An Update on Our Family

An Update on Our Family is an American documentary series directed and produced by Rachel Mason. It explores the world of family vlogging, primarily exploring the case of Myka and James Stauffer, and their adoption of a child, Huxley.

An Update on Our Family
Genre	Documentary
Directed by	Rachel Mason
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of episodes	3
Production
Executive producers	Rachel Mason Rachael Knudsen Max Heckman Chad Mumm Mark W. Olsen Jennifer O'Connell Lizzie Fox
Producers	Casey Meurer Julee Metz Jasmine Luoma
Cinematography	John P. Campbell Gretchen Warthen
Editors	Sean Stewart Joan Educate Giovanni P. Autran David Feinberg
Running time	43-50 minutes
Production companies	HBO Documentary Films Vox Media Studios
Original release
Network	HBO
Release	January 15 (2025-01-15) – January 29, 2025 (2025-01-29)

It had its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival on June 6, 2024,^[1][2] It premiered January 15, 2025, on HBO.^[3] It was inspired by a New York Magazine article by Caitlin Moscatello.^[4][5]

Premise

The series explores the world of family vlogging, primarily exploring the case of Myka and James Stauffer, and their adoption of a child, Huxley, which the two documented on their YouTube channel.^[6] Huxley was later diagnosed with autism and ADHD, with the Stauffers deciding to rehouse him.^[7]

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Original release date [8]	U.S. viewers (millions)
1	"Welcome to Our Family"	Rachel Mason	January 15, 2025 (2025-01-15)	N/A
2	"Damn Good Mom"	Rachel Mason	January 22, 2025 (2025-01-22)	N/A
3	"Where's Huxley?"	Rachel Mason	January 29, 2025 (2025-01-29)	N/A

Production

Rachel Mason reached out to Myka and James Stauffer about participating in the documentary, hoping to hear their side, however, they declined to participate.^[9][10] Mason opted to blur all of the children who appear in the series to protect their privacy, and consent.^[11][12]

Reception

Critical reception

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 100% approval rating with an average rating of 7.80/10, based on five critic reviews.^[13]

Andrew Parker of The Gate gave the series an eight out of ten, writing: "Rachel Mason’s heartbreaking and skillfully assembled three part documentary series looks at the darker side of family vlogging culture, and stands as a pointed cautionary tale about a modern culture that thrives on attention, greed, and rage."^[14] John Anderson of The Wall Street Journal wrote: "What is formally interesting about Ms. Mason’s series, and something worthy of respect, is her lack of interest in objectivity. There’s no flock of talking heads offering up some semblance of "balance". Ms. Mason gives us the goods."^[15]