Rapid Insights: ‘Good American Family’ Blends Scandal, Courtroom, and Family for Max Impact

Does this show hit the usual true crime drama sweet spot? 
Definitely. We’re seeing a viewership that leans heavily toward women (66%) and those 30+ (75%), the same audience segment that enjoys other ‘based on a true story’ dramatizations like Candy, The Staircase, A Friend of the Family, The Act, Inventing Anna, The Girl from Plainville, and Love & Death (all 59-72% women / 67–80% 30+).

What’s the show’s top viewership driver? 
The scandal. After Midwestern couple Kristine and Michael Barnett adopt the short-statured Natalia Grace from Ukraine, her unusual behavior leads them to suspect she’s actually an adult lying about her age. But from Natalia Grace’s point of view, she’s merely a child trying to defend herself from the couple’s abuse, neglect, and abandonment (Child Abuse, 129). Good American Family goes farther than many of its true crime brethren, following this infamous case all the way through the courts (Courtroom Drama, 160) as judges are called on to litigate the details, and viewers are tuning in largely to see the intense final showdown.

Why else are so many people tuning in? 
For a peek into this dysfunctional Adopted Family (145). The series explores the Family Life (127) of the Barnett parents and their three sons, and the many ways everything implodes following their adoption of Natalia Grace. The Barnetts’ initial high-minded desire to save a child (Idealism, 124) and welcome her into their fold (Family, 114) contrasts mightily with the rising Family Tension (125) as they ultimately turn against her, and audiences are eager to see how it all goes so disastrously wrong.

What’s keeping viewers watching? 
Its ‘ripped from the headlines’ nature. The fact that Good American Family is Based on a True Story (128) is its #1 driver of bingeability–a much weightier position than we typically see for other true crime dramas. In this case, the real-life story–the idea that an adult may be perpetrating a Scam (122) by posing as a 7-year-old child–becomes so increasingly bizarre that viewers have to keep watching to find out the truth. Is Natalia Grace actually a little girl, as she insists, or truly a fully-grown woman, as the Barnetts claim? Who’s the real victim and who’s the real villain?

How does the show’s social buzz look? 
Very strong. Our social buzz meter saw a big spike in online activity (maxing out at 160) with the original trailer drop in late February, and then started climbing again as the marketing campaign picked up steam throughout March. The release of the first two episodes last week pushed it back up to the very top (again at 160), where it has remained firmly ever since.