Family Reunion (TV series)
Family Reunion is an American comedy television series created by Meg DeLoatch that was released via streaming on Netflix on July 10, 2019.[1] In September 2019, the series was renewed for a second season and a holiday special that premiered on December 9, 2019.[2] The remaining season 1 episodes were released on January 20, 2020.[3]
| Family Reunion | |
|---|---|
_Title_Card.jpg.webp) | |
| Genre | |
| Created by | Meg DeLoatch |
| Starring |
|
| Composer | Wendell Hanes |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 (2 parts) |
| No. of episodes | 20 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Meg DeLoatch |
| Producers |
|
| Cinematography | John Simmons |
| Editor | Russell Griffin |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 25–34 minutes |
| Production company | Mega Diva |
| Release | |
| Original network | Netflix |
| Original release | July 10, 2019 – present |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
Premise
Family Reunion follows a family of six who travel from Seattle, Washington to Columbus, Georgia for the McKellan Family Reunion and decide to stay in Columbus, Georgia to be closer to their family.[4]
Cast and characters
Main
- Tia Mowry as Cocoa McKellan, a mother of four who believes in new-age parenting
- Anthony Alabi as Moz McKellan, Cocoa's husband and a former tight end
- Talia Jackson as Jade McKellan, Cocoa and Moz's eldest daughter
- Isaiah Russell-Bailey as Shaka McKellan, Cocoa and Moz's older son
- Cameron J. Wright as Mazzi McKellan, Cocoa and Moz's younger son
- Jordyn Raya James as Ami McKellan, Cocoa and Moz's youngest daughter
- Loretta Devine as M'Dear, Moz's Deep Southern old-fashioned church-going mother, whose real name is "Amelia".
Recurring
- Richard Roundtree as Grandpa, M'Dear's husband for 43 years and Moz's father who is also a pastor
- Telma Hopkins as Maybelle, M'Dear's sister
- Lexi Underwood as Ava, Jade's friend from church
- Lance Alexander as Elvis, a family friend of the McKellan family who also has a crush on Jade
- Warren Burke as Daniel, Moz's brother
- Lindsey Da Sylveira as Mikayla
- Journey Carter as Renee, one of Jade's friends
Guest stars
- Erica Ash as Grace, Moz's sister
- Charlie Wilson as Himself
- Mark Curry as Principal Glass
- Amanda Detmer as Haven Sheeks
- Jaleel White as Eric
- Tempestt Bledsoe as Katrina
- DeLon Shaw as Missy, Jade's friend at school
- Jackée Harry as Aunt Dot, M'Dear and Maybelle's sister
- Peri Gilpin as Daphne, Cocoa's mother
- Kenya Moore as Herself
- Akira Akbar as Brooke, Shaka's friend at school
Episodes
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part 1 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | "Remember How This All Started?" | Eric Dean Seaton | Meg DeLoatch | July 10, 2019 | ||||||||
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Characters: M'dear, Cocoa, Moz, Jade, Shaka, Mazzi, Ami, Grandpa, Daniel, Maybelle, Elvis, Ava, Mikayla, Drew, Sister Carter The family consisting of mother Cocoa, father Moz, sons Mazzi and Shaka, as well as daughters Ami and Jade head to Columbus and stay with their grandma M'Dear and grandfather for the annual family reunion. Jade despises staying there and wants to go back to Seattle which annoys her family. All of them begin to adjust to M'Dear's lifestyle such as giving the kids punishments and going to church which they never do. After church, Jade meets a girl named Ava and her friend Drew, who Jade forms a crush on. Ava convinces Jade to go to a party where she spends time with Drew. At the party, Jade upsets some girls after she reveals her lack of knowledge on black history. The night continues to be a disaster when Cocoa and Moz end up finding out about Jade sneaking out and purposely embarrass her at the party. The next day, the McKellan family reunion takes place where Jade ends up seeing Drew, who is crashing the reunion because he is friends with Jade's cousin. Everyone has a good time and M'Dear beats Maybelle in a bake off extending her record. However, Jade finds out that M'Dear won with a store bought pie but agrees to hide this from everyone else in exchange for not getting a spanking after telling her off in front of the family. Seeing how happy their family is there, Moz and Cocoa decide to move to Columbus, which Jade comes to accept as she goofs off with her family. | ||||||||||||
| 2 | "Remember Charlie Wilson?" | Eric Dean Seaton | Beverly DeLoatch & Charity L. Miller | July 10, 2019 | ||||||||
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Characters: M'dear, Cocoa, Moz, Jade, Shaka, Mazzi, Ami, Grandpa, Charlie Wilson The family begins to unpack and settle in but not everyone is accepting the change as quickly. Jade has to share a room with Ami which she is not used to. Ami does crazy things in her sleep keeping Jade up all night. Refusing to live like this, she begins to move upstairs to the attic. Meanwhile, while the parents are together talking, Mazzi and Shaka discover an autograph signed by Charlie Wilson and M'Dear reveals that she was once involved with Wilson back in the day. She claims that she had helped him with a few things but never actually dated him. Grandpa gets furious and refuses to believe this and ignores M'Dear despite her attempts to explain. The boys ask Jade for help, in which she initially refuses, but agrees after M’Dear moves up to the attic with her and prevents Jade from sleeping, such as loudly praying to God for a long time and snoring in her sleep. They invite Wilson over to clear things up and confirms he didn't date M'Dear, causing M’Dear and Grandpa to reconcile. The Mckellans hang out with Wilson and sing his songs. | ||||||||||||
| 3 | "Remember Vacation Bible School?" | Jody Margolin Hahn | Adrienne Carter | July 10, 2019 | ||||||||
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Characters: M'dear, Cocoa, Moz, Jade, Shaka, Mazzi, Ami, Elvis, Ava Moz gets the kids go-karts but Cocoa is totally against having them. She claims that they will get hurt and bans them from being ridden. Moz ends up riding them with the kids but Ami gets a hurt knee and Mazzi hurts his hand but the three of them agree to not tell Cocoa. However, at dinner that night, Ami beings to limp and Mazzi eats with one hand which leads to Cocoa discovering the truth about the accidents. Meanwhile, M'Dear takes Jade and Shaka to Vacation Bible School where she challenges everyone to recite as many bible verses as possible with a certain word. She beats and humiliates everybody including Jade, Shaka and Elvis. Determined to beat M'Dear, Jade takes Shaka's suggestion and uses a bible verse app to cheat and ends up beating her. However, M'Dear decides to do this at church and before they begin she takes out Jade's earpiece causing her to lose the competition. Jade ends up confessing to everyone and apologizes to M’Dear, while the family hang out on the porch when the service is over. Cocoa is revealed to be injured from driving in the go-kart. | ||||||||||||
| 4 | "Remember When I Lost My Sister?" | Leonard R. Garner, Jr. | Ralph Greene | July 10, 2019 | ||||||||
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Characters: M'dear, Cocoa, Moz, Jade, Shaka, Ami, Maybelle, Elvis, Drew, Grayson, Lily, Sister Patty Jade takes Ami to the park and while she's there she meets up with Drew. While Ami and Drew's sister play together, Jade and Drew hang out. Eventually, the four of them meet at the movie theater but Drew and Jade end up watching a different movie alone leaving Ami and his sister behind. When Cocoa accompanies M'Dear to bible study, she unintentionally upsets the other women at the study by revealing that she didn't have a home church in Seattle, attempting to teach them about figures from other religious traditions, and encouraging them to read a book of Bahá'u'lláh. When Cocoa returns, M'Dear helps them accept Cocoa's beliefs, and the ladies end up opening up and are willing to learn from M'Dear. Meanwhile, Shaka hangs out with Grayson and Elvis and makes a bet with them to see who can stay in a creepy basement the longest. They end them screaming/getting freaked out by a lady (who is a part of M’Dear’s bible group) they found who they thought was dead but she wasn't. They ripped off her leg and she threatened to beat them with it. Shaka wins the bet but M’Dear reveals that Grayson is struggling and gives him some supplies including his sneakers which he would've won if Shaka had lost the bet. | ||||||||||||
| 5 | "Remember Grace Under Fire?" | Leonard R. Garner, Jr. | Chris Moore | July 10, 2019 | ||||||||
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Characters: M'dear, Cocoa, Moz, Jade, Shaka, Mazzi, Ami, Grandpa, Ava, Grace, Sue Ellen When Aunt Grace returns for a visit, she is greeted with love from everyone and agrees to take Cocoa to the Women's Revival she claims to be going to under the request of Moz. However, they end up going to Prettyboy's which is a teen/adult hangout. Coincidentally, Jade is there waiting with her friends for Drew to arrive as he asked her to hang out but snuck out in order to do so. She tries to hide from them and successfully leaves the hangout, but is disappointed to hear that Drew arrived after she left. While there, Grace encounters someone that she helped get into a relationship. After that, she reveals to Cocoa that she dropped out of the seminary she had supposedly been going to and M'Dear doesn't know. She's actually a matchmaker for people trying to find someone to connect with and Cocoa promises not to tell. When they get back, M'Dear and Grandpa discover they were at the hangout and begin to yell at them but are interrupted by a sudden kitchen fire. However, the next morning, Grandpa finds out Grace dropped out and resumes their fight. Meanwhile, the kids are held responsible for the fire and are grounded by Moz until the true culprit confesses. They investigate the kitchen fire and through a series of crazy theories it’s revealed that Shaka accidentally started it while playing a game and making a snack at the same time, but he reveals that he has dirt on everyone else so they promise not to tell. When Moz talks to them, the kids decide reveal what they are hiding. Grace leaves, but not before reconciling with her parents who accept her decisions and Shaka gets a spanking from M'Dear for starting the fire. | ||||||||||||
| 6 | "Remember That Crazy Road Trip?" | Eric Dean Seaton | Anthony C. Hill | July 10, 2019 | ||||||||
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Characters: M'dear, Cocoa, Moz, Jade, Shaka, Mazzi, Ami, Clyde, Angie, Parker, Elderly Man When the family is at a restaurant, they notice two people and immediately exit the place without telling M'Dear what was going on or why they left. After being forced to reveal their secrets, they tell M'Dear the story of their road trip to her house, which they claimed to be awful. It started with them renting an RV to drive to the house. After driving for a few hours, they found a place to eat where Jade met a cute guy named Parker. He ended up trying to set her up with his dad who was already married to two different women at the same time, and the family runs away in fear. Some time later, they blow a tire and a man crashes his car into their RV and escapes on a bike. The family meet a couple named Clyde and Angie in the woods and hang out with them at a campfire until the couple turns out to be crazy woods people and once again the family run away. The next morning, the whole family gets into a fight with a raccoon they initially presumed dead and barely escape. They reach M'Dear's house and show up as a mess. At the end of the story, however, M'Dear does not believe them and goes for a run, but comes running back to her house after she encounters Clyde and Angie, causing the family to run away again. | ||||||||||||
| 7 | "Remember the First Day of School?" | Eric Dean Seaton | Taylor Vaughn Lasley | July 10, 2019 | ||||||||
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Characters: M'dear, Cocoa, Moz, Jade, Shaka, Mazzi, Ami, Maybelle, Mikayla, Brooke, Missy, Principal Glass, Andres, Ms. Fink, Coach Wilson, Floyd It's the first day of school for all of the children and all of them end up in tough situations. After a mishap with registration, Mazzi poses as a fourth grader because he's not ready to go to fifth grade and the teacher gives out candy for students who answer questions correctly. Shaka gets a crush on a girl after finding her backpack. Jade as well as some of her friends get detention and suspended for three days after the principal who had served in the military declares their regular school outfits unacceptable. In detention, they discover that it is only the girls who face dress code violations while the boys are excused. This leads to Jade starting a protest in the hallway which involves Moz and Cocoa. Eventually, M’Dear joins as well and the protest leads to the principal revoking the suspensions he gave Jade and her friends and changes the dress code to allow their clothes in school. Moz finds Mazzi and after talking Mazzi is ready to start the fifth grade the proper way. Shaka also gives his crush's backpack to her and gets her phone number. | ||||||||||||
| 8 | "Remember Macho Mazzi?" | Kelly Park | Henry "Hank" Jones | July 10, 2019 | ||||||||
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Characters: M'dear, Cocoa, Moz, Jade, Mazzi, Daniel, Maybelle, Haven Sheeks, Coach Atkins, Chad Mazzi is making treats for his Uncle Daniel and Moz and they all have a good time together. When Mazzi leaves, he overhears Moz joke about his status as a musician, unintentionally hurting Mazzi’s feelings. Wanting to impress his father, he decides to try out for his school's football team and makes the cut. However, after playing for a while, he starts to act meaner towards the crowd during the games and begins to treat others disrespectfully including Cocoa. Moz confronts him which ends up with Mazzi revealing that he overheard him and Moz apologizes for his statements while Mazzi revisits playing an instrument. Meanwhile, Jade decides to enter the town's beauty pageant and hires a former beauty queen yet self-absorbed coach who focuses on a person's looks rather than their true self. She then reveals that she only wanted to coach Jade because of her skin tone, which would improve the coach’s status if Jade won. This ends up with Jade wearing a brown afro wig, big hoop earrings, and a spray tan that covers her natural skin color, all of which she doesn't like. Cocoa engages in an argument with Jade's pageant coach and tells her off while mentioning to Jade that she's beautiful by being herself and doesn't need the wig or spray tan. Jade, realizing her mother was right, fires the coach and competes without those items, effectively winning the pageant. Jade, Cocoa and her family celebrate the victory on the porch with Mazzi’s cookies. | ||||||||||||
| 9 | "Remember Black Elvis?" | Eric Dean Seaton | Howard Jordan, Jr. | July 10, 2019 | ||||||||
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Characters: M'dear, Cocoa, Moz, Jade, Shaka, Mazzi, Ami, Daniel, Maybelle, Mikayla, Debra Sue, Sister Baker, Solomon, Fannie Joe, Francine, Lena, Tommy, Brooklyn Slim, Young M'dear, Young Maybelle, Young Grandpa, Paul Jade takes a locket from M'Dear's room and wears it to school. Her friends see a photo of two people in the picture and when they ask Jade who they are she doesn't know. M'Dear then tells the kids a story about their ancestors from many years ago. The people in the photo were former slaves who had managed to successfully escape and have a daughter together and even started the tradition of hanging a ribbon on a certain broom when the other married their lover. The locket was then passed down from several people with their own stories including M'Dear's Aunt who was part of a club as a singer and was nearly assaulted by a mobster until she was saved by the club’s white owner, whom she loved. M’Dear reveals her own story of the locket, having lost it at a party but it was returned to her by a young Grandpa, leading to their budding relationship. At the end of the story, Jade and Ami fight over who will get the locket next, but M'Dear tells the girls that she already promised the locket to Aunt Grace. However, she agrees to let them in on another family tradition: the matrimonial jumping of the McKellan family broom. Meanwhile, Cocoa and Moz are revisiting the day of their wedding and spend the night dancing at a club which ends up with Cocoa punching Daniel's obsessive and crazy date in the face. When Cocoa and Moz get home, they tell the kids that the two of them didn't have a church wedding and after thinking Cocoa proposes to Moz that they remarry and he accepts. | ||||||||||||
| 10 | "Remember When Our Boys Became Men?" | Robbie Countryman | Lia Prewitt-Martin | July 10, 2019 | ||||||||
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Characters: M'dear, Cocoa, Moz, Jade, Shaka, Mazzi, Grandpa, Elvis, Ava, Renee, Drew, Kurt, Eric, Katrina, Officer Whitman M'Dear introduces Jade to a new boy named Kurt and asks her to show him around town since he just moved. At first, Jade is totally against this but after meeting him she starts to like him as a friend. They hang out on the porch and talk, tell jokes to one another and even go to Prettyboy's where they play chess. While they are there, Jade encounters Drew, who becomes suspicious of her and Kurt’s friendship and bails on the bowling date he had asked her to earlier in the episode. Jade, deciding not to cry on this rejection, decides to ask Kurt out, but it is revealed that he has started dating Ava, leading to a rivalry between the two. Meanwhile, Mazzi and Shaka start mowing lawns with Elvis to earn money for a PlayStation but when they try to get inside the house after finishing a cop finds them and handcuffs them at the house. That night, Cocoa is forced to explain that the situation was based on their skin color. The next day, the boys refuse to go outside out of fear of encountering the cop again, but Grandpa surprises them with a PlayStation, lifting their spirits. A few days later, while coming home from a trivia game night, the same cop pulls Moz over despite him doing nothing wrong, angrily explaining how Moz’s file of complaint against him almost cost him his job. Cocoa then decides that this town is no longer safe and that they will be moving back to Seattle. | ||||||||||||
| Special | ||||||||||||
| 11 | "A Family Reunion Christmas" | Robbie Countryman | Sa'Rah L. Jones | December 9, 2019 | ||||||||
| Part 2 | ||||||||||||
| 12 | "Remember the Dance Battle?" | Morenike Joela | Anthony C. Hill | January 20, 2020 | ||||||||
| 13 | "Remember When Daddy Came Home?" | Eric Dean Seaton | Ralph Greene | January 20, 2020 | ||||||||
| 14 | "Remember Our Parents' Wedding?" | Richard Lyons | Adrienne Carter | January 20, 2020 | ||||||||
| 15 | "Remember When Jade Was Down with the Swirl?" | Angela Gomes | Taylor Vaughn Lasley | January 20, 2020 | ||||||||
| 16 | "Remember When Shaka Got Beat Up?" | Juanesta Carlota Holmes | Henry "Hank" Jones & Chris Moore | January 20, 2020 | ||||||||
| 17 | "Remember the G Club?" | Jody Margolin Hahn | Howard Jordan, Jr. | January 20, 2020 | ||||||||
| 18 | "Remember Cousin Kenya?" | Kelly Park | Sa'Rah L. Jones & Lia Prewitt-Martin | January 20, 2020 | ||||||||
| 19 | "Remember M'dear's Fifteen Minutes?" | Eric Dean Seaton | Judy Dent | January 20, 2020 | ||||||||
| 20 | "Remember When the Party Was Over?" | Eric Dean Seaton | Meg DeLoatch | January 20, 2020 | ||||||||
Production
Development
On October 17, 2018, it was announced that Netflix had given the production a straight-to-series order for a first season consisting of twenty episodes. The series was created by Meg DeLoatch who was also expected to executive produce. Production began in Los Angeles.[4][5] The first part was released on July 10, 2019.[1] On September 17, 2019, Netflix renewed the series for a second season consisting of sixteen episodes. It was also announced that there will be a holiday special that was released on December 9, 2019 and the nine extra season 1 episodes were released on January 20, 2020.[2][3]
Casting
Alongside the initial series announcement, it was reported that Tia Mowry, Loretta Devine, Anthony Alabi, Talia Jackson, Isaiah Russell-Bailey, Cameron J. Wright, and Jordyn James had been cast in series regular roles.[4][5]
Reception
The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 67% approval rating for the series, based on 6 reviews, with an average rating of 5/10.[6]
References
- Ramos, Dino-Ray (June 14, 2019). "Meg DeLoatch Assembles All-Black Writers Room For Netflix's 'Family Reunion' Starring Tia Mowry And Loretta Devine". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
- Bennett, Anita (September 17, 2019). "Netflix Renews 'Family Reunion' For Second Season". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved October 3, 2019.
- Mallenbaum, Carly (December 11, 2019). "Netflix's January 2020 list: New seasons of 'Grace and Frankie,' 'Sabrina'". USA Today. Retrieved December 13, 2019.
- Andreeva, Nellie (October 17, 2018). "Tia Mowry & Loretta Devine Star In 'Family Reunion' Comedy Series Ordered By Netflix". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved October 17, 2018.
- Goldberg, Lesley (October 17, 2018). "Tia Mowry, Loretta Devine to Star in Netflix Comedy 'Family Reunion'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 17, 2018.
- "Family Reunion: Part 1 (2019)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved September 12, 2019.
External links
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