A New Kind of Family

Two single mothers rent a house, sight unseen, from a sneaky real estate sleazebag. Of course, when they arrive they find they’ve been duped but with no money to go elsewhere or fight a court case, they decide to move in together… with their four kids. And because it was the late 70’s, one family was black, one family was white and BOY HOWDY, can you imagine the ‘issues’ they faced? Starring Eileen Brennan as Mommy Flanagan and Telma Hopkins as Mommy Ashton, other big names to appear in the series included one very teenage (at the time) Janet Jackson and a soon-to-be home video star, Rob Lowe. Both Jackson and Brennan would go on to appear in a little nudity in their time, albeit not a lot, so check out 1973’s Scarecrow and Janet Jackson: Live in Hawaii to see each in all their glory.So I know what you’re thinking… was A New Kind Of Family any good? Well, it was nominated for an Emmy… in the category of editing, that is.