Family Season 3, Episode 16: Lifeline

Acts of Love (1)

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.

Acts of Love (2)

Lizzy dies, but not before Willie convinces her to marry him first.

The First Time

Kate unhappily contemplates her 49th birthday; T.J. asks Buddy to go steady with him, but she's not sure.

Change of Heart

Nancy is jealous of Jeff's new fiancée.

Annie Laurie

Doug gets propositioned by a female lawyer.

We Love You, Miss Jessup

Buddy's English teacher gets outed; Willie suspects Nancy of being a home-wrecker.

The Little Brother

Willie fails to understand a black thing; Buddy develops an interest in genealogy.

Childhood's End

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

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

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.

A Child is Given

More Than Friends

Nancy hits it off with Willie's former writing teacher, but things get awkward when he pans Willie's script.

Princess in the Tower

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 the bright idea of dyeing her hair blonde.

Echoes of Love

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.

See Saw

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.

. . . And Baby Makes Three

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

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

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

A somewhat unscrupulous former friend of Willie's drops by; Buddy needs driving lessons; Kate and Doug consider taking separate vacations.

Fear of Shadows

Kate has a recurring nightmare about running over a little boy; Buddy gets a pet raccoon.

Sleeping Gypsy

Everyone at school dislikes Buddy's bohemian friend; Kate gives Doug a plaid jacket he doesn't much care for.

Counterpoint

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 a heart attack.