“Almost Family” will not be returning for a second season on Fox.
The series starred Timothy Hutton, against whom an allegation of rape has recently come to light, as a fertility doctor who used his own sperm to conceive more than 100 children over the course of his career. Fox had moved the series to Saturday from its regular Wednesday time slot in mid-January, a pretty obvious signal it was unlikely to last more than 13 episodes.
Brittany Snow starred as one of the aforementioned offspring who united her half siblings, including Megalyn Echikunwoke and Emily Osment, to try and deal with issues that have been affecting their lives. Mustafa Elzein, Mo McRae, and Victoria Cartagena also starred.
“Almost Family” was created by Jason Katims and Annie Weisman and based on the Endemol Shine Australia series “Sisters,” created by Jonathan Gavin and Imogen Banks. Weisman was a writer and executive producer with Katims, Banks, Jeni Mulein, and Sharon Levy. Leslye Headland directed the pilot and also executive produced. The series hailed from Universal Television in association with Endemol Shine North America and Fox Entertainment.
Across its 13 episodes, the series averaged a 0.44 rating among adults 18-49 and 1.5 million Live+Same Day viewers. That places it at the very bottom of Fox’s scripted ratings charts. Its first nine episodes, which aired on Wednesdays, averaged a 0.7 rating and 2.5 million viewers after seven of delayed viewing.
Popular on Variety
In his review of the show, Variety critic Daniel D’Addario commented that “sometimes, a series can’t overcome the fundamental grossness of its premise, no matter what else it has to offer,” and that was the case with “Almost Family.”
“In attempting to jump past the inhumanity to arrive at unearned lessons about how family can be frustrating but rewarding, ‘Almost Family’ reveals itself as a show with nothing to say at all,” wrote D’Addario.
