Hard for me to pick one. I like them all, but some are more interesting than others.
It's probably easier to say who was NOT my favorite. While I like Mr. Lawrence (Doug) and Nancy, I didn't feel that the two of them were raw unique characters in quite the same way that Kate, Willie, and Buddy were. A lot of competent actors could have played Doug or Nancy and it wouldn't have made a lot of difference. But with Kate, Willie, and Buddy, I don't think the show would have been nearly as good if other actors had played those characters. With each of those three, it was really a case of the actor bringing something perfectly unique to the role.
The popular choice judging from this thread seems to be Kate. I think it was courageous that the show's creators had the nerve to make the character a little distant, a little snippy at times. Yet we the audience still know that she's a good person and really cares. And they cast a woman slightly chunky, who didn't fit the standard polished Hollywood beauty image.
I was close to Willie's age when the show first aired - and I'm a guy - so I identified with him at the time. Watching his evolution to maturity was one of the best parts of the show. He was a bit spoiled and could be a smart-mouth at times. But I could take that as part of his journey to manhood. Sometimes though I was a bit put off by how witty and good looking and generally "cool" he was, being a more nerdish guy myself.
I also felt the chemistry between Willie and Buddy was great. I could realistically believe it. They snapped at each other now and then, but still had a special bond.
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ethersmum
15 years ago
Kate, Willie, Buddy...I couldn't agree more, though I feel James Broderick was the perfect match for Sada Thompson's Kate and can't imagine another actor in his place, either. Nancy, however, could have been played by any actress. Baxter-Birney's beauty seems to fool people into thinking she was a better actress than Elayne Heilveil, and I just don't get it. I think most of the actresses who played Willie's girlfriends over the years could have played Nancy just as well. Nancy just wasn't an interesting character, in my opinion, and Baxter-Birney's introduction to the show is where I feel things started to get cheesy: Hey! I know! Let's replace the pretty-ish brunette with a knock-out blond with big you-know-whats and we'll boost our ratings! Fortunately or unfortunately, it seemed to have worked.
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fentress
15 years ago
Good points. I'm watching the episodes of the seasons 1 & 2 DVD as I'm writing these posts, so my opinions are evolving as I go. Yeah, while I don't really find Mr. Lawrence to be quite as interesting a character standing on his own, I agree that looking at him and Kate together he rounds out the couple very nicely. Their chemistry is good. This is not an idyllic Hollywood romance; it's earthy love that I can believe.
I see what you mean about occasional descent into hokeydom. I haven't seen an episode yet that struck me as a waste of my time, but some are stronger than others. Last night I watched the one about Willie's friend being gay. I remembered it vaguely from when it originally aired. I found it a little hard to buy that fairly "square" people like Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence would have so little trouble accepting homosexuality, especially in the 70's. I think the creative team was probably excited about presenting a ground-breaking progressive view (for TV of the era) and lost their perspective. But still good. I liked that they focused on Willie's perception that his trust was betrayed.
I liked the pilot episode. I'm a guy and I'm not terribly strident about either side of the abortion debate. But when Kate articulated how a woman sometimes wants "out" of a pregnancy, I sympathized with it in a way I had never felt before. Very well done. I also though the episode about Timmy's baptism really hit home, as well as the one about Buddy struggling with Willie possibly leaving home to go to the farm to write.
But the two-parter about Kate's jury duty really blew me away. That was wonderfully real how they presented Kate's struggle and her fears but she "stuck to her guns". I was quite pleasantly surprised to see a "family drama" type show deal with all aspects of jury duty as completely as this did.
The episodes dealing with Willie's and Nancy's issues with significant others didn't do quite as much for me, especially the one about Nancy having two men going at the same time. The character of Salina McGhee as written, though delightfully quirky, struck me as a bit of a loser. But the actress played her with real presence. I see what you mean; Season Hubley (cool name) would have been great in Nancy's role.
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