American Dreams made Brittany Snow a movie star. After starring on that show, she did the movies John Tucker Must Die, Hairspray, Prom Night and the Pitch Perfect films. She’s returned to television since, as a regular on Harry’s Law and appearances on Ben and Kate or Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Now she hopes her new show Almost Family lasts at least three years like American Dreams and even longer.
Snow plays Julia Bechley, the daughter of a fertility doctor (Timothy Hutton). Julia learns her father used his own sperm to impregnate clients, and now she has siblings all over the country. Snow spoke with reporters after the Almost Family panel for the Television Critics Association. Almost Family airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on fox.
How ‘Almost Family’ is like ‘American Dreams’
American Dreams was set in the ‘60s. Almost Family is present day, but Snow says both deal with relevant issues.
“The last time I was on TV where it was told from my point of view was on a show called American Dreams,” Snow said. “Ever since then I’ve always been looking for a show that had really interesting relationships and subject matter, but also really dealt with issues that I could dig my teeth into a little bit. It was hard to find something like that for a long time.”
Movies provided those opportunities for years but Snow is happy to be back on television.
“I chose a different path and now that I’ve found a show that is a lot like American Dreams in a way about family and a specific time,” Snow said. “This is not a period show but it’s about what’s happening now. I think that’s why it interested me. I do feel a responsibility to make sure that that’s told right.”
The sensitive subject of ‘Almost Family’ has to be handled just right
What the doctor did on Almost Family is a crime, and a crime that has happened to real women in fertility clinics. Almost Family explores the bonds Julia finds with her new sisters, and there are comic moments, but she takes the subject matter seriously.
“I think that it is a topic that is not only very in the news and topical, but I think also we have to handle it with care because this is something that happens to people in their lives. We want to make sure that that is told and scene in the right way. Especially because this is a disruptive thing and it’s a moral injustice, we talked to the creators a lot about wanting to make sure that even though there’s light and comedy in this, it all comes from a grounded and real place where these are people trying to get by and figuring it out. The comedy comes from that and not trying to make fun of this topic.”
Julia might have slept with her own brother
Before the scandal occurs, Julia hooks up with a man in a bar. Later, that man walks into the office for a DNA test. If he turns out to be one of Julia’s father’s children, that makes them brother and sister.
“It definitely evolves,” Snow said. “It’s an ongoing story about why that happened, how that happened, how insanely unethical that is. I think for Julia, she really likes to be warm to people and embrace people. That’s the storyline that she’s having to deal with of why did I let myself do before I thought. I think that’s something she’s dealing with as a human. It’s also kind of funny I guess maybe. Or gross.”
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