Family (TV series)
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2008-07-02T00:20:48Z
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/* Theme Music */
{{infobox television |
| show_name = Family
| image =
| caption =
| format = [[Drama]]/[[Family]]
| runtime = 60 min.
| creator =
| starring = [[James Broderick]] <br> [[Sada Thompson]] <br> [[Gary Frank (actor)|Gary Frank]] <br> [[Kristy McNichol]] <br> [[Elayne Heilveil]] <br> [[Meredith Baxter]] <br> [[Quinn Cummings]]
| country = {{USA}}
| executive_producer = [[Leonard Goldberg]] <br> [[Mike Nichols]] <br> [[Aaron Spelling]]
| network = [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]
| opentheme =
| camera =
| first_aired = [[March 9]], [[1976 in television|1976]]
| last_aired = [[June 25]], [[1980 in television|1980]]
| num_episodes = 86
| num_seasons = 5
| tv_com_id = 624
| imdb_id = 0073992
| website =
}}
'''''Family''''' is a [[television]] drama series that aired on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] from [[1976 in television|1976]] to [[1980 in television|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.
== Premise ==
The show featured [[James Broderick]] and [[Sada Thompson]] as Doug and Kate Lawrence, a happily married middle-class couple living in [[Pasadena, California|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 (actor)|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, walked in on her husband Jeff ([[John Rubinstein]]) making love to one of her friends. In the second season, Nancy gave birth to a baby boy, Timmy (who was played regularly in the show's final two seasons by twins Michael & David Schackelford). She and Jeff divorced not long after, 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]].
==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 Rubinstein]] (son of famed classical musician [[Artur 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. 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]] 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 (see [http://online.ceb.com/calcases/C4/2C4t606.htm Laird v. Blacker], 2 Cal.4th 606 (1992)).
[http://www.metnews.com/articles/lair111901.htm 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.
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
*{{imdb title|0073992|title=Family}}
*[http://www.geocities.com/hollandst 1230 Holland St.]
*[http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=5915 DVD release planned]
*[http://www.tv.com/family/show/624/summary.html TV.com's "Family" page]
*[http://www.jumptheshark.com/forum/family/672 "Family's" Jump the Shark page]
[[Category:1970s American television series]]
[[Category:Television series by Sony Pictures Television]]
[[Category:American Broadcasting Company network shows]]
[[Category:TV shows by Aaron Spelling]]
[[Category:1976 television series debuts]]
[[Category:1980 television series endings]]
[[de:Eine amerikanische Familie]]
[[es:Family (serie)]]
[[sh:Family (TV serija)]]