Family: Season 3
Season 3 Lore Primer
Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.
- Directly follows the overarching narrative developments of Family Season 2.
- Faction dynamics and core character alliances shift under escalating external stakes.
- Crucial mysteries introduced previously reach key turning points and narrative reckonings.
- Sets up serialized story arcs that build directly toward the climactic season finale.
Episode Guide
Season 3 Progress Shield
Acts of Love (1)
Sep 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, h
Acts of Love (2)
Sep 20, 1977
Lizzy dies, but not before Willie convinces her to marry him first.
The First Time
Sep 27, 1977
Kate unhappily contemplates her 49th birthday; T.J. asks Buddy to go steady with him, but she's not sure.
We Love You, Miss Jessup
Nov 1, 1977
Buddy's English teacher gets outed; Willie suspects Nancy of being a home-wrecker.
The Little Brother
Nov 8, 1977
Willie fails to understand a black thing; Buddy develops an interest in genealogy.
Childhood's End
Nov 15, 1977
Buddy's friend Laura returns for a visit, and -- guess what? -- she, too, is now an alkie; a friend of Doug's, a divorced father, is apprehensive about seeing his kids again.
A Tale Out of Season
Nov 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.
Labors of Love
Nov 29, 1977
Buddy, upset by a lack of attention from T.J., tries to make him jealous by hanging out with a geek; Willie catches the eye of his cute über-boss.
More Than Friends
Jan 3, 1978
Nancy hits it off with Willie's former writing teacher, but things get awkward when he pans Willie's script.
Princess in the Tower
Jan 10, 1978
Kate, slightly sick of family life, checks out a model apartment in a brand-new high-rise condo -- and gets trapped overnight, along with a very pregnant younger woman; Buddy has t
Echoes of Love
Jan 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 he
See Saw
Jan 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
Lifeline
Jan 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.
. . . And Baby Makes Three
Feb 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.
Crossing Over
Feb 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.
The Covenant
Feb 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.
A Friend of the Family's
Feb 28, 1978
A somewhat unscrupulous former friend of Willie's drops by; Buddy needs driving lessons; Kate and Doug consider taking separate vacations.
Fear of Shadows
May 2, 1978
Kate has a recurring nightmare about running over a little boy; Buddy gets a pet raccoon.
Sleeping Gypsy
May 9, 1978
Everyone at school dislikes Buddy's bohemian friend; Kate gives Doug a plaid jacket he doesn't much care for.
Counterpoint
May 16, 1978
Kate has to go back and repeat a class she flunked the previous semester, and gets picked on by a snobby professor; Doug contemplates early retirement after his tennis partner has