It is easy for a television show to strengthen sensationalism when adapting a real criminal history. For the producers of Hulu “Good American family,” But the hope was that the horror at the center of Natalia Grace’s tragic adoption case would challenge viewers to go beyond their knee-printing reactions. “So often these days we look at something and we make Snap assessments about it. We do not ask many questions,” said the series creator Katie Robbins. “We wanted to disturb that idea. (The show) was about finding out how to play with timelines and perspectives so that people constantly question their first impressions.
“When these turns hands, you are forced to say,“ Why did I think this? Maybe I’m wrong about this, “she added.” The more we can ask ourselves about our own perceptions, the more empathetic we can be. “
Based on the real story that already inspired a discovery docuseries with several seasons, “Good American Family” Kristine and Michael Barnett follows after they adopted Natalia Grace, a 7-year-old girl from Ukraine with a rare form of dwarf. But when conflicts arise and the dynamics of the family go south, the parents wonder if Natalia is much older than she seems. In her first starring “Grey’s Anatomy”, Ellen Pompeo leads the role of matriarch Kristine Barnett, while Mark Duplass plays her husband, Michael, and Breakout star Imogen Faith Reid is Natalia Grace.
Drama in eight sections show how Barnett’s adoption differs in their production of the court to change Natalia’s legal age to 22 when she was only 8 and then left her alone in an apartment to take care of herself. (The court granted its presentation and legally but incorrectly changed her age, although more evidence later emerged and her real age has then been restored.) It opens with Kristine’s arrest in the middle of a speaking commitment where she boasts to be a good mother to her biological sons. Then the show flashes back to the adoption of Natalia Grace and how Kristine’s world fell apart when she began to suspect that her daughter was trying to bring her down.
Although pompeos casting got the most attention when “Good American Family” went into production, it is the newcomer Reid who steals the show. From section 5, the point of view is changed from Barnett’s version of events to Natalias and shows the upcoming trip for a young girl with disabilities left by the adults who promised to protect her.
The decision to start the show with Kristine and Michael was a game because the Exec producers did not want viewers to be shut down what originally seems to be a sympathetic depiction of the parents. “There was a pretty big risk of telling the story in this way, especially now that there is so much information out there that makes most demonize the childcaters,” said Showrunner Sarah Sutherland. “The fact that most people really get it and feel moved by the perspective shift in section 5 is a wonderful relief.”
For his part, Reid wanted to honor Natalia by producing the injustice that she and her fictional counterpart suffered. “Kristine brainwashed her to believe that this is everything on her, but in reality she does not know what she is doing,” Reid said. “Natalia just misunderstood. She was just a child who had a lot of trauma, and if she was only taken in by a family who could have taken the time to learn about reactive binding disorder and worked with her instead of working against her, it would have done wonders.”
Instead of talking to the real topics-the real Natalia Grace, now 21, refused to participate in the show-relied on the creative team on hundreds of pages with research and social media messages to reconstruct the course of events. The goal, which often collaborators Robbins and Sutherland tells it, was to bring empathy to a story that was already exaggerated by tabloid feed. “There are so many parts of the case that have not received enough attention – questions about bias and disability and whose story is believed, and was not,” Robbins said. “These themes feel particularly potent at this moment where scientific facts don’t get the weight they once were. We really wanted people to have the chance to fight with why they believe in what they think.”
“Good American Family” is now flowing on Hulu.
This story first ran in the limited series & TV filmer edition of Thewrap’s Awards Magazine.
Read more from the question of limited series and TV films here.
