The First Family (TV series)


The First Family is an American sitcom that debuted in first-run syndication in the United States on September 22, 2012. Created by Byron Allen and produced by Allen's production company Entertainment Studios, the series is the first situation comedy to air in first-run syndication since the 2000 cancellation of Malibu, CA.

Premise

The series centers on William Johnson, a Democrat who attempts to balance his family life with his wife Katherine and their two sons and two daughters as they adjust to living in the White House, while maintaining his duties as the second African-American and 45th President of the United States. William, in turn, also has to deal with other family members, including his father Alvin and his boisterous sister-in-law Pauletta, who despite their constant bickering will sometimes partner up for various schemes.

Cast

Main cast

Production

The First Family is primarily syndicated to stations affiliated with The CW and MyNetworkTV and to independent stations for broadcast in weekend primetime timeslots. The series was supposed to produce a total of 104 episodes, borrowing a similarly-formatted episode order as several sitcoms produced and distributed by Debmar-Mercury, such as Tyler Perry's House of Payne and Anger Management. The series, which was sold as part of a two-hour comedy block with Mr. Box Office, was initially picked up by stations owned by Tribune Broadcasting, Weigel Broadcasting and CBS Television Stations; by May 2012, the program had been sold to stations in markets covering approximately 85% of the United States.
Although the series centers around an African-American president and his family, show creator and executive producer Byron Allen denies that former U.S. president Barack Obama and his family served as the basis for the Johnson family in the series, noting major differences between the show's fictional Johnson family and the real-life Obama family: the William Johnson character is written as being the 45th president, the Johnsons moved to Washington from Detroit, the family in the series has four children and that the family's dog is a Golden Retriever.

Syndication

On April 4, 2013, Centric acquired the cable syndication rights to all past and future episodes of The First Family, along with Mr. Box Office, with both series began airing on the channel on April 19, 2013.

Accolades