The Return of Family Shows on ABC with One New Addition

Prepare yourself for the return of two great family shows, ABC's Modern Family (season 8) and Blackish (season 3) as well as a new family show from ABC called Speechless.  This new series is about a family  dealing with life and a child with cerebral palsy, as highlighted here in the description from ABC:

Maya DiMeo (Minnie Driver) is a mom on a mission who will do anything for her husband Jimmy, her kids Ray, Dylan, and JJ, her eldest son with cerebral palsy. As Maya fights injustices both real and imagined, the family works to make a new home for themselves, and searches for just the right person to give JJ his "voice."

In addition to starring an actor with cerebral palsy, the show was created by Scott Silveri who has a son with cerebral palsy.  Not that this guarantees a successful show, but at least it has a number of elements that should ground it in reality and hopefully believable scenarios. 

The Hollywood Reporter notes the comedy has the right mix of good acting and good writing: 

Make no mistake — Speechless is funny because of the writing, first and foremost, and that writing is brought to life by the always spot-on Minnie Driver (About a Boy, The Riches) as the mother. But Silveri told critics recently that his new series goes out of its way not to leave a feeling of "an afterschool special" nor does it want to be all about positive, inspiring moments, noting that in the disabled community there's a derisive term called "inspiroporn" used to lampoon overly sentimental representations. 

You can view the trailer and see for yourself.  

Update:  I believe ABC has another top-notch family show on its hand with Speechless, and now the series has been picked up by ABC for a full season.  Good news for all of us.