ABC has handed out a series order to the Hank Steinberg/50 Cent drama, For Life and the multi-camera family comedy United We Fall. The duo joins the Black-ish spinoff, mixed-ish, Cobie Smulders Stumptown & the acquired from NBC, Emergence as new series on the lineup.
For Life had been a frontrunner among ABC’s drama pilots. The series is a fictional serialized legal and family drama inspired by the life of Isaac Wright, Jr. about a prisoner who becomes a lawyer, litigating cases for other inmates while fighting to overturn his own life sentence for a crime he didn’t commit. His quest for freedom is driven by his desperate desire to get back to the family he loves and reclaim the life that was stolen from him. The show will also, through the window of his ferocious struggle and his complicated relationship with a progressive female prison warden, examine the flaws and challenges in our penal and legal systems. Nicholas Pinnock, Indira Varma, Joy Bryant, Glenn Fleshler, Dorian Missick and Tyla Harris star along with Mary Stuart Masterson and Boris McGiver.
The multi-camera family comedy United We Fall, which was an early standout, is eyed as a companion for ABC’s hit multi-camera family sitcom The Conners. With ABC renewing so much of its comedy lineup, there wasn’t room for a comedic series unless it stood out and apparently this one does.
United We Fall, starring Will Sasso, Christina Vidal, and Jane Curtin, comes from Making History creator Julius Sharpe and Seth Gordon. The series is a profoundly realistic family sitcom that follows the trials and tribulations of Jo (Vidal) and Bill (Sasso), parents of two young kids, as they try to make it day-to-day as a functioning family. Bill’s very judgmental live-in mother (Curtin) and Jo’s large Latinx Catholic family will never hesitate to let our couple know they’re seemingly screwing up, but Bill and Jo will always have each other’s backs, united against everyone – other parents, teachers, doctors, specialists, coaches, co-workers, and especially their kids.
