Starting today on Star World Premiere HD, Parenthood Season 6 will delve deeper into family crisis and how frustrating things can be. Executive producer Jason Katims talks about the twists and turns in the show
Share your experience of working with Max Burkholder.
The only thing I was concerned about at the beginning of the show was getting a child actor who could be himself on the screen. And given the slightly different storyline, it was difficult to get a child actor who could capture the essence of the character. With Max, we were able to dig in as writers and basically tell any story that we wanted to tell. We could present him in any way because Max has this sort of profound ability to be able to be in Max Braverman’s skin and know what that’s like. So it’s really wonderful to have been able to work with him on the show and be able to continue throughout the seasons.
How’s Kristina going to confide about her cancer before her familyIJ
Well, telling the family comes up fairly soon. One of the tough things that you have to do when you come open is the idea of telling your kids about it. Just figuring out how to talk to them in a way that does not scare them, and yet shows them your honesty, is difficult. One of the episodes is when they sort of talk to their kids and their family about it. But how their children, and how the family is responding to it is something that is a part of the entire season that continues.
Will we continue to see Kristina and Adam in their relationship...
As I said, “As the story progresses there are moments where it becomes more and more.” I think reality starts to set in when this happens over time, especially the reality of what you’re dealing with. And a lot of that has to do with not just the sort of live threatening aspect of it but there are also just the logistical things. There are things like missing time at work for Adam, appointments, decisions about choosing doctors. I think we’ll continue to follow them through that journey.
We’ve built this again through the actors — Peter and Monica and they’ve built such a solid foundation in their relationship. It’s one of the reasons why we felt confident in being able to tell a story like this. It seems like you are watching them go through something that really does test their marriage. There have been other shows and movies based on cancer storylines but we are going to really tap into the small nuanced moments. We’re committed to telling the story in a way that is going to be real and will be playing out more or less in real time.
We last saw how Adam was letting his frustrations out. Will it affect his relationship with KristinaIJ
It challenges them but ultimately deepens their relationship. There was something really interesting in the last episode with that whole issue of Adam wanting to fix things and be the person who’s going to make things better with Kristina. I thought it was really compelling. Personally that scene was very moving to me because it felt so real. Adam is somebody that we’ve seen as he’s assumed the role of a go-to person. I think this is challenging to Adam to be able to sort of play a role that’s slightly different for Kristina and not necessarily be the person to make the decisions.
Tell us about the choices Kristina is going to make in her medical treatmentIJ
We are dealing with her issue — making the initial decision about what her treatment is going to be and related stuff. And then we deal with her, you know, kind of getting thrown a curve ball in terms of her dealing with cancer. It was a storyline that I have never tried before and everybody in the network really co operated.
Will the audience finally get to see Kristina’s family in the showIJ
Yes. It’s a little bit of a tricky thing, to be very candid. Because we’ve talked many times about bringing Kristina's family members into the show. It’s always been challenging with that because we have a show that’s about an extended family and we have a very large cast. Everytime we have pitched the idea of bringing in Joel’s, Kristina’s or some of the people married to the Braverman’s, it has backfired. The reason partly is because of the fact that if we bring in those families we will wind up shooting with them instead of the Braverman’s. So we’ve avoided that a little bit, even though it’s always been very tempting. Because you really want to know Kristina's family.
Is Haddie expected to be back anytime soonIJ
Yes, she’s going to be returning in an episode soon. She’s going to appear in two episodes and then later in the season again she’ll come back. I do not want to divulge any more but yes, people will get to see her again.