Jon Cryer returns to TV with Extended Family, airing a special premiere tonight

EXTENDED FAMILY -- "The Consequences of Sushi" -- Pictured: (l-r) Jon Cryer as Jim, Abigail Spencer
(Image credit: NBCUniversal)

TV fans know him best as Alan Harper, the Emmy-winning role he played from 2003 to 2015 in Two and a Half Men opposite Charlie Sheen and Angus T. Jones. Now Jon Cryer is getting back into the sitcom game as Jim Kearney, a divorced dad navigating a very amicable split from his ex, in Extended Family, a new multi-cam comedy coming to NBC. 

Extended Family will kick off with a special early premiere on Friday, December 23, at 8 pm ET/PT on NBC. It will be followed by a 9 pm airing of A Saturday Night Live Christmas Special, featuring the show's most memorable Christmas sketches, which, paired with the Cryer sitcom, makes a great double feature for some family-time TV viewing this holiday weekend.

After that, Extended Family will debut in its regular time slot, with new weekly episodes beginning Tuesday, January 2, at 8:30 pm ET/PT. All episodes will be available to stream next day on Peacock.

If you don't have a cable TV package or Peacock, you can still tune into Extended Family each week by watching NBC through live TV streaming services like Hulu with Live TVSling TVYouTube TV and Fubo

The show's logline promises for both humorous and heartwarming stuff: "Jim and Julia decide to continue to raise their kids at the family home while taking turns on who gets to stay with them. Navigating the waters of divorce and child-sharing gets more complicated for Jim when Trey, the owner of his favorite sports team, enters the picture and wins Julia’s heart." The series was reportedly inspired by the real-life family dynamic of its executive producers, Wyc Grousbeck, Emilia Fazzalari and George Geyer.

Though Jon Cryer has certainly popped up in TV and streaming series since Two and a Half Men went off the air in 2015, in shows like Supergirl, Batwoman and The Kominski Method, Jim Kearney marks the comedy icon's first starring TV role in nearly a decade. 

Joining Cryer in the cast are Abigal Spencer (Timeless, Rectify) as Jim's ex-wife Julia, Scrubs star Donald Faison as Julia's new beau Trey, and Sofia Capanna and Finn Sweeney as Jim and Julia's kids. The show was created and written by Mike O'Malley, who was also behind the Starz basketball comedy series Survivor's Remorse.

Christina Izzo

Christina Izzo is the Deputy Editor of My Imperfect Life. More generally, she is a writer-editor covering food and drink, travel, lifestyle and culture in New York City. She was previously the Features Editor at Rachael Ray In Season and Reveal, as well as the Food & Drink Editor and chief restaurant critic at Time Out New York. 

When she’s not doing all that, she can probably be found eating cheese somewhere.