Films about family have been a staple of TV ever since the very beginnings ("I Remember Mama", "I Love Lucy", "Father Knows Best") where the original focus was on the domestic life. This was equally true of daytime TV ("Search for Tomorrow"). The shows broadened out to include the impact of the business world on the domestic family life ("The Donna Reed Show") and sometimes the "business" was an equal focus ("Bonanza", "The Andy Griffith Show", Dick van Dyke Show", "Steptoe and Son").
TV moved from the family focus to the business end of the family but there was always room for the domestic shows ("Waltons"). With few exceptions ("Adams Family", "Dukes of Hazard") the families were relatively normal ("Happy Days", "Little House on the Prairie", "Jeffersons", "Eight is Enough").
"I Claudius" (1976) is probably the first TV show to focus on a dysfunctional family, although this was a BBC mini-series and not a regular prime-time show. A few series were clearly featuring families with problems ("Married with Children", "All in the Family") but these were comedies, and as late as the 1990s most families were relatively wholesome ("Cosby Show", "Home Improvement", "Wonder Years", "Fresh Prince").
"The Sopranos" (1999) gave us our first family from a different point of view and series like "Dexter" (2006), "Breaking Bad" (2008), "Sons of Anarchy" (2008), "Bates Motel" (2013), and Ray Donovan (2013) continued the trend. In the new breed of family crime shows the crime elements far outweigh the family elements.
"Ice" is about a family involved in the jewelry business, but most of their time is spent beating people up or being beaten, killing people, having sex, using drugs, and roaming around Los Angeles. Jeremy Sisto plays the guy who gets in trouble and Cam Gigandet is the brother who bails him out. Neither one seem suited for their role. Ray Winstone mumbles his way through the scenes trying to help his nephews, and Raymond J Barry spends most of his time unconscious. Judith Shekoni is outstanding, but not for this series, and she seems out of place. The production values are excellent and the music is good. Photography is excellent.
I prefer my crime family series (or films) to be as much about the family dynamics as they are about the crime. It's why I enjoy "Ray Donovan" or "Breaking Bad" or even "I Claudius". When you focus too much on the crime you may as well make a crime film/series and take out the family element. It's a delicate mix and the mix in "Ice" doesn't work for me. By the end of the first two episodes there isn't much to want to get me to come back and watch more.
