The battles of an ‘American Family’

The extremely well-intended “American Family” returns to PBS after a long absence with a whole new format and a brand-new mission.

Writer-director Gregory Nava (“El Norte,” “Selena”) has reconceived the formerly episodic drama -- once left for dead by CBS until PBS and sponsor Johnson & Johnson recognized its cultural significance and fished it out of the bulrushes -- as a 13-episode miniseries thematically hitched to the war in Iraq. It ships out Sunday.

Nava has said that in this second season he wants the rifts in this particular American family to reflect the divide that exists within America, especially when it comes to the war. And that it does, though with glaring earnestness.

Still starring Edward James Olmos as Jess Gonzalez, patriarch of the still sprawling, somewhat excitable Mexican American clan from East L.A., “American Family” emits a fusty melting-pot redolence that feels a tad outdated in the post-assimilation global village. It’s as if “American Family” isn’t celebrating diversity -- always a nice idea -- as much as going on a 13-episode celebratory bender.

Self-consciously epic, “American Family” kicks off with a show-offish, 38-minute shot that begins in some dusty, sepia-toned Mexican past and ends in a wedding. A boisterous wedding. In which the authoritarian patriarch’s favorite son is in uniform. Meanwhile, the crane swoops and swings so vertiginously that for a moment it seems as if an actual deranged heron might have made off with the camera.

The story begins in 1915. The Mexican revolution is raging, and Adela Gonzalez (Patricia Velasquez) is baptizing her youngest child when soldiers storm the village. (An opening title card explains that Adela will subsequently lead her children to “America,” by which it means the United States. Want to annoy a Latin American? Co-opt the name of the entire continent.)

The film then cuts to present-day East L.A., where Adela’s great-grandson Esteban (Esai Morales) is celebrating his wedding to Ofelia (Kate del Castillo). The whole Gonzalez family is in attendance; eldest son Conrado (Yancey Arias), an Army doctor who is shipping out to Iraq, the next day; daughter Vangie (Rachel Ticotin), a clothing designer who is skipping town for New York; other daughter Nina (Constance Marie), a liberal attorney -- we know she’s liberal because Jess keeps calling her one in an angry, accusatory voice; her politics shred his nerves like a cheese grater -- and youngest son Cisco (Parker Torres) a cringingly effusive filmmaker who is supposed to be chronicling the wedding but is easily sidetracked by shrubbery.

(“Who’s the director here, anyway?” he shoots back at his sister when she demands he focus on the bride and the groom. “The ants on that tree are great! There’s this whole life cycle going on. It’s rejuvenating!”)

Also present at the wedding and throughout are the Gonzalezes’ many fond memories, haunting flashbacks and paranormal experiences.

Grandma Adela seems to relentlessly haunt the East L.A. Craftsman bungalow, especially the memento-stocked attic. No wonder so much of the dialogue is expository -- this family spends so much time inside their heads, they need to catch each other up on what’s going on every time they talk.

And if much of the dialogue is clunky and inapplicable -- well, their emotions are too intense, and “American Family’s” message too important, to be trusted to subtext.

Still, “American Family” can be charming in its earnestness. Nina and Jess’ fights over politics -- he insists that she support the war now that her brother is stationed abroad; she counters that it’s a free country and she can think what she wants -- are painfully on the nose but at least they’re fair and balanced.

“American Family” paints mostly in broad strokes and primary colors, though there are some promising story lines on the horizon.

Former gang member Esteban’s new life may be threatened by the reappearance of a former shady acquaintance named Shady (Jesse Borrego.) And though it’s still too soon to tell, the miniseries format could serve it well. There’s a rather intriguing friendship brewing between Nina and the family’s Catholic priest -- “The Thorn Birds,” anyone? -- but “American Family” would be well served to lay off the magical realism. Nobody needs to be haunted by another Latin cliche in the attic.

*

‘American Family: Journey of Dreams’

Where: KCET

When: 7 p.m. Sunday

Rating: The network has rated the series TV-PG (may be unsuitable for young children).

Edward James Olmos...Jess Gonzalez

Constance Marie...Nina Gonzalez

Esai Morales...Esteban Gonzalez

Yancey Arias...Conrado Gonzalez

Creator, writer, director: Gregory Nava. Executive producers: Nava, Robert Greenblatt, David Janollari, Eric L. Gold and Barbara Martinez Jitner.