In 1976, an hour-long family drama called, er,
Family began broadcasting the first of five seasons on ABC. One of the Executive Producers on this beloved series was Aaron Spelling, who unfortunately
passed away last Friday at age 83. The show starred James Broderick (fresh from a great role in the Al Pacino film
Dog Day Afternoon) and Sada Thompson (just off of her Emmy-nominated role as Mary Todd Lincoln in the TV mini-series
Lincoln) as Doug and Kate Lawrence. Meredith Baxter, Gary Frank, and Kristy McNichol played the kids, and McNichol in particular came to fame in her role as "Buddy" on this series, years before she became a "Little Darling" in her film with Tatum O'Neal.
The show had a small first season, only pilot plus 5 episodes, but then the second season had 21 episodes, bringing 28 to both together. Guest stars during those two years included Howard Hesseman, Vic Tayback, Helen Hunt, Dana Plato, Tommy Lee Jones, Genie Francis, and semi-regular Willie Aames as "T.J."
Starting this past Friday, Amazon.com began setting up a
a pre-release listing for
Family - Seasons 1 & 2, as a
September 5th release on DVD. That information was confirmed over the weekend by
SitcomsOnline.com. While we're still waiting on an official announcement from Sony, there is information online this morning from the
Home Media Retailing trade magazine that says this is a 6-DVD set that will go for $49.95 SRP.
Stay tuned, and we'll be back with more details, plus cover art, when we get the official info from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
