Family (1976-80 TV Series) Appreciation Thread, Part 3

Part 1:

Part 2:

“What’s everybody talking about?”

I love the show. One of my absolute favorites. It's just that, being a New Englander, they seemed so New England to me. Everything about them screamed Suffield, CT. Again though, I loved the show.

Don't remember where I read this, R4, but Mike Nichols and Jay Presson Allen originally envisioned the show set in Philadelphia's Main Line.

But they also wanted to shoot exteriors at a real house year-round, and East Coast weather prevented that.

And eight is enough to fill our hearts with love.

The clothes were Northeast especially. Except for maybe Buddy and skateboard outfits. I mean it would be July in California and Kate was putting on a winter coat. It was like the way the Golden Girls dressed in Miami.

Bless you, OP. You are doing the lord's work.

I liked the set. The house, unlike say the Brady Bunch house, had shadows and, as has been mentioned before, grimy cabinets. It looked lived in.

It was pretty clear that Nancy’s guesthouse was not actually in the backyard of that home.

I drove past the house (in South Pasadena) last year. Made me so happy to see it relatively unchanged.

The landscaping is much better now than 50 years ago.

According to Zillow, the house has doubled in value in the last 10 years, from $2.7 million in Feb 2014 to $5.4 million (!) today. And it last sold in 1998 for $1.2 million.

Four bedrooms, 5 bathrooms. So the producers really did go for realism: every bedroom in the real house has an en suite.

All those johns to scrub and we only saw Mrs. Hanley like four times in 86 episodes?

My slipcovers!!!

Is this a private conversation?

Buddy looks so adorably cute wearing those pajamas in your link, OP.

R11 I plan to stop by at some point. Is it a quiet street or a busy road?

“What’s everybody talking about?”

"Your dead brother, Little Timmy."

"Must be sweeps week!"

The house was worth 65,000 or 90,000 in 1976-1980. I forget what they said.

Why did they have Willie’s wedding in the front yard? I thought that was weird.

ME - SAW - DAW

R20 ESS-TEE-EFF-YOO

I was the youngest of three in my own family. Younger by 7 years and 10 years. I was an "after thought". Started watching the show "Family" when I was 10 in 1976 with my teenage sister. I didn't understand it all but I understand enough. For those of you DL folks who were watching that show, did it capture that moment in time well? Suburban upper middle class US? Or did it seem too "California", too liberal?. Was it dismissed right wing moral Anita Bryant type? Kudos to the musical geniuses behind the music. Haunting still.

I brought this up in the other thread. Doug Lawrence says Willie is a minor in one episode.

Today I was watching another (later) episode — Annie in a convo with Willie mentions he’s 23. he show was only on from 1976-1980.

I never saw the show much when it originally aired because I went to college from 1976 to 1980 - and the show wasn’t rerun in the summer. I found that out reading an interview with Sada Thompson. The writer noted the show was not really promoted by ABC, or Spelling. He said there were no summer reruns, and Sada said something like, “Curious, isn’t it?”

I also read that te show was going to be brought back sometime later, some years after it was cancelled, and after james Broderick died. Not just talk, it was actually going to come bak with most of the original cast. But then there was a writer’s strike that lasted a while, after which the network apparently lost interest.

*back

I know nothing about this old tv show, but that photo at op caught my eye. My mom would have been in shock at seeing all those pictures on the soundboard. A vase with flowers and water would be immediately removed. Not even sheet music and scores were allowed on the sound board. The piano was always in use in our home, and it was a musical instrument, not treated as a surface to stage family photos.

Family was a hit in syndication!

Miss Sada Thompson was a bit bitchy in this interview before the final season.

R124, on pt2. LMFAO! " now we know Sada Thompson and Ed Asner aren't the same person". Omg it's almost 5:00 in the morning and I'm cracking up. That comment will keep me chuckling today.

Stop hitting yourself R20.

I love endless threads about Family- keep them coming' ' but STOP THE INSANITY 😣 ( like the Lesbian with the shaved head in the 1990's said)

no more threads about Heartstopper

R23 Yes, it was in 1988 - a reboot was in development. Everyone was on board, apparently (not sure about Meredith) but unfortunately the '88 writers' strike was bad timing and killed it.

Kate would have been a widow.

R27- I like what she had to say in that interview and I did not find her at all bitchy - unlike a lot of the qweens a lot of the time here on the datalounge.

R17 Did you write for MAD Magazine?

I wonder if Kristy was already having symptoms of bipolar during the run of the show. Terrible Illness.

R26 That's interesting. Family was syndicated in New York on channel 9 (WOR), which was sort of the "also ran" independent, non-network station in NYC next to channels 5 (WNEW) and 11 (WPIX) in those days.

I watched it every day after school, for a time. But I'm not sure it was on there for more than a year. Two at most.

The thing about the show was that they needed more characters to keep it interesting. Five characters (plus Timmy II, who never got any lines because he was so young) was fine for the miniseries, but for an ongoing series it just was not enough. They added Annie, but as always it seemed contrived to bring her aboard just as it did in any 70s or 80s show when they brought aboard a new child character (Cousin Oliver Syndrome). Maybe they should have had another of Kate's or Doug's siblings move to Pasadena with their families, or done more with neighbors or something.

It was a very well written show for its time. It was the classier option among most of the other family-centered shows of the 70s. It had much better actors than "Little House" (which was much more sentimental) or "Eight is Enough" (which was much cheesier), and it was not as depressing or as cornball as "The Waltons" could be. And even though Kate Lawrence gets a lot of flack as a character on DL, she was unlike anything that had yet been seen in an ongoing family show of that kind--she was basically warm and meant well, but she could be judgmental sometimes and passive-aggressive.

The mother had to be the coldest bitch this side of the arctic. ...she had zero warmth...no wonder the children had issues

Quinn Cummings has pretty much disavowed any and all conversations about her time as a child actor. I think she knows Annie was a dud.

Here’s Kate doing her slow, slow walk back Into the house.

I never thought Kate was all that icy. She was considerably warmer than Beth Jarrett. I mean, so's an iceberg, but still.....

Kate was not icy. She was warm and funny. Maybe there was an icy veneer, but she cared about Doug and the kids, for sure. And she had that dry sense of irony and humor. A great character.

Kate could be very warm, affectionate, emotional. She had a sarcastic side and she could be tough in a good way - like many moms were back then which is why most kids of that era didn't grow up to be spoiled brats.

R36 The show was called Family, and the family had five people in it. There were in-laws, grandparents, friends, exes, etc. I didn't have a problem with it.

[quote]most kids of that era didn't grow up to be spoiled brats.

I tried my best, but every family has at least one Nancy.

I love the episode when a woman shows up claiming she was given up for adoption by Kate. EEK. It was her friend who used Kate's name.

R45 Played by Tovah Feldshuh.

How many actors played Doug's father? There were at least 4. Charles Lane, John Beal, David Wayne and Henry Fonda.

Douglas' mother was a tramp. Any or all of those men could have fathered her child, and this was long before DNA tests could identify which of her tricks was the real Baby Daddy.

Oh oh oh....and then there was the alcoholic relative. Doug's sister Emily. That was an episode ahead of its time.

Annie was slappable

Some of you are fucked

Kate had a thin veneer of warmth or caring on the outside because underneath that thin vail was thick as fuck ice bitch mother

I do recall more than one episode where the A story was about Buddy or Willie and the B story focused on Kate's having to go to the doctor because she was struggling with piles.

Did Kate suck cock? Who did she fuck? Willie of buddy

R48, yes! The fabulous Penny Fuller played the boozy sister Emily. I talked to her once about it and she said they filmed it all out of order, and her climatic scene with Broderick on the school playground was the first thing they shot. She said it was a huge challenge to keep straight where she was in her story arc.

Was the episode with the alcoholic sister really ahead of its time? I don’t know, I’m just curious. I know there had already been Sarah T - Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic, as a TV movie. So if TV had already gotten to teenage alcoholics...

R54 Emily was the sister of the family patriarch Doug Lawrence - they were both clearly adults so Emily was not a teen alcoholic....?

More shit happened in Lezzie Tush's bedroom than anywhere else in the house. Everyone spent more time in there than in any other part of the house ever, even more than in Nancy's whore bed.

Lol, R56 to your “Lezzie Tush.” My middle school friends and I used to call Buddy “Scuzzy Lush.”

R57=Audrey Pfeiffer

In the early seasons, who did Buddy have posters of? Was it Donny Osmond? I can’t remember.

R59, yes! And Kate once called him “Ronny Osmond,” much to Buddy’s chagrin.

[quote] That's interesting. Family was syndicated in New York on channel 9 (WOR), which was sort of the "also ran" independent, non-network station in NYC next to channels 5 (WNEW) and 11 (WPIX) in those days.

When I was at NYU in the early '90s, I discovered one of those channels (I can't remember which) was showing reruns of Family at something like 2am. I used to tape them and watch them with my Freshman roommate. He moved dorms and I was by myself for the summer, then I got a new roommate for the Sophomore year. We took to each other right away and spent the whole night talking. I mentioned that Family was on and I wanted to tape it, but he said he wanted to watch it, so we climbed into my single bed and watched the episode. During the first commercial break, we started making out. But as soon as the commercial break ended, we both knew our priorities and broke the kiss to resume watching. I thought I'd found my prince. (He turned out to be a major asshole and I ended up beating him up with my electronic drum kit after one of our epic fights and then I got a job as an RA in another dorm, so I moved out.) But we'll always have Family.

How romantic, R61!

So what killed the show? It was good but did people just not watch? That’s a relatively short run back then. Not even 100 episodes.

Today, it’d be considered a full run but still…

Quinn Cummings is stupid

[quote] I talked to her once about it and she said they filmed it all out of order, and her climatic scene with Broderick

They had a scene about the weather?

[quote] In the early seasons, who did Buddy have posters of?

Billie Jean King and Nancy Kulp.

[quote]Billie Jean King and Nancy Kulp.

Scissoring.

R55 Sorry if my point wasn’t clear. You know when TV has explored teen alcoholism they have already explored adult alcoholism (which they had). So I don’t think the episode with Penny Fuller was ahead of its time.

One of the things I don’t understand was why doctors were shown making house calls to the Lawrences. As far as I know, doctors stopped making house calls long before the ‘70s. I was a kid in the ‘60s and no doctors made house calls where I came from.

[quote] I was a kid in the ‘60s and no doctors made house calls where I came from.

The projects?

R70=Nancy Lawrence Maitland

[quote] One of the things I don’t understand was why doctors were shown making house calls to the Lawrences. As far as I know, doctors stopped making house calls long before the ‘70s. I was a kid in the ‘60s and no doctors made house calls where I came from.

Remember, the Lawrences were pretty rich.

Not really.

Just read that by 1980 only 1% of doctors made house calls. (Probably in the country.)

R39 Love the art direction, set, creative decisions, lighting. Add the opening theme, the instrumentation, the type face. It is just perfection.

I watched it when it was first on. I thought it was kind of strange the way two unemployed adult children still lived at home and one of them even had her own house. When I watch it now I see how the storylines are all predictable cliches.

Oh, and the Ford Mavericks! They always seemed so out of place. You’d think Doug would at least drive a Town Car.

[quote]Penny Fuller played the boozy sister Emily. I talked to her once about it and she said they filmed it all out of order, and her climatic scene with Broderick on the school playground was the first thing they shot. She said it was a huge challenge to keep straight where she was in her story arc.

It's a poor workman who blames the process. She just gave a shitty performance. Totally OTT.

But the robin's-egg-blue cashmere dress she wears in one scene was pretty fab.

R63 the show never made it above 30 for ratings by season, but it was a prestige drama that won Emmys for Sada, Gary and Kristy (the only one of the three that won twice), and it was probably fairly cheap to produce, so ABC stood by it. And Kristy was a breakout star from the show, so it did have a following. Judging from that article that was posted above, from the 1979-1980 season, ABC decided it was expendable and shortened the season, and then decided to pull the plug. It ranked 52 for the 1978-1979 season, which kind of shocked me the ratings dipped that low. Kristy was huge at this time from the show, and had a budding film career, so ABC probably figured she might leave the show anyway, and this, coupled with dwindling ratings, was all they needed to end it.

What R78 said. Someone linked to this in one of the earlier threads. ABC always treated it like the redheaded stepchild and eventually gave up on it, moving it around a lot in its last year or so.

R69- I grew up just north of NYC and our pediatrician made house calls to us until about 1971.

[quote]So what killed the show? It was good but did people just not watch? That’s a relatively short run back then. Not even 100 episodes.

The ratings were decent but ABC wanted them to be higher. To hear various producers tell it, ABC considered it a "women's show" and "soft," and didn't spend much time promoting it. They never aired it in summer reruns, when kids on summer vacation could have discovered it. It was pre-empted a lot—for specials and once a month for 20/20.

It was actually doing well in 1978-79. The season premiere ranked #21, it rarely dropped out of the 30s, and as late as March it ranked #28 for the week. But ABC moved it to Fridays in the spring, and the ratings tanked, dragging down the season average.

It gave the network an excuse to end it with 13 episodes at midseason.

[quote] I watched it when it was first on. I thought it was kind of strange the way two unemployed adult children still lived at home and one of them even had her own house.

You sound like one of the Lawrence’s busybody neighbors from Pasadena. Willie dropped out of high school and was trying to be a writer. He wasn’t an adult until a few season in, and he had jobs. Nancy was going to law school, and since they had a guest house anyway, why wouldn’t someone in the family live in it?

Willie was sixteen the first season.

R72- They were not rich. They were upper middle class.

Someone on the other thread was surprised Kate (until she went back to college and got a job as a schoolteacher) was a housewife, and said she may have been the last housewife on TV. Apparently forgetting Cindy Walsh on Beverly Hills 90210.

Peg Bundy, Marge Simpson, Lois Griffin

All Alice did at the diner was clown around and sing scat. She might as well have been a fucking housewife.

The bigger problem was they were running out of reasonable plot lines . Once they brought in Quinn Cummings the show was definitely over . She was freaking annoying. We used to think she killed her parents or they killed themselves just to get away from her

R88- Buddy was no longer a kid so they had to find another KID to replace her hence Annie.

And Annie was the only one on the show with an Oscar nomination so suck on that...

All the women were gay

Quinn later said that after the ratings really started to nosedive, Sada stormed into her trailer and told her, "You were hired to make cute and get us into the top 10. If you don't start earning your paycheck, you'll be the fucking goodbye girl ... AND NEVER WORK IN THIS TOWN AGAIN!"

Yikes at R92 if true.

R92 clearly isn't true.

Adding young kids to a show late in its run almost never works.

Note: Quinn Cummings is a funny writer and blogger - I followed her on Twitter before I scurried away once Musk took over. She has a few funny books.

Never really talks about her time as a child actress, though. Though she did write an article some years back about gross predator types that prey on young performers. (I think she remained safe as her mother was keeping an eye on her, but many others were not so lucky).

Wait: I found the article.

PS: I suspect the show where Quinn appeared and the director told her mother never to leave her alone with the star was "Baretta."

People here keep making things up about Sada Thompson.

Back then people had normal-size refrigerators.

.....

And look at this, in the "Capote vs. the Swans" review, none other than "Family" gets a shout out and is apparently even featured in a scene in the FX show.

The main theme was composed by John Rubinstein (son of pianist Arthur Rubinstein) who played Jeff Maitland. He also composed some other themes, and was credited as composer for the original miniseries. Otherwise for the first few seasons the music was credited to Pete Rugulo (famous big band arranger, later a film/TV composer). Then in later seasons, someone else.

R102 RUGOLO.

John Rubinstein played the title role in the original Broadway production of "Pippin."

John Rubenstein was kinda hot.

R88 that's MEAN!!!

But funny.

Annie WAS a bit precious.

She was like a 40 year old comedienne trapping in a 10 year old body. She used zingers to hide hr pain; what was little (orphaned) Annie like before?

Quinn used to post regularly on Twitter; did she get off it after Elon?

By the late 1970s, America demanded tits, ass and lots of jiggle.

No way would a show like Family beat tasteful tv such as Playboys Pajama Skating Party. By that time everything was so sexualized that a show with substance couldn't make it anymore

I submitted an idea for a story for the show, but they rejected it. And recommended that I go to a shrink.

I saw an old Dragnet where John Rubinstein played a nerdy teenager. Jan-Michael Vincent was also in the episode as another teen.

I'm guessing JMV's teen was not 'nerdy.'

God, that man was beautiful. Danger Island helped me realize I was gay.

R110- He looked GOOD naked too.

That nasty review at r101 is impressively cunty.

R108 tell us the idea!

Last night on Feud they had Truman Capote watching Family, and commenting on how well written it was!

Goodness!

Our Lady of Pasadena Sada Thompson, along with Blair Brown (!) and Rue McClanahan (!!) in a TV broadcast of a production of The Skin of Our Teeth.

R110 He played a kid who had been on a date (to see Doctor Zhivago!) and had had acid thrown on him by another kid. As a result, JMV was shirtless in the first part of the ep. Rubinstein played the friend of the perp.

More Jan-Michael

Sada Thompson and James Broderick co-starred in a famous flop, on Broadway, Johnny No-Trump, in 1967. It ran for one performance. It wasn’t panned, many critics loved a lot about the play, but Pat Hingle (the other star) thought the producers panicked. "We did capacity business in previews... If you go back and check, you’ll discover that Johnny No-Trump got much better reviews than The Price. But this time we had Arthur Miller's name. Nobody panicked, and The Price ran for more than a year. When I think back on the whole Johnny No-Trump experience, it’s one of the saddest things that ever happened to a play.”

Bernadette Peters was in it, too.

Sada and Jim Broderick also toured together in On Golden Pond in the summer of '81.

Cancer got Broderick quickly – he died in November 1982.

R117 its because MEE-SAW-DAW wouldn’t stop reciting her lines from Our Town.

Sada’s Associated Press obit has her 81 at her death, her birth year as 1929. Wikipedia has her as 83 and her birth year as 1927.

r120, you have to remember that Sada Thompson would claim to be any age that would get her the best roles.

She was basically the Catherine Zeta-Jones of her day (only chronically constipated).

I have no idea what Catherine Zeta-Jones does.

Remember when the cute Cocoon guy tried to sabotage Kate's teaching career?

He was only around 21 (playing a high school student) but looked about 27.

Steve Guttenberg should have left the classroom alone and gone to the mens' room to stroke one out.

I appreciated it when the show was cancelled

R126 = Maggie Calder, the cunt

R125 What makes you think he didn't?

[quote]Quinn used to post regularly on Twitter; did she get off it after Elon?

She went to one of the alternatives, Post. I didn't follow her there.

She's very bright and Gen X sarcastic. Admits she pretty much hates people but she can find the gay man in a roomful of strangers in under five minutes. And, yes, she only brings up her acting career if it's relevant to a discussion.

She has.a Patreon and yes, I subscribe. She's hilarious.

Does she still lisp?

um, no. She's like 50something now.

The scene where Willie and his dad discuss Willie's friend being gay, and then both Willie and Doug talk about having a crush on a guy, is really remarkable, even today, for its sensitivity.

R133, that was a great scene. gave me 'hope' that my feelings would pass, which had pros and cons.

Given that I could have married a woman who would have divorced me, taken my kids and half my money makes me realize I dodged a bullet.

I actually didn't like the scene, which seemed to equate being gay with having a straight crush as an adolescent, two totally different things.

Imagine had they done that scene with Nancy and Buddy instead.

Oh the irony!

The show hardly ever featured a working class character, or let's say a regular middle class or lower middle class, non-professional person, and when it did, they were invariably presented in a less than flattering light. The various maids, for examples, who Kate was usually at odds with, or a plumber who charged too much, a fat mechanic, etc.

Tradespeople should know their place. As should the help.

Just saw the episode where Rachel Roberts played Kate's actress friend who sees Buddy in a high school production of Shaw’s Saint Joan (!) and wants to take her away to appear in a play with her. Shades of (or copied directly from) The Turning Point. The two old friends fight over Buddy while each realizes she’s jealous of what the other one has.

I also watched the episode where Louise Latham (“Marnie”) inexplicably replaced Patricia Morrill as Kate’s friend, Elaine Hogan. Elaine has become a shoplifter, though the g-dropping, make-yourself-at-home maid admonishes Kate that Mrs. Hogan is a better friend than the phony with whom Kate has replaced her (maid is right).

R137- It's 1977. It's not the early 21st century where a show must meet strict standards for diversity and inclusion.

Just watched the episode of “Mary Tyler Moore” when Mary dates the younger guy. When Mary and Rhoda are at the funky boutique, the salesgirl is played by Elayne Heilveil, pre-Nancy.

The first Nancy was such a bore. Dullsville. Whoever recast her knew what they were doing.

It was anti-semitism, I tell ya. I was JUST as good as that shiksa!

Word on the street R141 is that Meredith Baxter-Lesbian unsuccessfully tried to get the MTM producers to re-shoot that scene with Baxter-Lesbian playing the salesgirl.

I like the episode when Nancy lets some chick she barely knows use her apartment as a fuck nest with her married beau.

Nancy was a very confused person. She never knew what she wanted, what her values were, who she was in love with, how she felt about anything. Buddy was more emotionally mature than Nancy.

How I used to hate Quinn Cummings when I was a kid. She was the Robbie Rist of TV dramas. And she was so obnoxious on the talk show circuit too.

I like the episode when Nancy lets Kate use her apartment as a fuck nest with her married plumber.

R140 I think you’re missing the point. I wasn’t saying the show should have been forced to be inclusive in some arbitrary way to meet some kind of standard. I was remarking on how biased the writers seemed to be against people who weren’t as well off as the Lawrences. They were usually depicted as lazy and stupid. Besides, not everyone in Pasadena is upper middle class, though you would think so from the show.

Kate was a study farmgirl passing herself off as a bougie queen.

*sturdy

There's a new book by Ed Zwick out where he writes about his career. He and Marshall Herskovitz got their start in TV, including a stint on - yes- FAMILY.

Yes, Zwick worked on the latter half of the seasons.

Stupid bitch

I actually found Family quite realistic at times and willing to push the envelope, though the show was more subtle about it and not raw and in your face like say a Hill Street Blues. I distinctly remember an episode, where Kate was going into her bedroom from her ensuite bathroom as Doug was passing her going in to the bathroom and she turned to him and said, "I'd wait a bit before going in there if I were you."

[quote] Stupid bitch

Yes, yes you are, R154.

Now, wash your hands and set the table. Or go eat at Maggie Calder's hovel.

Been watching the show a lot lately. I don't think any wholesome TV mom and dad ever drank as many cocktails as Kate and Doug.

Willie is a dumb name for anyone over 12.

It matched his fucking fat FACE, R158.

Fucking fat facer.

A girl named Buddy

Beats a son named Beaver.

Wasn’t Willie short for William? I’ve seen every episode in syndication a long time ago but I don’t remember.

It’s a show for losers

R155 thats surprising to read, but I bet when you see it, it wouldn't even really register. They were so naturalistic, and that's something an intimate, years long married couple might say.

I love how this now obscure show has thousands of posts on DL over the years.

"I don't know what you've got but I'm carrying a bagful of heartache and dirt. "

Doug to Kate at Timmy's grave site. She was angry because she thought Doug was forgetting about Timmy. She had been cold to him leading up to the gruesome anniversary. Then he pulled out his little bag of dirt from Timmy's grave that he had been carrying for years.

Here's something for you to wear on Saturday. It's called a dress.

R162 Yes, but I don’t like the nickname, Willie.

Nancy, Timmy, Willie and Buddy.

[quote] Yes, but I don’t like the nickname, Willie

Well someone did, Mary.

Okay I apologize for making a negative comment about the name Willie. I may change my name to Willie. Willie is a very cool name.

[quote] Fucking fat facer.

Is that you, Agnes Carpenter?

Just realized something that’s probably not coincidence: the “Family” reference by Capote in the second season of “Feud,” where he watches the show and speaks of the brilliance of the writing. “Family” was created by Jay Presson Allen, who also wrote the play “Tru,” which won a Tony for Robert Morse.

An ad for Johnny No-Trump , that I mentioned above. You could see a preview of a Broadway show for $2 to $5. That's equivalent to $18.64 to $46.60 today.

Wait......Sada and James worked together before?

Yes, Sada and James played parents in a Broadway play called Johnny No-Trump, which opened and closed on a single night in 1967.

After Family, they toured together in On Golden Pond in the summer of '81. James died slightly more than a year later.

This may be Closer, but nicely in depth

From that article:

In the 1970s, television made a pretty strong shift towards more realism, capturing human beings rather than caricatures when it came to sitcoms (think All in the Family, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, MASH) and dramas that were more rooted in reality rather than just empty-headed action.

There were a lot of dramas rooted in reality before the 70s. A lot of 60s shows like Mr. Novak, Ben Casey, Route 66. In the 50s, all those live and filmed anthology series.

None of the articles about James Broderick mention that he was in the movie Alice's Restaurant. This article has a photo from it but doesn't identify it.

R56 Total whore bed.

R69 I think in some instances the doctor is such a close family friend that he/she pops by on the way home from work.

It's believable that the Lawrences might have had a house call or two - Dpug was a lawyer and he probably did the same for some of his friends/neighbors/clients.

They had at least two doctors who made house calls, one was a man, one was a woman. But at least once Kate went to a doctor's office (breast cancer scare).

Btw I think Sada Thompson, who was a heavy smoker, died of lung cancer.

....

I was at the WGA Awards one year; Ed and Marshall got an award. I THINK I recall this; one or both of them wrote a scene in which Buddy tells Kate and Ooug to more or less fuck off and a note on the script came back that read simply "N.O.B."

Before they gave away what that stood for, I knew -- Not. Our. Buddy.

Was "Empty Nest" the show Kristy couldn't stick with due to mental problems?

R184 Did they talk about that in their speech?

Ooug.

R186, no, I had wandered back to the press room; that's where I heard it.

On a site called "The Locher Room" - whaaaaat?

Special Announcement: 'Family' Cast Reunion Live! 🌟

We're thrilled to invite you to a unique reunion with 'Family' cast members, Emmy Award-winner Gary Frank and award-winning actor John Rubinstein, in The Locher Room. Dive into nostalgia as we reminisce about the beloved series that aired on ABC-TV from March 1976 through June 1980.

📅 Join us on Wednesday, March 13th at 3 p.m. EST / 12 p.m. PST for an unforgettable journey back to the heartwarming moments of 'Family'. This is your chance to hear behind-the-scenes stories and celebrate the legacy of the show with Gary Frank and John Rubinstein.

Don't miss out on this rare opportunity to reconnect with 'Family'. Mark your calendars and be part of the magic! 📺✨

R189 beat me to it, but here’s the link. I haven’t yet watched.

Would Mrs. Kate Lawrence of Pasadena, California, and Mrs. Beth Jarrett of Lake Forest, Illinois, have been friends?

I suspect Beth would not approve of Buddy and Kate would think Beth "put on airs."

Beth would certainly not approve of Nancy, the slut

R191, we both know what its like to grieve a child and not particularly care for the surviving children...

Buck would never have become a lesbian.

R185: Watching Empty Next would give people mental problems, just imagine being on the show.

[quote]R37 The mother had to be the coldest bitch this side of the arctic. ...she had zero warmth.

Are there any Hollywood people here who worked on Charlie’s Angels the ill fated week Sada Thompson tried to fill the departing Shelley Hack’s shoes, as Angel Laraine?

What went wrong? Aaron Spelling loved her! And I know Sada was thrilled to immediately pick up another series.

Someone on the Locher Room chat thingy said the show is coming back to Tubi at the end of the month

The opening song alone moves me. It captures the essence of the show so well.

I think the people calling the mother cold or a cold bitch haven’t watched the show a whole lot. I actually used to think that based on seeing scenes here and there. If anything, she’s too caring and sensitive. She puts up a front.

I recently re-watched the two-parter where Willy marries the dying girl. (Already mentioned this the first time I watched it but why did they get married in the front yard of the house? Who does that? The Lawrences had a back yard.) Anyway poor G. Frank was really in over his head acting-wise. The scene where he goes to the beach and cries and emotes was embarrassing. I don’t think he was that kind of actor. I was actually surprised they put it on the air without re-taking it.

This full episode was just posted on youtube

Family- Home Movie

Only the first 2 seasons were ever released on dvd.

R201 It says the episode is Home Movie but then the episode Rites Of Friendship comes on.

R203- The episode has been mislabeled but how could it be more appropriate for the datalounge. I didn't know it was the GAY episode when I posted it.

R204 Good quality! (Even if it’s cropped for wide screen.) Watching it on my TV right now. This is probably the 1st really good quality print I’ve seen of a Family episode since in originally aired.

Co-written by actress-writer Bethel Leslie.

Season Hubley (who played Selena McGee)

Season...

R207 - What a dumb name

Her real name was the less dumb but more dull Susan Hubley.

Very ‘70s name.

Every time I see James Broderick I wonder who Matthew Broderick's real father is. There is no resemblance physically, or in voice or mannerisms. I have always watched for a glimmer, somewhere, of a similarity between them.

R211- James Broderick was a hetero while his son Matthew was/is a HOMO.

Matthew doesn’t look like his mother, either.

R211 Same here.

Kind of like Lucie Arnaz looking nothing like Lucille Ball (and really nothing like Desi Arnaz, either).

I adored this show. Kate reminded me of my best friends' mom, who unlike mine, DIDN'T drink and sleep for days and who's father WASN'T a rage-a-holic. I so envied their stability. It was like wearing a comfy sweater, have a nice hot cup of tea and relaxing after taking a valium.

Mid-1970s to early 1980s. Had to watch the show ‘live’. Had to be home that night. Couldn’t miss anything or you’re lost. Couldn’t record it, or rewind it. (Unless you had one of those new Betamaxes.) And it was only on once a week.

R205, thanks for the Bethel Leslie shoutout. I didn’t know she’d written for Family. She should be DL royalty for her performances as Maggie Powers on The Doctors.

R217 You’re welcome. I really don’t know much about her, just that her name seemed familiar so I looked her up.

A bunch of bitches!

The show is back on Tubi, bitches!

You'd better pay me some attention.

R220- The picture/video quality is so good on Tubi. I watched a couple of episodes and there were commercial interruptions- which I don't like but the most two recent episodes there were no commercial interruptions - curious.

I think I've watched most of the first three seasons, so now it's time to wade into season 4 with that little whippersnapper Annie.

I have to thank DL for reminding me this show exists and putting the suggestion in my mind to take a look at it.

I had not seen it since it aired (and not a lot, then). Like all TV shows it has annoying things, but it's a very absorbing show and somehow it's a feel-good show (for me, anyway) - which is funny because it's all about people not feeling all that good.

There was one where for Halloween Buddy dressed as Sally Bowles and Willy dressed as the emcee. They did Money Makes the World Go Round. I'm guessing its cut out due to rights issues.

The missing FAMILY episode is when Doug went cruising behind the courthouse......oh, daddy!

The recasting with Meredith was brilliant. Until she started having too much input on the character. Then she left them high and dry. Her first episodes though were great. She added a bit of spice.

Nancy being pretty made the dynamic of the family make more sense as she was clearly a princess and a daddy's girl and while a plain girl can be both; being pretty makes more sense for that type of character visually.

Compare the two. First, Meredith's Nancy. Mesmerizing scene.

Original Nancy.

Umm...

It may sound silly, but MBB brought a natural quality and even gravitas to Nancy, which Elayne Heilveil didn't have. Jane Actman probably didn't have them either, but no footage of her attempt at Nancy exists.

Imagine Nancy being played by one of the show's featherweight-and-wooden typical '70s guest stars like Season Hubley. Actman was in that category. The whole show would have been off balance.

MBB wrote in her autobiography that she wasn't sure Sada Thompson respected her, but IMO Meredith always held her own in scenes with accomplished thespians Sada and James Broderick.

Elayne Heilveil's casting never made a bit of sense. Nancy was Daddy's princess and incredibly pretty (which is how she attracted her husband), and Elayne resembled the schlubby wife who Charles Grodin left on their honeymoon in The Heartbreak Kid. It's as if they'd cast Cybill in that role and Elaine May's daughter in Cybill's role.

I think about the characters from Family even when I take my walks in the morning. I insert myself into their household ca. 1977.

I have a vivid imagination. I tell Doug and Kate- I'm their child in this fantasy- that they ought to get rid of their crappy Ford economy cars and buy something nice like an Oldsmobile Cutlass.

You may fantasize about me being your mother, R232, but fortunately for me that is not the case as my plate is full enough with my daughter Nancy; disappointment doesn't even begin to describe my feelings about her.

MBB also shaded Sada about gaining weight between seasons, complaining to the costume designers that "MY DRESSES! They've SHRUNK!"

Stevie Nicks should have stopped by that house, just to kick Kate in the cunt bone.

Kate would have twisted Stevie like a pretzel. "I kick to the cuntbone? That all you got? I eat more than that for breakfast. Now I'm gonna melt you down to butter my biscuits. Come get your ass kicking you gypsy whore."

Years back there was a black DLer who was fascinated by Family and approached it like Margaret Mead might have approached a strange unknown tribe with its own peculiar customs.

I liked him.

R228, that Sada Thompson/Meredith scene is one of the finest in its five seasons. There’s also a great Sada/Gary Frank scene where he needs to borrow $5,000 to buy drugs for Rubinstein’s band (called “Hard Candy,” with a lead singer played by DL favorite Ilene Kristen) that is equally wonderful. Sada goes from droll to truly concerned to suspicious, then erecting that Pasadena facade again, all in about six lines.

Jesus. MBB really was gorgeous.

High riding bitch!

One of my favorite segments of the show is Kate describing all her kids to a friend. It wasn't meant to be humorous and it was so touching. The look in Sada's eyes was acting enough. She said, and I'm sure I'm getting it close to exact: "Every time I look at Nancy I'm amazed someone that beautiful came out of me."

I still have to watch the "Locher Room" chat with Gary Frank and John Rubenstein....despite being a recurring character at best John sort of monopolized what I did see of that chat, unfortunately.

Jeff was always unbearable to be around for any length of time, it was easy to see why he and Nancy hit it off...

R224 I've seen it so I guess it's not cut.

[quote] Elayne Heilveil's casting never made a bit of sense. Nancy was Daddy's princess and incredibly pretty (which is how she attracted her husband)

R231 I'm going to disagree with this because I don't see why E. H. couldn't have been Daddy's princess. Any girl can be Daddy's princess in any family. And Jeff was (to me, anyway) no big deal (though he was rich). He wasn't handsome and he was a serial cheater. He's lucky he got Elayne, never mind Meredith.

But it wasn't that she was just daddy's little princess. She was a princess anywhere she went. Lets face it, because of the way she looked. Ninety percent of her character was meant for us to love/hate her because she had no problem using her looks in everything she did. Especially with men. She was self-centered but yet still somehow likeable.

R246 Oh, yeah, I agree. Having said all that, that I much prefer Meredith.

And the storylines with all those men falling for Nancy at first sight because of her stunning looks never would have worked with Heilveil.

I never really thought MBB was a total knockout, but she's pretty, blond, and super attractive, and it's easy to see why any guy would be into her. And - I doubt she'd get away with it today, but she had lopsided front teeth

....

Her mother was Whitney Blake. An absolutely stunning woman. They looked very much alike except for the teeth you mentioned. I always dug MBB's teeth. It gave her that slight imperfection that made her somehow prettier. If I wasn't a big mo she would be the type I would fall for.

I think Nancy was likeable because Meredith is likeable. She would do things like leave a list of things for Kate to do while she (Nancy) was at class. "Pick up my dry cleaning," etc. Then she took the car. But I couldn't hate her for it. Can't explain why. I guess everyone just had a crush on Nancy.

R249 I actually don't see that much resemblance.

Meredith is somewhat "plain Jane" while Whitney had that old-movie-star glamour.

You're right R250. Nancy would be home reading a book while having Kate babysit LOL. It was just the charm of MBB. You just couldn't hate her. Another thing great about MBB's Nancy was the only person who saw right through her was her mother. Yet she was still wrapped around Nancy's finger. It was like Nancy was Kate's Krypotnite. Sorry for the in depth analysis of Nancy but god I love this show and have always loved MBB.

I remember watching an episode of Hazel. Whitney Blake walked into the scene as they were getting ready to go to some formal event. They had Whitney dressed in complete shimmering navy blue. Hat, dress, gloves, shoes. All one color. I actually gasped at how beautiful she looked. So yeah MBB is the better actress and Whitney a bit more beautiful.

I think I already said this (if so, sorry) but I'm a latecomer to the show and also to liking MBB. I'm surprised I like her so much on Family because I never cared for her much before, mainly because I thought she was untalented. Whatever I saw her in in the past (Little Women, Family Ties) I wasn't impressed. But she's great on Family. As well as having a lot of charm.

PS Nancy/Meredith was a very mid/late '70s sort of attractive. The long hair, conservative outfits in earth tones, soft sweaters, somewhat boyish figure.

Plus Nancy's involvement with Buddy ranged from cruelty to dismissive. It was refreshing. Nancy just laughed at Buddy when Buddy thought it was that Jameson Parker was interested in.

If I was a straight guy in 1977 I would love to have arm candy like her.

I thought young John Rubenstein/Jeff was hot. But he was 70s hot....if that makes sense.

Nancy got a lot of decent dick during the run of the show, if I remember correctly. A young Tommy Lee Jones was one of them.

[quote]R78 ABC decided it was expendable and shortened the season, and then decided to pull the plug.

it was an abortion. An ABORTION, Michael!

I agree with those commenting on Whitney Blake. I caught part of an episode of “Hazel” once and remember thinking how she was extremely pretty, almost too pretty for the show.

Family was a much better showcase for MBB's talents than Family Ties was, obviously. MBB just isn't very funny and doesn't have particularly good timing or delivery. Add to that she had to play a responsible mother as opposed to a self-absorbed princess who happened to have a child who she made her parents look after all the time. Nancy was a good fit for MBB, Elyse Keaton not so much...

Family Ties really just became the MJ Fox show. I know Meredith and Michael Gross weren’t exactly thrilled, but grinned, bared it and cash their big checks. I definitely remember MBBs work more on Family than FT. And she wasn’t even in every episode.

R262- That's because Family was a far better show than Family Ties.

Family Ties was just a mediocre sitcom- mediocre at best.

I don’t appreciate slop

As a child, I never paid much attention to Nancy or Willie when i watched the show, or to Doug for that matter. I only was interested in Kate (because I recognized even then what a fine actress Sada Thompson was, and I was fascinated by the character's imperfections) and Buddy (because she was close to my age).

R266- She is the centerpiece of the show.

By far THE most important character.

MBB seemed to be an actress who reflected those she worked with. If she worked with a great partner then she was great. Thus her work with Sada was some of her best. If you haven't seen MBB in A Woman Scorned, I believe it's on YouTube, you should watch it. If it was a theatrical release she would have at least been nominated for an Oscar. Sounds corny but she was truly magnificent. Other actresses would have hammed that story up but MBB was so low key in her crazy.

R268 What about an Emmy?

MBB worked very well with Michael Gross on “Family Ties.” They had great chemistry and were both born the same day and year.

r267, I referred to three women in my post. Whom do you mean by "she"?

Our Sada- of course.

MBB sort of became cliched later on as one of those women in peril actresses for Lifetime movies.

A shame as she was always capable of more.

Meredith talks about working with Michael in this clip (which I think is new). Click on the link.

I forget what they call the clause but MBB had it in Family Ties. It was in her contract that she always was to be the top paid actor on the show. So when MJG got the huge bump in his salary; MBB got a bigger one.

The picture in OP’s original post just screams “DYSFUNCTION”. It’s daylight outside, but the kid is already in his pajamas with a dinner that he’s obviously had to pull together himself because his parents are chronic alcoholics with zombie-like expressions on their faces.

I was reading that Sada interview, as I was born the year this show ended. The last season was not even a real season- It was shortened mid season replacement season of specials and then 8 or so episodes ...

I wonder why the writers did not give it an ending... The last episode is clearly a final episode, but they probably should have done a better job.

This is the most boring post I have ever written about a show that I barely know about.

R276, that’s a girl.

R276 Tell us you've never seen the show without telling us you've never seen the show.

In the episode, if I recall correctly (not sure), Buddy wasn't feeling well after school so her mother told her to go up to bed. Then she was feeling well enough to eat. Or something like that.

MBB was on Oprah talking about her memoir and Michael Gross came on as a surprise guest; she got so emotional. I thought she was pretty wackadoodles and Oprah asked her why she was with an abusive husband and MBB said something -- which made sense -- you see someone bad for you and you say THIS feels familiar.

So you go to what's familiar.

Doug: I thought you were sick. What's with the snack?

Buddy: Nancy ordered a cucumber and watercress sandwich.

Kate: I hope you used low-fat mayo.

Buddy: I think my fever is spiking. Is there more aspirin?

Doug: Quit playing Camille, and take the sandwich to your sister, then come back and freshen up these fucking drinks. We told you to make them stiff.

Kate: And make me a cucumber and watercress sandwich too.

Buddy: With EXTRA low-fat mayo?

Kate: You little bitch!

Continue with the script please....along the lines of Nancy berating Buddy about how shitty her sandwich was.

Meredith said she and Michael Gross became close - not sure if it was during or after the show - that he was very supportive and that they stayed friends.

R281 Nice. But I don't even remember if we had low-fat mayo in the 70s, never mind extra low fat.

Nancy: Buddy can't you see that the cucumber/watercress ratio is way off? Take it away. I've lost my appetite. You will never find a man.

Watching the show with the perspective of now, I can see Meredith's slightly dykey tendencies. She doesn't ever show much femininity, especially for the time period of the mid-to-late '70s. Sada actually is more fem than Meredith. And as for Kristy, well, that was pretty obv.

Linda Lavin was the best guest actress they ever had.

^^Haha

Doug's dad was played more than once by John Beal - who played the title role in the Katharine Hepburn film, The Little Minister.

He looked like this on the show

Genie Francis was great as Buddy's arch nemesis. Genie got to pop Leif's cherry.

David Wayne also played the dad, as did Henry Fonda.

Last night I watched Alice's Restaurant (1969), with Arlo Guthrie - mainly because whenever I look up photos of James Broderick, it comes up. I had seen it years ago, in the '70s, at a showing at college. It was really kind of boring, this time around. JB was the best actor in it, I'd say. He almost single-handedly held it together when Arlo was not onscreen.

R291 Did realize that was her. Leif was so seriocomic in his "A guy has needs" speeches. He looked 13.

(Didn't)

Just watched the Joseph Bottoms/Alice Ghostley episode. Jesus Christ, he was beautiful.

Sorry. Lisa Welchel got Leif's cherry. Genie got Willies cherry. Here's Genie cunting on Buddy.

Buddy is attempting to do some of the Zephyr team moves.

There's an episode where Buddy is in a skateboarding contest and Kristy McNichol's dykeitude can be seen from outer space.

The 1977 Primetime EMMY AWARD for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series.

The nominees are:

Sada Thompson for Family

Michael Learned for The Waltons

Angie Dickinson for Police Woman

Kate Jackson for Charlie’s Angels

Lindsay Wagner for The Bionic Woman

And the winner is…

Lindsay Wagner for The Bionic Womam!

I thought Genie was only on an early episode. It wasn't much longer after that episode that she joined General Hospital.

Wow, Thompson aside, r299 contains about the tackiest list of nominees ever!

Why not throw in Lauren Tewes, as well?

R301 Michael Learned in The Waltons - good actress - no real difference between her job and Sada's.

Anyway - in general, acting is hard. You think Angie Dickinson just had to stand around and collect a check?

Me and Angie split the pretty vote. That's why that bag of bones Wagner won.

We voted for Lindsay: unlike some of the other nominees, she was cool AND hot!!

An open letter to Tubi:

We will NOT tolerate Family being removed from your service again.

We will rise up and destroy you!

Listen up, and listen good!!

.......

R303 Wagner was just as hot as them. Lindsay submitted a twins episode, which is always catnip to the voters.

R296. Alice could be the doppelgänger of the hot girl in my 8th grade class: Patti Hale. Was there a single girl in Southern California who didn’t part her long hair in the middle back then?

P.S. that’s some weak skateboard skills showing in that scene, by everyone.

P.P.S. I had that same long sleeve shirt as Willie Ames wore —rugby shirts were big then 🤷🏻‍♂️

The kids aren't good but skateboarding only had a major resurgence around 1974-75 when urethane wheels were introduced. Many kids in the '70s weren't good skateboarders. I skated but was no better than the kids shown in the episode.

(Well, maybe a little better.)

R399 I know —I was there. They were terrible skateboarders in that episode.

R311 When did I say they weren't?

🙄

They were actors. Not athletes.

I'm guessing Kristy was into skateboarding so they wrote some episodes for her about it. I don't think she learned it for the episodes, but who knows?

Kristy was very athletic. I think she did all of the battle of the network stars. And skateboarding was big in the late 70s, so she probably already knew.

Extremely athletic. She'll never get a man to do all the heavy lifting for her. Poor, poor Buddy. Now excuse me. I've got a bad brief to write but I'll bring it to daddy and he'll rewrite it for me. I've got a date. Toodles.

Emmy Award winning actress Kristy McNichol guest stars on a ‘Carrie/The Exorcist’ styled episode of the ABC series The Bionic Woman starring Emmy Award winning actress Lindsay Wagner. Here is an excerpt from the 1976 episode for consideration.

[quote]. Add the opening theme, the instrumentation,

I love the opening theme!

I remember Kate telling Annie to do something and then saying, "Now, march!" It reminded me of my mom.

Jaime Sommers knew how to slalom on a skateboard!

and crush a tennis ball. Don't forget that.

The natural maternal warmth and comfort Jamie displayed with tearful and frightened young Kristy is something that was sorely lacking in Kate "Suck It Up, Sunshine" Lawrence of Pasadena.

Joyce, you wouldn't say that if you ever tried to get Buddy to scrub your toilet with her toothbrush. She can be very insolent. Poor, poor Buddy.

R287=Linda Lavin

R324 That's why it's signed, "Linda Lavin."

Put your glasses on Kate.

I bended in half and now I’m staring up.at my taint