6.3/1036 votesLoading...#1 - Lifeline
Season 3 Episode 16 - Aired 1/31/1978
Nancy plays hot-line operator when her classmate attempts suicide, to get back at her married boyfriend for breaking up her; Buddy baby-sits a whiny kid.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
6.5/1030 votesLoading...#2 - Echoes of Love
Season 3 Episode 14 - Aired 1/17/1978
Willie can't stop reminiscing about Lizzy, so he hooks up with her former roommate; Audrey is depressed because her parents are splitting up, and angry that Doug is representing her mother in the divorce.
Director: James Sheldon
Writer: David Jacobs
6.5/1051 votesLoading...#3 - Magic
Season 4 Episode 4 - Aired 10/19/1978
Kate, in the hospital for a physical, meets a burned-out former rock star; Annie needs Doug's help to impress her classmates with magic tricks.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 6.5/1033 votesLoading...
#4 - Diversions
Season 4 Episode 18 - Aired 3/22/1979
While studying for the bar exam, Nancy's attention is diverted by a charming and seemingly accident-prone neighbor.
Director: James Broderick
Writer: N/A
- 6.6/1022 votesLoading...
#5 - From Russia With Love
Season 4 Episode 22 - Aired 5/17/1979
Kate acts as escort to, and highly impresses, a visiting Ukrainian composer; Buddy and Annie play Monopoly to determine who gets Willie's old room.
Director: N/A
Writer: Edward Zwick
- 6.9/1041 votesLoading...
#6 - Just Friends
Season 4 Episode 5 - Aired 11/9/1978
Willie considers an affair with a married woman he met in a writing class; Nancy, sick of living in a ""fishbowl,"" decides to move out of the guesthouse and into an apartment of her own.
Director: N/A
Writer: Walter Koenig
7.0/1039 votesLoading...#7 - Acts of Love (2)
Season 3 Episode 2 - Aired 9/20/1977
Lizzy dies, but not before Willie convinces her to marry him first.
Director: N/A
Writer: David Jacobs
- 7.1/1033 votesLoading...
#8 - Play on Love
Season 5 Episode 7 - Aired 3/3/1980
Willie finds the director of his play more interesting than Rachel; Buddy insists on buying an old sports car, over Doug's objections.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.2/1050 votesLoading...#9 - A Safe House
Season 2 Episode 16 - Aired 2/15/1977
A former friend of Willie's, now an outlaw, gives him a call; Buddy thinks she has a great scoop for the school paper.
Director: N/A
Writer: Marshall Herskovitz
7.2/1043 votesLoading...#10 - Acts of Love (1)
Season 3 Episode 1 - Aired 9/13/1977
While Nancy and Buddy prepare for their parents' 25th wedding-anniversary party, Willie meets, and falls in love with, a physics student named Lizzy -- who, as he soon finds out, has radiation sickness.
Director: N/A
Writer: David Jacobs
7.2/1046 votesLoading...#11 - The Little Brother
Season 3 Episode 7 - Aired 11/8/1977
Willie fails to understand a black thing; Buddy develops an interest in genealogy.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.3/1042 votesLoading...#12 - . . . And Baby Makes Three
Season 3 Episode 17 - Aired 2/7/1978
Nancy and Jeff aren't sure whether to get back together; Buddy is disgusted that Audrey has fallen for the cheap ploys of the school Casanova.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.3/1038 votesLoading...
#13 - Ballerina
Season 4 Episode 17 - Aired 3/15/1979
Willie has a fling with a ballet dancer; Doug purchases a workout set by mail order.
Director: Marshall Herskovitz, Edward Zwick
Writer: Edward Zwick
- 7.3/1029 votesLoading...
#14 - Going Straight
Season 4 Episode 21 - Aired 5/10/1979
Willie hires Bambi Deering, the stripper he met on his 21st birthday. Doug attempts to save hefty plumber's fees by repairing the household pipes himself.
Director: James Broderick
Writer: Marshall Herskovitz
7.4/1044 votesLoading...#15 - Taking Chances (2)
Season 2 Episode 19 - Aired 3/8/1977
After spending an eternity as a blind man whose youngest daughter despises him, Doug finally musters up the courage to have the operation -- and, of course, all's well.
Director: Glenn Jordan
Writer: N/A
7.4/1040 votesLoading...#16 - A Tale Out of Season
Season 3 Episode 9 - Aired 11/22/1977
Doug's colleague and protégé turns out to be a child-beater; Nancy finds a puppy; Buddy finally gets into the Thanksgiving spirit.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.4/1033 votesLoading...#17 - Crossing Over
Season 3 Episode 18 - Aired 2/14/1978
Willie has an appointment with a big-shot film producer, on the eve of his 21st birthday; then, he and Doug make friends with a stripper.
Director: N/A
Writer: David Jacobs
- 7.4/1034 votesLoading...
#18 - Such a Fine Line
Season 5 Episode 9 - Aired 3/17/1980
A schoolboy has a crush on Kate; Jeff, now an in-over-his-head rock manager, blows into town with his band.
Director: James Broderick
Writer: N/A
7.5/1042 votesLoading...#19 - Taking Chances (1)
Season 2 Episode 18 - Aired 3/1/1977
When Doug loses his sight after getting hit by a car, opinions are divided as to whether he should undergo an operation that could either restore it, or kill him; in the meantime, Willie has second thoughts about having quit his job.
Director: Glenn Jordan
Writer: N/A
7.5/1049 votesLoading...#20 - Comings and Goings
Season 2 Episode 20 - Aired 3/22/1977
Willie and Salina search for an apartment together. Jeff's mother Sylvia is confined to the Lawrence home following a back injury and a quarrel with Jeff's father.
Director: N/A
Writer: David Jacobs
7.5/1037 votesLoading...#21 - . . . More Things in Heaven and Earth
Season 2 Episode 21 - Aired 3/29/1977
Kate is shaken by what a supposed psychic says about her long-missing aunt; Nancy lands a prestigious legal assignment, and suspects her looks are the reason.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.5/1037 votesLoading...#22 - The Covenant
Season 3 Episode 19 - Aired 2/21/1978
Medical crises abound in the family when James reveals to Doug that he must soon undergo exploratory surgery, and Nancy begins to miscarry Jeff's baby.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.5/1040 votesLoading...
#23 - Disco Queen
Season 4 Episode 14 - Aired 2/8/1979
Buddy sneaks into a disco club, with the help of an older acquaintance, and finds it more than she bargained for; Annie has a date with a jock.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.6/1047 votesLoading...#24 - Lovers and Strangers
Season 2 Episode 12 - Aired 1/11/1977
Willie gets cradle-robbed by a visiting movie director, and takes it much too seriously; Doug gets a dog as a birthday present.
Director: Ralph Senensky
Writer: Leonora Thuna
7.6/1027 votesLoading...#25 - See Saw
Season 3 Episode 15 - Aired 1/24/1978
Kate volunteers to help a moody (and arithmetic-obsessed) young patient at the Braille institute; Willie works on installing Timmy's new bed; Buddy leaves for a week-end of skiing with T.J. and his parents.
Director: Philip Leacock
Writer: N/A
The Worst Episodes of Family
Every episode of Family ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of Family!
The lives of the middle-class Lawrence family in Pasadena, California.
Genre:Drama
Network:ABC
Worst Episodes Summary
"Lifeline" is the worst rated episode of "Family". It scored 6.3/10 based on 36 votes. Directed by N/A and written by N/A, it aired on 1/31/1978. This episode scored 0.2 points lower than the second lowest rated, "Echoes of Love".