Family

"I felt this show was totally realistic. This program ran in the mid-seventies during the time that my wife and I were still newly married. This may have had an impact on why I feel toward the show like I do. However, I felt then as now, having grown up in a family myself, this has been the most realistically portrayed drama of an average family that I can remember seeing. I thoroughly enjoyed the program and only have good memories of it!"

This show was great. I started watching it on the Nostalgia Network but now that network is nostalgia itself. The Pasadena setting was perfect for this family. In LA but off in a more quiet, normal and realistic location. Everything about this show is 70's and that adds to its coolness. Bellbottoms everywhere and the people in them with such problems!!!!!

So for many years, I remembered a show I use to watch as a small child (I was born in 1980). For the life of me, I remembered only the theme song, the word "Family" in the title, and Kristy McNichol being in the cast. The show was on (in syndication) WSMH TV 66 here around 84-86. I owe thanks to VH1 for recently running the 100 famous teen stars in which Ms. McNichol and this wonderful show were mentioned. I am happy to know that my mind wasn't playing tricks on me and that this show really existed. I loved this show as a child and my family use to watch it together. It was a great time back then, when family actually did things as a family. I remembered eating dinner and finishing up just in time to watch this show. They (TVLand) need to bring this back so that my nieces and nephews can enjoy this classic also.

This was a must-see for me in '76 -'80. It was my guiding light and the topics it touched upon were indeed concerns of mine. They were beautifully written and seemingly resolved with love. It's a wonderful cast that almost became my second family. Now streaming on Tubi its entirety.

"Family" was consistently entertaining and insightful television, in the wasteland that was late 70's television programming.

It dealt with sensitive issues in a thoughtful manner without proselytizing or being maudlin.

I had the good fortune of beginning my television career by being a fan of "Family." A new resident of the neighborhood, I hung-out during the filming of exterior shots at the location of the "Lawrence" home in South Pasadena, during "Family's" final season. That same summer, in 1979, I went to work for the production company, Spelling-Goldberg Productions. Watching "Family" shoot was magic.

The series hearkened-back to an era even earlier than the late 70's...it kind of had a sixties feel to it, an earlier, simpler, and kinder period among American families. However, unlike the family dramas that filmed during the sixties, "Family" was far more realistic and believable.

Clearly, the break-out star of "Family" was young Kristy McNichol who stole nearly every scene she was in.

"Family" is long overdue to be offered in a DVD collection, and I hope all four seasons will soon be available in a video collection.

Thanks for the memories.

Gary L. Myers