American Family

Chronicles the lives of the middle-class, Mexican-American Gonzalez family living in East Los Angeles. Jess Gonzalez is the family's conservative widowed patriarch and neighborhood barber. His daughter Nina, a feminist attorney, is constantly at odds with her father. Jess's other children are: Vangie, a "yuppie" fashion designer married to a wealthy Anglo real-estate developer; son Esteban, a parolee and ex-gang member, struggling to raise his son Pablito and put his life back together; Conrado, the oldest child, a physician; and Cisco, the youngest son, an aspiring filmmaker. The family also includes Jess's flamboyant sister, Aunt Dora, who lives next door. Much of the story is told through the eyes of Cisco, who posts on a Web site treasured family moments he's captured on his camcorder. The character of deceased Berta, Jess's wife, returns throughout the series in the form of flashback fantasy sequences.