Since virtually everyone has grown up in one, "family" is one of the few dramatic themes that can safely be called universal, even if no two families can ever be the same. Nevertheless, the popular arts, television in particular, are filled with families who are meant to represent all families.
Family life is as real as life gets, which is why animation, an art form that encourages fantasy, seems ill-suited to the re-creation of it.
In American cartoons, families have traditionally been rendered fantastic -- the prehistoric Flintstones, the futuristic Jetsons, the totally surreal Simpsons. But in Japan, where animation has always been given more leeway as a medium of expression, families can be treated pretty much as they are; or, at least, the way people think they're supposed to be. The longest-running TV series in Japan is the family cartoon, "Sazae-san" (Fuji; Sunday 6:30 p.m.), which has been a weekly ratings-buster ever since it premiered back in the '60s.