海角大神

A new TV series, ABC鈥檚 鈥淭he Family,鈥� premieres on TV on March 3.聽

鈥淔amily鈥� stars Joan Allen as a politician whose son, Adam, vanished. Ten years later, a boy is claiming to be the person who disappeared.聽

The program also stars Andrew McCarthy, Alison Pill, Rupert Graves, and Zach Gilford.

The show is one of ABC鈥檚 midseason offerings, premiering alongside such shows as the Shonda Rhimes program 鈥淭he Catch鈥� and the comedy 鈥淭he Real O鈥橬eals.鈥澛�

Reviews for the show so far are mixed. wrote that 鈥淔amily鈥� has an 鈥渁ppealing cast鈥� yes, this show is guilty-pleasure fare, but, at least after two episodes, it holds interest rather well.鈥� found that 鈥済iven the intensity of the subject matter, 鈥楾he Family鈥� might have been better served by the slower, mood-saturated tendencies of cable鈥� To rush [the storyline of an imprisoned child], as creator Jenna Bans does in the first two hours of 鈥楾he Family,鈥� not only diminishes the drama, it makes the heinous details seem manipulative."聽

惭别补苍飞丑颈濒别,听 wrote of the program, 鈥淲hen Allen and McCarthy are given scenes that reflect the way actual human beings might respond to the loss and return of a child, or the loss and return of freedom, 鈥楩amily鈥� momentarily takes your breath away. But then it鈥檚 off again, either making the characters so hateful that you have a hard time caring how the story turns out, or making the situations so crassly titillating, you have a hard time justifying your continued presence.聽 My advice? Don鈥檛 try.鈥澛�

We鈥檒l see if 鈥淔amily鈥� improves as it goes along. But the show currently stands in contrast to another drama from ABC that has drawn almost universal acclaim: 鈥淎merican Crime.鈥�

The anthology show 鈥淐rime鈥� is currently in its second season and stars actors including Regina King, Felicity Huffman, and Timothy Hutton. The current episodes center on an accusation of sexual assault at a private school.

鈥淢any of us are willing to put up with a few dull stretches if a show offers some compensating virtues, like, say, even a tenth of the richness and depth of ABC鈥檚 best drama, the superb 鈥楢merican Crime,鈥欌�� Bianco wrote in his review of 鈥淔amily.鈥澛�

Meanwhile, called 鈥淐rime鈥� 鈥渢houghtful, sobering, and spare鈥� It all speaks to a level of ambition that has become increasingly rare in the broadcast spectrum, as if abdicating to cable this level of quality, or at least the willingness to tackle serious issues in such a nuanced manner.鈥�

ABC's show "Black-ish" also recently drew acclaim for an episode that discussed police brutality.