Snakkle Celebrates Parenthood’s 100th Episode!
By Kerensa CadenasIf you haven’t cried during an episode of NBC’s excellent drama Parenthood, it possibly means that you are a soulless shell of a human being.
Based on the 1989 movie directed by Ron Howard, starring Steve Martin which after, was also adapted for television in 1990, also, coincidentally on NBC. The current iteration of Parenthood, beginning in 2010 has been a critical success—starring the universally beloved Craig T. Nelson and TV favorites like Lauren Graham and Peter Krause. It focuses around the Braverman family—a tight knit clan whose familial dramas realistically echo those of families everywhere from the mundane—a fight between siblings to the heavy stuff—divorces, economic issues and illness. Everything on the show is handled delicately yet with a huge amount of emotional heft—studded with an excellent cast and perfectly cast guest stars. Sadly, our time with the Braverman family ends in this sixth and final season.
Snakkle was invited to celebrate the 100th episode of Parenthood with the cast and crew at Universal Studios. Outside the iconic Braverman house, stood an enormous cake from Butter End Cakery—family tree shaped complete with photos of the cast on it. The mood was joyous as NBC chairman Bob Greenblatt and executive producers Ron Howard and Brian Glazer kicked things off gushing over Katims’ work. As Howard said: “That to see Parenthood come to life and evolve in its own way under Jason Katims’ leadership and guidance into something that’s different and so inspired by those original characters, the Bravermans and the experience of what it is to be a parent…and I watch them and to see episode after episode explore that idea with such depth, grace, emotion, humor and nonstop commitment—is just unbelievable.”
Howard handed it over to show runner Jason Katims, a television darling, known for writing on beloved shows like My So-Called Life and cult favorite Friday Night Lights. He joked about the constant bombarding he gets from fans about making them weep weekly. “People always come up to me and they say, ‘Thank you for making me cry.’ And I’m never sure how to respond, ‘You’re welcome I guess? You wanted to cry more?’ I think what they are really saying is not so much that the show makes them cry but it makes them feel. And I take that as a great compliment.”
The cast gleefully cut into the cake—clearly proud of celebrating the amazing work that they’ve done for six incredible seasons. However, ending a series and with such an obviously tight knit cast is certainly bittersweet as Craig T. Nelson who plays patriarch Zeek Braverman (who hugged us!) divulged to Snakkle on the carpet. “It’s hard, it’s just hard because you are leaving people that you love.” The supremely dreamy, Sam Jaeger, who plays Joel Graham, husband to Erika Christensen’s Julia Braverman and a current source of fan tension smarting from their divorce storyline, agreed with Nelson on the sadness of leaving the show. “I don’t feel devastated yet but I’m starting to feel nostalgia watching Jason talk about the show. It hasn’t set in that we’re going to end that storytelling very soon.”
If leaving is difficult after six seasons for the adults on the show, the extremely gifted child actors of Parenthood who’ve grown up on the show and have had just as hefty roles to work with as their adult counterparts—dealing with growing up, divorcing parents and Asperger’s Syndrome as Max Burkholder, who plays Max, explained to me was “really tough stuff.” But that he’s had a great growing experience as an actor from his work on the show. “A lot of things that would seem normal, I have to approach in a very different way—like the liking a girl storyline. It’s fun!”
On top of that, Parenthood has some of the most richly written female characters on television—from the Amber (Mae Whitman) to Kristina (Monica Potter) and Julia (Erika Christensen) who have all had excellent arcs from Amber’s relationship with an Army vet played by Matt Lauria, Julia dealing with the unraveling of her marriage to Joel and Kristina’s fight with cancer which should have earned Potter all the awards. When we asked Christensen about Julia’s evolution over the six seasons, she was excited to talk about Julia’s evolution from just being a type A lawyer. “We set her up right from the get go as being completely in control, completely able to handle anything but where we started her was the breakdown of that. We saw her at her highest at the beginning of the show and she’s descended from there into so many areas where she was confused on how to deal with it and to really fight her way through figuring it out even when it was light, fun stuff. She has such a different energy than any character I’ve ever played and I’ve just really enjoyed her.”
Potter had similar praises for her character Kristina. “I feel like it’s been a good ride for me as an actor. I will walk away with her and will take her into every character I play from here on out. Everything she’s gone through has taught me something. This past year alone I’ve learned to really slow down, take time and really enjoy the surroundings—give Peter [Krause] those long looks. I don’t want her to ever go away. I really don’t. I just love her so much.”
It’ll be tough to let Parenthood go but we’re lucky we got to share the lives of these characters for as long as we did get. However, we’re not sure where to go to for our weekly cry now? Jason Katims, can you make us another heartstring tugging show ASAP?
For more Parenthood, see what the cast did before their Braverman days only at Snakkle.