Family is a television drama series that aired on ABC from 1976 to 1980. Creative control of the show was split between executive producers Leonard Goldberg, Aaron Spelling and Mike Nichols. A total of 86 episodes were produced.
The show featured James Broderick and Sada Thompson as Doug and Kate Lawrence, a happily married middle-class couple living in Pasadena, California. Doug was an independent lawyer, and Kate was a housewife. They had three children: Nancy (portrayed by Elayne Heilveil in the original mini-series and later by Meredith Baxter), Willie (Gary Frank), and Letitia, nicknamed “Buddy” (Kristy McNichol). The show raised the profile of all of its featured actors during its run and, in particular, catapulted McNichol to stardom.
The show attempted to depict the “average” family, warts and all. Storylines were very topical, and the show was one of the first to feature shows that have recently been termed as “very special episodes.” In the first episode, Nancy, who was pregnant with her second child, walked in on her husband Jeff (John Rubinstein) making love to one of her friends. During the second season she and Jeff divorced, but Jeff would continue to appear regularly as an active father, as well as finding himself involved in more of the Lawrence family’s affairs. Other topical storylines included Kate having to deal with the possibility that she had breast cancer, as well as Buddy dealing with advances from boys. In the later seasons, there were instances in which Buddy had to decide whether or not to have sex; she always chose to wait, most notably in an episode with guest star Leif Garrett, who was a teen idol at the time. Family also dealt with alcoholism (Doug’s sister; Buddy’s old friend) as well as adoption, when the family adopted a girl named Annie Cooper (Quinn Cummings). One episode in 1979 guest-starred Henry Fonda as a visiting elderly relative who was beginning to experience senility / memory loss.
The rights to Family are currently owned by Sony Pictures Television. The first two seasons of Family were released on DVD in September 2006.
