The Family Law

Before I checked I could tell this was based on someone's real childhood. It's absurd in the most believable and endearing way.

I love this family. They are honest, vulnerable, loving and real.

I recommend this show wholeheartedly.

It find it important to elucidate the misconceptions, misunderstandings and downright ignorance of jamesmoule's racist review made on the 26th Feb 2016 (down the bottom). Yes racist. Covert racism but racism nonetheless.

Let me elaborate:

1) jamesmoule erroneously states that "cast an Australian-born Chinese and you just get an Australian with an Asian face, thus lessening the effect of culture." The remarkable cultural insensitivity here, is covert racism. "An Australian with an Asian face!?" First, mr jamesmoule, Benjamin Law (yes, the real Benjamin Law) was born in Nambour! So, the character portrayed by Trystan Go is not an Australian with an Asian face. He is an Australian with an Australian face, which happens to be of Asian decent. Your racism here is just embarrassing, mr jamesmoule.

2) The other side of your "double edged {racist} sword" is premised on the assumption that a person acting in a second or third language would be unable to "express nuances of words." At the risk of postulation, this seems like something a monolingual person who is also an idiot would be inclined to argue. Moreover, to even suggest a "Chinese-born actor" could be a candidate for the role completely disregards the fact the Benjamin Law is is an Australian born man of Chinese decent. In fact, the entire show is situated around the tribulations of an Australian-Chinese family.To say that casting Trystan Go will "lessen the affects of culture" is to equivocate between Chinese culture and Australian-Chinese culture. Yes, it may lessen the affects of Chinese culture, but so what? The show is about an Australian-Chinese family, and to demarcate the two by arguing that an "Australian will lessen the culture" portrayed by the show suggests that you are living centuries too late buddy.

3) The "two women who are old friends" are from DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. Jenny is from Hong Kong and her friend is from Malaysia. The fact that you think that English is NOT the appropriate language for them to communicate in, betrays your racism and orientalism. Not all Asian people speak the same language and many must speak in their common tongue, English! Neither had difficulty with the language, they spoke with quite typical accents from Hong Kong and Malaysia. Your racism is made salient, here, by your suggestion that subtitles could have been used for their conversations. How could subtitles be used when Malaysian and Cantonese are different languages! Here your covert racism is manifested in orientalism- the homogenizing of diverse Asian cultures into one culture. Assuming that two Asian friends from different countries should communicate in the same Asian language is simply ignorant and racist. Do you think that all European people can communicate with each other in a European super-language? And if old friends from different European countries spoke in English with typical accents, would you assume that they were having difficulty and should thus speak in 'European?' If the answer is yes, you are outright racist, if it is no, you are an orientalist (which is still racist, just a very specific kind).

Peace out and educate yourself more. I'd be happy to recommend a few books if you struggle to accept your racist dispositions :-)

The Family Law tells the story of young Ben's family going through some family breakdowns, welcoming new members into the family and Ben's development into a young man. The story is told with great compassion and great heart.

The Family Law is well written and well performed. The comedy is interspersed in such a way that the emotion of each episode is enhanced and supported. The Law family casting was amazing and the interaction between the actors appears to be a real family, their performances are stellar. The casting director really did an amazing job finding the family. The ensemble cast are also exceptionally well chosen and their performances are also excellent. One of my favourite characters has to be Melissa performed by Bethany Whitmore. Her characterisation was outstanding and hilarious where required.

Finally the script writing was exceptional. A fun, enjoyable and touching story so well constructed. I particularly enjoyed the double entendres hidden in so many of the lines.

If you are looking for a show to enjoy with the family this is it. Just don't binge watch because you will be disappointed with how fast you get through it and will be left wanting more episodes.

There was every reason to be optimistic about this series. The concept of a Chinese family in Australia, facing the same problems as any other family, could have demystified the cultural differences. The problems started with casting and acting standards. It is a two-edged sword: cast an Australian-born Chinese and you just get an Australian with an Asian face, thus lessening the effect of culture. Choose a Chinese-born actor and you get someone who is trying to act in their second (or third) language, unable to express the nuances of the words. The scripts were good, except for the embarrassing sexual references. There was a hint that Benjamin is "gay" but perhaps we will have to wait for another season to see if that line is followed. There were anomalies aplenty. Why, for example, would two women who are old friends speak to each other in English when both have difficulty with the language? Subtitles were used elsewhere; why not for that scene? Talking of subtitles, there is not much point having white printing on a white background. There were promising sub-plots but others reminded me of Alf Garnet / Archie Bunker and many other politically correct anti-racists shows. In summary, this show suffered from poor production standards.

I was not especially interested in watching this after seeing the ads. Not for any specific reason - it just didn't grab my attention. But I more-or-less stumbled across it one evening while channel-surfing, and just loved it right from the word go. The show is funny, well-acted and endearing - with slight reminiscences of Adrian Mole's diary from the 80s. Thanks to SBS and Ben Law - one of the best comedies I've seen in a while!