Meet The Family

[blondie44]

Meet The Family

Starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Karen Murphy, a happily married fortysomething mother of three daughters living in her Chicago suburb hometown. Karen's loving husband, Mark (Steve Carell) works as a general practioner with his own practice downtown, as Karen works out of her home as a private baker with a catering company of her own which is in it's beginning stages currently. Mark and Karen have three daughters: the 15-year-old Lena (Miley Cyrus), the 12-year-old Allison (Abigail Breslin), and the 10-year-old Emma (Ryan Newman). Each of their daughters is truly different and their personalities often clash with each other, causing many headaches for their parents. Mark's brother and sister-in-law, Jack and Kim (Eric McCormack, Lea Thompson) live across town with their 18-year-old son, Travis (Zac Efron), who just can't wait to move out and go away to college in fall. Jack and Kim are real close-knit with Mark and Karen, despite their differences. Jack is a highly successful attorney (which always won the praise from their parents), and Kim comes from a family with money and works as a head chairperson for a charity of hers (which makes Karen feel like second fiddle when around her). Also living in town and often around to meddle (and cause more stress) in Mark and Karen's lives are Mark (and Jack)'s newly-retired parents, Jerry and Audrey (John Mahoney, Dianne Wiest). Jerry is constantly stepping in and indirectly trying to control his son (Mark)'s life (at home and at work). Audrey often butts her nose into the family's businesses and Karen's mothering techniques and her numerous attempts at "finding the easiest way to parent" (as Audrey comments), thus causing Karen more stress and headaches. The only two stress-free relatives of Mark and Karen are Mark's maternal aunt, Patsy (Kathy Bates) and Karen's brother's illegimate daughter/her niece, Theresa (Sara Gilbert). Patsy is a long-time peacemaker in the Murphy clan, she is a twice-widow. Her first husband died a week after their honeymoon of heart complications, and her second husband died a few years ago after a long battle of cancer. Patsy has had no children with either husband, and has always thought of her nephews (Mark and Jack) as her "surrogate" sons. As for Theresa, her father had gotten a girl pregnant with her when he was a teenager. Years later, he met and married someone else, and started a new family with her, which Theresa didn't feel like she belonged. So Theresa matured quickly and became independent early on, yet always remaining close-knit with her aunt Karen. Theresa now works as the office manager down at Mark's medical practice. Watch how Mark and Karen battle everyday life with such a hectic, large, and stress-causing family of which they truly love.


Cast of Characters:
Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Karen Murphy
Steve Carell as Mark Murphy
Sara Gilbert as Theresa Reiser
Eric McCormack as Jack Murphy
Lea Thompson as Kim Murphy
Zac Efron as Travis Murphy
Miley Cyrus as Lena Murphy
Abigail Breslin as Allison Murphy
Ryan Newman as Emma Murphy
Dianne Wiest as Audrey Murphy
John Mahoney as Jerry Murphy
Kathy Bates as Patsy Stone