A family member who has been absent for years returns home for a funeral, a wedding, or because they are broke. Think The Riches or the early seasons of Shameless (Frank Gallagher’s cyclical returns).

The best family dramas avoid heroes and villains. Consider Succession : Logan Roy is a monstrous patriarch, yet his children’s desperate bids for his approval are painfully human. The show thrives because no one is purely victim or aggressor—Shiv’s cunning, Kendall’s fragility, Roman’s self-loathing all stem from the same toxic source. Similarly, in August: Osage County , each family member weaponizes love as control, revealing how intimacy and cruelty coexist.