The Mother - Family (1976) Discussion

[–] subcarrier 19 years ago

I don't think she was depressed, but perhaps "bitchy" would be a more appropriate word. She definately was strong willed, but it sure was fun to watch (however infrequently it was) to see Doug shut her down!

BTW, you should go to tvshowsondvd.com and vote for it! I wrote up a long comment on why I believe it should be on DVD. There are so many programs on DVD that weren't even close to the quality of this one. I'm going to post here to get more people to vote as well.

John Rubenstein was on Law & Order tonight. That's why I'm here, to see what else he's been doing.

Take care

Jeff

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[–] primechoiceladee 18 years ago

The mom had such a dry attitude. I loved the house they lived in.

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[–] subcarrier 19 years ago

Hi back! Perhaps "bitchy" was too strong of a word- maybe "strong willed" or "confident" would have been more appropriate. I as well did see her as being darn close to being a perfect mother, in that she did always have the right words at the right time. Regardless, Sada Thompson did an excellent job playing the mom who balanced children all going through the issues of their respective ages while maintaining (in your words) a level of eloquence. Willie would have been a pretty cool brother, especially when he was able to maintain his composure after the many times that Buddy flew off the handle at him. I could probably go on forever with regard to all the personality issues written into each character, but that's what made it such a great show. I've often thought about writing Aaron Spelling directly but it probably wouldn't even matter if it actually got to him. Like you said, prayer may be the only way to get this on DVD!

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[–] Victorias_Secret 19 years ago

I don't think she was depressed. Just very serious.

Terry
Your soul and your body are your own, and yours to do with as you wish.

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[–] synergy273 19 years ago

I always thought she was depressed.

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[–] hendu13 19 years ago

You'd probably be depressed, too, if (1) your first son died, (2) your daughter was a divorced single mother living at your house, (3) your other son is a high-school dropout, 4) your youngest daughter has Leif Garrett skulking around after her, and (5) Quinn Cummings came to live with you...

Just sayin'.

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[–] sjbradford 19 years ago

Hey, she was like that at the beginning of the show, before any of those things happened (with the exception of the death of son Tim). And back then, she didn't have pain-in-the-ass Meredith Baxter Birney as her daughter, but a pleasant brunette instead.

I think Kate Lawrence was just a cold, unhappy bitch.

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[–] SimonSezz 19 years ago

Sada played a "frustrated housewife", she really had nothing to do but try and be a mother and wife. There was one ep where she did battle some depression. Then didn't she go back to college?

A man is the sum of his memories, a Time Lord even more so....

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[–] isisdawonder 18 years ago

I liked Kate Lawrence...

She was not bitchy...nor was she always depressed...she was a woman dealing with everyday life and the issues that came with it...

I liked the fact that although she loved her family very much, she was not willing to just sit by idly and take any of their BS...and YOU KNOW some of them tried to dish it...coughNancycoughcoughWilliecoughDougcough...

I also like that she chose to finish school and do what she WANTED to do...she was not happy with her life so she followed her dream of becoming a music teacher...that was very cool for the mid 70s and a middle aged woman.

I loved Kate's releationship with each of her family members...she was a LOVING wife and mother...but knew when to turn off the sugar and hand Doug and the kids their @$$es when they needed it.

And she knew she wasn't perfect...she knew she didn't always have the answers.

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[–] kwalstedt-1 18 years ago

She was definitely wound WAY too tight. And I can't believe anyone said she was "non-judgmental"!!! She is incredibly judgmental. I can see why none of the kids ever feel comfortable talking to her when they have a problem. The scene where Nancy had just caught Jeff in bed with another woman and her mother tells her it's her fault - sheesh!

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[–] ethersmum 18 years ago

It's amazing to me how half the people on this board think Kate was a terrific, gentle, empathetic, caring mother (and many people have even commented on how spoiled her children were), and the other half thinks she was a judgemental stick-in-the-mud who was too hard on her family.

I think Kate was a good mother: strong and opinionated when she needed to teach her children harsh lessons for their own good, and gentle and sweet and surprisingly (in my opinion) open-minded for a woman of her generation.

I agree with her reaction to Nancy's finding her out her husband was cheating on her. She DID want everything...NOW! Too many of my girlfriends are now the same way. They don't necessarily want husbands, they want everything that comes with them, the acessories, so to speak: the big wedding, the giant ring, the huge house, the 2 SUV's in the driveway, the corporate job, the expensive vacations, and the little Madison's and Kayla's and Jayden's to round out the deal. And then, when their husbands realize their wives just see them as a route to a particular lifestyle, it's like they feel they have the right to stray. I am a woman, and don't mean to condone this, and plenty of women stray because their husbands are JERKS and frankly I can't blame them. But this is a phenomena that I see all the time. I guess I feel that Kate knew this about Nancy, I mean, look at how Nancy treats that baby and the rest of the family: always dumping him with her parents or siblings; acting awfully cold towards him, if you ask me, and then going out on dates, stringing multiple men along all at once, treating her mother like a scullery maid, always acting peevish and too important to spend quality time with her baby sister: what GOOD mother WOULD let her daughter continue to be such a b*tch?

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[–] isisdawonder 18 years ago

I agree...

Kate was a GREAT mother...

and again...I don't see Kate as one extreme or the other...she was Sweet and SAlty at the same time...she turned on the Sweet when need be and Stung em with salt when need be.

For those who say she was not caring and loving...just watch any scene with Buddy...and for the most part Willie...both of them could break Kate down to mush.

With Nancy it was a bit different at times because Kate didn't like the road Nancy was going...ESPECIALLY because Nancy was a mother as well...

The episode when Nancy decides to marry the professor then had a ONS with the dude that blocked her car in...Kate was the one to get through to her about making hasty decisions...and in the end Kate hugged her like a mother would...strong and endearing....She gave her the sting then poured on the sugar.

Yes I also agree about Kate being fairly liberal and open-minded for a woman of her generation...She's like an oxymoron...Visually you'd look at her and think strict...conservative...probably highly religious...but then listen to Kate and watch her actions...this lady was very liberal in attitude for a "housewife" living in the burbs in the mid 70s...but then again..DOUG was also very liberal.

this show rocks...I pray they release the rest of the series soon.

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[–] kwalstedt-1 18 years ago

I've since changed my mind about Kate. I had only watched a few of the earliest episodes when I wrote that (I watched the whole series as a kid, but I don't exactly have the same perspective now!) I have now watched all 28 episodes on the DVD and I think Kate is a great mother.

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[–] ethersmum 17 years ago

I'm glad to hear that you've changed your mind! I am quite protective of good, sweet, strong Kate!

It's interesting that she seems to be the overwhelming favourite character on Family, at least on this forum.

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[–] kwalstedt-1 17 years ago

Yes, it's not surprising. She's the real heart of the show.

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[–] 17 years ago

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[–] Liz01219 19 years ago

From what I can remember I saw her as the glue that held the family together.

I viewed her as being tough, most especially on Nancy, they seemed to lock horns a lot.
I guess she was tough on Nancy because Nancy probably married someone they didn't approve of, married to young, and her persuit of being a lawyer ended when she became pregnant. She wanted Nancy to succeed and be able to function on her own, for her own good and for her little boys good.
At the same time, I remember her really being so loving towards Buddy.

She was in charge, maybe a job she didn't want but was forced to do because she was married to a busy lawyer who probably worked long hours and left her in charge of the house and kids and everything else.

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[–] view123 18 years ago

I'm a 70's kid, and this series always seemed a reflection of my life. I identified with Buddy because she was the youngest. My older sister was attending law school, just like Nancy. Later when Annie joined the cast, I identified with her because she was now the youngest and intelligent (I skipped TWO grades in school). Like the previous post, my mother was the glue that held our family together. However, my mother always noticed Kate's "worried, intensely concerned" look which she also found unattractive; I admired Kate's witty, dry sense of humour.

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[–] taylorje 18 years ago

I remember one episode where she was MERCILESS toward Nancy (this was in the later seasons not on DVD). Nancy had graduated from law school, moved to her own apartment (leaving the guest house for Willie) and had a job in a swank law firm. Either she had left Timmy with Kate for the day or Kate had picked him up at day care. (Maybe it was the latter since Kate had probably gone back to teaching by then and wouldn't have been available during the day.)

Nancy was supposed to pick Timmy up when she got off work, but one of her co-workers (male) invited her for a drink. She agreed to "just a quick drink" but it somehow turned into several drinks and then dinner. Somehow she forgot to call her mother to tell her she'd be late picking up Timmy. When she finally got there, hours later, very happy because she'd met someone she liked, Kate said in an ice-cold voice "Your little boy cried himself to sleep tonight. Whatever you were doing I hope it was worth it." She wouldn't even listen to Nancy's explanation.

Nancy felt so guilty that she stayed home with Timmy the next day, calling in sick at work. She also decided not to continue as an attorney (maybe at this point she hadn't taken the bar exam) but to be a paralegal instead, so she could spend more time with Timmy. As I remember, Kate still wasn't sympathetic and it was Doug who saved the day (as TV dads always do, in 1 hour) and talked Nancy into being an attorney after all.

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[–] spike71 18 years ago

I don't know that I'd call her depressed however I agree, she didn't smile much. But think of what she was dealing with - she had a very young daughter that was divorced with a young child, a teenager who was very headstrong, the son who was a high school dropout trying to survive in a big world, a husband with his own issues and - Kate also had her own desires to finish her own degree and do her own thing. No wonder all she did was sit at that kitchen table stirring her tea a thousand times.

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[–] 18 years ago

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[–] Liz01219 18 years ago

Oh, I thought she was a great mother.

She always knew the right thing to do, and she told her children even if it meant she came off harsh.
They always knew she loved them.

If she was depressed you have to remember they had a child die. That child was 10 yrs old.
That's reason enough to be depressed.

She was very in love with her husband, and her children.
It was very obvious to me.

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