The first episodes of Good American Family have hit the 2025 TV schedule, and I’ve very much been looking forward to this. As a longtime Grey’s Anatomy fan, I was excited to see Ellen Pompeo taking on this new, intriguing role (that’s very different from Meredith Grey). In the two-and-a-half years between the series’ announcement and its release, I watched the documentary about the same subject — The Curious Case of Natalia Grace — and now having seen both, I’m liking the Hulu series more. I just don’t know if that’s a good thing.
It’s important to note that Good American Family (streaming now with a Hulu subscription) is unrelated to the 2009 horror movie Orphan, in which a woman with dwarfism cons a family into thinking she is a child in order to terrorize them. The Hulu series centers around Natalia Grace (portrayed by Imogen Faith Reid, pictured below), who was 7 when she was adopted by Kristine and Michael Barnett (Pompeo and Mark Duplass). Let me explain why, after watching all three seasons of the docuseries, I’m wary of the dramatized retelling.
What Is Ellen Pompeo’s New Series Good American Family About?
It’s easy to see why Natalia Grace’s case drew such widespread interest, because there are a lot of twists and not much agreement on what exactly happened. Just to give a quick overview, the Barnetts adopted Natalia, a young Ukrainian girl with dwarfism, in 2010. They allegedly soon became suspicious that she was older than she claimed to be, and ultimately her birth year was legally changed from 2003 to 1989.
Kristina and MIchael Barnett grew concerned with Natalia’s behavior and felt their family was unsafe around her. Because she was legally an adult after being “re-aged,” they moved her into her own apartment in Indiana and relocated to Canada in 2013. Natalia’s original birth year has since been restored after medical testing, meaning she was only 10 years old when she was left alone in a house that was not accessible for her disability.
The Curious Case of Natalia Grace tells her story over three seasons, with Good American Family appearing to depict her time with the Barnetts, which was the primary story in Season 1 of the doc.
Ellen Pompeo And Mark Duplass Are More Tolerable Than Their Real-Life Counterparts
There’s a lot that’s unknown about Natalia Grace’s experience with the Barnetts — and I will note that all charges of neglect against the couple were ultimately dismissed in court — but looking at the facts, it’s hard to have a lot of sympathy for them. Kristine refused to participate in The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, and Michael (pictured above) used that to his full advantage, painting his now-ex-wife (they split in 2014) as his and Natalia’s “shared monster.”
Ellen Pompeo shows a softer side of Kristine Barnett than the Investigation Discovery doc (available to stream with a Max subscription) was able to. Having only seen the first two episodes of Good American Family, I can’t say how ugly the character is going to get, but so far the dramatized series humanizes her.
As for Michael Barnett, let’s just say if Mark Duplass played him the way he actually behaved on The Curious Case, people would never buy it. Michael was overdramatic and unpredictable, screaming and crying to get his points across.
The Morning Show star mercifully dulls the edges of Michael’s character, and through the first two episodes, he comes off simply as a dad who wants to bond with his adopted daughter. If that means letting her stay up late to play video games and eat extra snacks (thus drawing the ire of his wife amidst their already-rocky relationship), so be it.
While seeing these two likeable actors in these roles makes the Barnetts much more palatable, is that a good thing? It feels a little wrong to try to find relatability in Kristine and Michael Barnett knowing the facts of the case and the accusations regarding their treatment of a severely disabled child.
The Hulu Series May Address Questions Left Unanswered In The Doc, But How Much Will Be Truth?
One thing that frustrated me about The Curious Case of Natalia Grace was that it showed a lot of different perspectives but couldn’t ultimately clarify what was true and who had what agenda. While Ellen Pompeo’s series may seem to include Kristine Barnett, Natalia and others’ perspectives missing from the doc’s first season, Good American Family can’t be taken as fact.
That’s made clear right at the beginning, with a disclaimer that reads, in part:
[This series] reflects and dramatizes multiple conflicting points of view, and does not intend to suggest that any particular allegation is the whole truth. Characters, scenes, dialogue, and some events have been modified, imagined, or invented for dramatic purposes.
This isn’t a knock on the series, and I’m glad it’s making sure to clarify that Good American Family is not a straight retelling of facts, but rather a complicated narrative of conflicting accounts. It does, however, further my point, in that the Hulu show will likely be more satisfying and paint a fuller picture, but it’s unlikely to help me (or other viewers) figure out the truth.
I don’t think anyone knows the truth, honestly. It seems like Kristine, Michael, Natalia and everyone else involved suffered trauma on some level after the young girl joined the Barnett family, and that’s my biggest issue with the series overall.
It Feels A Little Gross To Find Entertainment Value In This Family’s Situation
Any way you cut it, whether no one here is telling the truth or everyone is telling their version of it, this is a tragic story. An adoptive family was torn apart, a marriage ended. A disabled child was abandoned. All of these are real people, and the events being depicted — whether real, fictitious or somewhere in the middle — didn’t happen all that long ago.
It’s an undeniably fascinating story but one that centers around a woman who is today just 21 years old and continued to have issues finding safety after the Barnetts left her (as depicted in Seasons 2 and 3 of The Curious Case). I can’t say I feel great about dipping into this well for entertainment value.
The ID docuseries was a rough watch for me, and after two episodes of Good American Family, it does seem like this series is a lot easier to digest. I’m just not sure this situation should be easy to enjoy.
If you want to give Ellen Pompeo’s new show a try, the first two episodes of Good American Family are streaming now on Hulu, with a new episode each Wednesday.
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