The Family Law | |
---|---|
Genre | Sitcom Comedy drama |
Created by | Benjamin Law |
Based on | The Family Law by Benjamin Law |
Written by |
|
Directed by |
|
Starring |
|
Composer | Joff Bush |
Country of origin | Australia |
Original language | English |
No. of series | 3 |
No. of episodes | 18 |
Production | |
Executive producers |
|
Producers |
|
Cinematography | Eric Murray Lui |
Camera setup | Multi-camera |
Running time | 22-23 Minutes |
Production company | Matchbox Pictures NBCUniversal International Studios |
Original release | |
Network | SBS |
Release | 14 January 2016 – 12 January 2019 |
The Family Law is an Australian comedy television program created by Benjamin Law. The six-part series, loosely adapted from Law's 2010 book of the same name, was written by Law and Marieke Hardy. The series was produced by Matchbox Pictures and screened on SBS from 14 January 2016. A second season of the show premiered on 15 June 2017. The third and final season of the show aired on 12 January 2019. [1] The show streams on Hulu in the US. [2]
The series follows the dysfunctional world of a Chinese-Australian family through the eyes of 14-year-old Benjamin Law. It is set on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, but filmed in Sunnybank Brisbane, over a long, hot summer the family will never forget. The family consists of Benjamin Law, eldest sister Candy, older brother Andrew, younger sisters Tammy and Michelle and parents Jenny and Danny. [3]
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | "Queensland's Got Talent" | Jonathan Brough | Benjamin Law | 14 January 2016 |
2 | 2 | "Tra-la-la-la-Law" | Jonathan Brough | Benjamin Law | 21 January 2016 |
3 | 3 | "Asians Gone Wild" | Jonathan Brough | Benjamin Law | 28 January 2016 |
4 | 4 | "Birthday Bash" | Jonathan Brough | Benjamin Law & Marieke Hardy | 4 February 2016 |
5 | 5 | "Everything's Coming Up Roses" | Jonathan Brough | Benjamin Law & Marieke Hardy | 11 February 2016 |
6 | 6 | "Love Is in the Air" | Jonathan Brough | Benjamin Law & Marieke Hardy | 18 February 2016 |
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
7 | 1 | "New Beginnings" | Ben Chessell | Benjamin Law & Kirsty Fisher | 15 June 2017 | |
Danny opens a new Chinese grocery store and shows off this new modern apartment. Tension rises as Jenny tries to find herself in a new post-divorce world. Meanwhile Benjamin fights it out for middle school captain with his good-looking archnemesis Klaus. | ||||||
8 | 2 | "Help Yourself" | Ben Chessell | Benjamin Law & Kirsty Fisher | 15 June 2017 | |
Tension rises as Jenny's journey of self-discovery is belittled by people around her. She decides to change back to her maiden name. Benjamin fights it out for the lead role in a Greek tragedy school play. | ||||||
9 | 3 | "Adult Education" | Ben Chessell | Lawrence Leung | 22 June 2017 | |
10 | 4 | "The Family Kerr" | Sophie Miller | Benjamin Law & Kirsty Fisher | 6 July 2017 | |
11 | 5 | "Money, Money, Money" | Ben Chessell | Benjamin Law & Kirsty Fisher | 13 July 2017 | |
12 | 6 | "Matters of the Heart" | Ben Chessell | Benjamin Law | 20 July 2017 |
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
13 | 1 | "Ready for This" | Ben Chessell | Benjamin Law & Kirsty Fisher | 12 January 2019 | |
14 | 2 | "Close Encounters of the Male Kind" | Ben Chessell | Benjamin Law & Kirsty Fisher | 12 January 2019 | |
15 | 3 | "Painfully Camp" | Ben Chessell | Benjamin Law & Kirsty Fisher | 12 January 2019 | |
16 | 4 | "Dancing in the Dark" | Ben Chessell | Benjamin Law & Kirsty Fisher | 12 January 2019 | |
17 | 5 | "Panic Stations" | Ben Chessell | Benjamin Law & Kirsty Fisher | 12 January 2019 | |
18 | 6 | "Number One Gay Son" | Sophie Miller | Benjamin Law & Kirsty Fisher | 12 January 2019 | |
Jenny and Pete get back together. Ben becomes convinced that Jenny won't accept him being gay, leading to tension and fighting between them. After Candy reminds him how supportive Jenny has always been of him, Ben comes out to Jenny and she is immediately accepting and supporting of him. He comes out to the rest of his family, who are similarly supportive. His family's support inspires Ben to update his talent show act with Melissa to a flamboyant performance of It's Raining Men, which wins the show. |
During the run of its first series The Family Law averaged a national audience of 417,000. It was also the highest viewed program on SBS On Demand throughout the series. [4] [5]
The program attracted an audience of 1.1 million views for its exclusive Facebook premiere of its first episode days before it aired on television. [6] [7]
The program has received positive reviews from critics.
One critic from Daily Review Australia said "the core challenge is making a captivating comedy series about normal people living normal lives. The Family Law gives it a good crack, and has an amiable quality that many viewers will find endearing." [8]
Another critic from The Guardian said "there’s so much detail, warmth and gentle humour to the script, direction and production design that the characters and settings are relatable for anyone who grew up – or is growing up – in Australia." She gave the program 4 out of 5 stars. [9]
Year | Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
2016 | 6th AACTA Awards | AACTA Award for Best Television Comedy Series | The Family Law | Nominated |
AACTA Award for Best Comedy Performance | Fiona Choi | Nominated | ||
2017 | Australian Directors Guild Awards | Best Direction in a TV or SVOD Comedy Program | Jonathan Brough (episode: "Queensland's Got Talent") | Nominated |
Full House is an American television sitcom created by Jeff Franklin for ABC. The show is about widowed father Danny Tanner who enlists his brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis and childhood best friend Joey Gladstone to help raise his three daughters, eldest Donna Jo Margaret, middle child Stephanie and youngest Michelle in his San Francisco home. It originally aired from September 22, 1987, to May 23, 1995, with a total of eight seasons consisting of 192 episodes.
Hugh Michael Horace Dancy is an English actor who rose to prominence for his role as the title character in the television film adaptation of David Copperfield (2000) as well as for roles in feature films as Kurt Schmid in Black Hawk Down (2001) and Prince Charmont in Ella Enchanted (2004). Other film roles include Joe Conner in Shooting Dogs (2005), Grigg Harris in The Jane Austen Book Club (2007), Luke Brandon in Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009), Adam Raki in Adam (2009) and Ted in Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011). On television, he portrayed criminal profiler Will Graham in the NBC television series Hannibal (2013–2015), Cal Roberts in the Hulu original series The Path (2016–2018) and Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, in the Channel 4 miniseries Elizabeth I (2005); the latter role earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. Dancy currently portrays Senior Assistant District Attorney Nolan Price on NBC's revival of the original Law & Order (2022–present).
Julie Eckersley is an Australian actress, comedian, writer, producer and head of Scripted at SBS Australia.
Bob's Burgers is an American animated sitcom created by Loren Bouchard for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is centered on the Belcher family—parents Bob and Linda and their three children, Tina, Gene, and Louise—who run a burger restaurant and often go on adventures of many kinds. The show premiered on January 9, 2011. The series was conceived by Bouchard after he developed Home Movies. Bob's Burgers is produced by Wilo Productions, and Buck & Millie Productions in association with 20th Television Animation. The series is animated by Bento Box Entertainment.
The Mindy Project is an American romantic comedy television series created by and starring Mindy Kaling that began airing on Fox in September 2012 and finished its six-season run on Hulu in November 2017. The series was co-produced by Universal Television and 3 Arts Entertainment.
Benjamin Law is an Australian author, screenwriter and journalist. He is best known for his books The Family Law, a family memoir published in 2010, and the TV series of the same name. He hosts the radio programme and podcast Stop Everything! for ABC Radio National.
The Path is an American drama television series created by Jessica Goldberg, and starring Aaron Paul, Michelle Monaghan, and Hugh Dancy. The show portrays members of a fictional religion known as Meyerism.
Difficult People is an American comedy television series created by Julie Klausner. Klausner stars alongside Billy Eichner as two struggling and jaded comedians living in New York City; the duo seemingly hate everyone but each other.
One Mississippi is an American comedy television series created by comedian Tig Notaro and Diablo Cody. The pilot episode, directed by Nicole Holofcener, aired on Amazon Prime Video on November 5, 2015, and was picked up for a full series after positive feedback from audiences. One Mississippi premiered on September 9, 2016. On November 14, 2016, Amazon renewed the show for a second season, which was released on Amazon on September 8, 2017. On January 18, 2018, the series was canceled after two seasons which Amazon explained as "part of a move towards bigger, wider-audience series". Eventually as the show is produced by FXP, A division of FX Networks and Disney Television Studios, Disney pulled One Mississippi from Amazon Prime Video, although it has since returned. Currently One Mississippi streams on Disney+ Star internationally and on Hulu in the U.S. as well.
Cardinal is a Canadian crime drama television series, which was first broadcast on January 25, 2017, on CTV and Super Écran. The series adapts the novels of crime writer Giles Blunt, focusing on police detective John Cardinal and his partner Lise Delorme, who investigate crimes in the fictional city of Algonquin Bay.
The Handmaid's Tale is an American dystopian television series created by Bruce Miller, based on the 1985 novel of the same name by Canadian author Margaret Atwood. The series was ordered by the streaming service Hulu as a straight-to-series order of ten episodes, for which production began in late 2016. The plot features a dystopia following a Second American Civil War wherein a theonomic, totalitarian society subjects fertile women, called "Handmaids", to child-bearing slavery.
Fiona Choi is an Australian actress, singer and stage performer, best known for her lead role as Jenny Law in Benjamin Law's award-winning SBS Comedy The Family Law for which she received an AACTA Award nomination for Best Performance in a Television Comedy and 3 consecutive Equity Ensemble Awards for Outstanding Performance in a Comedy Series. Fiona is also known for her work on stage in Melbourne Theatre Company's Golden Shield and Torch The Place as well as her one-woman show Dragon Lady: The Many Lives & Deaths of Anna May Wong which premiered to much acclaim at the 2019 Adelaide Cabaret Festival
Harlots is a British period drama television series created by Alison Newman and Moira Buffini and inspired by The Covent Garden Ladies by British historian Hallie Rubenhold. The series focuses on Margaret Wells, who runs a brothel in 18th-century London and struggles to secure a better future for her daughters in an unpredictable environment.
Safe Harbour is a four-part Australian thriller drama series first broadcast on SBS on 7 March 2018. The series follows a group of friends who travel from Brisbane on a sailing holiday of a lifetime to Indonesia, who cross paths with a fishing boat overloaded with asylum seekers en route to Australia, which alters their lives forever.
Michelle Law is an Australian writer. She is known for the web series Homecoming Queens, and the book Sh*t Asian Mothers Say, co-authored by her brother Benjamin Law, and her 2017 play Single Asian Female. She is of Chinese descent.
Little Fires Everywhere is an American drama television miniseries, based on the 2017 novel of the same name by Celeste Ng. It premiered on Hulu on March 18, 2020 and consists of 8 episodes. The series stars Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington, both of whom were also executive producers, alongside Liz Tigelaar, Lauren Neustadter, and Pilar Savone. Set in the Cleveland suburb of Shaker Heights, Ohio, during the late 1990s, it features Witherspoon and Washington as mothers from different socioeconomic backgrounds.
Into the Dark is an American horror anthology television series produced for Hulu, with each stand-alone episodic installment based around a different holiday. The first season premiered on October 5, 2018, and consists of twelve feature-length episodes of television films. Into the Dark was renewed for a second season, which premiered on October 4, 2019, and also consists of twelve episodes.
High Fidelity is an American romantic comedy television series developed by Veronica West and Sarah Kucserka for Hulu. Based on the 1995 novel of the same name by Nick Hornby and its 2000 film adaptation, it stars Zoë Kravitz as Robyn "Rob" Brooks, a young record store owner who revisits her past relationships through music and popular culture.
The Bob's Burgers Movie is a 2022 American animated musical comedy film based on the Fox animated sitcom Bob's Burgers. It is directed by the series creator Loren Bouchard and series director Bernard Derriman, written by Bouchard and Nora Smith, and produced by Janelle Momary-Neely, Bouchard, and Smith. The original voice cast from the series reprise their roles including H. Jon Benjamin, Dan Mintz, Eugene Mirman, Larry Murphy, John Roberts, Kristen Schaal, David Wain, Zach Galifianakis, and Kevin Kline. Set between the 12th and 13th seasons of Bob's Burgers, the plot follows Bob and his family's struggles with paying their loan after a sinkhole opens in front of their restaurant and affects business, while the kids try to solve the murder of a carnie.
Candy is an American biographical crime drama television miniseries created by Nick Antosca and Robin Veith. The series stars Jessica Biel as the real-life Candy Montgomery, who was accused of the axe murder of her neighbor, Betty Gore in 1980, in Texas. It premiered on May 9, 2022, on Hulu, with a new episode for five nights until May 13. The miniseries received generally positive reviews from critics. It was nominated for Outstanding Main Title Design at the 74th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards