‘Extended Family’ Showrunner Calls Jon Cryer, Abigail Spencer & Donald Faison’s New NBC Sitcom ‘Divorce for Dummies’ (Exclusive)

Extended Family‘s heartfelt and fun-loving look at divorce and co-parenting serves as a kind of “Divorce for Dummies” that creator and showrunner Mike O’Malley hopes resonates with the new generation of family. Prior to the Saturday, Dec. 23 premiere of the new NBC sitcom starring Jon Cryer, Donald Faison and Abigail Spencer, O’Malley opened up to PopCulture about the relatable spirit of the show. 

Cyer and Spencer star as Jim and Julia, who 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. Complicating the arrangement is Faison’s Trey, the owner of the Boston Celtics, who enters the picture and wins Julia’s heart. It’s a dynamic O’Malley thinks will resonate with a modern audience. 

“I think that all of us who are alive today, if we’re not divorced, then we have dear friends who are going through this. We have family members who are going through this, and we’re watching how they struggle with the stress that dissension comes from relationships that have fallen apart,” the executive producer told PopCulture, explaining that while he doesn’t want to diminish people who are unable to remain amicable with their ex, he does want to show an alternative to “this antagonistic relationship” that’s so often seen. 

“The goal is to have a divorce that doesn’t make people worse,” he continued. “It’s acknowledging that this relationship came to an end. But we don’t necessarily have to have antagonistic conversations every time we talk, because what we want to do is provide for the kids.” It’s something that’s easier said than done, as viewers will see in Extended Family. “Just because they have this as their goal doesn’t mean they’re going to be successful at it,” O’Malley explained, teasing what he sees in many ways as “fables” or “cautionary tales” from the episodes to come. “It is a Divorce for Dummies, and they are the dummies,” he joked. 

Having Cryer, Spencer and Faison as the leading trio has been key to making Extended Family work. “They’re all really likable people. They’re likable actors, and that’s what you need in a sitcom,” O’Malley explained. “When they make mistakes, are you on their side? Do you feel as if their intentions are true and that their intentions are honorable and that what they’re trying to do is just do their very best? Because it’s what hopefully all of us are trying to do, our very best, and yet our humanity somewhat gets in our way sometimes.”

Extended Family premieres Saturday, Dec. 23 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC and will return Tuesday, Jan. 2 at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT in its regular time slot and streaming the next day on Peacock.