"Family" Was Never Campy! But The "Lifeline" Episode Almost Sent It Over The Edge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                          Having recently watched an "E! True Hollywood" program, covering the rise and professional disappearance of Kristy McNichol, I learned, from some who worked on the show "Family," that the writing staff carefully calibrated each and every episode, so every member would get their showcase.  By the amount of letters received, if it was up to the fans it would have been Kristy as Buddy every week.  I would have  loved that, myself, but, then, the show was called "Family,"

                                           In the episode, "Lifeline," Kate and Doug go away for the weekend, leaving the children--Nancy, Willie and Buddy--to themselves.  Nancy and Willie sort of coalesce.

                                             Anne Schedeen, in this, the second of two episodes, plays a law school classmate and friend named Susie Robinson.  Susie is having a relationship with  Mark, who, she tells Nancy, is married.  Now, right away, the way the actress plays the character, it is apparent Susie, though bright, is emotionally unstable.  I had not seen this episode in several decades, so, as soon as I heard the guy was married, I was anticipating a "Fatal Attraction" scenario, with Susie going after Mark.  Hey, remember Karen Valentine, around this time, on "Starsky and Hutch?"

                                               Instead of turning her rage outward, Susie turns it on herself. Her plan is to drive up to the lake side cabin, where she and Mark were to have a romantic celebration of her birthday.  And, right before this, Mark has broken things off with Susie, so she is distraught.

                                                 Nancy talks Willie into driving to the cabin, to help Susie.  She starts out by having a solitary spinster birthday celebration, like Judith Evelyn, as Miss Lonelyhearts in "Rear Window."  Which, brilliant as she is, may be the path Susie is heading toward.  Later, she calls Nancy, having taken an overdose of pills.  She has decided to kill herself, but, having called Nancy, she really does not want to, she wants help.

                                                  And this is where the camp comes in.  While Willie drives frantically to the cabin, Nancy tries to keep Susie awake by constantly talking to her on the phone.  Girls, you have to see the moment, where, having run out of things to say, Nancy, hysterically and repeatedly, sings "Happy Birthday To You," to Susie.  It really is camp.  Meredith Baxter may be a great actress, but she certainly cannot sing, and the hysterical tenor of her voice makes it almost comical; hence the camp.  But it works, at least, because Susie is rescued and saved, all in the nick of time.

                                                     She never appeared on an episode again.  Probably because she was institutionalized.

                                                       Meanwhile, Buddy gets the secondary story.  A mother in her neighborhood has asked her, for babysitting money, to walk her small daughter, Marcie, home from school every day.  Buddy complies, and so does Marcie.  At first, the two become good friends, but then it morphs into a "Single White Female" scenario, with the ten-year-old Marcie wanting to emulate, and be, the fifteen-year-old Buddy.  Buddy has an honest talk with Marcie, and her crisis is abated, except, guess who Marcie latches onto next?  Buddy's best friend, Audrey Pfeiffer, wonderfully played by Louise Foley.

                                                          When Kate and Doug return home, asking about the weekend, Nancy delivers the flippant line I remembered, "It was a weekend, like any other."  When Willie tries to explain all that happened, the parents think the kids are being sarcastic, and exit upstairs.

                                                              Like I said, really camp.  But the other surprise here was that Marcie was played by someone, who, very soon, would become important to this show.  You know who played Marcie? Quinn Cummings.

                                                                 Her character here was completely different from her Annie Cooper character she would later play.  I kind of liked Marcie; she had an edge to her that Annie tried to cover up with her prepubescent cuteness.  But who knew Quinn had appeared on the show before?
I completely forgot.  I guess, after this segment, when it came time, the producers decided to try her out.

                                                                    At the time, I did not like it when Quinn joined the show. Decades later, as I watch it, I can see her fitting in better.  And after all, the heartbreaking Merilee Kalisher episode featured Quinn.

                                                                     But, hons, you gotta see Meredith sing into the phone!

                                                                     It really IS camp!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!