Chris Cerf and Marlo Thomas produced the "Free to Be… You and Me" project several years prior. Where FTBY&M focused on gender roles as presented to young kids, "Free to Be… a Family" focused on all the myriad combinations of humanity that can make up a loving family.

There was the Emmy winning TV show from the Hard Rock Cafe in NY with a "Space Bridge" with kids in the Soviet Union. There was the album, and the best selling book. The recordings were a pleasure—Robin William, Lilly Tomlin, Steve Martin, Gilda Radner, the Muppets, and, the voices in this piece, Christopher Reeve as Superboy/man, Elaine May and Mike Nichols as his parents, and Phil Donohue as, well, Phil Donohue.