Spoilers ahead for the Season 1 finale of Extended Family on NBC, called "The Consequences of Considering the Consequences."
Extended Family brought sitcom icons Jon Cryer and Donald Faison back to network TV in the 2024 TV schedule, although their new characters definitely aren't carbon copies of who they played on Two and a Half Men and Scrubs, respectively. The first season finale seemed like it could blow up the premise entirely, but luckily, the formula is still in place for Season 2... that is, assuming there is a Season 2!
The show isn't renewed at the time of writing, so the time is right to look back at the story of the behind-the-scenes moves changes way back before Extended Family even premiered that resulted in Jon Cryer playing a different character than originally intended.
The Future Of Extended Family
Extended Family centers on former spouses Jim (Jon Cryer) and Julia (Abigail Spencer), who decide to make the most of their amicable divorce by continuing to raise their two kids in one home while taking turns on which parent lives with them. Trey (Donald Faison) was a game-changer as Julia's fiancé, who also happens to be the owner of the Boston Celtics. It certainly has a premise unlike any other on TV, but will it last beyond one season?
The sitcom has been slotted between Night Court (which also has yet to be renewed) and The Voice this year, which is a pretty enviable place in primetime. Between that and casting two big names in the sitcom sphere, Extended Family had a recipe for success from its premiere. Abigail Spencer, whose TV experience was primarily in drama prior to this show, keeps up with Cryer and Faison in the comedy.
Yet NBC still has not announced whether or not there's a future for the show, which would have been very different if not for the behind-the-scenes changes that Cryer and creator Mike O'Malley described to CinemaBlend.
Jon Cryer And Mike O'Malley Reveal The BTS Changes
I spoke with the Extended Family team at SCAD TVfest in Atlanta, with Jon Cryer revealing the NBC sitcom he almost joined before landing Two and a Half Men and Donald Faison getting honest about the live studio audience that wasn't a factor on Scrubs. When I asked creator/executive producer Mike O'Malley if the role of Jim was written for Jon Cryer, he explained:
The role was not written for Jon. Let me tell you something: it has been written for Jon now. That's one of the things we're really trying to do, is continue to play to his strengths, which are vast. One of the things that we realized is that we had a real bona fide star here, and so as we were breaking the stories, focusing on how it was affecting him for the first thirteen [episodes] had a lot to do with where we were going, because Jon has all of that experience from Two and a Half Men. This is a muscle that takes a second to really grow and strengthen, so putting stuff around him, he was really able to be the captain of the show.
Despite Jon Cryer as a natural fit to lead a sitcom from his years on Two and a Half Men and seemingly a pretty natural fit for Extended Family, the lead role in the new show wasn't written specifically for him. According to O'Malley, writing towards Cryer as Jim started early on in the process. That wasn't the only change from the original vision for the show, as Cryer shared that the Extended Family team initially wanted him for a different role. He said:
They originally approached me about playing the character that ended up being Trey, because there was a different sort of conception of who he was. But we read it, and I just was like, 'Dude, I'm Jim.'
Mike O'Malley went on to say that Cryer turned out to be "great at it" by bringing an "everyman" quality that was needed for Jim. Having watched every episode of Extended Family when I spoke with the duo on the SCAD TVfest red carpet, I noted that it was hard to imagine Cryer and Donald Faison switching roles. They explained what would have been different:
Mike O'Malley: "Well, for the character of Trip, one of the things that we were thinking about is... he was more of a tech guy, sort of almost like a Mark Zuckerberg character."
Jon Cryer: "A little bit awkward, a little bit socially unsure of himself."
It sounds like Jon Cryer's Trip would have been wealthy like Donald Faison's Trey is, but I definitely wouldn't describe the Celtics owner as a "Mark Zuckerberg character." All in all, it seems like Extended Family made changes for the best, since I can't imagine anybody other than Faison performing Trey's improvised love song in the finale. The star and the creator went on to describe what Cryer brought to the finished product of Jim:
Jon Cryer: "He's very comfortable with his flaws, which is a character I have not gotten to play in so long, and I love that about him."
Mike O'Malley: "And comfortable in pointing out other people's flaws as well! [laughs] And very, very sure of himself. That's what we've been writing towards as we've gone on."
So, will the Extended Family team have the opportunity to keep writing for Jon Cryer as Jim? For now, we can only wait for word from NBC about whether or not the sitcom will be renewed for Season 2. During the wait, you can always revisit the first season streaming via a Peacock Premium subscription now.
