Dear Mallory - S6-E3
Continuity mistake: Mallory starts reading one of her advice column letters to Alex. The letter she pulls from the stack is on blue paper in a blue envelope. After a cuts to Alex, there's a close-up of Mallory as she reads the letter, and then in the next wide shot the letter is on orange paper with an orange envelope. The letter is from a girl who intrigues Alex, so he grabs the orange envelope and starts to tear off the return address. The shot changes to show Elyse walk into the room, and Alex is now tearing the corner from the original blue envelope. When Elyse sits down, Alex reads the address holding a slip of the blue envelope, then starts to get up. In the immediate cut that follows, Alex is holding the orange envelope when he stands up. (00:53:50 - 00:54:55)
Answer: A scene very similar to the one described happened on the show Mr. Belvedere that was on in the same time frame as when Family Ties was on. Perhaps this is what you are remembering.
af4dable ★