The Big Picture

• NBC sitcom Extended Family follows the story of a divorced couple and their intertwined lives, inspired by the experiences of the co-executive producers who faced a similar situation.
• Boston Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck came up with the idea for the show during a family dinner and enlisted the help of Mike O'Malley as the showrunner.
• While the premise is based on real-life events, the majority of the show is fictional, with the characters navigating the complexities of their situation and the dynamics between them.

NBC's family sitcom Extended Family, created by Mike O'Malley, follows a premise that may sound absurd even for television. The show follows the story of Jim (Jon Cryer) and Julia (Abigail Spencer), who end up with an amicable divorce, as reported by Celtics Blog. But things get twisted when Julia starts dating Trey (Donald Faison), the owner of the NBA Boston Celtics. Interestingly, Jim is a hardcore Celtics fan — a fact that sets up the ground for the interesting dynamics of the show, which is directly inspired by the lives and experiences of co-executive producers of the show, George Geyer, Emilia Fazzalari, and Boston Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck.

Extended Family

A brother and sister are at ground zero when a family secret sends shock waves through an already dysfunctional family.

'Extended Family' Is Based On Boston Celtics Owner Wyc Grousbeck

As captured in Extended Family, George Geyer and Emilia Fazzalari faced a similar situation to that of Jim and Julia when Emilia started dating Boston Celtics owner Grousbeck, soon after her divorce. Considering George was a hardcore Celtics fan, one could imagine some of the weird possibilities resulting from the situation. Interestingly, George and Emilia also tested out a concept called “nesting” in which the kids, played by Finn Sweeney and Sofia Capanna in Extended Family, lived at the family apartment and the parents kept shifting in and out every week, taking turns to live with the kids. According to AP News, Fazzalari’s and Geyer’s unique arrangement was an attempt to minimize the disruption in the lives of the children. In Episode 1 of Extended Family, the elder child Grace can be seen expressing her disappointment at her parents’ decision to seek divorce. With Geyer, Fazzalari, and Grousbeck sharing an apartment, it’s understandable that the situation would easily lead to ample material for a family-friendly sitcom.

Given Geyer’s status as a fan of the Celtics, things definitely got more complicated with Grousbeck’s entry into Fazzalari’s life. An Irishman, Geyer had grown up in Boston and definitely had to endure grief as a result of his ex-wife being married to the owner of the Boston Celtics. Fazzalari was a Financial Product and Media Analyst for Bloomberg LP, and Geyer also shared a successful stint with Bloomberg LP for 30 years. Grousbeck is a graduate of Stanford whose business group bought the Boston Celtics in 2002 for $360 million, according to Forbes.

Grousbeck, Emilia Fazzalari, and George Geyer Wrote 'Extended Family' During the Pandemic

It turns out that the idea behind Extended Family first came to the mind of Grousbeck during a family dinner when he remarked that the situation was similar to a sitcom. During the dinner, Grousbeck pointed out, “We’ve got three adults sharing an apartment. Basically, it’s a twisted version of The Brady Bunch or Modern Family.” It was during a vacation with Fazzalari and Tom Werner, who owns the Red Sox and is a TV veteran best known for Roseanne and That '70s Show, when Grousbeck consulted Werner regarding his idea for a sitcom.

According to TV Insider, Grousbeck, Fazzalari, and Geyer approached showrunner Mike O’Malley, best known for the CBS sitcom Yes, Dear, during the pandemic when the trio were living together so that the kids could see both their parents. Using the pandemic as an opportunity,the trio came up with a 27-page treatment. In the NBC sitcom, Jim and Julia separated after mutually realizing that their relationship had hit a dead-end. A crisis manager, Julia came across Celtics owner Trey when he ended up offending a lot of people by commenting on redheads while responding on his team’s performance. Julia not only helped Trey handle the situation, but they formed an instant bond.

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The Majority of 'Extended Family' Is Still Fictional

The nesting setup, conjured by Jim and Julia, puts the three adults in a situation where they must navigate complexities of their own making, with the 13-year-old Grace (Capanna) and 11-year-old Jimmy Jr. (Sweeney) actively contributing to the chaos and fun. For instance, Episode 1 follows the events at the apartment after Jim mistakenly becomes responsible for the death of Grace’s goldfish, which was gifted to her to help her navigate the post-divorce phase. Naturally, Trey’s presence adds to the many possibilities that can follow such or similar events in the show.

Extended Family finds its strength in the interesting true story which inspires the premise and the central characters. Clearly, while the starting point is inspired,the sitcom still depends heavily on the writers to come up with situations that can fit perfectly with the premise at hand. It’s highly possible that with more episodes slated to release, more real-life situations from the lives of the co-executive producers may make their way to the show, with Cryer, Spencer, and Faison leading the charge from the front.

Extended Family is available to stream on NBC in the U.S.

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