--- title: The Family Review: Joan Allen TV Drama description: ABC's new serialized drama is a surprisingly satisfying watch—but that doesn't mean it'll last canonical: https://time.com/4247607/the-family-abc-review/ author: Daniel D'Addario article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-04T16:37:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:37:33.193Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: The Family Review: Joan Allen TV Drama og:description: ABC's new serialized drama is a surprisingly satisfying watch—but that doesn't mean it'll last og:url: https://time.com/4247607/the-family-abc-review/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt099e617b7b047bc0/698880408e06015236464e31/the-family-tv-show-abc.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: ALISON PILL, RUPERT GRAVES, JOAN ALLEN, ZACH GILFORD, LIAM JAMES og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Family Review: Joan Allen TV Drama twitter:description: ABC's new serialized drama is a surprisingly satisfying watch—but that doesn't mean it'll last twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt099e617b7b047bc0/698880408e06015236464e31/the-family-tv-show-abc.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Viewers Deserve More Shows Like _The Family_  by [Daniel D'Addario](/author/daniel-daddario/)  ## Daniel D'Addario Mar 4, 2016 4:37 PM CUT  "The Family" stars Joan Allen as Claire, Allison Pill as Willa, Margot Bingham as Sergeant Nina Meyer, Zach Gilford as Danny, Liam James as Adam, Floriana Lima as Bridey, Madeleine Arthur as Young Willa, Rarmian Newton as Young Danny, Rupert Graves as John and Andrew McCarthy as Hank. "The Family" stars Joan Allen as Claire, Allison Pill as Willa, Margot Bingham as Sergeant Nina Meyer, Zach Gilford as Danny, Liam James as Adam, Floriana Lima as Bridey, Madeleine Arthur as Young Willa, Rarmian Newton as Young Danny, Rupert Graves as John and Andrew McCarthy as Hank.Bob D'Amico—ABC  by [Daniel D'Addario](/author/daniel-daddario/)  ## Daniel D'Addario Mar 4, 2016 4:37 PM CUT Recently, ABC’s head of entertainment, Paul Lee, was ousted—[reportedly in part](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/18/business/media/paul-lee-resign-abc-entertainment.html "undefined") because of his commitment to serialized dramas, the ones that build on their plot week after week. While ABC’s had success with shows like _Scandal_ and _Quantico_, the network reportedly wanted their own procedural—a show like _NCIS_. That makes _The Family_, which debuted Thursday night, likely part of a dying breed. The series, created by ShondaLand writer Jenna Bans, is the logical endpoint of serial drama: It combines a manipulative politician played by a stern movie actress, a cop whose job is her life, a journalist who uses her wiles to get stories, and a man convicted of a crime he didn’t commit (or did he?). It puts a variety of clichéd tropes from across the TV landscape into a blender and produces something you want to gulp, not sip. The story of _The Family_ cuts between the past and present: Ten years ago, small-time Maine politician Claire Warren (Joan Allen) lost her son Adam when, it was widely presumed, sex-offender neighbor Hank (Andrew McCarthy) killed him. In the intervening decade, that neighbor was sent to jail, while Claire got elected mayor. The dysfunction in the Warren family only picks up when a young man who claims to be Adam walks into a police precinct. Adam’s past decade might have been something like _Room_ (in which Allen, a great and underused actress, also appeared as the mother of a freed kidnap victim). He certainly has the scars to prove it. But it might _not_ have; if, as the show seems to want us to believe, the young man who walked into the precinct is an impostor, Adam may not have had a last ten years of life at all. This mystery is one Claire won’t allow herself to probe; when her other son Danny (Zach Gilford) suggests that Adam may not be who he says he is, she very calmly and lovingly tells Danny that’s he’s an alcoholic and not to be believed. It’s a suavely assured shutdown, one that’s only matched by cop Nina Meyer (Margot Bingham) telling Claire, who’s crying as she thinks about her just-returned son, “Take a moment, and then shut it down.” Brr! But for all the gratuitous iciness, _The Family_‘s characterizations push common clichés—the hard-driving politician, the emotionally remote cop, the creepy neighbor—one step beyond their easiest point. Claire feels guilty about neglecting her marriage and kids, though not so guilty that she’s unwilling to run for governor on the strength of her sudden burst of fame. Nina is emotionally cut-off because she blames herself for presuming Hank committed the murder, foreclosing other options for finding Adam. (She’s also annoyed at herself for having a years’-long affair with Claire’s husband!) As for Hank, McCarthy’s strangely soulful, enigmatic performance gives him a life onscreen that’s—fittingly given his status as a stand-in for misbegotten justice—more intriguing than “the creepy neighbor” tends to be. All of this adds up, already, to the sort of show that’s not in ABC’s gameplan going forward. It makes sense from a potential-ratings perspective: The plot is just complicated enough to reward close attention, and if any element of it turns off a potential viewer—well, the series doesn’t refresh at the end of each episode, so that’ll be it for them! But _The Family_‘s Grand Guignol aspects—its willingness to be not just a serial drama but the most serial drama—is something worth celebrating. Its sense, already, of potential madness is reminiscent of early _Scandal_, with one key difference. The characters on _Scandal_, existing within the rarefied world of D.C. politics and crisis management, lived outsized enough lives to truly allow _anything_ to happen, minus consequences or reason. _The Family_ relies on familiar, drab settings, and squeezes from them—and from Allen’s performance—real gravity and emotion. Perhaps the show’s biggest twist is that it has something on its mind. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4247607/the-family-abc-review/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4247607/the-family-abc-review/"},"headline":"Viewers Deserve More Shows Like The Family","datePublished":"2016-03-04T16:37:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:37:33.193Z","description":"ABC's new serialized drama is a surprisingly satisfying watch—but that doesn't mean it'll last","url":"https://time.com/4247607/the-family-abc-review/","keywords":["Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt099e617b7b047bc0/698880408e06015236464e31/the-family-tv-show-abc.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel D'Addario","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-daddario/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt099e617b7b047bc0/698880408e06015236464e31/the-family-tv-show-abc.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"ALISON PILL, RUPERT GRAVES, JOAN ALLEN, ZACH GILFORD, LIAM JAMES","caption":"\"The Family\" stars Joan Allen as Claire, Allison Pill as Willa, Margot Bingham as Sergeant Nina Meyer, Zach Gilford as Danny, Liam James as Adam, Floriana Lima as Bridey, Madeleine Arthur as Young Willa, Rarmian Newton as Young Danny, Rupert Graves as Jo","creditText":"Bob D'Amico—ABC","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4247607/the-family-abc-review/","name":"Viewers Deserve More Shows Like The Family"}}]}] ```