Family (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Family is an American 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.
and James Broderick
as Kate and Doug Lawrence, a happily married middle-class couple living in Pasadena, California
. Doug is an independent lawyer
, and Kate was a housewife (she would eventually go back to school herself). They had three children: Nancy (portrayed by Elayne Heilveil in the original mini-series and later by Meredith Baxter Birney
), Willie (Gary Frank
), and Letitia, nicknamed "Buddy" (Kristy McNichol
). (There was another son, Timothy, who had died five years previous to the series' beginning.) 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 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. Another topical episode dealt with Buddy's friendship with a teacher who was revealed to be a lesbian. 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 (directed by actress Joanne Woodward
) guest-starred Henry Fonda
as a visiting elderly relative who was beginning to experience senility and memory loss.
(son of famed classical musician Arthur Rubinstein
). When Family was picked up as a regular series for the fall 1976 schedule, the theme music was changed to a more cheery, upbeat instrumental dominated by trumpets and horns, also written by Rubinstein. It was this version that lasted the rest of the run.
Spelling stated that he came up with the idea in his kitchen with then-partner Leonard Goldberg, and passed it on to Jay Presson Allen
to write the pilot script. Allen, who died in May 2006, had just completed the screenplay for the film Funny Lady
starring Barbra Streisand
and directed by Herbert Ross
.
After over a decade in court, a jury awarded Laird $1.69 million against Spelling, which she then lost on appeal. (Ssee Laird v. Blacker, 2 Cal.4th 606 (1992).)
Laird sued Spelling again in 1996 after he published his memoirs, claiming that he defamed her in his book by not crediting her with the original idea for Family, but again she lost on appeal in 2001 when the court stated, "you can't steal the same idea twice!" The litigation finally concluded some 25 years after the show first aired on television, with Jay Presson Allen retaining her "created by" credit on the series.
released the first two seasons of Family on DVD in Region 1. It is unknown if the remaining three seasons will be released at some point.
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
drama series that aired on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
from 1976
1976 in television
The year 1976 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1976.-Global television events:*The Olympics, broadcast from Montreal, Canada, draw an estimated one billion viewers worldwide....
to 1980
1980 in television
The year 1980 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1980.For the American TV schedule, see: 1980-81 American network television schedule.-Events:...
. Creative control of the show was split between executive producers Leonard Goldberg
Leonard Goldberg
Leonard J. Goldberg is an American film producer and television producer. He has his own production company, Mandy Films. He served as head of programming for ABC, and was president of 20th Century Fox...
, Aaron Spelling
Aaron Spelling
Aaron Spelling was an American film and television producer. As of 2009, Spelling's eponymous production company Spelling Television holds the record as the most prolific television writer, with 218 producer and executive producer credits...
and Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols is a German-born American television, stage and film director, writer, producer and comedian. He began his career in the 1950s as one half of the comedy duo Nichols and May, along with Elaine May. In 1968 he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film The Graduate...
. A total of 86 episodes were produced.
Premise
The show featured Sada ThompsonSada Thompson
Sada Carolyn Thompson was an American stage, film, and television actress.-Life and career:Born in Des Moines, Iowa in 1927 to Hugh Woodruff Thompson and his wife Corlyss , and raised in New Jersey, Thompson earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, after...
and James Broderick
James Broderick
James Joseph Broderick III was an American actor.-Life and career:Broderick was born in Charlestown, New Hampshire, the son of Mary Elizabeth and James Joseph Broderick, Jr....
as Kate and Doug Lawrence, a happily married middle-class couple living in Pasadena, California
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
. Doug is an independent lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
, and Kate was a housewife (she would eventually go back to school herself). They had three children: Nancy (portrayed by Elayne Heilveil in the original mini-series and later by Meredith Baxter Birney
Meredith Baxter
Meredith Baxter , also known for some years as Meredith Baxter-Birney, is an American actress and producer. She is known for her acting roles including three television series: Family , an ABC television-network drama, Family Ties , an NBC television-network situation comedy, and Dan Vs. , a...
), Willie (Gary Frank
Gary Frank (actor)
Gary Frank is an American actor who won an Emmy Award for his performances on the TV seriesFamily...
), and Letitia, nicknamed "Buddy" (Kristy McNichol
Kristy McNichol
Christina Ann "Kristy" McNichol is an American actress.McNichol is best known for her roles as Leticia “Buddy” Lawrence on the television drama series Family and as Barbara Weston on the sitcom Empty Nest. She is also the sister of former child actor Jimmy McNichol...
). (There was another son, Timothy, who had died five years previous to the series' beginning.) 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 walked in on her husband Jeff (John Rubinstein
John Rubinstein
John Arthur Rubinstein is an American film, Broadway, and television actor, a composer of film and theatre music, and a director in theatre and television.-Early life:...
) 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
Leif Garrett
Leif Garrett is an American singer and actor. He became famous in the late 1970s as a teen idol, but received much publicity in later life for his drug abuse and legal troubles.-Early life:...
, who was a teen idol at the time. Another topical episode dealt with Buddy's friendship with a teacher who was revealed to be a lesbian. Family also dealt with alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
(Doug's sister; Buddy's old friend) as well as adoption
Adoption
Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting for another and, in so doing, permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the original parent or parents...
, when the family adopted a girl named Annie Cooper (Quinn Cummings
Quinn Cummings
Quinn Cummings is an American inventor, businesswoman, television and film actress, and author best known for her Oscar-nominated role in Neil Simon's The Goodbye Girl and her humorous memoir "Notes From The Underwire" She is currently working on a second book, "The Year of Learning Dangerously",...
). One episode in 1979 (directed by actress Joanne Woodward
Joanne Woodward
Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward is an American actress, television and theatrical producer, and widow of Paul Newman...
) guest-starred Henry Fonda
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...
as a visiting elderly relative who was beginning to experience senility and memory loss.
Theme music
In the original spring 1976 miniseries run of Family, the theme music was a dramatic sounding, yet low key piano solo with minor orchestral contingents, composed by cast member John RubinsteinJohn Rubinstein
John Arthur Rubinstein is an American film, Broadway, and television actor, a composer of film and theatre music, and a director in theatre and television.-Early life:...
(son of famed classical musician Arthur Rubinstein
Arthur Rubinstein
Arthur Rubinstein KBE was a Polish-American pianist. He received international acclaim for his performances of the music of a variety of composers...
). When Family was picked up as a regular series for the fall 1976 schedule, the theme music was changed to a more cheery, upbeat instrumental dominated by trumpets and horns, also written by Rubinstein. It was this version that lasted the rest of the run.
Legal dispute
Family became the subject of one of the longest running legal disputes in television history when writer Jeri Emmet Laird filed a lawsuit against Spelling Television in 1977, claiming Spelling had stolen the idea for the show from a script she had submitted entitled, The Best Years.Spelling stated that he came up with the idea in his kitchen with then-partner Leonard Goldberg, and passed it on to Jay Presson Allen
Jay Presson Allen
Jay Presson Allen was an American screenwriter, playwright, stage director, television producer and novelist. Known for her withering wit and sometimes-off-color wisecracks, she was one of the few women making a living as a screenwriter at a time when women were a rarity in the profession...
to write the pilot script. Allen, who died in May 2006, had just completed the screenplay for the film Funny Lady
Funny Lady
Funny Lady is a 1975 film starring Barbra Streisand, James Caan, Omar Sharif, Roddy McDowall, and Ben Vereen.A sequel to the 1968 film Funny Girl, it is a highly fictionalized account of the later life and career of comedienne Fanny Brice and her marriage to songwriter and empresario Billy Rose...
starring Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
and directed by Herbert Ross
Herbert Ross
Herbert Ross was an American film director, producer, choreographer and actor.-Early life and career:Born Herbert David Ross in Brooklyn, New York, he made his stage debut as Third Witch with a touring company of Macbeth in 1942...
.
After over a decade in court, a jury awarded Laird $1.69 million against Spelling, which she then lost on appeal. (Ssee Laird v. Blacker, 2 Cal.4th 606 (1992).)
Laird sued Spelling again in 1996 after he published his memoirs, claiming that he defamed her in his book by not crediting her with the original idea for Family, but again she lost on appeal in 2001 when the court stated, "you can't steal the same idea twice!" The litigation finally concluded some 25 years after the show first aired on television, with Jay Presson Allen retaining her "created by" credit on the series.
DVD release
On September 5, 2006, Sony Pictures Home EntertainmentSony Pictures Home Entertainment
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is the home video distribution arm of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation. It was established in November 1979 as Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment, releasing 20 titles: The Anderson Tapes, Bell, Book and Candle, Born Free, Breakout,...
released the first two seasons of Family on DVD in Region 1. It is unknown if the remaining three seasons will be released at some point.
International Broadcast
- ArgentinaArgentinaArgentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
Canal 13 Artear - VenezuelaVenezuelaVenezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
Venezolana de TelevisiónVenezolana de TelevisiónCorporación Venezolana de Televisión or VTV is a state-owned television network based in Caracas, Venezuela, which can be seen throughout the country on channel eight...