What’s the name of the show? The McCarthys
When does it premiere? Thursday 30 October at 9.30pm ET, on CBS
What is this show? Ronny (Tyler Ritter, sitcom legend John’s son) is a gay man who has never fit in with his close-knit, Irish-Catholic, Boston family. It’s not just because he’s gay, but because they all love sports and he would rather watch The Sound of Music.
What’s the show’s pedigree? The show was created by Brian Gallivan, the star of the insanely popular YouTube series Sassy Gay Friend.
Is he actually gay? Yes he is. I can’t speak to his sassiness, but his show is pretty funny, if that is any indication.
What happens in the premiere? Ronny decides that he’s too close with his family and they are keeping him from meeting a nice boy and settling down. He gets a job as the head guidance counsellor at a school in Providence and wants to go there to join their vibrant gay community. Everyone is so upset that they try to turn their house into a gay bar to help Ronny meet someone (their best offering is “Paulie, the singer from church”). It’s not nearly as insulting as it sounds. His father, the high school basketball coach, offers him a gig as his assistant coach so he can learn more about his son – and score an all-American player whose lesbian mother wants an accepting atmosphere. Ronny stays and everyone shares a hug in the backyard. Awww.
Is this show any good? Before answering that question, we have to answer another question: is this show cool? No, it is not. It is a traditional three-camera sitcom filmed before a live studio audience, so you can hear the laughing like it’s a sound from another time. It is not one of those shiny, new single-camera comedies like every other comedy on every other network other than CBS.
Yes, this is old-fashioned, but that doesn’t mean it’s not funny as heck – and progressive in its own way too. Sure, one of the first jokes is a groaner about how gay Ronny calls it “the sports,” but that’s only a set up for a much better joke about The Good Wife 10 seconds later. And even the hoary gay jokes, like when Ronny’s brother says with jazz hands “aren’t all gay communities … vibrant?” aren’t that bad. They’re the kind of jokes that a gay person’s family makes to try to be included in their world but doesn’t quite understand it. They jokes are never at the expense of gay people, but rather the expense of the straight people who don’t understand gay culture, which makes The McCarthys that much closer to reality.
That is what is brilliant about this show. Ronny is not Paul Lynde’s Uncle Arthur in Bewitched, here to sashay around the place spraying glitter and bon mots. Ronny is the straight man, so to speak, in the center of the craziness of his family. Still this is a classic fish out of water sitcom, only set in a family, usually shown as a place of sympathy and refuge. You would think this show would be about Ronny sucking at sports, but it’s about finding love and acceptance in a tough atmosphere. That is a sort of queer sensibility you don’t often see in a sitcom this square.
Which characters will you love? Laurie Metcalf play Ronny’s mother Marjorie, and she didn’t win three Emmys for Roseanne for nothing. Here she plays a passive-aggressive, manipulative, slightly caustic Irish mother obsessed with Kyra Sedgwick. She is absolutely brilliant and responsible for just about all of the big laughs in the pilot (and there are quite a few). Maybe it’s because I have an Irish-Catholic mother from Boston, but Marjorie is one of the few sitcom moms who can be as mean as she wants to be and still lovable at the same time. Joey McIntyre of New Kids on the Block fame plays one of Ronny’s brothers, Gerard, who has a funny relationship with his much bigger fraternal twin brother Sean (Jimmy Dunn). Who ever thought we’d see Joey McIntyre on a CBS sitcom?
Which characters will you hate? So far they’re all pretty great, but the most broadly defined is Ronny’s father Arthur (Jack McGee). Doesn’t mean he’s bad, we just need to know him better.
What’s the best thing about it? There is a cutting quality to the comedy that is only possible when you have a family that really loves each other. The McCarthys say “I love you” when mean to each other, which sounds sadistic but makes for both great jokes – and tender moments when they have to take it all back. Also Laurie Metcalf. Have we talked about how brilliant she is? Do you watch Getting On on HBO? She’s on that too. You should watch that. She’s really good in it. What were we talking about again?
What’s the worst thing about it? The Boston accent is the death trap of the good actor. Some are better than others (Boston native McIntyre seems to just be using his natural voice) but when it’s bad it is grating.
Should you watch this show? Yes, you should. I don’t know that you should start telling your cool friends that you’re DVRing a traditional CBS sitcom, but the pilot is strong enough to give it a season pass. Also you should watch Getting On, which returns to HBO on Sunday 9 November. Did I tell you that already?
