Backstabbing and bad form: It’s all for show in ‘The Family’

If “Big Brother” and “The Sopranos” were able to conceive a child, their 10-headed offspring would be ABC’s “The Family.”

The latest “reality” offering, premiering tonight at 10, takes members of a middle-class family and puts them in the lap of luxury: a 20,000-square-foot mansion on a 40-acre Palm Beach estate, complete with an English butler, French chef, personal trainer, stylist, social secretary and other servants straight from Central Casting.

Of course, human nature (and network TV) being what it is, this paradise has a major hitch: During the family members’ 10-week stay, they will compete against one another for a $1-million prize, testing whether blood is “thicker than money,” as ABC terms this experiment in backstabbing.

Furthermore, once excluded from the family fortune, the losers aren’t allowed to leave the mansion until the 10 weeks are up, so they will be forced to face the consequences of their actions on camera rather than at Thanksgiving.

Though the family members choose who is subject to disqualification, the ultimate decision is rendered by a secret council, which, unbeknownst to the competitors, is composed of the house staff. Talk about your classist revenge fantasies.

To be sure, there are some colorful characters in this well-warmed-over format: the staff, ranging from the worldly wise maid to the prissy social secretary (“After the first formal dinner, Mike reinserted his folded napkin, dirty, into the napkin ring,” he sniffs); the palooka participants; and the Mr. Roarke-like host, that bronze vivant, George Hamilton, who’s made a lengthy career out of parodying himself.

There is no indication that any of the 10 members of the extended family here is any way connected with the Mafia. Given that they are extremely Italian and from the New York-New Jersey area ... well, that’s apparently evidence enough to justify giving the show a “Sopranos”-”Godfather” vibe, down to the font of the title credits.

As far as we know, none of the competitions involves horses’ heads or cement galoshes. But there’s something about this program that’s fishier than a steaming bowl of cioppino.