"Family" 1976-1980

Everybody loved it, OP. I know I did.

It was very edgy for its time.

Wasn’t there a “very special episode” where the blond brother’s friend moves back and he’s all awkward because they used to fool around and now said friend is actual homosexual? I kinda remember that but it’s hazy

It's a terrific show. There have been a few amusing threads over the years in which every arcane detail of the program is analyzed, in true DL fashion:

Sada Thompson was primarily a theater actress.

R2. Yes. Willie’s childhood friend comes home from college and is arrested at a gay bar. The friend is 1970s hot as hell. The dad represents him as his lawyer. The gay guys parents kick him out and he comes to live for a few weeks w the family. Willie has a tough time but accepts him. Buddy has a crush on him and he has to explain to her that he is gay (the irony!!!). He was so fucking hot. I tried to find a pic. Will keep trying.

Brian Byers was the actor who played Willie's friend Zeke.

The original Betty the Loon.....

Didn't Sada Thompson win multiple Emmys for the show?

It was so interesting because she was so much like the mother in "Ordinary People"--frosty, disapproving, obsessed with keeping up her house--and yet she was the big hero of the series. Her character was rarely ever wrong.

It's funny looking at old clips of it now because Buddy was SO unbelievably dykey, and yet it's never acknowledged on the show that she's anything other than a tomboy. I mean, Kristy McNichol even WALKS in a very masculine way, like she's got a big dick dangling between her legs.

It's striking she played Betty the Loon, the almost archetypal Borderline Personality Disorder character, since Kate was the sanest character of all time.

Sada won an Emmy in '78 and gave a super-classy acceptance speech.

Kristy was a doll, r9!

One of her characters from TWIGS.....

This is the Willie's Friend is Gay episode.

Kind of unbelievable this aired on network TV in 1977.

It was intended to be the season premiere, but ABC freaked and pushed it back to the week of Christmas break. But at least they aired it.

If you’re not finding it to be enough of a downer, listen to the supremely depressing theme music from the first season, which I think was a short run of maybe six episodes and pre-Meredith Baxter Birney:

Huh. I don't think I've seen Carol Burnett's TWIGS since it first aired. Couldn't find it on Youtube.

Thompson wasn't the original Beatrice, The play premiered in Houston in 1965 and had regional productions before opening Off-Broadway with Thompson in 1970. Eileen Heckart played Beatrice in a TV adaptation in 1966.

WHET Gary Frank?

Thanks R5. I think I watched it on YouTube. In my memory from the 70s Willie has fooled around with Zeke. But I do t think that happened. Does the Dad talk about having a crush is normal or is my brain confusing it with Call Me By Your Name?

Cheryl Ladd was up for the part that Meredith Baxter Birney got. Thats how Aaron remembered her for "Charlies Angels" She didin't have to audition..

R15 Was MBB a replacement for the daughter actress or added in later as another character? Perhaps I didn’t watch it from the start as I don’t remember her showing up late.

Yeah, R19, one of the remarkable things about that episode is that the dad sat Willie down and confessed to having a gay crush when he was a boy.

The first Nancy was played by Elayne Heilveil in the six-episode miniseries that aired in spring 1977. Her character was a drip and doormat and not appealing.

ABC network head Fred Silverman demanded a replacement. Pretty blonde Cheryl Ladd auditioned but lost out to pretty blonde Jane Actman. After several episodes were shot, Silverman said she wasn't working out — pretty blonde Nancy needed to be older. So he offered the job to Meredith Baxter Birney (from Bridget Loves Birney, which he developed at CBS) without the producers' knowledge.

MBB had to come in and reshoot all of Jane Actman's scenes, keeping the same tone and inflection, so they could be dropped into those episodes.

I found Sada Thompson cold, dull. Didn't care for her at all.

I found Buddy (Kristy McNichol) the most watchable. It did however have a very young Willie Aames as Buddy's first crush. Woof !

Willie Aames had a nice Speedo bulge.

I loved Sada Thompson. She acted with her face. When they had close-ups of her, you could read exactly what was on her mind.

R24 Yuck, I couldn't stand that mother either. I was 9 when that show came out and felt really sorry for Buddy with her ugly and boring old mother and a grandpa for a dad. I think I knew Kristy was gay back then. Definitely by the time Little Darlings came out. We all knew Kristy was gay.

I was disgusted by Sada Thompson's little baked bean teeth.

Wllie Aames wasn't in "Family." He was in the similar but far less prestigious show "Eight is Enough."

r15, that theme music for the original mini-series was composed by John Rubinstein, who played Nancy's ex-husband Jeff Maitland. The son of the famed virtuoso pianist Arthur Rubsinstein, he is musically gifted--but the show's producers decided (rightly) that the music he composed was too depressing for the show.

He's a good actor--I saw him on Broadway in "Children of a Lesser God" nearly forty years ago. He's still around, too--a very nice guy.

I have to give them credit--they changed the weakest parts of the original mini-series (the theme music and Elayne Heilveil) when they turned it into a series, and the show was much better for it. It still was a little gloomy as family dramas go, but it did speak very much to that whole idea of upper-middle class families as pressure cookers, which was such a big theme of that era (book-ended by PBS's "An American Family" and "Ordinary People").

Willie Aames was in Family. He played Buddy's boyfriend before he went on to Eight Is Enough.

I hated that show but never missed it. Was it me or did the mother seem cold and distant from her kids??

John Rubinstein was hot.

r17 a "friend"and coworker at a Gay disco we worked at, Lori Shelle, was in that run of Gamma Rays. She moved on to play Gracie for a while on Guiding Light

OP, I saw a Soap box set last week at a thrift store and almost bought it, are you in Boston?

What was up with that Aiden Quin girl? She was creepy and had dark holes for eyes.

You're both wrong- Willie Aames WAS a recurring character on Family and it WAS during the same time he was a regular on Eight is Enough.

John Rubinstein was also in "Zachariah, The First Electric Western." Saw that one in college

Well, it would appear that Miss Judith Lowry was involved early on, r17.

They have their share of really stupid episodes. Miss Sada goes to look at some new condos downtown. (Like she's ever going to leave that house she lives in now). Through some unfortunate accident, she gets locked into the show apartment and of course it's the weekend, so nobody will be back until Monday. And I think she's locked in with a pregnant woman, so she gets plenty of airtime to give long, thought out discussions of family life.

I'm an eldergay and I remember watching that episode about Willie's gay friend in a gay bar and we laughed our asses off. Nobody remembered a gay bar being raided since Stonewall.

God that sounds excruciating R40.

And the pregnant woman was the chick from True Grit.

[quote] What was up with that Aiden Quin girl?

Gurrrrrrlllll...

This is the episode where Kate gets locked in the model apartment with the pregnant woman.

During a moment of crisis, Kate gets a dramatic monologue where she unpacks her feelings about all of her children.

Sada Thompson does a good job, of course, and this was the season she won the Emmy.

r36, I think you meant Quinn Cummings, who was a late addition to the cast. She played Annie, a girl whose parents were the Lawrences' best friends killed in a car crash, and the Lawrences took her in.

She was an odd child actress, best known aside from "Family" for "The Goodbye Girl," for which she was nominated for an Oscar as Best Supporting Actress. She was strangely precocious and troll-like as a child (which was very much the style for child actors in the 70s--compare Mason Reese and Moosie Dreier), but became reasonably attractive once she hit adolescence. She also decided then to phase out of acting because she didn't like growing up having her face being so well-known. She invented a sling-type device for carrying a baby next to your chest called the Hip-Hugger, for which I think she ultimately made a lot of money. She is now a writer and an advocate of home-schooling (though i think she is not a religious person).

Related thread.....

[quote]I found Sada Thompson cold, dull. Didn't care for her at all.

Sada always looked constipated to me.

John Rubinstein played the title role in the original Broadway cast of "Pippin." He has also played the Wizard in various productions of "Wicked."

Sada played Mrs. Coyne in Juno.

Lindsey Wagner beat Sada one year at the Emmys.

Family's ratings were never spectacular, but they were decent for a while. It was becoming a hit, and the network ruined it.

1975-76: #34

1976-77: #39

1977-78: #26

1978-79: #52

1979-80: #65

Their highest-rated season was the third — right before ABC told the producers to juice up the show by adding orphan Annie and a bunch of sexy plots: Willie fucks Shelley Long and Kate gets pissed, Willie fucks Stephanie Zimbalist and nobody cares, Nancy's new boss wants to fuck her. This was also the season Buddy learned disco, befriended an athlete losing his leg to cancer, and won a history contest over a classmate who then committed suicide.

It was moved to Thursday night and the ratings tanked. The critics hated it, and that was the only season Family wasn't nominated for a Best Drama Emmy. It was renewed for one more short season, and the quality improved, but it was ovah.

The show would just not be as memorable without the episode where Buddy becomes the disco queen. That and the episodes with Willy's gay friend and Kate's prophetic dream about killing the child are the three episodes everyone remembers.

Sada starred with Richard Thomas in "Andre's Mother". She played the cold, frosty mother of Richard's partner, who died of AIDS. It was quite moving.

r50 I never miss a Melvyn Douglas musical.

"Family" was Aaron Spelling's "classy" counterpart to the rest of the trash he produced.

The weirdest thing about "Family" was it propelled Kristy McNichol to be a major teen star in the late 70s. Why? Was she the lesbian teenage icon the US had been waiting for? Why was there a "Buddy" doll but not a "Nancy" doll (much less a "Kate" doll)? To whom did she appeal?

It didn't help that Miss Sada gained 20 pounds and lost half her hair during the run.

I remember watching it fully in syndication when I was a teen in the mid 80s. I really love this show. They felt like a real family. Makes you feel old when people like op don’t know who certain respected actors are. Sada was a Tony and Emmy winning actress op, so do your homework or turn in your gay card.

At R11, there was a weirdly long delay between Henry Winkler announcing Miss Sada as the Emmy winner and when she finally hauled it onstage. The band played almost the entire theme song. Was she in the can or something?

R9 Thompson only won once along with Gary Frank. McNichol won twice r57 if you are old enough to remember, Kristy was everywhere in the late 70s and deserved both her wins. She played the girl next door to the hilt and competed with men and won on the battle of the network stars at the time. She even did records with her brother Jimmy.

I always wanted to eat Kristy McNichol's wet dripping cunt!

As a young gayling I was enthralled by our Miss Sada Thompson. Having seen her in Our Town and By the Skin of Our Teeth on PBS, she was the epitome of New York Theatre to me before I ever saw a play in New York. She was who I held the Merlys and the Glenns up to as my actorly yard stick. And no, I’m not spouting hyperbole, I’m am deadly serious. She was the one true actress on TV for me in the 70s. And she was not outshone until Vanessa Redgrave and Jane Alexander did Playing for a Time in 1980.

I wanted to eat Jimmy McNichol’s ass.

Sada Thompson was cast as Irene Lorenzo on All in the Family. She worked a few days, but wasn't getting along with Carroll O'Connor, so she begged off and was replaced by Betty Garrett.

I think she was a fine actress. Kate had a wry sense of humor on the show. Even as a kid (I was 8 in 1978) I enjoyed that about her.

My God. I had the BIGGEST crush on Kristy McNichol. I was in LOVE with her. We had a babysitter named (I kid you not) Liz who looked like her. I would always ask "Are we gonna have LIZ tonight??" when my folks were going out. I can still smell the Bubble Yum.

When I was a kid, I had a learning disability. I got pulled out of the school I was in, and put in another school slightly out of town who could deal with it better. Once, Liz brought a friend over. I explained to Liz how it was my first week at a new school. She asked why and I said "Well, the other school is a special school" which was what my mom had told me.

The next day, I said to my mom "Hey, I told Liz and her friend I was going to a special school, and they laughed." I remember catching this quick look of about to cry on my mom's face. She quickly got rid of it. "Don't pay any attention to them."

Thinking of this, I feel very guilty for making my mom so sad like that. I honestly had no idea at the time why Liz laughed, and I really wanted it explained. Funny the things you remember. Sorry, mom.

I'm reposting my entries from the "related thread":

"FAMILY was a wonderful show with a superb acting ensemble that contained some of the finest writing on television at the time. Sure, it occasionally was melodramatic or concerned itself with too many topical "issues" but it maintained its standard of excellence to the end.

I just watched [R208]'s clip (which I've seen a bazillion times) and I'm crying like a little girl (again). When Sada says, "You are going to be...you are...," it's magnificent. The show presented its characters with integrity, intelligence and---good luck finding it on tv today---dignity. Simply beautiful."

Did not recall Willie Ames on the show, but definitely remembered Leif Garrett! Watch his entrance at 2:42 and check out what Facts of Life future actress he strolls on with. I also swore Lance Kerwin was on the same time he was filming James at 15. His Wikipedia doesn’t mention it, but I did find him on IMDB listed on an episode. So Leif, Willie, Lance and most likely other 70s teen heartthrobs were thrown at Kristy by the producers and she still turned out gay. Maybe she was just secretly getting it on with Jimmy and they couldn’t live up to the stud that he was and being seen as a lesbian was better then incest?

Decades channel sometimes has weekend marathons, plus YouTube has many episodes. Sada and crew will always live on!

R64, do you want to eat Jimmy McNichol’s ass today?

Our Town

R70 that doesn’t look like him. This is him probably from the last five years or so.

The Lawrence's certainly were NOT showoffs. The drove Ford Mavericks. They were supposed to be Upper Middle Class. They could have them driving something nicer like a Buick or an Oldsmobile.

D R A M A

Doug's dad brings home a slut for Christmas!

David Jacobs was briefly a head writer for Family before moving on to create Dallas.

Ed Zwick (later of thirtysomething) took over as producer when the original producers left after season 4. His future partner Marshall Herskovitz wrote and directed some episodes. They were only in their late 20s.

The father in real life was the future father-in-law of one Miss Sarah Jessica Parker. Unfortunately, he died before they met so he never had to endure the agony of seeing his daughter-in-law act like an insipid slut on Kim Cattrall's show.

R29

Aames was indeed on FAMILY. I didn't say he was one of the stars. Aames played Buddy's love interest on 6 episodes.

Gary Frank looked like a twink with a mild case of Downs.

R79 yeah but I bet he had sizemeat!

Even DL fave Tovah Feldshuh appeared on Family.

Prototype for the Kate Lawrence doll I longed for as a child.

They should have rebooted it in the 90s with Miss Sada as a grandmother. Kristy's smart ass daughter. Gary's horny son. A soundtrack by The Cranberries.

Has Kristy written an autobiography? If so I need to read it. F Demi Moore.

They were all set to do a reunion circa 1985. Sans Doug, natch. It was announced in the Fall Preview Issue of TV Guide and everything. But it was scuttled by MBB's refusal to sign off on a script.

MBB ruins it for everyone!

Yes, "Family Reunion" was all set for the 1987-88 season. A script was written that dealt with Kate remarrying. If the ratings were good, ABC wanted to revive the show. TV critics started writing about that in the spring, and it was in the big fall preview articles. They were excited about it.

Then MBB wanted rewrites, which delayed it, the writer's strike hit, and she ultimately killed it.

Gary Frank was PISSED. He gave interviews about that.

Curse you, MBB!

They should have brought in Cheryl Ladd.

From June 1987:

There's absolutely no truth to the rumor that Elayne Heilveil was too Jewish and turned off viewers in middle America, and that's why she was fired from the show and replaced by Meredith Baxter Birney. Unfortunately, she had a habit of stomping on a glass after every take and it slowed down our production days.

Blind item: When they rehearsed, the A+ lister was constantly exposing himself to her and masturbating. He made her touch him while he touched her and she says he tried to rape her but finished before he could actually penetrate her.

He tried to get an additional day of shooting alone with her but the network wouldn't pay for it. She says that it was about a 15 hour day and that he was touching her or forcing her to touch him for about 14 hours of it.

They REALLY didn't need MBB. As I recall, as the series went on, she was seen less and less. They could've replaced her a la the Betty Buckley/Mary Frann switcheroo on the first Eight is Enough reunion. Hindsight.

Blind item: Back in the day she was a child actress. Cute and funny and growing up in a time of actors on set where rules were not really followed and behavior could be abhorrent. Despite being just an early teen, our actress was forced to have sex or coerced to have sex with men twice or sometimes three times her age. This was not a one time thing, but a daily thing she had to endure if she wanted to be an actress.

MBB was only in about half the episodes. She said in her autobiography that was the original offer, which is why she could take it, having young kids and a controlling husband.

If you look back at the original 6-episode miniseries, Elayne Heilveil is heavily featured in the first two episodes and then vanishes. I always thought it was like the producers realized, oh shit, we made a mistake with this chick!

Which they did. But ultimately Nancy was like Phyllis on MTM — really a recurring character. A little of her went a long way. She was constantly just in an opening or closing scene, going out of town with Timmy or just coming back.

Oh dear, R92 — did Gary Frank diddle Kristy McNichol?

Is that why he disappeared?

From R92:

[quote]There was one older actor she thought she was safe from, but after their third day filming he had her in his dressing room, undressing for him while he pleasured himself. She had to do this at least once a week. There was her co-star who was almost the same age who told her he would get her fired unless they had sex. He also made her try some drugs. This was all like at 12 and 13. Crazy. On one show she was on she was repeatedly molested by a man who later was accused of raping one of his neighbor's children. Apparently since he thought he could get away with it on sets, he also thought the same rules applied in the real world. All you have to do is mention this guy's name or character name to the actress and she will start crying. All of this has affected every day of her life since. It all makes sense what she does now when you think of what happened to her back then.

OH MY. Is this why Kristy hates willie?

Is it true that the show was created because of An American Family and the Loud family on PBS?

I wasn't old enough to watch Family and appreciate it. I remember my mother watching and, being 6 or 7, I thought it was boring.

I'll have to put a pin in this.

Yes, basically, An American Family and the Louds were the inspiration.

Spelling-Goldberg hired their friend Jay Presson Allen to write a script, which sat on the shelf until Mike Nichols had to fulfill a production deal with ABC, came across it and said he wanted to do it.

One of the guesses for R90:

ABC was very meh in the ratings in 1988-89, and a Family Reunion series probably would have gotten a shitty timeslot on Thursday or Saturday and died quickly. But it would have been nice to see Miss Sada and the house again.

Timmy would have been around Buddy's age at the start of the original series. The problem would be a lack of appealing young adults to get into sexual adventures. But maybe they would have gone full Thirtysomething. I can only assume Annie would be off studying in China or killed in the same gruesome accident that claimed Doug.

Nancy could have been Cheryl Ladd, Lorna Patterson or Shelley Smith, or some other '70s ABC Network Blonde in Career Crisis. Eve Plumb? Shelley Hack?

Something that was interesting about this show was that they did the opposite of SORAS.

Timmy should have been a rambunctious 6-year-old at the beginning of the last season, but he never said more than two words on the show.

Did he have fetal alcohol syndrome? Was it all the coke Nancy and Jeff did?

Sada shook her baby Timmy to death and blamed it on cot death. That is why she was so cold. Everyone knew she was a murderess and got away with it and didn't want to be her next victim.

Kristy McNichol was a lez but Buddy's friend Audrey was even more a lesbian, if that's possible. (Louise Foley)

Brian Byers, the gay friend was reduced to being on one off shots on Mama's Family (He was on the Jeopardy episode).

He aged very poorly.

The blind says the actress had to work a 15 hour day alone with the A+ Lister. The #1 guess is Kristy McNichol in the ABC Fall Preview with David Copperfield linked above, but after watching the segment, that doesn't seem very likely. She's barely alone with him at all before the Hardy Boys and Rerun come barging in. And would that segment really take 15 hours to rehearse?

My mom wouldn't let me watch Family, I was 7yo and she thought it was too mature. Yet she let me watch Dallas not long after. Hmm.

Kristy was busy with Empty Nest at the start of the 1988 tv season. From what I’ve heard, it was supposed to be a TV movie only. Broderick was a cornerstone of the show. I can’t imagine them doing a series without him and McNichol. I would’ve loved to have seen an older Buddy in the TV movie. Fuck MBB.

McNichol is tiny in the pilot. I can't imagine who would have treated her so horribly. Hollywood is fucked up.

Anyone who believes that Trump-loving site's completely made up blind items is a gull a BULL.

As a minor, McNichol couldn't have worked a 15 hour day...

Kristy McNichol is only a few years younger than David Copperfield.

Also the blind item could be practically anyone working in Hollywood in the pre- MeToo era

John Rubinstein is still pretty good looking, although his hair is now snow white. He played George Cukor in BETTE AND JOAN!

R24 I had huge "hetero" crush on Kristy when I was 7/8 years old. Then I saw the episode with Willie Aames and my crush shifted from her to him! That was beginning of my descent into gay infatuations! (and Willie in a speedo on Battle of the Network Stars-- oof!)

[quote]Then MBB wanted rewrites, which delayed it, the writer's strike hit, and she ultimately killed it.

To be fair, MBB was having the biggest success out of all of them at the time with Family Ties, where she was the highest paid woman on TV thanks to her Favored Nations clause. She had enough clout to change something if she didn't want to do it.

Didn't Mike Nichols produce Family?

r104 I find it hard to believe that she was on set for 15 hours. That was illegal as she was a minor. Having worked on sets, kids are never alone. If they aren't in front of the camera, they are sent to the tutor's trailer for schooling. Kid actors never stop being busy on a film set. They never have down time. Plus you don't just drop your kid off on a film set. A parent is required to be present the entire time a kid is on set. Every kid actor has to have a parent on set. I know this was 1976, but these rules existed in the 70's.

[quote] A parent is required to be present the entire time a kid is on set.

Is the parent required to be sober?

Gary Frank always looked like a tranny to me.

I always waited for the opening credits featuring MBB. She was absolutely radiant. Only four people have ever surprised me when I learned they were gay: Robert Reed, John Mahoney , Roy Stuart (Cpl. Boyle on "Gomer Pyle") and Meredith Baxter Birney.

r117, John Mahoney flamed from outer space. Did you ever see "The House of Blue Leaves." It was an excellent production, but you sort of understood why he was trying to get away from his wife and was ecstatic when the movie producer showed up. Mahoney camping it up worked for the role, but he camped the hell out of that role.

I've always loved Kristy McNichol.Can't imagine anyone of that era who doesn't.

R116

Gary Frank has Downs Syndrome eyes.

r120

Yeah he has creepy eyes

I bought the box set about 10 years ago. What struck me was how gray the coloring. The beautiful garish America of the '70s are going on outside, but this thing chose to be all grays and dreary. Strange...and makes this thing not the nostalgia fest you might be hoping for.

The parents were so dull and righteous.

[quote]My mom wouldn't let me watch Family, I was 7yo and she thought it was too mature.

Tell her from me...she did she right thing.

Those blinds are MacKenzie Phillips

[quote] And would that segment really take 15 hours to rehearse?

A magic act, when one of the participants is a magic “outsider”? Yeah. And I’m sure Copperfield had it in his contract that no one else could be at rehearsals to protect the sanctity of his magic secrets. As for parents, the BI says the parents knew and encouraged it as “the price of fame.”

[quote]Only four people have ever surprised me when I learned they were gay: Robert Reed, John Mahoney , Roy Stuart (Cpl. Boyle on "Gomer Pyle") and Meredith Baxter Birney.

Did you forget someone?

R87 No wonder MBB never mentioned Gary in her autobiography. She talked about the rest of the cast, but not a word about him. LOL

That blind item is utter nonsense. Clearly someone saw that video of Copperfield, and McNichol. They knew of Copperfield's metoo problems. They constructed a blind item around it. And then they posted in the comments section, pointing out the video.

There's no way he could've justified being "alone" with her for 14 hours. There is very little time where they're alone in the sketch. She stands there for 10 seconds when the Hardy Boys walk in, and that's it.

It's absurd, and whoever keeps posting that Trump supporter garbage here, please stop.

I have read and listen to so many interviews with TV children and they all tell the same story about being dragged off because their hours were getting too high.

And conversely I hear stories about how 18 year old actors (Like Kathy "Cissy" Garver" and Tracey "Jennifer" Nelson; to name just two) had to endure long tedious hours because they could be kept on as long as they liked and their scenes were delayed till the "under 18" children finished their scenes.

[quote]Roy Stuart (Cpl. Boyle on "Gomer Pyle")

He was more obvious than Jim Nabors

LOVED this show as a teen, wanted to be part of that wonderful upscale Pasadena dysfunctional family, living in the guesthouse out back (which I thought was so exotic). I adored the theme song. I'd like to have a good-quality long-form recording of it.

I live in LA now, and yes, I have made a point of driving past that house, which is indeed lovely, on a lovely street. I actually know someone who lives around the corner, an older couple who remember when the house had its brush with fame back in the 70s.

And yes, R15, the early music was odd. And so strange to see a brunette Nancy.

In the opening credits for the early seasons, it starts with Kate seeing her husband off to work and walking back into the house.

Goddamn, is she a slow walker or what?

R130, I hope the terrible chain link fence (sorta hidden but still visible) is gone.

R122 It was a well-to-do Pasadena family, so it was tasteful. Now that I live here, I know the type. Actually, couples of Jim and Sada's generation are now passing on, and the contents of their beautiful homes are going to local upscale consignment shops.

r128 That's the way it works. The entire shooting schedule usually revolves around the limited time you have with the children. a 13 year old can work on camera about 5 hours a day. they have to log 3.5 hours of school and she can only be at work for 9 hours.

a newborn can only work on camera for about 45 minutes per day. which is why they use twins and triplets.

R128 you're a moron. This is a 3 minute sketch read of cue cards.

Stop masterbating over your fantasies of EVERY CHILD ACTOR BEING MOLESTED you fucking pizzagate Trump supporting loser.

r135

Ah that person says it DIDN'T happen. Do you even KNOW HOW TO READ?

PattiFan:

[quote] Stop masterbating over your fantasies of EVERY CHILD ACTOR BEING MOLESTED you fucking pizzagate Trump supporting loser.

Why is this yet another Trump issue, and why is it so triggering to you?

R131 they actually kept Kate coming into the house in the opening for all seasons but the last.

R137 it all ties back to the twisted, bizarre notion that all of Hollywood is a child sex ring run by Democrats, and that Trump is the one who's gonna put a stop to it all. It's idiotic. And that's what Crazy Days and Nights is all about. Those morons think that James and Dave Franco were involved in kidnapping children, and sending them to ISIS as sex slaves and that Chris Cornell was murdered when he was about to expose them.

That is seriously what they believe on that site. The David Copperfield thing is complete and utter horseshit.

Loved the show. I actually saw Kate as a complex but loving mother. The show was very meaningful and insightful for its times. I would have loved a reunion.

R131, she was a slow walker because she had nothing else to do!

R138, they changed the opening for the fourth season, dropping the pictures on the piano and going for more hackneyed posing shots to accommodate the arrival of Annie and the fact that Kate was in school at that point — she wasn't always able to see Doug off to work and stroll somnambulantly through the living room with the mail.

R141 my bad. It did start the 1978-1979 season not the last season.

A small thing, but I always appreciated that the layout of the house ACTUALLY MATCHED the exterior shown.

TV producers never gave a shit about that! And they still don't!

But Mike Nichols apparently insisted on it. He wanted the house to look "lived in," not like a studio set.

[quote]I actually saw Kate as a complex but loving mother. The show was very meaningful and insightful for its times. I would have loved a reunion.

What R140 said.

My mother was very similar to Kate. She loved her children more than anything, but she was tough on us, because she wanted us to better ourselves (as she had), not coast on our privilege. That coasting was going on all around us — cousins, neighbors, friends.

My father was softer, because he was always away at work, and when he came home, he wanted to deal just with the good stuff/be the good guy. Which he was.

The show was VERY realistic and insightful. So on point for its time that it seems ahead of its time.

It was great. They don't make 'em like that anymore.

ME - SAW - DA

You - SAW - DA??

The only episode I remember watching during its original run was a late one- Annie was being bullied at school. IIRC, Willie was sporting a beard by then.

The houses on "Knots Landing" also did a pretty good job of matching interior with exterior.

What did Meredith Baxter Birney do to earn an 'And' credit?

Reruns of Family used to play in the early afternoon in the early '80s on WGN in Chicago, and my mother who missed it in its first run taped every episode (with our new VCR) and would watch them when she came home from work/I got home from school. As I was 8 or 9 years old I wasn't interested in the adult storylines and only liked the Buddy stories, I remember Blair Brown guest-starring as Buddy's teacher Ms. Jessup who it turned out was lezzing it up and this really shook Buddy up. Also Buddy's school friends were played by some of the most popular child actors of the time, like Dana Hill (who I think was a bully), Tracy Gold (she might not have actually guest-starred, it might have just been Dana Hill, when they were younger they both resembled each other), Dana Plato and I believe even Michael J. Fox even guest starred.

Kim Richards plays buddy's friend who is moving in episode 2.

I think Helen Hunt was a school bully, too. Maybe even in the Blair Brown episode. Wasn't she the one who led the gossip and whose mother tried to get Blair fired?

Helen Hunt always screamed LESBIAN to me.

R67 JFC could Nancy be any more smug about her blonde hair in the scene at R67?

They were always trying to move Kristy into movie territory like Jodie Foster, but Kristy could never cut it.

It's odd that Tatum, who was in movie territory should've been trying to move into TV territory but thought she was too good.

Watching "Little Darlings" right now for the McNichol vs. O'Neal matchup.

Lol R156 in 2019 it would be those 2 hooking up!

Sada Thompson played Carla Tortelli's mother on Cheers.

R156 What format? It was unavailable for a long time...

R155 Tatum has talent. In the 70s tv was frowned upon for Oscar winners, even at her age, and was considered a backwards step. Under the right guidance, Tatum could have had a career like Jodie’s. But her fucked up childhood and marrying and having kids too young destroyed that.

Sada Thompson got Emmy nominations for playing Carla's Mama Lozupone on Cheers, and for the McMartin Trial TV movie (see one of her scenes below at 7:47). I'm surprised she didn't get one for Andre's Mother.

She should have won more than once — she was nominated for, and awesome in, the '77 version of Our Town and Sandburg's Lincoln.

Sada also tested for a replacement for Kate Jackson on Charlie's Angels. Obviously, Spelling was a fan of hers and thought that perhaps adding a mature woman to the group might bring in a new demographic. I had a friend who was a PA and they said that they didn't shoot the entire episode with Sada just the sequences she was in, apparently the primary issues were that there was a LOT of sexual tension between Sada's character, named Laraine and David Doyle's Bosley and Spelling felt that would be distracting. Also, Sada herself was not happy with her costuming which primarily consisted of blue jeans, twins sets and pumps, and there was a lot more running around in heels than she expected, so they went with the more 'traditional' choice of Shelley Hack instead.

Tatum has limited talent. She was brilliant in Paper Moon and great in Bad News Bears, but unless it's a very, and I mean very specific role, she can't pull it off.

She would never have had a Jodie Foster type career or even half of it..

She should've went into TV but was too proud. Kristy is very funny, much more than people thought, she could've had a bigger career in sitcoms but she was mentally ill.

[quote]She should've went into TV

Oh, dear.

Bump R164 that one is my biggest pet peeve!

Sada would have given Charlie's Angels a touch of class. I could her rocking those twinsets.

That's also when I first started watching the show, r150, and absolutely fell in love with the wonderful writing and extraordinary cast. But I always thought that James Broderick provided the spine to the show, regardless how central Sada Thompson and her character were to the series. Very much like Michael York in CABARET. Without his solid performance grounding the film and providing a ballast to Minnelli's hysteria, the movie would not have been as successful, IMO. Same with FAMILY.

Sada Thompson was a first-rate actress and also an early sufferer of Bitchy Resting Face long before it was acknowledged. Let's have a little respect.

I used to get her confused with the "VULGARIAN" from "Interiors".

R163 well you’ve only seen Tatum in child roles if you’ve only seen those two. I think there was a spark of talent that could’ve been nourished and mentored. She had poise, beauty and a wonderful voice. I’ve seen her in some of her older roles too. She could’ve pulled it off.

Miss Sada shilled the shit out of Shredded Wheat!

[quote]Miss Sada shilled the shit out of Shredded Wheat!

The taxes on those Family residuals don't pay themselves.

And a girl's gotta eat!

Miss Sada played the ultimate Mary Todd Lincoln, shopping compulsively and shading Elizabeth Ashley in epic fan-snapping showdowns:

See 15:56 and 30:11:

Sada was to Shredded Wheat what Lauren Bacall was to High Point.

R174 That Patricia Neal was to Anacin...

Miss Sada looks like she was Kate Lawrence sitting on the Family set to shill Shredded Wheat at R171. (No doubt what they intended.)

I hope Kate got enough money from Doug's life-insurance policy to do over the kitchen in the '80s.

She always looked oppressed by the grubby cabinets and lack of a pastry marble.

Buddy’s real name was actually Leticia and Kate occasionally called her Tizzy Lish. Better than Baby Dyke, I guess.

I always enjoyed Kate smacking down Nancy, who was a fundamentally selfish and shallow piece of shit.

Quinn Cummings was one ugly kid.

Shame she was female. Switch the gender and drop the "s" and Quinn Cumming would have the perfect porn name. The guy who used to be on 'Family' but who is all grown up now could have amassed a devoted and lucrative following.

R170

Nope Tatum is very limited. Of course you probably think Xanadu is Oscar material

"Are you confused about oat bran?"

Sada gives that line the same gravitas as if she were playing Lady Macbeth.

R177, Tizzy Lish? I thought it was Lezzy Tush...

Quinn Cummings played the Cousin Oliver of Family.

R179 kindly stfu. You know nothing.

r183

You must be Tatum O'Neal...LOL

Sorry Tatum, go back to blaming others for your limited talent and you got lucky that your dad cast you in the first role, which suited you and led people to think you had more to offer than you did.

[quote]Miss Sada shilled the shit out of Shredded Wheat!

All that fiber and she STILL looked constipated.

R178 Quinn was an interesting child actress for the time. Had a quality of intelligence mixed with intensity and weirdness.

I met her briefly a few years back, and she still comes off exactly that way. No phony Hollywood charm whatsoever. Odd duck.

I don't think Sada looked constipated. To me she always looked like she just shit her pants.

Me SAW-da

You SAW-da

Us SAW-da

Them SAW-da

I like on Quinn's website when someone asked to see a picture of her daughter she said, "No, she's not famous and I'm BARELY famous, so there's no need for that."

I may or may not have caught my bitch of a mother fingering herself to a signed photo of one Ms. Sada Thompson

R184 there’s no talking to an idiot who doesn’t recognize young talent.

Only gay males would be commenting about MISS SADA from a television show that went off the air 39 years ago.

I don't mean to speak ill of the late, talented Miss Patricia Neal, but her looks and voice frightened me as a kid.

R193 Do you know the story of her stroke and how Ronald Dahl, her husband, harassed and humiliated her to motivate her PT and recover?

R194- I actually read her (Patricia's) autobiography this summer! It was outstanding and I came away liking and respecting her. It was EXTREMELY honest, and wonderful read.

R194 I remember my mother talking about the stroke. Again, I was a young kid, so that thought freaked me out, too. Did not know of any misdeeds by Dahl.

Dahl was a prick.

In the third season of the show, along with introducing Quinn Cumming's character to appeal more to a younger audience the show also tried to lighten things up a bit and in perhaps one of the few times in the series showed Doug and Kate in bed, not having sex, just chatting but what was interesting was at the end of the scene Kate said something along the lines of 'I have a surprise for you' and Doug replied, 'Not the Dutch oven again?' The one and probably only time the show ever made a fart joke

Yes, Dahl told Pat that if the left side of her pussy didn't stop drooping, he was gonna go out and fuck other women.

Nah near near near near near near now- the near near near near!!!!

What's your point, R192? Did you think you were on ESPN.com?

I can ONLY be fucked to the Family theme song playing in the background.

And that INCLUDES orgasm!!!!

Quinn Cummings was annoying as shit on this show. And she was even more annoying in The Goodbye Girl.

Remember the episode when Kate was dealing with the menopausal pregnancy and had a miscarriage while at celebratory dinner at Red Lobster?

Remember when Kate was suffering from undiagnosed chronic fatigue syndrome and served the perplexed family Shredded Wheat for Sunday dinner?

Sada played Claire, Shirley MacLaine's bohemian friend in the film Desperate Characters trading bitter quips with her ex-husband.

"Was it me or did the mother seem cold and distant from her kids??"

What do you mean by "cold and distant?" My impression is that you just didn't like her acting style, which was thoughtful and intelligent. Kate was reserved but it was obvious she cared about her children deeply. What would you prefer, that she screech and wave her arms and scream "Dammit!" like Bonnie Franklin on "One Day at a Time?"

R207 is Beth Jarrett.

In the days of three networks and PBS, it ruled the ratings. My mother had no use for it though, so it wasn't on in our house.

That presentation of "Our Town" featuring Sada Thompson (other actors involved were Ned Beatty, Barbara Bel Geddes, Ronnie Cox, Robbie Benson, Glynnis O'Connor and Hal Holbrook st The Stage Manager) is the best one I ever saw. Much better than the one at the Lincoln Center; that one starred Spalding Gray as the Stage Manager, which was a dreadful idea.

R210 I watched a bit of it too and Glynnis was transcendent, why didn’t she have much more of a career?

They needed to bring in a cute and funny black kid not that deadpan little freak.

Gary Coleman auditioned, but Sada objected when he responded to her sage advice with a sassy, "Whatchyoutalkinbout Mrs. L?"

" I watched a bit of it too and Glynnis was transcendent, why didn’t she have much more of a career?"

She did a lot of television work in the seventies. Remember her in "The Boy in the Plastic Bubble" with John Travolta? But after she aged out of young girl roles her career seemed to decline. I thought she was very talented.

R213 Wow. Coleman made a huge mistake. Thompson was known as Sada "Don't Take No Jive" Thompson in Hollywood.

Sassy lil' Gary found that out the hard way.

Miss Sada was like Kate Hepburn. They did steely, New England women very well. I think that's why she was so good in Our Town. Her acting style fit right in with the play.

Would certain of you tacky bitches not distract from this thread on one of the crown jewels of American TV drama, and one of the finest American actresses ever, with your witless, juvenile attempts at satire.

TIA, stupid cunts!

Why was Kate wearing gloves to tour a model apartment in 1978?

Did upper-middle-class women wear gloves in the afternoon in 1978? I've never seen that anywhere.

I watched a few episodes of this show when I was six or seven. It didn't make sense to me that an athletic kid named Buddy, who wore men's clothing and had a boy's haircut could be played by a girl.

[quote]Did upper-middle-class women wear gloves in the afternoon in 1978?

Yes, because they were ashamed of their dishpan hands. When a woman didn't wear gloves, it was a sign that her husband was loving and had bought her a dishwasher. Those who did wear gloves were married to skinflint cheapskates.

R220 = Madge from the Palmolive commercials

R218 Did you notice at 6:41 when our Miss Sada checks her watch she looks at the inside of her wrist? I remember in the ‘70s women in particular would wear their watches with the face pointing this way, does anyone know why that was done, when it was the style and when did it stop?

My mother also wore her (very petite) watch face on the inside of her wrist in the '80s (and I assume the '70s) - she was a baby boomer. I guess that's just what was done, maybe so the watch band looked more like a bracelet?

Nice to see Glynnis O’Connor getting some recognition — always thought she was a fine actress!

[quote]Dahl was a prick.

RIght. He kept trying to get Pat to open up her chocolate factory.

Anyone seen Kristy McNichol lately?

No, women didn't still wear gloves (other than the cold weather kind) in the late '70s. I think they were trying to underscore the "Kate is out of step with the times and wants to be more with it" theme of the episode, but it was a bit of a stretch.

Re the watch thing R222, R223, I don't remember it being a fashion trend, more of a preference.

I read this thread with the theme of Family playing over and over in my head, with visions of Miss Sada slowly reviewing the photos of her family and then SMUGLY walking off to begin her day. BITCH!!!!

Originally seen as fashionable in the 1960s, a symbol of being unique and forward thinking and a way to show solidarity with the working class, wearing a watch on the inside of your wrist in generations to come evolved to be somewhat of a style taboo. Today as individuality is once again recognised, wearing your wristwatch in this manner is seeing a revival.

We take a look at the advantages of wearing your wristwatch on the inside of your wrist.

To Prevent Damage

The most practical and common reason for wearing a watch on the inside of the wrist is to prevent damage. In the days before crystal scratch proof faces were invented, quartz and inexpensive watches were much thicker and more likely to scratch. Watches were more fragile, making them more inclined to encounter damage. Waterproofing wasn’t as advanced as it is today, meaning that rain showers or accidental splashes of water would be expensive mistakes to encounter.

Watches which aren’t given the care and attention they deserve will always be more inclined to experience damage despite how they are worn, so always look after your watch.

For Ease of Use

Obviously glancing at your watch during formal situations has long been considered as inappropriate, but there are times where keeping track of time must be adhered to. This is why many choose to wear their watch in this manner; it is easier to look at the time without alerting the whole room to your actions. Useful in back to back meetings!

Professional Benefits

For some professions, timing is everything. Wearing your watch on the inside of the wrist has proven particularly useful for two well-known professions in particular, the nurse and the arm forces.

By wearing it in this manner nurses can see their watch without turning their arm over while taking a pulse rate, for faster and more accurate reads. This was also useful for WWll fighter pilots; they could easily see their watch whilst holding the throttle or control yoke. Soldiers, especially infantrymen, wore their watches with the face on the inside of the wrist to avoid having a shiny reflective glass or luminescent numerals give away their position. For this reason they also used cloth or dull leather watchbands.

Today, how you wear your watch is a matter of style. Whether you display your watch on full view or prefer a more subtle approach, wear your wristwatch with pride; it’s much more than a practical accessory.

What’s a watch?

R231 is a Darfur Orphan.

Adding Quinn Cummings to the cast of "Family" was such a bad idea. She was literally Little Orphan Annie. Was the show in ratings trouble and the writers decided to add a '"cute" kid to the Family in order to pique the viewer's interest? If so, it didn't work. Her addition to the show added nothing interesting.

R233=Kristy McNichol

The actual Family house in Pasadena is apparently worth $4.1 million today.

The last owner bought it for $1.2 mil in the late '90s.

[quote] Adding Quinn Cummings to the cast of "Family" was such a bad idea. She was literally Little Orphan Annie. Was the show in ratings trouble and the writers decided to add a '"cute" kid to the Family in order to pique the viewer's interest? If so, it didn't work. Her addition to the show added nothing interesting.

What a fascinating observation. Amazing no one has yet to make it in 235 posts. You're so cutting edge, so astute.

R235 technically South Pasadena. It's lovely, and in a lovely neighborhood. Yes, I've stalked it.

Thanks for the link, R235. And to think there was an episode where they were thinking about selling the house. Their agent told them to list it for $90,000 and Kate was stunned. She couldn't believe anybody would pay that much for their house!

....and I must say, $1.2 million in the late 90s in that neighborhood sounds surprisingly low, given the home's "celebrity." $4.1 million now sounds high, but right.

Ugh R238, my mother sold our lovely house in the Berkshires for $50k in 1978, and now it's worth close to a million.

L.A. dwellers, forgive the naive question, but to what extent do Pasadena residents consider themselves "from Los Angeles"?

Are they more inclined to say they live in L.A. or Pasadena?

Family was very Pasadena this, Pasadena that, but I figured that was to make the show seem more universal/palatable to Middle America.

R241 It depends. I live in Pasadena. To people anywhere else in the country, I say I'm from Los Angeles, which is legit. Within LA, I say Pasadena just to narrow it down.

The thing about Pasadena is, it's pleasant and suburban and somewhat conservative as LA goes. Perfect for the Family. What was their name again, Bradford?

Much nicer than the Brady house.

R242 The Bradfords weren't as uptight as the Lawrences!

"What a fascinating observation. Amazing no one has yet to make it in 235 posts. You're so cutting edge, so astute."

Are you always this cunty? Maybe that's why nobody wants to have anything to do with you.

[quote] Are you always this cunty? Maybe that's why nobody wants to have anything to do with you.

Says the person currently making friends and winning fans over on the Fame thread.

They're all laughing at you.

Ah, I had my 70s families mixed up!

No, R246, I think "they", that is, everyone who comes in contact with you, are laughing at YOU. You seem like quite the unbearable cunt.

I believe the Bradfords were in Sacramento, which is hardly Pasadena.

Buddy once encouraged us to form a playful human pyramid on the lawn, with her at the top, but I had acute sciatic pain and told her it was out of the question.

Lets not forget that Pasedena was one of the last cities to desegregate schools in 1970.

That is the world of Family.

Kate at jury duty was a great episode.

R251. And what a pleasent place it was before that happened.

R251. And what a pleasent place it was before that happened.

R251, it wasn't too keen on lesbians teaching, either

Buddy turned me into an alcoholic!

Sada is magnificent in the jury episode. You can always see her brains working (for example,. the moment she pauses before entering a distraught Buddy's room so she can gather her thoughts) but her speech in the deliberation room is particularly stunning. The pause she takes between "reasonable....doubt"....dear Lord.

That was the one where the lady was accused of littering right? r257

R227 I agree about the gloves being used to show Kate was behind the fashion times. Also those 1950s style dresses with the collar and the belt. Very June Cleaver, although June had a much better figure than frumpy old Kate.

Me SAW dah

R227, also in that episode in a blink and you'll miss it moment that is also supposed to demonstrate that she is 'behind the times', you can see Kate's 'sanitary belt' on the towel rack in her and Doug's ensuite bathroom...

R159, just back on here since Thursday. "Little Darlings" is currently available on Amazon Prime.

She was an untalented bitch, thank God I came along

Did they mention if Kate had gone to college?

r264

She went "back to college" on the show, so I assume she never finished her degree

They recovered pretty well for a family who lost a son in a tragic drowning only 5 years earlier. Did they ever mention their dead son Timmy after the christening episode?

Ah, the christening episode. The one with the great slipcover mishap. Could they have been any WASPier in that episode?

R266 they DID??? I never knew this.

R268, there was no dead child in the pilot and I think he was created for this episode alone.

Kate referred to Timmy at least twice that I can recall:

In the "Princess in the Tower" episode, when she's trapped in the model apartment with the pregnant woman, she talks about all the children she gave birth to, including Timmy.

In the last season, she's pregnant and applies to take leave from her teaching gig. A fellow teacher says something to the effect of, you've had three kids, Kate, what are you thinking? She corrects her, saying she had four. And Kate and Doug talk a bit about her idea that the pregnancy could be a cosmic leveling of the scales.

Family was pretty rigorous about its bible and continuity — aside from the fact that Doug's father was played by four different actors, including Henry Fonda.

How the hell did Kate get pregnant in 1980? She looked like menopause had come and gone around the time of Watergate.

R270 Did the pregnancy go to term or did the show end before that?

She miscarried in the same episode.

Sada was 53 in 1980, so it was quite a stretch.

Thanks R273.

"Did they ever mention their dead son Timmy after the christening episode?"

Yes they did, on occasion. I remember Willie telling somebody the whole story of poor dead Timmy and how he died. Buddy had something to do with it. A s I recall. It was an accident but she in some indirect way was the cause of it. At least that's what I remember.

Thompson seemed incapable of moving her face. I'll remember a critic reviewing Family saying that it should have been titled "Miss Stoneface gets a new expression."

Has Andre's Mother been posted?

Nancy's son was named Timmy in the dead boy's honor

We all know it was shaken to death and covered up.

The first Timmy wasn't a baby. If I recall correctly, he was older than Buddy and it was his army cap that Buddy wore throughout the first season. He died in a drowning accident, and I think it might have been Buddy's "fault" because he died rescuing her from drowning. I could be misremembering; it's been a minute.

The OG Timmy was 10 when he drowned. I don't remember an episode where Buddy was implicated.

Kate was at home and Doug told her what happened by phone — I think that was recounted in the pregnancy/miscarriage episode.

I just tried Googling around to learn Timmy's fate, no luck. This was one of my favorite shows, but I have no memory of this.

The episode was "Thursday's Child".

Doug: "Buddy, it was not your fault. I used to blame myself. I thought I shouldn't take either of you. You and Timmy were too young for a trip like that. Willie told me he felt responsible. Every one of us needed to make it our fault. Your mother blamed herself."

More scintillating dialog at the link--

R279 Is this what fucked Kristy MacNichol up?

Kate sat on the kid and then watched a movie marathon before she realized there was life beneath her enormous ass.

The boat was tipping over as it had hit a mass of branches and Buddy started panicking and in the ensuing danger, Timmy fell overboard and got caught underwater and drowned.

Thanks to this thread, I went down a Family rabbit hole and discovered that Buddy's best friend Audrey Pfeiffer (Louise Foley) grew up to be Alice in Tom Petty's "Don't Come Around Here No More" video, which...wow. Mind. Blown.

Glynnis O'Connor and Gary Frank were in that short lived CBS show Sons and Daughters, set in the 50's. Glynnis was great in everything, except trying to play Margo Hughes on As The World Turns. She just wasn't soap tough even though she'd been on ATWT as a teen playing Dee Stewart.

Me-saw-DA

U-saw-DA

Us-saw-DA

Them-saw-DA

I recall there was an episode where Kate was psychic, she kept having a dream that she hit a kid with her car...and then one night she almost hit a kid with her car. Rich, compelling television

Remember when Kate said, 'How come a power couple with everything going for us has such loser kids'?

I love how Kate and Doug let Willie quit high school to be a photographer.

Did Willie live in the basement? I could see him being into being a 'photographer' so he could lure chicks to his studio and take nudie pictures of them

[quote]Yes they did, on occasion. I remember Willie telling somebody the whole story of poor dead Timmy and how he died. Buddy had something to do with it. A s I recall. It was an accident but she in some indirect way was the cause of it.

Are we sure a penmanship medal wasn't involved?

[quote]They recovered pretty well for a family who lost a son in a tragic drowning only 5 years earlier. Did they ever mention their dead son Timmy after the christening episode?

We wouldn't have forgotten Timmy.

[quote]Sada was 53 in 1980, so it was quite a stretch.

It certainly WOULD have been for us, had she tried to deliver.

The set really did look like a nice house that had been lived in.

Hi, I'm Nancy coming in for a quick cameo in this thread to pick up Timmy.

Hey Guys: If you're taking a trip down memory lane, you'll have more fun with me and the gang! Remember the episode where I convinced my lil' sis and bro to skip school and spend the day roller skating all over town with me?? When we got home we smoked up with David and Abby. Livin' the dream!!

the saw-DA posts were tired and unfunny fifteen ago.

Thank you R299. Someone had to say it. R288 is the guy that keeps trying to tell the same joke louder and louder at the party...and no one ever laughs then either.

Willie screamed gay.

[quote]Did Willie live in the basement?

No, he had a room, then he took over the guest house when Nancy moved out.

Does anyone remember when Ryan's Hope star Ilene Kristen guested as a Stevie Nicks type rock star named Lotus? She and Willie were involved somehow.

r303

Because rock stars always desire high school dropouts who live with their parents

R304 Maybe she was a loser too and they were going for a Sid and Nancy thing?

Unfortunately as the years went on, the writers didn't know what to do with teenagers. All the writers could write for was the older generation and the up and coming. For some reason, they couldn't write late 1970s teenagers and twentysomethings.

Willie and his friends used to meet at the malt shop.

I remember when Annie Potts guest-starred as a Janis Joplin type who was staying with the Lawrences for some reason and Kate helped get her back on track

R218 She must have had ugly hands. That's why Jackie O always wore gloves.

[quote]who was staying with the Lawrences for some reason and Kate helped get her back on track

Kate was such a cow. On the Andy Griffith Show, when guests left, Aunt Bee always packed them a bag of sandwiches to take with them. Kate just closed the door after they left and sighed like hospitality was a huge burden.

Sheree North's singing in the Christmas episode was beautiful and haunting.

Actually, Kate sneezed and instantly miscarried, R295.

Those curtains hadn't fully closed since the '60s.

"The boat was tipping over as it had hit a mass of branches and Buddy started panicking and in the ensuing danger, Timmy fell overboard and got caught underwater and drowned."

That sounds so horrible. I wonder how this reserved, emotionally contained Family dealt with what must have been enormous guilt and grief.

R313 See Ordinary People.

r313

Kate sat on it or shook it and then the father and Buddy dragged it out to the lake and staged the accident..

"All the writers could write for was the older generation and the up and coming. For some reason, they couldn't write late 1970s teenagers and twentysomethings."

And thank God for it. As opposed to today, where everything is perversely centered around navel-gazing, narcissistic, illiterate and unappealing teens. I won't dignify them by calling them characters.

Me-SAW-da

You-SAW-da

Us-SAW-da

Them-SAW-da

Just watched an episode when they were robbed. Of course, Kate had all the serial numbers for the major electronics filed away just in case. Kate needed an evil twin.

R28 I have never heard the expression "baked bean teeth" and LOLOLOLOL! That puts "chiclet teeth" to shame.

I have Law & Order on. I look up and whaddya know?!

Ha ha. How were her teeth?

Wasn't paying attention. Looked up, grabbed my camera, then went on about my business (aka DL).

[quote] have Law & Order on. I look up and whaddya know?!

So, Mrs. Lawrence. In the death of your son Timmy, there were fibers of your bathrobe and vanilla wafer cookie crumbs found on his body. How would you explain those being on his body if he drowned?

hahahaha y'all crack me up !

I don't remember which episode it was but there was a scene where Nancy came to talk to Kate. There she was in her usual dress and pearls with a sun hat and plastic gloves cleaning out the old metal type trash cans. That struck me as enormously funny.

DL Eldergays ADORE Sada Thompson!

Sada loved to talk trash.

Kate Lawrence was Clair Huxtable before there was a Clair Huxtable.

Family was such a great series. I felt like Sada was a remote mother as did others here. I was glad that our mother was warm.

I had a crush on Gary Frank and wanted to live in a guest house like Nancy. In looking at the clips, Gary's hair was pretty funky when parted down the middle. Leif was darling. I don't remember him much. He and Buddy disco dancing at her birthday was just adorable.

My dad was very conservative. I had no idea that he was watching Family also until he said one day, "I love that little Buddy."

He had been feisty with his dad and I was feisty with him. I know that he must have liked Buddy's spirit. Kristy McNichol was wonderful in Family and Little Darlings. It's sad to know she was sexually harassed at the time.

I really liked the episode where Ilene Kristen played the rock star who was interested in Willie. I ran into Kristen last year in my neighborhood. I told her how much I loved her performances as Delia on Ryan's Hope.

Ilene was was really sweet and invited me to sit down by her in the park and talk for a bit. She looks exactly like she did in Ryan's Hope. She hasn't aged at all. She is absolutely darling. She's still acting and was appearing in a play at the time.

I fingered myself to Sada Thompson and her Boston Baked Bean Teeth from 1976-2012!!!

God I miss my Sada Thompson poster!!!!

Do you think Sada wore a wig for the pilot or just got a haircut for the second episode?

If Sa-DAW was an actual refrigerator mother her children would be autistic.

Gary Frank was an asshole (see link below)

gary with his stupid ass hair part

I thought Sada had jacked teeth but she has a perfect smile in the piano portrait and when she actually smiles in person they don't look so bad.

Gary Frank only looked attractive in the last season when he had a proper haircut and the beard.

Wow, R333 — he sounds like he was a real piece of work!

His marriage has endured over the decades, but his career dried up quickly after "Family". Hard to believe he's 69.

I had a chuckle in the Jury Duty 2 part episode when the Latino punk accused of murder describes Willie to Kate as a "tough dude".

"Hi, what's everybody talking about?"

[quote]"Hi, what's everybody talking about?"—Buddy walking into the room

Leticia, there's no easy way to tell you this. The police have completed their investigation and have determined that you killed Timmy. Social Services will be coming to take you to the "Home For Reprobate Girls." Your father and I tried everything possible to stop this, but the law is the law. Now, I have to go view a new condo downtown, your father has to go back to work and Willie has to go to his bedroom to smoke pot. Let us know how you are getting along in your new home.

R331, it looks like the pilot was filmed a while before the rest of those episodes. Nancy has long, straight hair in it and her hair was shorter and more styled the rest of that season. And Buddy is tiny.

Happy Rosh Hashanah, y'all!

R342- The pilot was filmed in early 1975. It was about a year and a half before the show premiered in the fall of 1976.

It premiered in March of 1976 for the 6 episodes.

As a regular series it did not premiere until the fall of 1976.

I was hoping when Nancy had a stalker he would send her a box of faeces. Bit maybe that was too much for Aaron Spelling who seems to cast models as extras. When the stalker is revealed he is gorgeous so you have to wonder why he is so interested in the rabbit-faced Mary Baxter Dreary.

R347=David Birney, still bitter

Remember when Linda Lavin tried to seduce Doug and Buddy was like, "Sa-daw is the only person worse than her."

Remember when the remade "Love Story" and Willie marries a dying girl and she says 'You only want to marry me because I'm dying."

And Willie says 'but we get to have sex too? right?'

I just watched the one where Doug gets hit by a car and goes blind. The obvious double body was hilarious because was blatantly younger and thinner than James Broderick. When Doug says I don't need an ambulance I yelled out, Yeah, YOU weren't the one hit.

The episode referenced above with Nancy and her stalker is bizarre as it ends on such a weird note. Nancy confronts him and he runs off and that's about it. ANd everybody looks at Nancy like she's crazy because he gave her gifts but he was stalking her!

R348-David Birney was VERY good looking in the 1970's.

One thing I noticed is that they don't use a tablecloth for meals, just placemats on a wooden surface.

R354, I think that kind of attention to how people really live rather than how other TV shows imagine how they live is what made the show.

My parents used a tablecloth.

What was the ep where Kate was on a diet and every time she turned around one of the family was munching on leftovers or junk food. Finally she cheats, goes down to the fridge and pours chocolate syrup straight down her throat.

Kate never dieted.

In the same ep where Kate was dieting she berated the family at the dinner table for their insensitivity to her struggles with her weight, zeroing in on Nancy and her peaches and cream complexion. "If I didn't know better I'd say they gave us the wrong daughter at the hospital!" - with that she threw down her napkin and stormed out of the dining room. Nancy was left in tears.

I do think tablecloths are not a very Southern California thing, even Pasadena.

There was another episode where Kate slathered that same chocolate syrup all over her Shredded Wheat at breakfast, and Nancy pointedly said, "May Timmy Jr. and I be excused? I think I am going to be sick, mother."

Nancy should talk. In only ten years, she'd take Kate's name and become a bulimic. She had a great scene where she ate a meal off the floor.

I've known John Rubinstein for years -Great actor, but also a very nice person. He won a Tony for his leading role in Children of a Lesser God, and originated many other roles on Broadway. He's still looking great at 72 but he is, sadly, straight.

Have you seen him nude, R363?

Rubenstein's father was Arthur, the acclaimed Polish pianist, who was almost 60 when John was born.

I loved the Michael J Fox loves Kate episode. In reality, Kate would've jumped his bones so quick and poor MJF would be crushed

That TV Guide article makes it sound like Gary had a bit of a drinking and anger management problem. Could be part of the reason he didn’t find more work after Family. I found it interesting that his wife’s cousin is composer Randy Newman.

No one online appears to be selling the later episodes which is a shame. Kate is my fave character and I generally Fast Forwarded through the Buddy/Willie/Nancy scenes unless Kate is in them too.

It's a shame they didn't put someone like Betty Garrett in the lead. She'd have been wonderful as Kate.

Sada put her foot down when the producers wanted Charo to play her troublemaking younger sister Jenny.

Shortly after ABC cancelled "Family," the idea was floated to bring back the cast in "The Family Variety Hour," along the line of "The Brady Bunch Hour": skits, songs, the old soft shoe, and a roster of special guest stars, including Dody Goodman, Lorne Greene, Tracy Austin, and Tavares. Sadly, during the filming of the pilot, serious creative differences between Quinn Cummings and Meredith Baxter Birney erupted (again) and the project was abandoned.

I still don't know how she got through those shoveling-it-in scenes.

^^R363 meant to say.

JFC, sorry. R362

Wait, was that John "Pippin" Rubenstein?

R375, yes it was.

That’s funny, I never made the connection. I adore the theme song to “Family,” which he wrote, and also love his vocal recording of “corner of the sky.” He’s a cutie.

I always thought Sada Thompson played "Kay," Alice's temporary replacement on "The Brady Bunch." Turns out, it was Mary Treen who played Kay.

r378's gay card is on suspension.

[quote]. I adore the theme song to “Family,” which he wrote, and also love his vocal recording of “corner of the sky.”

Meh.

R378 plus she’s in Its a Wonderful Life. How many of you bitches know that?

R353=ALSO David Birney, still bitter

I believe at the beginning of the second season, Thompson was renegotiating her contract and was a 'no-show' a couple of days on the set, so in one of the early episodes of the season she's only in the beginning and end of the show. I would imagine the powers that be were none too please with her truancy which might explain why Kate's 'absence' during the middle part of the episode were put down to a bout with colitis, though I don't ever think they said she was on the toilet, that's what was being alluded to when Doug would say, 'Your mother's colitis is acting up. Don't bother her, she's indisposed'. I remember at the end of the episode we see Doug go into the bedroom and says to Kate (off-camera), 'Somebody open a window in here!'

I’m loving all the Family fan fiction, decades after the show went off the air. Keep it coming especially the MBB and Quinn Cummings feuding and fighting.

None of the Family "fan fiction" is remotely funny.

Pace University

There was a new girl at my school during one of the Family years and she told everyone to call her Buddy. Her mother, a working woman who didn’t mix herself up in sordid middle school affairs including registering her own kid for classes, found out about seven months into the school year that the daughter was being called Buddy and made the poor kid stand at the main entry door for three day at tell everyone her real name, which was a ridiculous name along the lines of Humoresque, but worse.

[quote]made the poor kid stand at the main entry door for three day at tell everyone her real name, which was a ridiculous name along the lines of Humoresque, but worse.

Letitia?

R386=Meredith Baxter, nee Birney, stating her boundaries

R387-In 1977 no one said MIDDLE SCHOOL. It was called Junior High School.

Me-Saw-DA agree r385

r390 Mine was called INTERMEDIATE school (in 1966.)

[quote]Meredith Baxter, nee Birney, stating her boundaries

Apparently you don't understand what "nee" (actually "née") means.

r393

Actually it has several definitions: one of them is a synonym for "formerly." Other synonyms for it include "maiden name" and "originally."

So you could say Meredith Baxter nee Baxter-Birney and be correct because she was formerly "Baxter-Birney"

Yes, r394, but formerly to Baxter Birney she was Baxter....sooo.....

Plus...

History and Etymology for née

French née, feminine of né, literally, born, past participle of naître to be born, from Latin nasci

Didn't the Sada Thompson character give birth to a late-in-life baby, alone, in an empty department store, or something?

I'm serious.

r396 Exactly. It means "born." As in the French Christmas carol that begins, "Il est né, le divin infant." Obviously no one is actually "born" with a name, but it's always a reference to the name you were given at birth.

r398

It is not THE meaning, it is ONE OF MANY MEANINGS, and ONE OF THE MEANINGS of nee is "formerly."

No R397, she lost her late in life baby in the same episode when she found out she was pregnant, as told to me by a DLer somewhere in the thread.

Thank you, r379. I mean, really!

[quote]No [R397], she lost her late in life baby in the same episode when she found out she was pregnant, as told to me by a DLer somewhere in the thread.

Then, did she [italic]deliver[/italic] a baby in an empty department store? I have some hazy, traumatized memory of this.

All we learn from Kate herself is that she has lost the child. No details given, to my recollection. Thompson is magnificent in that scene, as always.

Sada and Jane being all dramatitic.....

Did Kate bury her miscarriage child in the garden?

I loved it- dealt with issue of the day that most network shows did not.

[364] asks if I've seen John Rubinstein nude. Odd question, but yes.

The recording of MOURNING BECOMES ELECTRA with Sada and Jane is one of the most thrilling audio experiences of a play ever. A superb performance of an O'Neill masterwork.

R402, you are probably remembering the "Princess in the Tower" episode, where Kate delivered a pregnant woman's baby when they were locked inside a model apartment overnight.

How was it, R407?

R408=F. Murray Abraham

[R410] He's still in very good shape. I'd do him... ;)

How big is the dick, R412? Does he have snowy pubes?

Me-SAW-Dah

You-SAW-Dah

Us-SAW-Dah

Them-SAW-Dah

I was too young to see the program originally. A new channel on my cable ran a marathon a while back and guess who I saw? None other than a young Kim Cattrall with long, dark hair! I didn't realize she's that old, but everyone gets old. I always liked Kristy McNichol and her brother.

[quote]Miss Sada Thompson on Law & Order

That was her legal name, by the way. She had it changed in 1982.

In real life Meredith Baxter has a son that's is as old as her parents were on FAMILY in the late 1970's. Her son is 52 years old. Weird.

In real life Meredith Baxter has a son that's is as old as her parents were on FAMILY in the late 1970's. Her son is 52 years old. Weird.

I have mostly vague recollections of this, having watched it from the start, then sporadically when went off to university. It was alternately interesting and off-putting, the chilliness and self-indulgence of the family members, but it definitely stood apart from other TV fare of the time, and seemed --at least to me at the time-- to have borrowed a lot from the PBS documentary of the Loud family of a few years earlier, "An American Family."

In real life - if my father had a son like Willie Lawrence who just sat around all day, her would have said to him-Why don't you get off your FUCKING ASS and get a job!

me SAW-dah

Willie can't work he needs to find himself

Daddy, you suck because you'd rather be blind than risk an operation that gives you a 1% chance of survival

Oh my a high school boy hitting on me

Sada delivered her lines as if she had a crown on her head.

and that's why we loved her, R424

God, I loved this show during high school.

I hated her

Michael J Fox used to shake every time he got near Sada.

I still think he is misdiagnosed

Just a good, solid show. Great acting. Willie's love life episodes are kinda dull, however.

I liked when Willie married the dying girl to get her life insurance, then it turns out she left it to her lesbian lover.

R430 Was it Buddy? That would be a double insult, it going to his sister.

Willie screamed GAY. Why didn't they just go there? A sensitive WRITER!

R430, when was that episode?

r433

Then Willie got dates by playing up the lonely young widower angle. He was a real piece of work, on the show and in real life.

From Wikipedia...

[quote]Storylines are very topical, and the show is one of the first to feature what has recently been termed "very special episodes".

I liked it when Willie wanted to date a black girl who turned out to be a dying lesbian and Buddy was disgusted because her blind husband wouldn't get an operation that would kill him.

Then Kate screamed "I killed Timmy, I hated him. It wasn't Buddy's fault"

Then they all decided to never speak of any of that again.

R436 you are really unfunny. Please, stop.