Parenthood is an American sitcom television series based on the 1989 film. Executive produced by Ron Howard (who also co-wrote and directed the film), the series was produced by Imagine Television and Universal Television and aired for one season on NBC from August 20, 1990, to August 11, 1991.
Parenthood was one of many failed movie-to-TV adaptations in the 1990âÂÂ91 season, also including Baby Talk on ABC's TGIF (a follow-up to Look Who's Talking), Ferris Bueller on NBC and Uncle Buck on CBS.
The series delivered seriocomic vignettes on rearing children, revolving around four generations of a middle-class California family, the Buckmans (the movie took place in St. Louis, Missouri). The Huffners of the film were renamed the Merricks on the TV series.
The pilot episode was considered by USA Today and the New York Post as the best movie-to-TV spin-off since M*A*S*H. However, ratings for the series were low and Parenthood was canceled after 12 episodes.
The series is notable for featuring a number of people who at the time were unheard of but later became famous. One of the writers on the show was Joss Whedon. The cast featured Leonardo DiCaprio, David Arquette, and Thora Birch (billed simply as "Thora" here).
<small><nowiki>*</nowiki>Max Elliott Slade, who portrayed Kevin Buckman on the TV series also portrayed a younger version of Steve Martin's character in the film.</small>
The show was featured on the now-defunct cable network Trio in 2005 as part of their "Brilliant But Cancelled" series of shows that were canceled before their time.
A new television adaptation of the movie premiered on NBC in March 2010 and ran until January 2015. Craig T. Nelson and Bonnie Bedelia played the parental roles, joined by Peter Krause, Lauren Graham, Erika Christensen, Dax Shepard and Monica Potter.