'Family' is weird

HOLLYWOOD — A&E's new series "Family Plots" follows the adventures of three average American sisters who just happen to work in an average American funeral home.

Well, maybe not so average.

The latest entry in reality genre, which premieres tonight with a pair of episodes at 7 and 7:30 (repeated at 11 and 11:30), is, well, sort of weird.

These really are people who really do work at a real funeral home in Southern California. And, while it's not exactly HBO's "Six Feet Under," this is also a colorful family.

"It's a part of American life that I think has always been shrouded — no pun intended — from everyday view," said Rick Sadler, the general manager of the Poway Bernardo Mortuary in San Diego. "There really isn't any reason for that. I think that we want to give you an insight into what it is that we do to care for these families and make this funeral happen in a way that they want it to happen."

Sadler hired Shonna Smith as his head mortician. She brought her younger sister, Emily Vigney, as office manager and mortician-in-training. And their older sister, Melissa Wissmiller, became the assistant funeral director.

Then there's the sisters' father, Chuck Wissmiller, who transports the bodies when he isn't teaching boxing.

Throw in the overbearing Sadler; funeral director John Greeney, who quickly bonds with abrasive Chuck; and funeral director David Moravee, whose obsessiveness earns him the nickname "Rainman," and "Family Plots" becomes, well, weird.

Not that the bickering that goes on is any different than families or co-workers anywhere else. Or not greatly different, anyway.

But the fact that all of this is taking place behind the scenes of a funeral home makes it, well, weird.

Not that the people are any weirder than anybody else. It's just that, well, this is a weird situation. Although the people do come across as committed to their, well, customers.

"I've been in this business since I was 18 years old, and my goal in everything that I do on a daily basis is to serve a family like it was my own family. I'm passionate about that," Smith said.

"I also think it's going to humanize the people who work, particularly at Poway Bernardo Mortuary, but hopefully across the board for independent, family-owned and operated funeral homes around the country," Sadler said. "This show is really about three beautiful and intelligent and amazing young women that make this happen on a daily basis, and never lose energy and never lose sight of their integrity and their focus and their professionalism."

Well, never may be a bit strong. Their interactions are what "Family Plots" is all about. And, while the job always gets done, it's how it gets done that creates the stories.

Weird stories, in a truth-is-stranger-than-fiction way.

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E-mail: pierce@desnews.com