Family was a wonderful, innovative television show.
Lifeline is, without question in my opinion, its worst episode.
At the start of the episode, one of Nancy's friends from law school, Suzie, is rejected by a married man who she thought was leaving his wife. OK, this is the '70s, perhaps one of many opportunities Family took using Nancy and Willie to navigate the complicated, changing relationship dynamic at the time.
But the episode derails quickly. Suzie's reaction is more like a toddler told she can't have a sugary dessert than an adult dealing with the end of a relationship. That's the point, most likely, as every character in the show proceeds to comment on Suzie's massively exaggerated lack of maturity.
The writing feels quite stilted, like one of those Afterschool Specials from that era that seemed more like a pamphlet describing Reefer Madness than actual dialogue. Family's weakest episodes, and most are from the second and third seasons, have that feel.
But this one gets much, much worse. Nancy realizes that Suzie may be suicidal. Why? Because Suzie does everything the pamphlets would indicate is a warning sign. So Nancy cancels her own weekend plans and sends Willie off to find Suzie.
Sure enough, Suzie has gone to a cabin somewhere and there's some convoluted dance where she drives to a restaurant, picks up an old man, they drive somewhere, she suddenly decides against sex and then ends up walking to her cabin rather than her car, blows out the candles on her birthday cake, takes a bottle of pills and passes out while calling Nancy.
Meanwhile, Willie has fallen asleep in his car after discovering Suzie's car at the restaurant. He wakes up, somehow convinces the cabin resort's manager (at midnight) to give him the key (no, really, it's not a crazed ex-boyfriend screaming and pounding on the door at that hour - believe everything he says), finds Suzie unconscious and then, finally, someone thinks to alert paramedics.
Nancy, of course, is credited for saving Suzie's life by screaming into the phone while Suzie was passed out (this isn't good advice - the keep-awake thing is for alcohol poisoning because the gag reflex is compromised and if you fall asleep and throw up, you have a high chance of choking - plus, there was no dialogue between Nancy and Suzie to indicate she was even conscious during the screaming). No idea why, hours earlier, the police and paramedics weren't called once Willie had determined more-or-less where Suzie was.
To make matters worse, for some reason every one of the Lawrence children is snacking in every single scene. Willie may be worried about Suzie, but not enough to have no less than eight different snacks during this episode. A couple of times, he even throws one snack down and immediately opens another with a flourish, as if he's in a sitcom. Undoubtedly, he falls asleep in his car when things are most critical due to a sugar high.
Some actors really shouldn't eat on camera. They can't say their lines properly and what comes out is hopelessly garbled by lip-smacking and crunching. Gary Frank (Willie) is one of those actors. It's bad in many Family episodes, but in this episode, with all the snacking from every character, it's unwatchable. There's even a scene where Nancy is holding a peeled banana almost as if the director had just handed it to her and told her it was about to explode.
Meanwhile, you see the first series appearance of Quinn Cummings as a neighborhood girl several years younger than Buddy. There's some strange story about Buddy being paid to walk her home from school, but Marcy (Cummings) thinks they're best friends and doesn't know Buddy is being paid. So Buddy decides they are best friends after all. It feels like "hey, Quinn Cummings is available, let's throw something together" ten minutes before the script deadline that week. Cummings went on to join the cast in a permanent role as adopted daughter Annie the following season. By then, she could walk home from school without supervision.
Anyway, serious episode, feels like the serious stuff was written from a warning pamphlet, comic treatment, afterthought subplot. There are a handful of times during this show's excellent run where it seems like the actors just gave up on a script and went through the motions. This was the worst example. For completion's sake, it wasn't removed from streaming, but it should have been.
Lifeline is, without question in my opinion, its worst episode.
At the start of the episode, one of Nancy's friends from law school, Suzie, is rejected by a married man who she thought was leaving his wife. OK, this is the '70s, perhaps one of many opportunities Family took using Nancy and Willie to navigate the complicated, changing relationship dynamic at the time.
But the episode derails quickly. Suzie's reaction is more like a toddler told she can't have a sugary dessert than an adult dealing with the end of a relationship. That's the point, most likely, as every character in the show proceeds to comment on Suzie's massively exaggerated lack of maturity.
The writing feels quite stilted, like one of those Afterschool Specials from that era that seemed more like a pamphlet describing Reefer Madness than actual dialogue. Family's weakest episodes, and most are from the second and third seasons, have that feel.
But this one gets much, much worse. Nancy realizes that Suzie may be suicidal. Why? Because Suzie does everything the pamphlets would indicate is a warning sign. So Nancy cancels her own weekend plans and sends Willie off to find Suzie.
Sure enough, Suzie has gone to a cabin somewhere and there's some convoluted dance where she drives to a restaurant, picks up an old man, they drive somewhere, she suddenly decides against sex and then ends up walking to her cabin rather than her car, blows out the candles on her birthday cake, takes a bottle of pills and passes out while calling Nancy.
Meanwhile, Willie has fallen asleep in his car after discovering Suzie's car at the restaurant. He wakes up, somehow convinces the cabin resort's manager (at midnight) to give him the key (no, really, it's not a crazed ex-boyfriend screaming and pounding on the door at that hour - believe everything he says), finds Suzie unconscious and then, finally, someone thinks to alert paramedics.
Nancy, of course, is credited for saving Suzie's life by screaming into the phone while Suzie was passed out (this isn't good advice - the keep-awake thing is for alcohol poisoning because the gag reflex is compromised and if you fall asleep and throw up, you have a high chance of choking - plus, there was no dialogue between Nancy and Suzie to indicate she was even conscious during the screaming). No idea why, hours earlier, the police and paramedics weren't called once Willie had determined more-or-less where Suzie was.
To make matters worse, for some reason every one of the Lawrence children is snacking in every single scene. Willie may be worried about Suzie, but not enough to have no less than eight different snacks during this episode. A couple of times, he even throws one snack down and immediately opens another with a flourish, as if he's in a sitcom. Undoubtedly, he falls asleep in his car when things are most critical due to a sugar high.
Some actors really shouldn't eat on camera. They can't say their lines properly and what comes out is hopelessly garbled by lip-smacking and crunching. Gary Frank (Willie) is one of those actors. It's bad in many Family episodes, but in this episode, with all the snacking from every character, it's unwatchable. There's even a scene where Nancy is holding a peeled banana almost as if the director had just handed it to her and told her it was about to explode.
Meanwhile, you see the first series appearance of Quinn Cummings as a neighborhood girl several years younger than Buddy. There's some strange story about Buddy being paid to walk her home from school, but Marcy (Cummings) thinks they're best friends and doesn't know Buddy is being paid. So Buddy decides they are best friends after all. It feels like "hey, Quinn Cummings is available, let's throw something together" ten minutes before the script deadline that week. Cummings went on to join the cast in a permanent role as adopted daughter Annie the following season. By then, she could walk home from school without supervision.
Anyway, serious episode, feels like the serious stuff was written from a warning pamphlet, comic treatment, afterthought subplot. There are a handful of times during this show's excellent run where it seems like the actors just gave up on a script and went through the motions. This was the worst example. For completion's sake, it wasn't removed from streaming, but it should have been.