ABC’s Off-Kilter Family, Making Up the Dialogue as It Goes Along

(NY Times) – “They really let us create the show we wanted to create," Fred Goss was saying about ABC's approach to "Sons & Daughters," the quirky new comedy in which he stars. But he was being only half accurate. The show may have made it to the air with its quirkiness intact, but the original pitch dif-fered from the final product in one glaring way: Mr. Goss wasn't in it. The initial idea was for Mr. Goss to direct episodes of the show, which he created with Nick Holly. But "Sons & Daughters," which has its premiere on Tuesday, is no typical sitcom – the performances and dialogue are largely improvised by the actors, which means casting the series took extra care. Many audition tapes were made, with Mr. Goss's disembodied voice on them, coaching and playing against the auditioners. Gradually it became clear who the lead should be. And so Mr. Goss (who ended up directing some episodes as well) is Cameron, the man at the center of the extended and somewhat fractured family chronicled in the show. The material is not pure improvisation, but much of the dialogue is created by the actors on the spur of the moment. That gives the show a deliberately ragged, hand-held-camera kind of appearance that sets it apart from scripted series. "We have no choice but to make our show look documentary," Mr. Goss said, "because the camera people don't know who's going to talk next." The improvised format also makes for some in-tensive sessions in the editing room. "Basically the show is a puzzle,” Mr. Goss said. “There are a lot of different ways to assemble it, and there is no one right way." "Sons & Daughters" is the accidental prod-uct of an unrelated pitch Mr. Goss and Mr. Holly made to ABC for a project called "The Weekend," which was eventually snapped up by NBC but not produced. It, too, used a partly improvised structure, and Mr. McPherson was intrigued. Mr. Goss's Cameron has children, in-laws, parents, stepparents and practically every other genealogical possibility, and the storylines have a sprawling, freewheeling quality. Adding to the boldness of "Sons & Daughters" are the ages of the improvisational talent. Several of the actors are children – Trevor Einhorn as Cameron's odd teenage son, Henry, for instance, and Eden Sher as his tweener niece, Carrie. But, Mr. Goss noted, role-playing is, literally, child's play. "Kids are the most natural improvisers," he said. "They totally commit."