‘Parenthood’

Over the last two decades, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer have been pitched countless TV versions of their 1989 film “Parenthood,” the sometimes comedic and often daunting look at parenting.

A half-hour comedy about the movie’s dysfunctional Buckman clan got off the ground in 1990 but lasted only 12 episodes.

TV’s second shot at “Parenthood,” which premieres March 1 at 9 p.m. on NBC, comes from writer-producer Jason Katims, who sought to hew closely to the original’s designs: A sprawling ensemble drama made up of keenly observed moments of modern familial strife.

“The emotional truths of that movie are what remain,” said Peter Krause, who plays a role loosely based on Steve Martin’s über-conscientious parent. “Less big iconic moments, more small, everyday vignettes.”

The film’s Buckmans are now the Bravermans, three generations of family anchored by four adult siblings played by Krause, as a husband and father of two kids, one of whom has special needs; Lauren Graham, a divorced, harried mother of two; Erika Christensen, a lawyer whose husband is a full-time Mr. Mom; and Dax Shepard, a commitment-phobe and family black sheep.

It’s a decidedly bittersweet and even low-key approach to family drama at a time when successful shows such as “Big Love,” “Brothers & Sisters” and “Desperate Housewives” rely on fevered tension and soap-operatic twists to keep audiences engaged.

But that isn’t Katims’ style: His high school football drama series “Friday Night Lights” continues to earn raves from critics who praise its focus on the fine details of small-town American life.

“Jason is never trying to appease anyone at the network or make an imaginary audience happy,” Krause said. “He’s just going to make it as honest as possible.”

Honest as well as personal. In the first episode of “Parenthood,” Adam (Krause) and his wife, Kristina (Monica Potter), find out that their 8-year-old son, Max, has Asperger’s syndrome, a moment to which Katims can relate, having gone through a similar experience when his own son was diagnosed with the high-functioning form of autism.

“It’s particularly personal,” Katims said, “but that’s what’s so great about this material. There are endless stories coming up in the writers room, ranging from hilarious to embarrassing to sad. . . . The trick is making sure they ring true in the show.”

NBC is already convinced, having stuck by Katims through the low ratings of “Friday Night Lights” (the network engineered a deal with DirecTV to keep the show on the air through next year), and numerous setbacks to “Parenthood,” the biggest of which was having Graham step in to replace actress Maura Tierney when breast cancer forced her to drop the project.

“Parenthood” marks Graham’s return to TV post-”Gilmore Girls,” the quirky small-town drama that ran for several years in which she played a young mom who indulged in a playful but ultimately mature relationship with her teenage daughter.

The nuanced notes of that relationship and the dynamics between the Bravermans are not so different, Graham said. At the outset of the show, her character, Sarah, a broke mom with a deadbeat rocker ex, moves herself and her two teen- age kids to her parents’ house in Berkeley.

“Sarah’s kind of a mess, and it’s nice to see that,” Graham said. “The show’s got these rough edges and a certain reality to it that, honest to God, is really hard on television because these kinds of characters always end up having to be a hero.”

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