About the Show

Family is a television series from the 1970s. The series first aired in 1976 and had six episodes in its first season. In the show's second season, it had twenty two episodes and won two Emmy Awards for best supporting actor and actress. In 1980, the series finished its five season run with eighty-six episodes to its credit. The series is about dramatic daily lives of an American family, the Lawrence's, as they struggle with the ins and outs of life. The series, at the time, was groundbreaking for touching upon topics (common in today's programming) that dealt with serious issues such as domestic abuse, drug and alcohol abuse, marital affairs, teenage pregnancy, etc.

Leading the cast as the father and mother of the Lawrence family are James Broderick as Doug and Sada Thompson as Kate. Doug is a loving father who works as a lawyer. Kate is a housewife and a strong woman who loves her family and only wants what is best for them. They have three children, Nancy, Buddy, and Willie. Nancy in season one is played by Elayne Heilveil and she is replaced by Meredith Baxter Birney in season two. Nancy is a young girl who stopped attending to college to marry a rich young guy and have a child. After her baby was born, she decided to go back to school. In the series pilot, she temporarily separates (the pilot episode only) from her husband Jeff and in season two the separation is made permanent. In season one Nancy is a reoccurring character with a small role. In season two, when she divorces Jeff, she has a more regular part. Buddy (Kristy McNichol) is a young adolescent coming into puberty and she faces the same problems teenagers her age run into. Willie (Gary Frank) is a high school dropout and his life is not without drama.

The First Season

The first season begins with the series pilot episode, which is about the family dealing with Nancy and her husband's indiscretion. Skipping class to come home and surprise her husband Jeff, the oldest Lawrence daughter Nancy finds her husband in bed with another woman. Nancy immediately returns to the Lawrence family home and has to decide how to proceed. Doug wants Nancy to end it with Jeff while Kate believes she should give him a second chance, especially since there is a second baby on the way. Also early in Doug and Kate's marriage, he had an affair and she forgave him. Despite the affair, Nancy and Jeff get back together at the end of the episode. However, their martial problems return in the beginning of season two.

The other storylines involve Willie dating a girl Salina (who appears in season two storylines) who is pregnant (not his baby), Willie trying figure out his place in life, Buddy dealing with her best friend moving away, Kate's mother visiting the family for a final goodbye, and dealing the family dealing with the guilt and grief of Timmy who died in a boating accident at the age of ten. Some of these stories prove to be dramatic and entertaining, while others are less impressive.

The one episode I enjoyed the most is "Monday Is Forever", which has an emotionally powerful story. In it, Kate goes to the doctor's and finds out she could have breast cancer. To make the matter worse, she has to wait through the weekend to find out the results. The stress of the situation is overbearing and hard for the family to handle. What was done very well with this episode is how the characters portrayed their emotions--fear, anxiety, anger, etc. This episode is a great marker of how passionate the characters can be. Unfortunately, they are not always this passionate.

On the whole, I was not impressed with season one, with the exception of the episode "Monday Is Forever". What is good about the series are the characters. They are appealing, the acting is done well, but the stories are not always really enticing. The "dramatic" appeal is not always enticing enough.

The Second Season

Season two picks up with the episode "Coming Apart". Nancy and Jeff are in the final stages of their divorce. The last time this couple was referred to in season one, everything was fine. Unfortunately for the young couple, they were not able to overcome their problems. In this episode, Nancy pursues a "friendly" relationship with a college professor who wants to be more than friends while trying to deal with the hardships of her divorce. Nancy is also replaced with Meredith Baxter Birney, who works better in the role than her predecessor did. Buddy also gets a part-time job at a bakery and her boss Alexandra and Willie start dating.

The remainder of the season two episodes deal with various topics from jury duty to alcoholism to puberty to marital issues to drugs. Like the season one episodes, I did not find most of these storylines really gripping or enticing. The actors and actresses handle their roles very well, but the situations just fail to be really appealing. There was an occasional episode here and there (or at least parts) I enjoyed, but for the most part Family season two did not do much for me. I think this is too bad because the characters can be pretty intriguing.

One of the storylines revisited from season one is about Willie and Salina. On more than one occasion, she returns to town and complicates Willie's life. In "Such Sweet Sorrow", Salina and Willie rekindle their relationship. The problem is that he is dating Alexandra. "The Cradle Will Fall" puts Salina into some trouble. She was arrested and when the father of her baby finds out about it, he takes her to court to get custody of the baby. Towards the end of the season in "Coming and Goings", Willie and Salina decide to move in together. The Willie/Salina relationship is a pretty intriguing aspect, because Willie is a solid character you cannot help but like.

Other stories addressed include Buddy reaching puberty and a growing interest in the opposite sex, Kate's friend Elaine cheating on her husband, Kate suspecting Doug's sister is an alcoholic, Willie's friend getting arrested in a gay bar, Kate considering going back to college, Willie having an affair with an older mature woman, Doug's old flame returning into his life and posing a threat to his marriage, Nancy and her old high school sweetheart dating again, which is complicated by his drug use, Nancy falling victim to sexual harassment, Doug being offered a job in New York that pays twice as much and has great benefits, and more.

The season also had a couple of two-part episodes "Jury Duty" and "Taking Chances" I really enjoyed. The storylines got very dramatic and emotional, with the characters doing a fantastic job with some solid stories. In "Jury Duty", Kate serves as a juror on a rape/homicide case and the trial ends with a hung jury. And Kate is the reason for the hung jury. She held out on her position that the defendant was not guilty while the other eleven jurors voted guilty. The story gets really dramatic when family suffers abuse for Kate's decision, as well when Buddy is approached by the real killer. "Taking Chances" is the other really solid episode in season two. In it, Doug gets in a car accident and loses his vision. In order to get his sight back, he has to undergo a risky operation that may kill him. The characters get really emotional and do a fine job portraying it throughout the episode. It is an easy one to get into.

Overall, like season one I was not really impressed with what season two had to offer. What did not work for me was the episode content. It was dramatic, but there was something missing to make it gripping and enticing. A real good drama should leave you on the edge of your seat wanting to know what is in store for the cast in the following episodes. Family does not do this. On the plus side, the characters are all likeable and their respective actors and actresses handle their roles with near perfection.

Season One Episode Guide
1. The Best Years (aka Pilot)
2. Monday Is Forever
3. A Special Kind of Loving
4. A Right & Proper Goodbye
5. Thursday's Child Has Far to Go
6. A Point of Departure

Season Two Episode Guide
1. Coming Apart
2. Such Sweet Sorrow
3. Home Movie
4. Coming of Age
5. Jury Duty - Part 1
6. Jury Duty - Part 2
7. The Cradle Will Fall
8. Skeleton in the Closet
9. The Christmas Story
10. Rites of Friendship
11. An Eye to the Future
12. Lovers and Strangers
13. Return Engagement
14. "Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall..."
15. Someone's Watching
16. A Safe House
17. Best Friends
18. Taking Chances - Part 1
19. Taking Chances - Part 2
20. Comings and Goings
21. There Are More Things in Heaven and Earth
22. An Endangered Species

The DVD

Video:
The video is given in its original television aspect ratio of 1.33:1 full frame color. The picture quality is good considering its age. The image is a bit soft at times. For the most part, it looks good with a slight grain and some traces of video compression.

Audio:
The audio in this release is in English 2.0 Dolby digital mono. The quality is quite good. The audio is fairly flat, which is due the show being dialogue driven and the mono track offers very little in terms of dynamics. This release also supports closed captioning.

Extras:
There are no extras included with this DVD set.

Final Thoughts:
In the 1970s Family may have been a ground breaking series, but the "groundbreaking" sensation is certainly not there anymore. The once very dramatic issues it touches upon are all too common in modern day programming. In the end, Family is left with content that is dry and lacking anything to really pull you in. Sure, there are the occasional episodes that grab your attention, but they are spread pretty thin. On a positive note, Family does have a superb cast. The leading actors and actresses do a fine job with their characters and are all very likeable. So, if you are interested in a family-oriented drama that is not unintelligent, give Family: The Complete First and Second Seasons a rent.