Since the first televised American sitcom, Mary Kay and Johnny, premiered in 1947, the family sitcom has been a television staple. NBC’s latest entry into the genre attempts a different approach and focuses on an unconventional modern family. Extended Family stars Jon Cryer (Two and A Half Men), Abigail Spencer (Suits), and Donald Faison (Scrubs) as a divorced couple and her new fiancé who must find a way to work together as they raise two children. The series is loosely based on the real-life story of co-executive producers George Geyer, Emilia Fazzalari, and Boston Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck.
Jim (Cryer) and Julia (Spencer) had an amicable divorce. To make the living situation less stressful for their children, the pair agreed to take turns living with the kids in their family home. Things get complicated when Julia meets Trey (Faison) and the duo get engaged, which is complicated further by the fact that Trey is the owner of Jim’s favorite sports team, the Boston Celtics. Extended Family is an amusing look at the way they navigate their modern and unique family situation.
While promoting the series at this year’s TCA Winter Tour, the cast was asked about how they felt being part of two of the defining sitcoms that come around every decade or so (Two and a Half Men and Scrubs), and the shows that impacted them in their youth. Faison quickly jumped in with excitement, and to talk about the impact seeing himself represented on screen had on him in childhood. “I’ve been waiting for this forever,” he said, adding:
“You know,
Scrubs
was a single-cam sitcom. I grew up on multi-cam sitcoms like
A Different World
and
The Cosby Show
and
Cheers
. Those were the shows I grew up on and I remember as a youth, I always wanted to be on NBC on a sitcom. And when I was young, [
The Cosby Show
] was the only one in New York City that I can remember that had young Black characters on it. And so to now be on NBC a few years later, it’s amazing. This is the dream. I’m living it.”
Cryer added, “Yeah, for me, I grew up on Mary Tyler Moore, All in the Family, The Jeffersons, Maude –- all those things meant a great, great deal to me –- Sanford & Son. So it was always something I had just a gut level comfort with, and that I’ve gotten the opportunity to do this a lot. I did like three sitcoms before Two and a Half Men hit. I did The Famous Teddy Z and Getting Personal and Partners before that, and it’s kind of an addictive format. You just love it. It’s great, great fun.”
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Mike O’Malley Keeps It Tight in Extended Family with Little Improv
Release Date December 23, 2023
Seasons 1
Studio NBC
Creator Mike O’Malley
One of the joys for actors working on a multi-cam sitcom like Extended Family can be the opportunity to improvise lines during various takes. However, it seems the actors find the scripts so tight on the series, that there aren’t a lot of opportunities for improv, perhaps due to the fact that the series’ showrunner is a veteran actor himself, Mike O’Malley (Glee).
“Mike writes a certain way, and for the joke to work, you’ve got to stick to it, you know what I mean,” explained Faison. “We sell the joke. Don’t try and outshine what’s written, you know what I mean? Let the story tell itself.”
Cryer added, “Yeah. We’ll occasionally pitch stuff, but then it’s got to go through the same process that everybody’s pitches go through.”
O’Malley continued to elaborate on the process that works for their series. “I just want to add on to that, to Jon’s answer about the scripts. One of the interesting things about doing a multi-cam is that you’re doing run-throughs every day, right? So really it’s a very interesting dynamic. The production office is doing their work getting their stuff ready.” O’Malley went on:
“They’re down there rehearsing all this stuff while you’re working on the next script and getting that ready. But every day, you’re coming down, and there are people all across the board after the run-through pitching jokes and alts, and so that really is, as people are watching the run-through and then coming back, it is almost like that improvisational aspect of it, because people are improvising. ‘Well, that joke didn’t work; here’s another one, or here’s an alt to try.’ So it’s a very dynamic process.”
Related: Charlie Sheen and Zach Braff Could Be in Extended Family Season 2
According to O’Malley, the entire dynamic is about watching the actors and how they play off each other while on set. “That is the thing about coming together and working in this format. I did not know any of these guys before we worked together on this. As you’re working together day in, day out, finding what their strengths are, they’re also all playing different and new characters in this dynamic. So, it’s 100%, as you begin to see what it is that they do best, you have to adjust yourself, the writers. All of us, as writers, have to adjust to what they do best and how the characters are being portrayed.”
Extended Family drops new episodes each Tuesday on NBC, and streams new episodes Wednesdays on Peacock. You can watch Extended Family below:
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