The Mother
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kwalstedt-1 — 18 years ago(June 28, 2007 08:06 PM)
She was definitely wound WAY too tight. And I can't believe anyone said she was "non-judgmental"!!! She is incredibly judgmental. I can see why none of the kids ever feel comfortable talking to her when they have a problem. The scene where Nancy had just caught Jeff in bed with another woman and her mother tells her it's her fault - sheesh!
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ethersmum — 18 years ago(June 30, 2007 07:41 PM)
It's amazing to me how half the people on this board think Kate was a terrific, gentle, empathetic, caring mother (and many people have even commented on how spoiled her children were), and the other half thinks she was a judgemental stick-in-the-mud who was too hard on her family.
I think Kate was a good mother: strong and opinionated when she needed to teach her children harsh lessons for their own good, and gentle and sweet and surprisingly (in my opinion) open-minded for a woman of her generation.
I agree with her reaction to Nancy's finding her out her husband was cheating on her. She DID want everythingNOW! Too many of my girlfriends are now the same way. They don't necessarily want husbands, they want everything that comes with them, the acessories, so to speak: the big wedding, the giant ring, the huge house, the 2 SUV's in the driveway, the corporate job, the expensive vacations, and the little Madison's and Kayla's and Jayden's to round out the deal. And then, when their husbands realize their wives just see them as a route to a particular lifestyle, it's like they feel they have the right to stray. I am a woman, and don't mean to condone this, and plenty of women stray because their husbands are JERKS and frankly I can't blame them. But this is a phenomena that I see all the time. I guess I feel that Kate knew this about Nancy, I mean, look at how Nancy treats that baby and the rest of the family: always dumping him with her parents or siblings; acting awfully cold towards him, if you ask me, and then going out on dates, stringing multiple men along all at once, treating her mother like a scullery maid, always acting peevish and too important to spend quality time with her baby sister: what GOOD mother WOULD let her daughter continue to be such a b*tch? -
isisdawonder — 18 years ago(July 22, 2007 10:17 PM)
I agree
Kate was a GREAT mother
and againI don't see Kate as one extreme or the othershe was Sweet and SAlty at the same timeshe turned on the Sweet when need be and Stung em with salt when need be.
For those who say she was not caring and lovingjust watch any scene with Buddyand for the most part Willieboth of them could break Kate down to mush.
With Nancy it was a bit different at times because Kate didn't like the road Nancy was goingESPECIALLY because Nancy was a mother as well
The episode when Nancy decides to marry the professor then had a ONS with the dude that blocked her car inKate was the one to get through to her about making hasty decisionsand in the end Kate hugged her like a mother wouldstrong and endearing.She gave her the sting then poured on the sugar.
Yes I also agree about Kate being fairly liberal and open-minded for a woman of her generationShe's like an oxymoronVisually you'd look at her and think strictconservativeprobably highly religiousbut then listen to Kate and watch her actionsthis lady was very liberal in attitude for a "housewife" living in the burbs in the mid 70sbut then again..DOUG was also very liberal.
this show rocksI pray they release the rest of the series soon. -
kwalstedt-1 — 18 years ago(August 19, 2007 06:44 PM)
I've since changed my mind about Kate. I had only watched a few of the earliest episodes when I wrote that (I watched the whole series as a kid, but I don't exactly have the same perspective now!) I have now watched all 28 episodes on the DVD and I think Kate is a great mother.
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ethersmum — 18 years ago(August 26, 2007 04:38 PM)
I'm glad to hear that you've changed your mind! I am quite protective of good, sweet, strong Kate!
It's interesting that she seems to be the overwhelming favourite character on Family, at least on this forum. -
Liz01219 — 19 years ago(July 30, 2006 03:03 PM)
From what I can remember I saw her as the glue that held the family together.
I viewed her as being tough, most especially on Nancy, they seemed to lock horns a lot.
I guess she was tough on Nancy because Nancy probably married someone they didn't approve of, married to young, and her persuit of being a lawyer ended when she became pregnant. She wanted Nancy to succeed and be able to function on her own, for her own good and for her little boys good.
At the same time, I remember her really being so loving towards Buddy.
She was in charge, maybe a job she didn't want but was forced to do because she was married to a busy lawyer who probably worked long hours and left her in charge of the house and kids and everything else. -
view123 — 19 years ago(September 23, 2006 07:56 PM)
I'm a 70's kid, and this series always seemed a reflection of my life. I identified with Buddy because she was the youngest. My older sister was attending law school, just like Nancy. Later when Annie joined the cast, I identified with her because she was now the youngest and intelligent (I skipped TWO grades in school). Like the previous post, my mother was the glue that held our family together. However, my mother always noticed Kate's "worried, intensely concerned" look which she also found unattractive; I admired Kate's witty, dry sense of humour.
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taylorje — 19 years ago(October 17, 2006 10:20 AM)
I remember one episode where she was MERCILESS toward Nancy (this was in the later seasons not on DVD). Nancy had graduated from law school, moved to her own apartment (leaving the guest house for Willie) and had a job in a swank law firm. Either she had left Timmy with Kate for the day or Kate had picked him up at day care. (Maybe it was the latter since Kate had probably gone back to teaching by then and wouldn't have been available during the day.)
Nancy was supposed to pick Timmy up when she got off work, but one of her co-workers (male) invited her for a drink. She agreed to "just a quick drink" but it somehow turned into several drinks and then dinner. Somehow she forgot to call her mother to tell her she'd be late picking up Timmy. When she finally got there, hours later, very happy because she'd met someone she liked, Kate said in an ice-cold voice "Your little boy cried himself to sleep tonight. Whatever you were doing I hope it was worth it." She wouldn't even listen to Nancy's explanation.
Nancy felt so guilty that she stayed home with Timmy the next day, calling in sick at work. She also decided not to continue as an attorney (maybe at this point she hadn't taken the bar exam) but to be a paralegal instead, so she could spend more time with Timmy. As I remember, Kate still wasn't sympathetic and it was Doug who saved the day (as TV dads always do, in 1 hour) and talked Nancy into being an attorney after all. -
spike71 — 19 years ago(September 23, 2006 08:19 PM)
I don't know that I'd call her depressed however I agree, she didn't smile much. But think of what she was dealing with - she had a very young daughter that was divorced with a young child, a teenager who was very headstrong, the son who was a high school dropout trying to survive in a big world, a husband with his own issues and - Kate also had her own desires to finish her own degree and do her own thing. No wonder all she did was sit at that kitchen table stirring her tea a thousand times.
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dwachte915 — 19 years ago(February 11, 2007 03:19 AM)
The mother was always a drip. Back in the 70's we used to find her a bit rigid not only in her manner and body language but in her house rules. Now looking back on the show on DVD, I think that Sada Thompson played Kate in a way that slowly draws us into her character. I always thought it interesting when Kate tells Buddy that Buddy is so much like her, which is not true. Buddy is free, complex, full of emotion, and full of life. Kate seems to have a huge wall up and her emotions kind of seep out. And Kate is nothing like her mother, played by Mildred Natwick, who is also free and full of life.
I love that episode where Kate has the chance to find out about her long lost aunt through a psychic. At the end of the show, she chooses not to find out anything more. Very strange conclusion to choose not to discover more about a long lost relative. -
taylorje — 17 years ago(June 10, 2008 06:48 PM)
Yeah, that episode about the psychic always bothered me. Kate was on the verge of finding out about her aunt, she knew her aunt was alive because the psychic had told her so, then in one second she just cut him off and chose not to find out anymore. After telling Doug earlier that her mother had died calling her aunt's name!
Many daughters are nothing like their mothers. I'm not like mine and my daughter isn't like me. However, my daughter and my mother are alike in some ways. -
isisdawonder — 17 years ago(July 17, 2008 11:39 PM)
I used to think I was NOTHING like my motherhowever the older I get, the more similarities I seehowever we still have MANY differences as well.
With Kate and Buddy I do see similaritiesone of the MAJOR similarities is that like Kate, Buddy is VERY perceptive of others she reads people really wellas does Kate. Kate will call a spade a spade in a minuteand so will Buddy. Often we misjudge Buddy as being a smart@$$ and precoscious or nosey evenwhen in fact she's telling it like it is or digging for the truthKate also DIGS for the truth she just does it in a more subtle mannerand also doesn't hesitate to speak her mind.
I like Kateshe will admit to not knowing all the answers but yet she's very profound. Hey isn't that what Kate once told Buddy or something similar -
phantomfan47 — 17 years ago(September 12, 2008 08:34 AM)
Ok, I've only watched a few episodes of the first season, but I have to say that if I had a mother like Kate, I'd have run away a long time ago.
She comes across to me as an tight-laced, judgmental, cold woman. The scene in the third episode where Buddy comes in and tells her that she was a snoop made me think "What kind of a mother ignores her child when she has a problem? Is sleep more important to you, especially when your husband is already up and going? Get out of bed, you lazy idiot and give your kid some needed attention."
She's the one reason why I'm not really enjoying the show. I think she could be a bit more "motherly" towards her kids. Enough of the "tough love" and show that you have some affection to them.
My mom was hardly like her in the 70's. She was a warm, loving mother. Kate could have taken lessons from her.
Btw, I think Willie dropped out of school because he doesn't have all of his oars in the water. I also think his elevator is stuck between floors. -
adam-1589 — 17 years ago(September 18, 2008 01:39 AM)
I remember having that general impression too, that Kate was always depressed. But that was when I was watching it at 9 years old in the seventies.
Now, upon watching seasons 1 and 2 again, I see her as wise and witty. Her character is very well observed and acted; so poignant. Sada Thompson was a rare bird she understood her character to the core and never over acted. Bring back that style of acting I say!
Wellington, New Zealand -
isisdawonder — 17 years ago(October 01, 2008 07:32 PM)
I found Kate rather motherly. She hugged her kids when they needed itand gave them a bit of firmness when they needed it. We always saw her hugging Buddyor talking to her about LIFEand she was VERY perceptive of her kids and KNEW when something was awry with one of them.
While she may not have always said what they wanted to hearand she wasn't always tactful about thingsKate was pretty much always ON POINT with what she told them.
Success is nothing without someone you love to share it with Brian to Tracy in Mahogany