Photo Flash: NBC's PARENTHOOD Returns 1/3

NBC's PARENTHOOD will be returning with all new episodes beginning January 3, 2012.  In the January 3rd episode entitled 'Road Trip', Zeek (Craig T. Nelson) is seeking his mother's approval when he demands the entire family caravan on a road trip where they encounter many road blocks along the way. While spending time on the road, Adam (Peter Krause) connects with Haddie (Sarah Ramos), Sarah (Lauren Graham) confronts an embarrassing issue with Drew (Miles Heizer) and Julia (Erika Christensen) learns to appreciate Crosby's (Dax Shepard) odd personality. Meanwhile, Kristina (Monica Potter) struggles to enforce a harsh punishment she gave to Max (Max Burkholder) for acting out. The episode also stars Sam Jaeger, Savannah Paige Rae Tyree Brown, Bonnie Bedelia, Mae Whitman and Joy Bryant

PARENTHOOD is a one-hour drama inspired by the box-office hit of the same name. This re-imagined and updated Universal Television/Imagine Television production follows the trials and tribulations of the very large, very colorful and imperfect Braverman family.

Sarah Braverman (Lauren Graham, "Gilmore Girls") is a financially strapped single mother trying to raise two teenaged kids, the bright but rebellious Amber (Mae Whitman, "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World") and sullen and sensitive Drew (Miles Heizer, "ER").

On the home front, Sarah and her kids live with Sarah's larger-than-life, headstrong father, Zeek (Craig T. Nelson, "Family Stone," "Coach"), and pillar-of-strength mother Camille, (Bonnie Bedelia, "Heart Like a Wheel"), who are continuously dealing with their own marital issues.

Meanwhile, Sarah's sister and complete antithesis, Julia (Erika Christensen, "Traffic") is a successful corporate attorney trying to juggle work and motherhood, alongside her loving, but increasingly restless stay-at-home husband, Joel (Sam Jaeger, "Eli Stone".) Having encountered difficulties getting pregnant, Julia and Joel enter into the complex world of adoption in an attempt to grow their family.

Commitment-phobe Crosby (Dax Shepard, "Baby Mama"), Sarah's younger brother, is helping raise a son he had out-of-wedlock with former flame Jasmine (Joy Bryant "Antwone Fisher").

However, it's Adam (Peter Krause, "Six Feet Under"), the oldest Braverman sibling, who has had to relinquish his expectations about what constitutes a "normal" family as he, his quietly forceful wife, Kristina (Monica Potter, "Trust Me") and independent-minded teenage daughter, Haddie (Sarah Ramos, "American Dreams"), struggle to cope with their eccentric son and Haddie's little brother, Max (Max Burkholder, "Brother & Sisters"), who has Asperger's Syndrome. Adam's life gets even more complicated as he and Kristina discover they are unexpectedly expecting a third child

Although each sibling and family has its own share of life and everyday challenges to grapple with, they still manage to be there for each other in their hours of need.

Serving as executive producers are Oscar winners Ron Howard and Brian Grazer ("A Beautiful Mind," "Frost/Nixon"), Jason Katims ("Friday Night Lights") who wrote the pilot episode, and Larry Trilling ("Pushing Daisies").

View photos from the upcoming episode of PARENTHOOD below!

Photo credit: Byron Cohen/NBC