There have been about as many shows about seemingly dysfunctional families as there have been about cops. However, ABC’s Sons & Daughters took the cake for two reasons: its simply sprawling scope, and the fact that had actual relatable characters instead of just half-cocked caricatures. At the center of the madness was the neurotic Cameron Walker (series creator Fred Goss). Cameron was happily married to Liz (Mad TV‘s Gillian Vigman), with whom he was raising their son Ezra and Henry (Trevor Einhorn), his son from his first marriage. Cameron’s sister Sharon (Allison Quinn) had married Don Fenton (Jerry Lambert, now best known as “Kevin Butler” in all those PlayStation commercials), with whom she’d had two kids – brainy Carrie (The Middle‘s Eden Sher) and airheaded jock Jeff (Randy Wayne) – before the spark went out of their relationship. Cameron’s younger sister Jenna (Amanda Walsh), who fancied herself a famous singer, was really a waitress after being knocked up in high school by town idiot Tommy “Whitey” White (Office Space‘s Greg Pitts) had left her a single mom and oblivious to the fact that her adorable boss, Wylie Blake (a pre-Dexter Desmond Harrington), had a crush on her. Lording over all of this were Cameron’s parents Colleen (Dee Wallace-Stone) and Wendal (the always great to see Max Gail). Oh, and did I mention they made all this up as they went along?! Yep. As the voice-over was keen to tell us each week, “The dialogue in Sons & Daughters is partially improvised,” meaning the cast worked off an outline of plot points and was free to say or do whatever to get to them. Whose Line Is It Anyway, eat your heart out.

This endearing, hilarious comedy had a stellar cast from top to bottom, led by an Emmy-worthy (he was actually on TV Guide‘s dream Emmy ballot for the 2006 season) performance by Fred Goss. These were people you might not have heard of, but they were great at riffing off each other while pretending to take everything perfectly seriously. Jerry Lambert and Allison Quinn were both a dozen different kinds of crazy and it was amazing. I remember hearing that Desmond Harrington had joined the show and thinking, “What? This guy’s going to be on a sitcom? He doesn’t do sitcoms!” Yet as the straight man who sometimes had no idea what was going on, he was nothing short of brilliant, and I have no idea why he hasn’t done more comedy, because he honestly has a talent for it. Case in point, a scene from the pilot in which Whitey turns up and causes a scene at the restaurant:

Jenna: I am really sorry.
Wylie: It’s fine. Let’s just hope he never procreates.
Jenna: (awkward half-beat) He’s the father of my child.
Wylie: Oh, my God. Great, that’s…Smooth. I’m so sorry. I apologize. (another awkward pause) What did you ever see in him?
Jenna: He was cool in high school.
Wylie: (totally not believing himself) …I was cool in high school too.

The show was a bunch of great actors being let loose to do anything and everything, and the result was something special – whether it was rooting for the nice guy Wylie as he pined for a completely oblivious Jenna, or laughing way too hard at Cameron being forced to sing Black Sabbath during a karaoke night, or the heartwrenching appearance of Cameron’s ex to claim her son in the unaired finale “Paige Returns.”

I had the pleasure of meeting and becoming friends with Fred Goss while this show was on the air, and as a result, getting to meet some of the cast at an event toward the end of its run, which is how I can say that this was a special group of sweet, funny, witty people – and that showed through on the screen. What you saw was genuine in a way no other show could be, because more than any other show, Sons & Daughters was left in the hands, hearts and minds of its talented cast. I still get excited when I see Jerry Lambert in those commercials, because I remember Don Fenton. Even the theme song (Cheap Trick’s “Surrender”) still makes me smile. Too bad there were only ten episodes.

Sadly, because of music rights issues, it looks like Sons & Daughters will never see DVD (though some clips remain on YouTube).

Source