“Buddy’s friend from Chicago returns an alcoholic.” (picture standing: Meredith Baxter-Birney, Gary Frank, Sada Thompson. seated: James Broderick, Kristy McNichol.)

Decades TV! Thank you! On the weekends they pick an old series and run it 24/7. Luckily it was one of my favorites. Aside from my inherent love of Kristy McNichol, the series was soooooooo well crafted. Dad Doug Lawrence was the prosperous lawyer, Willie was the activist musician son. Mom Kate was the anchor that kept the family safe in stormy seas. Eldest daughter Nancy was the sometimes stable/sometimes brat of the family. Youngest daughter ‘Buddy’ was in a way who the show was centered around? Although not really?

Its hard to explain, but this skinny Tom-boy was really big in the latter part of the 70’s. She was everywhere! Magazine covers, movies, TV Specials, Battle of the Network Stars, posters, it was phenomenal. James Broderick and Sada Thompson really set the tone for the show. Calm, steady, anchored parental figures. Kind of the next step My Three Sons, but with personalities. A show where people wore slippers and robes at bedtime. Had a dining room. The furnishings of the house were all things you would see in an upscale consignment shop today. Meredith Baxter was a sleeper. In the early part of the 70’s she starred in ‘Bridget Loves Birney‘, then family, then Family Ties in the early to mid 80’s. Gary Frank was quintessential 70’s, Love Boat and a bunch of other shows.

But the episode from the title: Childhood’s End – Buddy’s childhood friend is moving back and the reaquainting process is a bumpy road! Her friend Laura is a teenage alcoholic! It works out in 59 minutes, but it was nip and tuck for awhile there! I tell you what. The show had various characters come and go over 5 seasons, it was quite nice. But all that wasn’t what made it special, it was something else. Something indefinable. People did the right thing on that show. They were concerned about other people. They were responsible. They weren’t pointless smartasses. They weren’t mean. They wanted to study hard and get good grades, not to step on people climbing the corporate ladder, but because it was the right thing to do.

family (the lowercase is on purpose) might not have been the last gasp of decent family shows, but it was close. It was definitely not a “sit-com”, but a continuing night time drama? What Leave it to Beaver would have looked like nearly 20 years later? It was special. I included the IMDB link to it above. Maybe someone knowledgeable could tell from the producers or the production company why it was such a class act. I don’t know why it was, I just know that it was.

You know I got to thinking about this later, and I think I stumbled upon something. ABC in that period of the 70’s was the epitome of low-brow trash TV (the good stuff). Starsky & Hutch, Charlie’s Angels, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley. I think it was the network’s attempt to say, “See! We can do good stuff too!” I wonder.

“The trials and tribulations, joyous occasions and heartbreaking moments of the Lawrence family: lawyer father Doug, housewife Kate, married (and quickly divorced) daughter Nancy, teenage son Willie and just-hitting-puberty daughter Buddy. In this critically acclaimed series, we watched various Lawrences fight, fall in love, become ill, graduate school, begin new jobs and, most of all, love each other.” – Marty McKee

In 1988, a reunion movie was planned, and the cast, with the exception of the late James Broderick, agreed to reunite for the project. The writer’s strike would have the project be placed on hold, and then later dropped from production. – IMDB

“I remember ‘Family’ as a very well acted show about chronically upset, depressed people. It was full of angst. Thirtysomething had the same producers so that should tell you something. Kristy McNichol was quite good as Buddy. I wish she would do more acting.” – IMDB

It ran from 1976 to 1980.