Good story, Not enough for a whole film

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

I remember watching this back in December of 1986 and I couldn't believe how great this mini series was. Richard Kiley was at his absolute best as the patriarch of a typical American family and we got to see Sarah Jessica Parker in one of her early roles. The ensemble acting was first rate. I recorded it on VHS,but lost the tapes about ten years later. I did happen to come across Sell.com, where they seem to have everything ever shown on television, of course bootlegged,but lets face it, not everything you want is commercially released. I got the mini series and the episodes that comprised the shows one year run from 1987 to 1988.To this day, "A Year in the Life" remains one of the greatest shows ever produced. It's too bad it was only on for a year.

I was fortunate to have gotten the entire series & just watched it from beginning to end. (It was hard not to!) I had forgotten how good this series was. I found myself laughing and crying - all within the same episode. The chemistry between all of the characters was magical. Was it the writers? the actors? the director? .... all of the above? I particularly enjoyed the relationship between Joe (Richard Kiley) and his grandson David. When this series first came out, I appreciated that it was one of the only thing on TV worth watching. When it was abruptly canceled, there was no explanation to be found anywhere - though I recalled Richard Kiley remarking that it was "political". Perhaps this was the reason why it was never shown as a rerun nor likely to be aired again? In any event, I have the complete series ... and it's definitely a keeper!

TWIMC,I loved this show... Thought it was one of the better weekly shows on TV in 1986... I would love to find a copy of that one season.. What I remember most is Amanda's Peterson character was named "Sunshine" so they called her Sunny and Sara Jessica Parker was crazy about Sam, who was in love with her but marrying someone else... I thought the portrayals of a family dealing with the death of the their mother, the oldest daughter (Wendy Phillips) trying to hold onto her marriage... the children dealing with their grandmother's loss and their mother's failing relationship and trying to find their way, as well as the patriarch trying to live make a new life without his life mate... I thought it was all pretty amazing and believable... The show made me laugh and it made me cry. Is anyone out there willing to sell copies of this series? I hope so.. Get in touch...Please.

I have been trying to locate this movie for viewing for over a decade. Please help! I saw this movie back in 1986 and thought it was one of the best movies I seen. I would definitely reccommend this movie to be played again on TV or on LIFETIME.