Why Isn’t ‘Almost Family’ on TV Tonight?

Bad news, Almost Family fans. If you tuned in to watch Wednesday’s (Oct. 30) episode at its regularly scheduled time of 9 p.m. ET/PT on FOX, you may have noticed it wasn’t on. Why? Because on Tuesday (Oct. 29), the Washington Nationals beat the Houston Astros in Game 6 of the 2019 World Series and forced a Game 7 for tonight — even with the Nationals manager being ejected in the seventh inning for arguing a call.

As for Almost Family, the FOX drama will return next Wednesday, Nov. 6 with its fourth episode, titled “Fake AF.” When viewers last saw Julia Bechley (Brittany Snow) and her new half-sisters, Edie (Megalyn Echikunwoke) and Roxy (Emily Osment), Julia found out that Edie is romantically involved with the woman prosecuting their father’s case for misuse of his genetic material. Since Edie is representing her biological father, that’s a major conflict of interest.

Meanwhile, Roxy may have found her true calling in the wake of living off her fame as a teenage gymnast — she met a young girl named Izzy (Bryce Lorenzo) who has some serious gymnastic talent and decides to become the girl’s trainer.

In the next episode, the synopsis teases that the sisters are about to meet a new half-sibling: Nate (Michael Urie), a restaurant owner who gets them reservations at his exclusive eatery. Dr. Bechley (Timothy Hutton) will also begin his volunteer work at the hospital, and Roxy’s relationship with her parents will reach the breaking point.

In the subsequent weeks, Dr. Bechley’s trial will get more intense, and more Bechley babies will be coming out of the woodwork. But the show is going to need to get better ratings if it is to continue. In all three airings so far, Almost Family has failed to retain even half of its Masked Singer lead-in.

The show has not been without controversy. At the 2019 Television Critics Association summer press tour, journalists questioned how the show paints Dr. Bechley as a sympathetic figure rather than a potential criminal who has committed dozens of instances of “medical rape,” a term used by the questioner.

Creator Jason Katims (Parenthood) defended the show, saying it’s more about the stories of Bechley’s offspring than it is about the doctor’s story.

“[Almost Family] is a story about identity and a story about family and a story where we’re asking the question, ‘What is family?'” Katims told the audience. “One of the things that I find so charming and beautiful about this story is that these three women, as adults, are discovering that they are sisters. What really attracted me to this story was telling this beautiful, unconventional family story in a way that we haven’t seen before.”

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