Family Tree (TV series)
| Family Tree | |
|---|---|
 Family Tree title card |
|
| Genre | Comedy Mockumentary |
| Created by | Christopher Guest Jim Piddock |
| Written by | Christopher Guest Jim Piddock |
| Directed by | Christopher Guest |
| Starring | Chris O'Dowd |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 2 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Christopher Guest Jim Piddock Karen Murphy Deborah Oppenheimer Mario Stylianides |
| Camera setup | Single |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company(s) | HBO Lucky Giant NBCUniversal BBC |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | HBO BBC Two |
| Original run | May 12, 2013 – present |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
Family Tree is a British-American mockumentary-style television comedy created by Christopher Guest and Jim Piddock. The series premiered on May 12, 2013 on the American pay television network HBO and the British network BBC Two.[1] Guest, Piddock, Karen Murphy, Deborah Oppenheimer, and Mario Stylianides serve as the show's executive producers.[2]
Contents |
Cast [edit]
- Chris O'Dowd as Tom Chadwick, a young man investigating his lineage.[3]
- Tom Bennett as Pete Stupples, Tom's best friend[3]
- Nina Conti as Bea Chadwick, Tom's sister[3]
- Jim Piddock, as Mr. Pfister[3]
- Michael McKean, as Keith, Tom's father[3]
- Christopher Fairbank, as Neville St. Aubrey[3]
Other appearances include Carrie Aizley, Bob Balaban, Ed Begley, Jr., Jordan Black, Maria Blasucci, Matt Griesser, Christopher Guest, Don Lake, Lisa Palfrey, Kevin Pollak, Amy Seimetz, Meera Syal, Ashley Walters, and Fred Willard.[4]
Production [edit]
The series is written by Guest and Piddock and directed by Guest.[3] The dialogue is improvised by the actors.[3] The show's first season will consist of 8 episodes.[1] Filming took place in the United Kingdom and Los Angeles.[2]
Running jokes [edit]
Oddball inventions: Tom's father has invented a shoehorn that can cool or heat up a shoe; a woman whom Tom and Pete meet has invented a glass, attached around her aged mother's neck, that allows her to see if she's still breathing.
Awkward dates: Pete keeps setting up Tom on bad first dates. One woman talks about how dinosaurs still exist; another is obsessed with bones.
English eccentrics: Tom's sister uses a hand puppet. Tom often talks to Mr. Pfister, an antique-store owner trying to make "landmarks in a bottle"; Pfister sends him on to Neville St. Aubrey, a manic-looking antique photo expert whom Pfister calls "as mad as a box of frogs".
Old, hackneyed English TV sitcoms: Tom's father loves to watch DVDs of (made-up) Britcoms, full of broad stereotypes and Carry On-like humour. One, There Goes The Neighbourhood, features an Archie Bunker-like Anglo-Indian. Another, set in a police station, is called Move Along, Please!
Episodes [edit]
| Season | Episodes | Season premiere | Season finale | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | May 12, 2013 | July 7, 2013 | |
Season 1 (2013) [edit]
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original airdate | U.S. viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Box" | Christopher Guest | Christopher Guest & Jim Piddock | May 12, 2013 | 0.79[5] |
| Tom Chadwick and his sister Bea find out from their father that a great-aunt has died. An old picture in the box of things that she's left for Tom sends him on a search, accompanied by his pal Pete, to discover the identity of the man in the photograph. | |||||
| 2 | "Treading the Boards" | Christopher Guest | Christopher Guest & Jim Piddock | May 19, 2013 | 0.47[6] |
| Tom learns that his great-grandfather, Harry Chadwick, was an actor and visits Hove, where he performed. He and Pete decide to run a kind of race in honour of Harry's famous comic act. | |||||
| 3 | "The Austerity Games"[7] | Christopher Guest | Christopher Guest & Jim Piddock | June 2, 2013[7] | |
| 4 | "Country Life"[7] | Christopher Guest | Christopher Guest & Jim Piddock | June 9, 2013[7] | |
| 5 | "Welcome to America"[7] | Christopher Guest | Christopher Guest & Jim Piddock | June 16, 2013[7] | |
| 6 | "Civil War"[8] | Christopher Guest | Christopher Guest & Jim Piddock | June 23, 2013[7] | |
| 7 | "Indians"[8] | Christopher Guest | Christopher Guest & Jim Piddock | June 30, 2013[7] | |
| 8 | "Cowboys"[8] | Christopher Guest | Christopher Guest & Jim Piddock | July 7, 2013[7] | |
References [edit]
- ^ a b Wloszczyna, Susan (March 22, 2013). "Chris O'Dowd polishes his comic appeal in 'Sapphires'". USA Today. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
- ^ a b "Family Tree, a new comedy series from Christopher Guest for BBC Two and HBO" (Press release). BBC. November 21, 2012. Retrieved January 5, 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Hale, Mike (May 10, 2013). "Searching for Roots, Finding Characters". The New York Times. Retrieved May 12, 2013.
- ^ Bibel, Sara (January 4, 2013). "New HBO Comedy 'Family Tree' Created by Christopher Guest and Jim & Starring Chris O'Dowd Will Premiere This Spring". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved January 4, 2013.
- ^ "Sunday's Cable Ratings: Another Week, Another "Game of Thrones" Victory". The Futon Critic. May 14, 2013.
- ^ "Sunday's Cable Ratings: "Game of Thrones," "North America" Top Charts". The Futon Critic. May 21, 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Family Tree – Listings". The Futon Critic. Retrieved April 5, 2013.
- ^ a b c "Schedule Results for Family Tree". HBO. Retrieved April 20, 2013.
External links [edit]
 |
This article about a television show originating in the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
