My YouTube ads are rarely reliable on selling me anything, but occasionally the algorithm fishes something up that catches my eye. This time last November, it was a new sitcom premiering in December: Extended Family. It focuses on Jim and Julia, a divorced couple raising their two kids (Grace and Jimmy Jr.) as they navigate the transition into a blended family as Julia brings in her new fiance, Trey. Rather than moving the children between houses, Jim and Julia have decided on a "nesting" style of co-parenting: the children stay in one house, and the parents take turns staying with them.
Family-based sitcoms often go one of two ways for me as a Family Science graduate: either the show is terribly painful as it uses sour family dynamics as the butt of the joke, or the show is highly enjoyable as it's something to sit with and look at through Family-Science-colored glasses. The trailers seemed promising enough, so I decided to give Extended Family a shot.
Episode One: Pilot
It was not what I was hoping for. Fortunately, I was let down less because of sour dynamics, and more because it felt like a pilot, and not a real episode. This is enough to keep me watching into the second episode, but it certainly set expectations low. In this episode, Jim finds that Grace's pet goldfish has passed away on the day she is to return from summer camp. He chooses to try and replace the goldfish so that Grace won't notice anything (gaslight gatekeep goldfish, anyone?), but Trey disagrees and feels it's dishonest. Ultimately, Grace finds out, and the conflict works itself out.
Characters felt wooden at best, and the writing seemed clunky. Many of these actors are celebrated sitcom actors (such as Two and a Half Men's Jon Cryer as Jim and Scrubs' Donald Faison as Trey), but they weren't enough to carry the script as they played flat characters with a weak conflict. It seemed like it wanted to touch on value discrepancies between Jim as the long-time father and Trey as the new addition to the family, but with no satisfying climax and the conflict resolving by convenience, it doesn't hit. Characters weren't given much opportunity to show their feelings and desires, but were given plenty of time to tell you straight to the camera as if it was reality television.
None of the characters feel like characters yet, just as archetypes. Jim is the annoying and interrupting father that thinks he's right all the time. Jim's father, Bobby, is a grumpy lump that doesn't like his ex-daughter-in-law. Julia didn't have enough airtime to have a personality. Trey came off as wishy-washy, as if 'comedic relief' was the only identity trait the writers could muster up for him. Grace's only character moments were her lamenting about her parent's divorce, and Jimmy Jr. could be renamed to 'Plot Device Jr.' with no meaningful change to the story.
If a pilot's job is to introduce you to the show's premise and characters, it failed on all fronts. I came away feeling disappointed, but not discouraged. The episode's writing quality felt rushed and stilted, but not without some level of heart: like a draft that didn't have the time for polish, and needed to be given to the actors right away. While unsatisfying, I was still looking forward to the second episode to see whether this would be a series-long issue or only a minor case of Pilot-osis.
Episode Two: The Consequences of Making Yourself at Home
Episode two was leaps and bounds stronger than the pilot, and was much closer to what I was looking for in a show about a blended family. The writing was much cleaner, and it let characters show more naturally their wants, feelings, and identity. The humor hit far stronger this time, especially as it was balanced out by strong moments of sincerity and care.
This episode explores family rules. Jim and Julia wrote a family constitution after their divorce, which manages expectations and outlines decision-making processes for their home. Major decisions must be made by a council of the whole family, meaning neither parent can act solely on their own. The conflict sits between Trey and Jim: Trey feels frustrated that he has to go through Jim before making changes to the parental suite, and Jim feels frustrated that Trey is making so many changes while being such a new addition. The conflict peaks when Trey steps outside the constitution, re-painting the bedroom behind both Jim and Julia's backs, and accidentally paints over something he shouldn't. With help from Bobby, Trey and Jim choose to work together to fix it before Julia finds out, and the two men are able to recognize where they were too rigid with each other.
The episode felt very natural, as this is a very real conflict that blended families go through early on in the transition! It's very normal for the "old" parent and "new" parent to feel frustrated with each other over old and new rules, and the episode shows a very authentic way to navigate the push and pull required to make it work for both parents.
There were so many sweet moments in this episode. It was refreshing to watch Jim and Julia reminisce about a happy moment in their marriage. Although it made Trey feel threatened, to the audience it feels very fun and highlights a friendly aspect of Jim and Julia's new relationship dynamic. During the climax, it is Bobby that helps set Jim and Trey right and helps them work through the frustration, and although it's done in Bobby's rougher manners, it's a very poignant moment. Jim and Trey put aside their feelings about each other and center their care for Julia's feelings, and at the end, Trey is invited into an old family tradition by Jim, making him a real part of the family. It's all very wholesome and makes the whole episode feel satisfying.
The children weren't involved in this episode at all, which I think was for the best. It could have been really easy to force a B-plot with them, but instead, they were on screen for two minutes as a part of a family meeting before the episode fully focuses on the adults. It makes them still feel like a part of the series, without making them feel like a hindrance to the episode.
Overall, just a much better episode in every respect. Frankly, I think the pilot could be skipped entirely and this could be considered the first episode.
Some Technical Bits:
Opening: The opening credits are incredibly fine. They're not good, they're not bad, but they are entirely skippable. There's really nothing else about them.
Set Design: I really love the set pieces in this show! The house feels lived in, and it brings back some of the 'clutter' pieces you would find in earlier sitcoms like Full House or Fresh Prince. It's not distracting, but it does feel like a very natural fit for a show like this.
Costume Design: It's good. I don't think the costumes feel very special in this show, but it's a slice-of-life family sitcom--it doesn't have to feel special. I do feel that each of the costumes so far have been very fitting of their characters, and do a good job of telling you who they are.
Camera Work and Lighting: This is more a criticism of digital footage than anything else, but sometimes the lighting and focus feel a bit sharper than I personally like. It's not bad, but I wish they would tone the lights a little more to the yellow side than to the white/blue side. I think it would give the show a more gentle feel when it's needed. It's still good though, and the choice to make it a multi-camera show helps make it feel home-y.
Release: I will always prefer a weekly release schedule over an all-at-once release. This show airs Wednesday nights, and I think that fits the style of a family sitcom just perfectly.
Final Thoughts:
I really hope this show continues on the path that the second episode took. I've really enjoyed the show's look at what a blended family can be like, and since more and more families across the United States are transitioning into this structure, I feel like this could be great representation for these families. There is so much potential here, and I hope that future episodes will reach new highs as it explores this structural dynamic.
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