Season 1 • Episode 10
LatestAfter 35 years, Cameron and Sharon's father, Merv, returns out of the blue. They decide to have a family dinner to discuss where he's been all these years, but a sudden turn of events leaves their questions still unanswered. Meanwhile, when Jenna finds out that Whitey is dating a stripper, she forbids him from seeing their son.
Family is always unpredictable, so why write a family comedy when you can live dangerously and improvise instead? Like real families, you never know what will happen when you give characters total freedom. Adult siblings Cameron, Sharon and Jenna have many years of shared history in this small town. Like every other family on the planet, their history includes many mistakes. This is proven by the multiple marriages and many children in their close extended clan.
Acting
Cast genuinely terrified in the best way—no script, no escape.
Direction
Fred Goss built a sitcom like a jazz club: structured chaos.
Creators
Fred Goss, Nick Holly
Fred Goss
Cameron Walker
Gillian Vigman
Liz Walker
Jerry Lambert
Don Fenton
Alison Quinn
Sharon Fenton
Desmond Harrington
Wylie Blake
Amanda Walsh
Jenna Halbert
Greg Pitts
Tommy 'Whitey' White
Dee Wallace
Colleen Halbert
Max Gail
Wendal Halbert
Eden Sher
Carrie Fenton
Randy Wayne
Jeff Fenton
Lois Hall
Aunt Rae
Trevor Einhorn
Henry Walker
Alexandra Gold Jourden
Marni Walker
Noah Matthews
Ezra Walker
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
ABC greenlit this in 2006 during a brief 'let's get weird with comedy' window that also gave us Arrested Development's survival era.
Fred Goss and Nick Holly created this after Goss starred in Sons & Daughters' spiritual predecessor Significant Others, another semi-improvised family mess.
US
