‘American Family’ to be revived

It was neither easy nor quick, and it didn’t happen until a newcomer to the complex world of funding for public broadcasting stepped forward. But now, after several delays and some near-death experiences, Gregory Nava’s acclaimed series “American Family” is coming back to public television.

The Public Broadcasting Service and KCET have committed to 13 new episodes of the Latino drama that will begin airing in April. They will be preceded by reruns of the most recent nine episodes, which will start airing in the fall, in the show’s new family-friendly time slot of 7 p.m. Sundays. PBS is expected to announce the relaunch of “American Family” today.

The drama, which follows an extended East L.A. family and stars Edward James Olmos, Raquel Welch, Constance Marie, Sonia Braga and Esai Morales, among others, has picked up an additional sponsor, the anti-smoking nonprofit American Legacy Foundation. Johnson & Johnson, which was the sole corporate underwriter for the first episodes, is also returning.

“American Family” started life in 2000 as a CBS pilot for what would have been network TV’s first Latino drama. When CBS passed, PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the nonprofit that administers federal funds for public broadcasting, stepped in to rescue it.

CPB committed a significant sum of close to $16 million to get the show launched, seeing it as a way to serve the fast-growing Latino audience. “If they don’t see themselves on the screen, they’re not going to watch,” said Frank Cruz, Laguna Niguel-based CPB board member and CPB’s then-chairman.

Still, the producers had to do some serious budget-cutting to retool it for commercial-free PBS, which began airing 13 episodes in 2001. The stars agreed to reduced salaries, and shooting schedules were adjusted for those who have other jobs, such as “NYPD Blue” cast member Morales. The show performed well enough that nine additional episodes were made to finish out the first season. Telemundo acquired U.S. Spanish-language rights for the 22 episodes, but so far has no plans to air them.

Piecing together the money for a second season at a time when corporate and foundation funding is drying up took time. PBS President Pat Mitchell said the programmer missed three deadlines to put the deal together, partly delayed by negotiations to take back international rights from Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution. “In any other circumstance, the actors would have said goodbye, but every time they gave us an extension, which says a lot about wanting to make it work on PBS,” she said.

Johnson & Johnson was eager to sponsor more episodes, because of the show’s appeal to families of all heritages, said Andrea Alstrup, corporate vice president for advertising at the health-care products company. But it couldn’t put in as much money this round. CPB stepped in with extra money to cover a shortfall when PBS hit one snag. And additional funding was secured from American Legacy, which is putting in several million dollars, its first PBS underwriting deal.

The foundation, which is funded by money from state lawsuits against the big tobacco companies, says its mission is “building a world where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit.” American Legacy liked the targeted audience that it hopes its anti-smoking message will reach with the show, said Cheryl Healton, Legacy’s president and chief executive. Legacy’s research, she said, suggests that “in order to reach the Latino culture it’s important to find venues where the family is sitting together, because in Latino culture, parents’ and grandparents’ views matter more and are taken more seriously.”

“We feel so very positively about the message this show sends about Latino families,” Healton added. “We try to be places we consider cultural icons, and this is a trend-setting show” in treating the Latino family fairly, she said, noting, if it were on network television, “we’d be advertising.”

American Legacy’s commitment is for three years and is valued at about $4 million. The money will go toward sponsoring the program as well as public service announcements from cast members.

For CPB, the appeal is reaching new Latino audiences, but also more broadly in bringing “high-quality drama” to public television, said Michael Pack, CPB’s senior vice president of television programming. “I think it’s a good drama,” he said. “It’s a story about people.” CPB put in two seasons of money upfront, he said, knowing it would take some time to catch on. He’s hopeful the show will eventually become self-sustaining.

Nava, who first gained notice with his 1984 independent film “El Norte” and later directed “Selena,” is putting together a complex plot line for the new season, less episodic and more mini-series-like. It will weave the family’s day-to-day life together with stories of the family’s roots in Mexico during the Mexican Revolution, and the experiences of eldest son Conrado as a military doctor in Iraq during the recent war. Much of it, even the Iraq scenes, will be shot on location in Mexico.

For Latino storytellers, “the past and present are almost like the same thing, because the past affects everything we do now,” Nava said. The “epic story” of how the Gonzalez family got to the U.S. from Mexico, he said, has a parallel in “every home in America.” Both the family’s past and Conrado’s war service, he said, reflect themes of the sacrifices people make and the meaning of freedom.

The show will continue to remain funny, he said. “It will be just as nutty, just as crazy as it’s always been, but it will be everyday life played out on a larger canvas, and it will have more meaning.”

He might have a larger audience on commercial TV, but Nava said he’s happy with the creative freedom at PBS. “I don’t just want to do season two, churning them out. I’ve done 22 with one concept so I want to do something totally different. PBS is a very exciting world to be working in. The ratings are not so important -- although we’ve had pretty good numbers -- but they are looking for many other things.”