SoapDope

The problem I had with the addition of Jeremy was they barely wrote for Elizabeth. They also quickly broke up David and Janet when they didn't know how to write for them. Most of their scenes was them at each others throats.

The guy with the bad breath....that actor looks so familiar. Does anyone know who it is ? It's driving me crazy...He looks a bit like Jared Martin, but that's not him.

I forgot all about that. It's been a while since I watched season 5. That season was a bit of a mess and the show started falling apart. Mary pretty much faded into the background due to Lani's real life issues. The addition of Jeremy was pointless.

Yes. At the end of season 3 there was a boring 2 part episode titled : Marriage and Other Flights Of Fancy" where he breaks up with Janet and takes off. At the beginning of season 4 he returns and tries to win Janet back. She is engaged to a guy named Reed (Played by Terry Lester). She and David marry in a double wedding with Susan and Merle.

I have no idea if that is her brother, but it could be with the last name Kay. Diane was also in the pilot " Cass Malloy" starring Caroline McWilliams. Someone said the pilot actually aired once during the summer of 1982. A few years later they did it again with Suzanne Somers as the lead and it became " She's The Sheriff" that ran 1987-1989. Diane would have been good as a regular on a soap. She pretty much stopped acting by the 90's. She was closest to Lani O'Grady who played Mary and was devastated when she died. She keeps a framed photo of her in her house.

I have never read the book, but have heard that the real Braden family had more controversy and turmoil in their lives than the more light weight material that was written for the onscreen Bradfords. In the series the number of kids were explained as unexpected happy accidents, but the real life catholic Braden family had a friendly competition with the Robert Kennedy family as which family could produce the most children.

🤣 True. They tried to keep them all at home like Dallas, but it just wasn't working in the long run with everyone getting married, having children, unexpected relatives and in-laws showing up/dropping in. I guess Lorimar had a thing about keeping families all under one roof. Someone once joked that Tom had that huge den and should have converted it into extra sleeping quarters. They never really used the garage. They should have converted that into a guest house where Janet & David lived or Merle & Susan. One thing that was funny, with all those kids they never had a dishwasher. They would always have these scenes of them doing dishes and having long conversations. Sometimes I noticed there would be suds still on the plates as they were drying them and putting them in the cabinet. It also bugged me how smeary/greasy the refrigerator was. I guess they smeared wax on it to keep from reflection of the film crew showing, but I always wanted to grab a bottle of Fantastik or 409 and give that a good scrubbing. Instead of adding worthless characters they could have hired a sassy housekeeper for the Bradfords. Alice Ghostley, Kathleen Freeman, Mary Wickes, Sandra Gould, Patsy Kelly etc....could have fit the bill. Maybe she could have a bit of a drinking problem to add a bit of comedy or drama.

Great article. I'm glad she looks back at Nancy Drew and Dynasty with fondness. She left ND because they wanted to combine her series with the Hardy Boys full time. Pamela Sue looks a little bit like Valerie Harper as she has gotten older.

I always thought Janice Lynde could have played Patti on SFT. She resembled Lynn Loring a bit who had originated the role.

Joan Collins with Gary Collins on Hour magazine. Only a partial episode.

I agree. Beck always came across as a pretentious snob in her roles.

I think you would enjoy it, if only to revisit the culture of the late 70's/early 80's. I did a quick search for it and it looks like it has been deleted. I agree. I know it was a different era, but Lorimar should have done better by Adam, Susan and the rest of the cast. Abby sometimes acted like she was a bit stoned....LOL. I remember her bridal shower and she was wafting around the room and going on about the cute little baby on her cake. " There's this little baby on the cake...there's the little baby" Tom was up on a ladder hanging a decoration on the chandelier and I kept waiting for her to accidentally knock him off. Nancy was my favorite too. Diane Kay was cute, charming, and good actress. She should have went on to bigger things.

I did see the tribute Buckley wrote about him which was sweet. I also remember her telling a story in a interview where Penny Marshall told her to really play up the relationship between Abby and Tom and get in there and pinch his fanny....LOL Willie Aames was really devastated when Dick died. Dick loved and supported the cast through his life. I remember him going on talk shows supporting Lani O'Grady with her bouts of mental illness. He knew and was friends with just about everyone in Hollywood.

I saw that photo too and the Today Show reunion. There was also a photo of Buckley and the rest of the cast when Dick Van Patten died. Susan was the only one missing. Joan Prather who played Janet always reminded me of Tracy Scoggins. On the E True Hollywood story, she recalled shooting the scene where Tom catches her coming out of David's bedroom. She said even though they were all acting, the way Dick played the scene and was looking at her, she felt like she had been a bad girl and should be ashamed.....LOL

You would think, but apparently not. I remember when they did one of those E True Hollywood stories Brian Patrick Clarke who played Merle said he was horrified that this was seen as cute by the higher ups and they allowed it to go on. I think Adam would often travel to promote the show/make public appearances and his parents allowed him to travel alone with "handlers" who turned him on to drugs, porn, women etc...Leif Garrett said that was exactly the same thing that happened to him during that same time period.

Yes as the kids got older it presented problems. They tried to keep many of them all under one roof, but it still didn't help with storylines. I have read Buckley could be difficult and a perfectionist. She would take forever to complete a scene. She also handed out a book about acting to cast members, which many took offense to especially Willie Aames. I remember reading that network executives would be shocked when they would attend cast parties and little Adam Rich was walking around drinking martinis or champagne and smoking. Rich said he was smoking pot and watching porn by age 10.

Thanks for the info. In the 1987 & 1989 they did the reunion films, but Betty Buckley did not return as Abby. I read the first film got pretty good ratings and there was hope of a series revival or a series of annual films that never came to pass. In the mid 90's Donny Osmond interviewed Grant Goodeve and he mentioned they were in the works of getting together again for another film, but obviously that fell through. I say problems with Susan Richardson and Adam Rich may have been a factor. Betty Buckley's feelings run hot and cold about her time as Abby. The last season (1980-81) of the series was a mess. The strike of 1980 did not help things. If you notice a lot of the signature background music was replaced with generic stuff with lots of awkward wah wah cheesy type of comedy crap. After the strike was over a lot of the signature music returned. What was the point of Jeremy played by Ralph Macchio ? The cast was way too huge already and they barely gave storylines to most of them. Elizabeth was one they never seemed to develop much. Mary faded into the woodwork due to Lani O'Grady's mental issues. They also quickly broke up David and Janet and then toyed with a reconciliation. Then they were divorced in the first reunion and toyed with another reconciliation. Then in the second film David remarried another woman. I bet most fans were not pleased with that.

Steve Shaw who played Eric was killed in a car accident in 1990.

Sad to hear about Murray passing. It always seemed like he never really wanted to do Knots Landing.

It was sad Hyland had finally found a role where she could have the chance to shine and then be told she was terminally ill. Dick Van Patten said he and his wife Pat watched the premiere with Hyland in the hospital. After it finished she turned to him and said " Congratulations, You have a hit". She died about a week or two later. Van Patten and his wife along with John Travolta were with her when she passed. Tom as a single father would have been interesting for a season or two, but in the end they made a good decision by casting Buckley as Abby. I always loved their colonial style house. Sadly it was torn down several years ago. Van Patten was upset about it when it happened. Adam Rich set the trend with the bowl haircut for little boys and just about every Mom who had a son between 1977-1989 had their sons hair cut like his. Unfortunately I had that haircut too as a kid.....LOL

Thanks for the info. I never knew about the phone calls being edited out. I thought it seemed odd she was just gone and they never mentioned where she was and quickly changed the opening credits. I did notice on the season 1 DVD's that the end credits often do not match the episode. Out of respect for Hyland they chose not to recast Joan and wrote her death into the series. Bill Blinn who developed the series for TV said he wanted to play Tom Bradford as a single father, but ABC insisted that a mother figure be present in the household. Betty Buckley was brought on as Abby. Tom Braden who wrote the book was pissed that his wife's onscreen counterpart was killed off and replaced. It's hard to judge how the show would have played if Diana had not passed away and how her character of Joan would have developed. Most viewers have stated they feel Buckley as Abby was a better fit. The show was racked with problems from the get go. Mark Hamill's car accident and being replaced, Diana Hyland's death, having to recast the roles of Nancy and Tommy etc... Bill Blinn said he wanted a stage actor he knew from New York to play Tom and brought him out to do the pilot. He said after a day or two he realized he had made a mistake and that every time the red light when on, the actor would tense up and flub his lines. He had not choice but to let him go. Fred Silverman at ABC told Blinn he wanted Dick Van Patten as Tom. Blinn said he would have never cast Van Patten. He felt he was not right for Tom. Silverman won out. Blinn said he wound up eating his his words because Van Patten turned out to be perfect in that role.

David Jacobs was writing Family for Spelling/Goldberg when he was approached about creating a show for CBS. He said he went with Lorimar as the studio because of the recent hit of EIE and the quality and production values of the series.

The thing that hurt Family was ABC had little faith in it and moved it around the schedule and often pre-empted it in favor of specials. I also read it was never shown in summer reruns. It was also very seldom seen in syndication. A lot of people have never even heard of it. The last season of the show was shown late in the season and they finally gave it the axe in early 1980. ABC must have wanted to get rid of it pretty quickly. You would think with the popularity of Kristy McNichol they would try to capitalize on that.

I know this was considered a Dramedy, but I wanted to start a thread here if anyone would like to discuss this great series. A lot of viewers consider this kind of a sister show to Family. Lorimar had an unexpected hit when this premiered mid season in the spring of 1977. Diana Hyland who played the mother Joan only appeared in 4 episodes before passing away. Her absence was never explained till season 2. ABC quickly wanted a mother figure and they brought in Betty Buckley as Abby the love interest for Tom played by Dick Van Patten. Dick Van Patten usually played goofy types of characters, but the role of Tom Bradford really endeared him to TV audiences. I always thought Diane Kay was so pretty and charming as Nancy. I know she appeared briefly in Flamingo Road during her time on EIE, but I think should have been hired in a meaty role on a primetime soap. Most of the cast had mental or substance abuse issues that caused the shows cancellation after 5 seasons. Van Patten said they were all geared to film season 6 when he was reading the paper at home and read they were cancelled. Lorimar felt the show was too much trouble to continue with. The show is available to watch for Free on streaming platforms like Tubi.

I would also assume maybe a catfight between Lorie & Leslie on Y&R. I read that Leslie screamed the "B" word at Lorie during an intense scene while she was in the mental hospital. The viewer who remembers it said they were shocked they used the word on daytime TV in the mid 70's. I think they also said it happened as they were going to break. I guess Bell timed that line so the network didn't have time to cut it. Speaking of Dynasty, Linda Evans had appeared on a 1973 episode of McCloud where she got into a hilarious catfight with Stefanie Powers with pillows and feathers flying etc... I assume Spelling or the writers on Dynasty saw that and used that for the basis of the Krystal/Alexis brawls.