What was Sada Thompson/Kate Lawrence's biggest challenge?

Saying NO to an entire pan of brownies.

Just a hunch.

She fucking hated Nancy and frequently wished it was her who died instead of Timmy.

I forgot to add "Her adopted daughter was homely and identified with Emily Dickinson."

Why is there an old lady inside every gay man?

Teeth whitening.

This is a dumb poll and is detracting from the main Family discussion thread, which is about to hit Part 3.

I applied at Sada Lawrence but my application was rejected. Dykes!

[quote] This is a dumb poll

That might have carried more weight had you not already posted an answer at r5.

Which was not in the dumb poll, R8.

She had to watch the chick from True Grit give birth while trapped in a '70s condo.

Having to find a dealer, so she could get high enough to have to fuck her ugly husband.

From the expression that was usually on her face, I'd say her biggest challenge was overcoming chronic constipation.

Tucking.

Carbs. Clearly it was carbs.

I vaguely remember the show---was working/going to school at the time. They seemed like a liberal version of my WASPy relatives, but without the sense of curiosity and humor and certainly without enough good gin. I'm guessing it was meant to be a fictional counterpart to the Louds. Thompson seemed to exude a lack of warmth. Gary Frank was the only reason to watch the show and not because he was a great actor.

I thought FAMILY made Pasadena, CA look like heaven on earth. The perfect place to live.

Eight is Enough was for people who thought Family was too heavy-handed.

Kate had so many challenges:

An upstairs

That abortion was legalized until 1973

A husband who frequented truck stop bathrooms for rough trade

Baking shit and faking pleasantries at those God Damn PTA meetings

The cancellation of Love of Life

Not having a migrant maid to blame for the mysteriously shrinking amount of Gin

Indoor lighting

Being banned from the local Lane Bryant after throwing a hissy fit or "European" size labels

Life was hard for Kate, and it showed on her face, her demeanor, and her binge snacking.

Based on the episodes I’ve seen Sada Thompson’s biggest challenge was acting. Oh, and that face.

Sada was a much awarded and honored actress. She was the original Betty the Loon in "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds."

[quote] I'm guessing it was meant to be a fictional counterpart to the Louds.

That is correct. An American Family was a sensation, and ABC and Aaron Spelling wanted to capitalize on it.

Emmy award-winning Bionic Women.

Her face looked like she ran flat into a door.

Her greatest challenge was trying to keep from showing her disapproval over everything her family did. She failed the challenge.

Whenever she was shown eating on Family, Sada would take tiny bites. Her biggest challenge was refraining from scarfing.

I don't remember much about the show except my mom remarking "All she does is sip coffee and flip through magazines!'

She did have resting bitch face. She would've been good in a villain role, frankly.

OP, you failed to mention perhaps her greatest challenge, getting Joplinesque rocker, Kattie Wild out of her house after moving in to avoid the real world.

Or maybe it was counselling Buddy about how to deal with her favorite teacher, Ms. Jessup being a Lezbyterian, all the while being fully aware that sooner than later, Buddy would also be chomping on the minge.

[quote]What was Sada Thompson/Kate Lawrence's biggest challenge?

Eating the whole thing.

Her biggest challenge was living with herself after turning down two Oscar-winning roles: Louise Fletcher’s in Cuckoo’s Nest, and Beatrice Straight’s in Network. But then, Angela Lansbury turned down Nurse Ratched, too! Along with half the actresses in Hollywood!

I wanted so bad to be a part of that family when I was a kid.

Her greatest challenge was getting Buddy through high school without her getting pregnant!

All the boys were constantly sniffing around after her, yet somehow Buddy managed to muster up all the strength and resolve Kate instilled in her, and make it to graduation day completely intact, praise God.

Come to think of it, Buddy was still resisting the boys' advances decades later. Perhaps a little too much strength and resolve was instilled.

[quote] She did have resting bitch face. She would've been good in a villain role, frankly.

Yes... Kate Lawrence.

Kate seemed like a lesbian.

Her biggest challenge was getting out of that locked apartment in those new downtown apartments and back to her safe space and big country kitchen.

She should've been cast as one of those bull-dyke villainesses on Charlie's Angels.

She would've fit right in at the Springtime Spa!

She would've been a good Nurse Ratchet.

Miss Sada would have been great as a villainess on Batman!

It was very sad when Kate miscarried her late-in-life pregnancy baby.

There was no baby! It was the menopause.

I just watched the miscarriage episode tonight, on Tubi. It really was one of the lamer episodes, I thought. Kate wanting to go ahead and have the baby because she thought it would make up for the loss of Tim was unsettling, as was Buddy's hysteria about what might happen.

As if that weren't enough, Dominique Dunne is in the B storyline, which is about her barely 17-year-old character relentlessly trying to seduce thirtyish Willie, who expresses his discomfort and disinterest again and again, to no avail. So many layers of creepiness.

[quote] It was very sad when Kate miscarried her late-in-life pregnancy baby.

It saved her from having to explain why the baby was bi-racial.

[quote] So many layers of creepiness.

It was a different time.

Well.....after reading thread upon thread about Sada Thompson and "Family", I have finally deigned to look and see if the series is available on Youtube. I'm getting stuck into the pilot episode and how grown up it is, too!

I think the original Nancy (Elayne Heilveil--WHET?) was a better match physically for Sada and the others than Meredith BB.

They were a family of brunettes, not sunny blondes.

Here they all are on Season 4, with Quinn Cummings as Cousin Oliver.

Who/what is the special needs demon child in Kristy's lap?

Quinn was actually a decent fit on the show. She was a smart, thoughtful actress, and though they didn't always succeed, the writers tried to fit her in as well as they could.

Meredith was cute in her gawky way. But she never had the luminous beauty of her real-life mom, Whitney Blake (HAZEL, etc.)

Heilveil ended up where she belonged, doing bit parts on Tenspeed & Brown Shoe and T.J. Hooker.

Heilveil was hilarious as the deadpan clerk at the trendy boutique “Shot Down in Ecuador Junior” on the MTM episode where Mare starts dating the younger Peter Strauss.

Rhoda: “Mary, you put on these boots, you start walking towards sailors…”

Is Gary Frank goosing Sada in the photo at R49?

Sada is giving MILF-y hotness there.

Staying away from the candy bowls liberally distributed throughout the house.

Timmy II looks as vaguely retarded as ever in r49's photo.

[quote]Miss Sada would have been great as a villainess on Batman!

"Holy WASP behavioral; standards, Batman! Barbara, Queen of Brownies is using her powers of icy disapproval on us!"

She was so ugly...inside and out.

Her annual submittance to the act of sexual congress with Doug on his birthday...

Holy crap, what the fuck is Quinn Cummings wearing? Was she auditioning for Little House too?

It was the 70s, R60. Dressing Amish/prairie was a thing.

R61 - For the Amish.

R62 Not according to my 3rd grade class pictures!

She regretted leaving the national tour of Twigs.

R33 She was a lot younger than Beatrice Straight, she would have seemed too young opposite Holden.

What was Quinn Cummings doing there, anyway? Why did they bring her in?

Prairie fashion cult

It's too bad Sada never got that one film role that won her a late in life Oscar. She was a terrific actress and could have gone to town with some sort of elderly matron role.