson’s (Susan Bradford Stockwell) daughter Sarah, his goddaughter, and he’s exuberant in discussing the show and cast.

“I’m very close to the kids,” Van Patten said in his dressing room, which includes among other things two photos of a singing Willie Aames (Tommy), who co-wrote a song he will perform in the movie. “This is a talented bunch of kids. It’s great being back.”

As he returned to the set, exiting his “Spaceballs”-decorated door (he plays King Roland in the Mel Brooks comedy), the jovial actor said of the script, written by Gwen Bagni-Dubov, a frequent contributor to the series: “It’ll make you laugh and make you cry.”

In the next dressing room was Dianne Kay (Nancy), munching on a lunch of popcorn and celery. “It’ll be interesting to see how the the audience relates to us since we’re both (the cast and viewers) older,” she said.

Steve Mills, vice president of TV motion pictures and miniseries for CBS, one of the most active networks in planning reunion movies, believes that it’s audience identification with the familiar that has made reunion shows popular.

“We’re not starting from ground zero with these,” Mills said. “Many people have a lot of interest in a show, as to what happened with certain characters and what they look like now.”

CBS’ development schedule lists more than 10 possible reunions, including the shows “F Troop” and “The Addams Family.” Reunions of “Gunsmoke” and “The Many Loves of Dobey Gillis” already are planned for production, Mills said.

While ABC did pass on the “Eight Is Enough: Reunion,” that network does have a “Family” get-together due next season. NBC’s plans at this time include a second reunion for “The Andy Griffith Show.”

A key factor in reviving former series obviously involves getting the original cast together.

At a meeting with Fischer, Blinn and the cast about six months ago, Harris said everyone was told that if any of them backed out or couldn’t participate, there wouldn’t be a reunion. Some, like Aames, were hesitant because he was unsure whether they could capture the flavor and mood of the original series.

“I told them I didn’t want to walk away dissatisfied,” said Aames, who had to work mornings on the reunion, afternoons on “Charles in Charge” and evenings back on the Lorimar lot. “I said we’d all have to give 150%, otherwise it would be a headache I didn’t really want.”

Said Harris: “I really thought it wouldn’t all come together--the budget, the cast. The network had already decided not to replace anybody except Betty (Buckley).” Buckley, who had originally planned to return as stepmother Abby, was cast in Roman Polanski’s new movie at about the same time. It was a role she couldn’t refuse, Harris said.

“I’m sorry Betty’s not doing it,” Harris said, “but I’m very happy Mary Frann is here.” Frann, of “Newhart,” was asked to replace Buckley by NBC Entertainment President Brandon Tartikoff.

“I was flattered by that,” Frann said. “There’s been no problem coming into this established family. From Day One, it’s been the most natural environment. They’ve all sweetly said that it’s like I’ve always been here.”

Aames, 27, said everyone did work hard to maintain the integrity of the show.

“We’ve gotten good reports from the network,” the musician/actor said from his Orange County home. “The whole experience was interesting, kind of deja vu . It was like, I know that I know these people, but I don’t know them.”

Adam Rich (Nicholas), who cast members agree has changed the most physically (he was 8 when the series premiered), said he also experienced deja vu.

“It was more a combination of that and amnesia,” said the now 18-year-old actor, who has shed his bangs for a more ‘80s cut and now sports a dangling earring. “It seemed like we had never stopped filming because a lot of the same crew has returned as well. It’s a reunion all around.”

Also returning from the original cast are Connie Needham (Elizabeth), Laurie Walters (Joanie), Lani O’Grady (Mary), Grant Goodeve (David), Brian Patrick Clarke (Merle “The Pearl” Stockwell) and Joan Prather (Janet).

Among the family changes for the “Reunion”--all of the girls are now married, two of them have children; Nicholas is considering academic life at Harvard, “when he’s not thinking about girls”; Tommy appears as a leather-clad, earring-adorned lounge singer and Merle may play baseball for the Angels.

Things have changed, but the memories haven’t.

“Dick always said to us (during the show’s original run), ‘Kids, these are the best days, the good ol’ days,’ ” Kay recalled. “Well, (with this) we get the good ol’ days back.”

Added Needham: “We’re definitely having a wrap party this time.”