It's funny,back when the show originally aired I would have said Nancy because I could have identified with her the most back then, but today I'd have to say Kate.
shareKate, hands down. She was my favorite when the series came out and I was Buddy's age. Now she is STILL my favorite and I'm just about HER age. Once wrote a fan letter (one and only fan letter I ever wrote) to Sada Thompson. Was so impressed that she sent me a personal hand-written reply. What a classy lady.
shareKate was and still is my favorite. I would also like to send her an email or a letter. Can you advise as to how I may reach her?
shareI have to agree Kate hands down.
I remember when it originally aired I thought she was tough.
I guess I was to young to realize that she was actually strong, vulnerable too.
She always seemed to be able to soothe her children with just the right words.
Definitely, without a doubt, hands down... Kate. The character was written with such a great wit and Sada Thompson knew how to deliver those lines with the best of 'em. Plus, she brought a wisdom, sensitivity, and realism to the role when most other 1970s TV mothers were no more than two-dimensional at best.
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Kate, definitely! I once would've said Willie, but now I see him as a spoiled brat with a smart mouth. He had it made -- he was a high school dropout who still lived at home (but in the later seasons he moved into Nancy's vacated guesthouse when she got her own apartment). His parents paid his bills and apparently gave him free room and board. They were angry because he quit high school, but he never had to suffer the financial consequences. He was allowed to come and go as he pleased. I wonder how he would have turned out if the show had lasted a few more years?
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gok,
Yes, Nancy did seem to have it all.
But, in the end, the "most likely to succeed" really didn't have anything but of course her adorable son.
She married to quick to someone who was going to provide more than generously for her.
The girl who had everything, the prom queen had a cheating husband and a young baby while all of her friends were still in college or just out of college doing the things everyone assumed SHE woud be doing.
In the end, the strongest of the 3 children was really Buddy.
Nancy and Willie were enabled by both parents. Oh yes, Doug protested about Willie, and Kate protested about Nancy, and because the parents weren't on the same page with either one of them, both were enabled.
Buddy, was always the most adjusted of the 3.
My favorite character was Kate Lawrence. The one liner that sticks in my mind, to this day, involved the heated exchange between Kate and Willie. As a result of the argument, Willie promised he would be moving out tomorrow. It was one of the few times that their voices were raised to such feverishness. Confident that he had won the argument by asserting his independence, Kate slam dunked him with this line.
"Why put for tomorrow what you can get done today."
It was all in Sada Thompson's quiet and suggestive finish of the scene. It was subtle yet biting.
Oh, how I long for television that isn't so "in-your-face."
Family was and remains a class act.
My favorite character is Kate...when I was little it was Buddy and Annie first and then Always Kate...now it's just Kate...I like her iron will, heart of gold, and words of wisdom...yet she is vulnerable and knows that she doesn't know everything there is to know...she grows with her family.
shareI remember that exchange between Kate and Willie, ggillispie! I also remember a similar argument she had with Nancy. She had reprimanded her for something and Nancy also threatened to move. She asked if she could borrow the rentals section of the newspaper so that she could start looking for another apartment. Kate icily replied, "Take the whole paper, Darling. You can use it to pack your china." I still laugh when I think about it. Doug was a good father, but his kids (most notably Nancy) could wrap him around their fingers. Kate could spot BS from her kids from a mile away. And she never hesitated to call them on it.
I can only hope that, if I ever have a 25-year-old threatening to run away from home I can handle it half as well as Kate!
Buddy. I was/am about the same age as Kristy McNichol, so I could relate to that character, although I wish I had been a courageous/outspoken as Buddy. I really liked the relationship between Buddy and Willie.
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