Die glückliche Familie (1987)

Take a show about moving up the socio-economic ladder like The Jeffersons, set it in a residential neighborhood similar to Family Matters, stir in a touch of wacky family strife about living with teens like Bernie Mac, then replace all the black actors with very white Germans and turn that comedy dial to drama and you’ll have reached the story line of Germany’s Die Gluckliche Familie.  

Not to ruin it,  but they kill the main character in the last season ... by way of a failed operation.  Ya’ll, we brought tissues expecting to enjoy the bouncing fruits of Germanic hotness and instead used them to wipe up our tears.