I was invited on an all expenses paid trip to cover the ABCTVEvent. All opinions are my own.
I am totally addicted to ABC’s THE FAMILY. Have you been watching it? I am totally invested in this family and can’t wait for each week to see what happens. It airs every Sunday night at 9/8c, if you aren’t caught up watch it on demand or on the ABC app. It’s worth it I promise.
While I was in LA, the bloggers and I had the chance to sit down and have a family style dinner with talent from ABC’s The Family. We were joined by executive producers Jenna Bans and Laurie Zaks, as well as cast members Zach Gilford (“Danny”), Alison Pill (“Willa”), and Floriana Lima (“Bridey”).
Along with dinner, we were able to watch last Sunday’s episode of The Family live, as well as this weeks episode “Sweet Jane”. It was so cool to be able to watch the show with the EP’s and cast members. What a cool experience, and so awesome that they spent all that time with us. After the episodes were over we got to do a Q+A with them. I wanted to share the highlights from that with you all.
It was fun to see the dynamic between the talent and it seems like they are all really close and have a great time together. I loved seeing them laugh and joke as we talked about the show.
When asked how she gets into character Alison Pill (who plays Willa) said, “First of all, we have really good writers, and it really makes sense to me. She is somebody who will do anything to keep her family together. And everything else that is built up- all of this armor is only to get to her ultimate goal, which is having her entire family under one roof again. That’s it. Literally, everything else is driven by that, so when anything threatens that, that is, the worst thing that can happen in the world. So all of the emotion, just comes from that thought of being thirteen and trying to keep your family together, and I was a very emotional thirteen year old, as most are.
But I also love the fact that she’s written in this way that, it was a slow burn with Willa, of not understanding her. She hates her brother and she’s too uptight, and she’s really religious and all this stuff and then just slowly get to know her emotional life which is so deep and huge, it’s been fun.”
Another interesting thing I learned from the interview was that they have different directors for different episodes. One of them being Andrew McCarthy who also plays “Hank” on the show. Floriana Lima (who plays “Bridey”) said about Warren, “He’s amazing. I had known him as our favorite director. But it’s weird that he’s a director and also playing Hank which is this intense character, and he’s just so present as a director. So you’re like, ‘whoa, you’re doing that, too, at the same time?’ He’s really good.” Alison added, “I know, I sort of triply appreciate everything in seeing it now. Whoa, that’s what you were up to? That’s crazy. He also knows the show so well, like, he’ll call me on things being, like ‘in this script you said this, but in that, you said that’. He’s everywhere, like in the writer’s room, like he knows everything about the show.”
They were quick to tell us how great it is working with the very talented Joan Allen (who plays the mom “Claire Warren”). Alison said of Allen, “You guys, Joan Allen is so good at acting.” then Floriana added, “She is. She’s really nice, too.” Alison chimed in, “She made cookies from her grandmother’s recipe; she made a hundred and fifty cookies on her day off and brought them in before our holiday break. They were like cakey, amazing cookies with delicious icing. They were really good.”
During the night (eating dinner and watching the episodes) Zach Gilford (who plays “Danny”) had us all laughing a lot. He is very funny. Something he pointed out about the show, “I’m pretty sure I never exchanged dialog with [Rupert Graves] he plays my dad (“John Warren”). But it got to the point where, if we even make eye contact we’d start laughing. It got weird. It’s weird to even look at you.” he said joking and laughing.
We also learned that there are 12 total episodes in this first season. I can’t wait to see how it all plays out!
They were so nice and took photos with us all. It was a great night and experience. Here is my group photo with them.
Be sure to tune in tonight on ABC at 9/8c for THE FAMILY Episode 108 “Sweet Jane”.
Make sure you watch it live, or if you DVR it, watch within 3 days to help boost ratings so it will get picked up for season 2!
“Claire wrestles with the emotional ramifications of Willa’s scheming. Meanwhile, Nina observes that Adam disappears every night from his home and sets out to track down his mysterious destination, while Clements investigates Jane’s connection to Doug, the pock-marked man. When the Governor’s wife threatens to reveal Claire’s drinking, Willa handles the situation by exposing another Warren family secret, potentially changing the outcome of the election. Finally, Hank makes a shocking discovery that reveals his true involvement in Adam’s kidnapping.”-ABC
