''The Family'' is an American thriller television series. It was created by and executive produced by

Jenna Bans Jenna Bans is an American screenwriter. Bans is a producer and writer on ''Grey's Anatomy'', and is the creator and the co-producer (along with Shonda Rhimes) of '' Off the Map'', a series which premiered on ABC in January 2011, and was cancelled ...

, former

ShondaLand Shondaland (stylized as ShondaLand from 2005 to 2016 and shondaland thereafter) is an American television production company founded by television writer/producer Shonda Rhimes. She founded it to be one of the production companies of her first s ...

regular writer, for

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

. The series follows on the return of the mayor's young son, who was presumed dead after disappearing over a decade earlier. The series stars

Joan Allen Joan Allen (born August 20, 1956) is an American actress. She began her career with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 1977, won the 1984 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play for '' And a Nightingale Sang'', and won the 1988 Tony Aw ...

as Claire Warren, the ambitious and manipulative mayor of the fictional city Red Pines,

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

, and

matriarch Matriarchy is a social system in which women hold the primary power positions in roles of authority. In a broader sense it can also extend to moral authority, social privilege and control of property. While those definitions apply in general E ...

of the Warren family, who announces her candidacy for governor when her son Adam, played by

Liam James Liam James (born August 7, 1996) is a Canadian actor, known for his role as Noah Curtis in the 2009 film ''2012 (film), 2012'', List of Psych characters#Young Shawn, young Shawn Spencer on the USA Network television series ''Psych'', and the lead ...

, returns after having been kidnapped 10 years prior. The series premiered on ABC on March 3, 2016, before moving to its regular Sunday night timeslot on March 6, 2016. Its last episode aired on May 15, 2016. On May 12, 2016, it was announced that the series had been cancelled by ABC after one season.

Cast and characters

Main

as Claire Warren, matriarch of the Warren family, and the

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

mayor of the fictional city Red Pines,

, who runs for

Governor of Maine The governor of Maine is the head of government of the U.S. state of Maine. Before Maine was admitted to the Union in 1820, Maine was part of Massachusetts and the governor of Massachusetts was chief executive. The current governor of Maine is Ja ...

over the course of the series *

Alison Pill Alison Pill (born November 27, 1985) is a Canadian actress. A former child actress, Pill began her career at age 12, appearing in numerous films and television series. She transitioned to adult roles and her breakthrough came with the television ...

as Willa Warren, Claire's daughter and press coordinator *

Margot Bingham Margot Bingham is an American actress and singer-songwriter. She is best known for her role as jazz singer Daughter Maitland in the HBO period drama series, ''Boardwalk Empire''. In 2015, Bingham began starring as one of lead characters in the AB ...

as Sergeant Nina Meyer, who made her career after putting Hank in jail for Adam's murder. She is having an affair with John Warren *

as Ben Murphy, who pretends to be Claire's younger son Adam Warren, who returns after previously being kidnapped 10 years ago. *

Rupert Graves Rupert Simeon Graves (born 30 June 1963) is an English film, television, and theatre actor. He is known for his roles in ''A Room with a View'', ''Maurice'', ''The Madness of King George'' and ''The Forsyte Saga''. From 2010 to 2017 he starred ...

as John Warren, Claire's author husband *

Zach Gilford Zachary Michael Gilford (born January 14, 1982) is an American actor, known for his role as Matt Saracen on the NBC sports drama series '' Friday Night Lights''. In 2021, he starred in the Netflix horror limited series ''Midnight Mass''. In 2022, ...

as Daniel "Danny" Warren, Claire's older son *

Andrew McCarthy Andrew Thomas McCarthy (born November 29, 1962) is an American actor, travel writer, and television director. He is most known as a member of the Brat Pack, with roles in 1980s films such as ''St. Elmo's Fire'', ''Pretty in Pink'', and '' Less ...

as Hank Asher, a registered sex offender and the Warrens' neighbor. He spends ten years in prison for the supposed murder. *

Floriana Lima Floriana Lima (born March 26, 1981) is an American actress and model. She played Maggie Sawyer on The CW's ''Supergirl''. She began playing recurring character Darcy Cooper in season 2 of the ABC drama ''A Million Little Things'', and was promo ...

as Bridey Cruz, a local reporter who has connection to Willa and Danny *

Madeleine Arthur Madeleine Arthur (born March 10, 1997) is a Canadian and American actress. Career Arthur portrayed young Willa Warren in the American Broadcasting Company, ABC drama series ''The Family (2016 TV series), The Family'' and Jane Keane, the daught ...

as young Willa Warren * Rarmian Newton as young Danny Warren

Recurring

*Maxwell James as young Adam Warren *

Michael Esper Michael James Esper (born December 1, 1975) is an American actor, best known for his stage work. Early life Esper was born in Manhattan and raised in Montclair, New Jersey. He is the son of acting teachers William and Suzanne Esper, of the W ...

as Doug Anderson, the pocked-marked man who kidnapped Adam and Ben. * Zoe Perry as Jane, Doug Anderson's pregnant girlfriend *Matthew Lawler as FBI Agent Gabe Clements *

Grant Show Grant Alan Show (born February 27, 1962) is an American actor best known for his role on ''Melrose Place'' as Jake Hanson, which he played from 1992 to 1997. Since 2017, Show has portrayed tycoon Blake Carrington in the soap opera reboot ''Dyna ...

as Governor Charlie Lang, Claire's Democratic rival *Judith Ivey as Mrs. Asher *

Felix Solis Felix Angel Solis (born September 17, 1971) is an American actor, film director, and film producer. Born on the Upper West Side and raised in Chelsea/Greenwich Village area of New York City, to parents that were both born in Puerto Rico, Felix co ...

as Gus Flores *Luke Slattery as 'true' Adam Warren *Ana Maria Jomolca as Agent Lisa Davis *Matthew Rashid as Ryan *

Armando Riesco Armando Riesco (born December 5, 1977) is a Puerto Rican actor. Early life Riesco was born in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, to Cuban immigrants who resettled there. He was raised in San Juan where he attended Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola. He then ...

as Corey Sanchez *

Jessie Mueller Jessica Ruth Mueller (born February 20, 1983) is an American actress and singer. She started her acting career in Chicago and won two Joseph Jefferson Awards in 2008 and 2011 for her roles as Carrie Pipperidge in ''Carousel'' and Amalia Balash in ...

as Fran, a good-natured bakeshop employee who meets Hank *Alex Steele as young Bridey Cruz

Episodes

Production

Development and filming

On September 24, 2014, it was announced that ABC bought the original concept of the untitled mystery drama from ''

Grey's Anatomy ''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series that premiered on March 27, 2005, on ABC as a mid-season replacement. The series focuses on the lives of surgical interns, residents, and attendings as they develop into se ...

'' and ''

Scandal A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way. Th ...

'' regular writer

. The series is produced by

ABC Studios ABC Signature is an American television Filmmaking#Production, production studio that is a subsidiary of Disney Television Studios, a division of Walt Disney Television, which is part of the List of assets owned by The Walt Disney Company#Disne ...

and Mandeville Television; Bans serves as executive producer with

David Hoberman David Elliot Hoberman (born September 19, 1952) is an American film and television producer, best known as the co-creator and executive producer of the USA Network television series ''Monk'', and the founder and co-owner of Mandeville Films. He h ...

Todd Lieberman Todd Darren Lieberman (born February 20, 1973) is an American film and television producer. He founded Hidden Pictures Media in 2022 and won an Emmy for Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers in 2022. He co-founded Mandeville Films and Television with ...

and Laurie Zaks. ABC greenlighted the pilot on January 28, 2015. The pilot episode, directed by Paul McGuigan, began filming on March 12, 2015, in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. Later episodes began filming in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in September 2015.

Casting

Casting advertisement began in February 2015. On February 13,

was the first to be announced as a regular cast member, playing the role of the older brother. On February 19

was cast in the key role of the young son who was presumed dead. On February 25, it was announced that

was cast as one of the female lead roles, playing a police sergeant. On February 25, it was announced that three-time

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology), ...

nominee

will play the leading role of mayor and Warren family matriarch. The show would be her first broadcast series regular role after many years starring in movies. On the same day

was cast as the mayor's daughter and campaign manager.

was cast as a young reporter. On March 10 it was announced that

will play Warren's former neighbor who spent 10 years in prison for Adam's murder. On March 16, it was announced that

was cast in the final series regular role as Claire Warren's husband. On October 2, 2015,

joined the series in the major recurring role as the Democratic governor and Claire's rival.

Reception

Critical response

''The Family'' has received mixed reviews from critics. On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, 61% of 33 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads, "''The Family'' takes a confusing, convoluted course to solve its central mystery that few will want to follow, despite a game performance from

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which uses a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

, assigned the film a score of 58 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". The performances of McCarthy, Pill, and Allen were praised by critics. Stacey Ritzen of ''Uproxx'' wrote that "the cast all bring their A game, particularly Allen as the ball-busting matriarch and McCarthy, who lends genuine creepiness and dread to the role." Dominic Patten of ''

Deadline Hollywood ''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. The site is updated several times a day, with ...

'' praised Allen's and Pill's performances, and wrote that Pill "delivers a rooted multi-level performance that is pretty big league unto itself". Ellen Gray of ''Philadelphia Daily News'' praised McCarthy's performance, writing that "while we're waiting to be further mystified, there's plenty to see, including McCarthy's scene-stealing performance as a character who might be as misunderstood as

Boo Radley Harper Lee's ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' was published in 1960. Instantly successful, widely read in middle and high schools in the United States, it has become a classic of modern American literature, winning the Pulitzer Prize. She wrote the novel ...

, or might truly be the bogeyman of our worst nightmares." Other critics slammed the writing and casting. Tim Goodman of ''The Hollywood Reporter'' called the show, "Poorly written and completely ridiculous." Jeff Jensen of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' gave it a C−, summarizing it as a "sour, formulaic expression of ABC's penchant for buzzy, 'sticky' potboilers." He wrote that the show delivered a "shallow treatment of material that deserves more maturity, more empathy, more savvy about American culture. It shows capacity for interesting ideas but has only meager, cliché imagination for them."

Ratings

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Family (2016 TV series), The 2016 American television series debuts 2016 American television series endings 2010s American LGBT-related drama television series 2010s American mystery television series 2010s American political television series American Broadcasting Company original programming American political drama television series American thriller television series English-language television shows Lesbian-related television shows Nonlinear narrative television series Serial drama television series Television series about dysfunctional families Television series by ABC Studios Television shows filmed in New York (state) Television shows set in Maine