Extended Family recently wrapped its 13-episode first season on NBC and stars a great cast featuring Jon Cryer, Donald Faison, and Abigail Spencer. ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke to Extended Family creator Mike O’Malley about the show’s initial run, hopes for Season 2, and his sitcom experience. All episodes of the show are currently streaming on Peacock.
“Jim and Julia, after an amicable divorce, decide to continue to raise their kids at the family home while taking turns on who gets to stay with them,” reads the show’s synopsis. “Navigating the waters of divorce and child-sharing gets more complicated for Jim when Trey, the owner of the Boston Celtics, enters the picture and wins Julia’s heart.”
Tyler Treese: An interesting thing about Extended Family is that you’re dealing with divorce and all of these kind of heavy themes, but it’s in a positive, lighthearted way. What’s been most interesting about exploring co-parenting in the family sitcom?
Mike O’Malley: It’s interesting — there haven’t been a lot of shows about divorce, and I think I understand why. Because it’s hard to get people in the same place who are antagonistic towards one another. Divorce is about getting away from one another. The challenge of the sitcom — especially a multi-camera sitcom, where you have one set where many of the stories have to be driven through and placed over and over again — that’s just a way to make it affordable. That’s one of the things that’s challenging about it.
What I’ve found is the goal in a divorce like this is people understand, “okay, marriages break up.” You date people, it goes well, it doesn’t go well. People don’t wish Ill will upon the person. But what happens in a marriage is when you have children and you have this constant reminder that this thing that you believed in that. You thought that you were gonna live happily ever after — didn’t happen.
And so, one of the things I think is challenging about writing a multi-camera sitcom about divorce is that some people watch it and they’re like, “I don’t wanna be anywhere near my ex-husband. I don’t wanna be anywhere near my ex-wife.” You know? “We actually got divorced because we didn’t get along. And now that we’re divorced and now that we we’re no longer married, we have no reason to even try to get along.”
So it’s a very astute question of yours. Because you think, this is just their lives. How would you make this work? And I think what the answer is, is that these people have to learn how to become real friends in real life, in a post-divorce way that is genuine. And that’s easier said than done. And that’s what the show’s about.
What I’ve loved is that Jon Cryer’s character and Donald Faison’s is they start from being antagonistic towards each other. Then, in episode 12, they’re like, “Are we friends now?” It’s been fun to see that develop over time. So how’s it been just seeing their personalities go from clashing to seeing the blossoming friendship as we end season one?
That’s another great question, Tyler, because I think that these guys are television stars for a reason, especially comedy stars. People like them. People love Cryer, people love Faison, they love to see them struggling through whatever the situation is. But they have an approach and a relatability and a sense of humor to both of them.
And what we found is if we can have them together attacking a problem with their own idiosyncrasies, it’s a better way to have them against the world than bickering at one another. Because if you get divorced, you have to talk to your ex-wife or your ex-husband. Well, there’s no reason to engage in drama and conflict with their new boyfriend or their new fiance or their new husband. You’d just avoid it, right?
You’d be like, “Okay, I understand that’s part of your past, but I don’t want to go over and talk to this guy because he’s rude to me.” We found that we really had to bridge the distance between the two of them so that they really found in one another a friendship that wasn’t above and beyond or separate. But [rather], that it was just genuine.
It started, I think, with the sleepover episode where they were trying to solve a problem. The girl was troubled about what her situation was — you know, the daughter, Grace. And them now trying to help one another and say, “are we really actually becoming from friends?”
And I think it’s the future of where the show has to go. People don’t wanna see people arguing each week on a sitcom. They wanna see them getting into messes and get out of those messes.
One thing that really surprised me is how great the kids are. How’s it been seeing them really develop and come into their own? Because their comedic timing’s great, and their delivery’s great. It’s been such a joy just even from the season, you can see the progression there.
Yes, I agree with you. They are both wildly talented, Sofia Capanna and Finn Sweeney, and they’re both really funny people. They work really hard, but what they’re good is leaving themselves alone doing the work. They have great parents who are very supportive of them and all the time. And I also think that our directors have done a great job of making them feel comfortable. In addition to that, you’ve got Jon, you’ve got Abigail Spencer, who’s wonderful, she’s a mom, Jon’s a dad, Donald’s a dad, you know, they have kids. These people all love their kids and love their family, and so they create an environment where the kids are able to thrive.
But those two actors, they’re always up for anything. You give them a new line, you give them a pitch, they’re fantastic.We’re real blessed because it’s hard. You know? Acting is hard. One of the hardest things about it is seeming natural and and delivering lines where it doesn’t seem forced. And they have a real natural talent for it.
You mentioned earlier about the two main characters becoming more friends, and how that’s kind of the future of the show. Have you and the creative team kind of spent much time thinking about the future or mapping out a season two? Or is that, “just deal with that when it comes?”
Well yes. There’s sort of the superstition of not talking about it until it happens.
But of course, one of the things that is helpful in doing a sitcom is that these are stories hopefully you can watch at any time. And you don’t necessarily need to know what the narrative arc of a season is.
That being said, Trey and Julia are still engaged. They’re not married. We think a season two will lead up to a point where they’re planning the wedding, there’s a rehearsal dinner, there’s a wedding. And then, after that — do they decide to have kids? Is there a future there? Are we right back into this situation where we’ve got a baby in the mix? And how does that affect all of these relationships? And so there’s always speculation there because what you really want, you want a sitcom that goes for 200 episodes. And so you gotta keep all those storylines open.
You’re a very talented actor yourself. You have a lot of sitcom experience, especially. So being on that other end, does that kind of help you creatively?
Not at all. I wish it did! I wish it helped me, Tyler. It doesn’t. I mean, I joke with the cast, if somebody called me and said, “do you want a star in a sitcom? And you’d have to let this go.” I’d come and I’d say, “yes, two seconds.”
No, I really love this group. I really love working with them. I think that this thing about show running and writing is that you are able to put everything you have into a show. So you’re able to get the gratification of seeing it from pillar to post. From writing the stories, executing the stories, and to be a head coach, somebody who’s encouraging and trying to orchestrate the circumstance for everybody… that’s really rewarding.
That can’t really be duplicated when you’re just an actor. Because you are interpreting a script. You are not coming up with the story on your own. You’re not doing all of that. So I would say the thing about being a showrunner is it’s completely immersive. You are completely submerged in the making of everything. And there’s a relentlessness to it that is both depleting yet incredibly rewarding, because you have purpose and intent and desperation each day to try to make it work.
I think as an actor, there’s really something to playing. You get to go to work and play. And I love that part of it. I love the idea that you’re just gonna go to work and your job is to relax and have fun and be funny. That’s one of the things I loved about Yes, Dear in particular — that character Jimmy Hughes. There was no real shadow side to his life. He was always just in a good mood and trying to have fun. And when you play a character that’s doing that eight hours a day, that bleeds into your life. It’s a great point of view.
So, yeah, I love both of them, but they’re completely different disciplines.
