What could be gayer than a new gay-centered, Golden Girls-like sitcom produced by Ryan Murphy and starring out actors Matt Bomer and Nathan Lane?
Variety is reporting that Bomer (Fellow Travelers, Maestro) and Lane (Only Murders in the Building, Dicks: The Musical) are set to star in Mid-Century Modern, a new twist on the classic roommate sitcom for Hulu with Ryan Murphy at the helm and written by Will & Grace creators Max Mutchnick and David Kohan.
EXCLUSIVE: Matt Bomer and Nathan Lane are set to star in “Mid-Century Modern,” a multi-cam series for Hulu executive produced by Ryan Murphy and created by “Will & Grace’s” Max Mutchnick and David Kohan. https://t.co/Tpm3ABSbtM
— Variety (@Variety) June 18, 2024
According to Variety, “Bomer will take on the ditzy Rose-like character, played by Betty White in the original ‘Golden Girls,’ with Lane taking on the Dorothy (Bea Arthur) of the bunch. Linda Lavin (Alice, Elsbeth) will play Lane’s mother, a la the original Sophia.” The series will follow three best friends (“gay gentlemen of a certain age”) living their golden years together in the oh-so-gay mecca of Palm Springs.
Via press release from Hulu:
“‘Mid-Century Modern’ stars Nathan Lane as Bunny Schneiderman, Matt Bomer as Jerry Frank, and Linda Lavin as Sybil Schneiderman, Bunny’s mother. A successful businessman with one foot in retirement, Bunny is forever in search of love, but he first has to be convinced he’s worthy of it.
“Like her son, Sybil’s strengths are her weaknesses: wise, caring, and iconoclastic – which sometimes means she’s critical, smothering and amoral.
“Jerry left the Mormon Church and his marriage in his early 20s after his wife informed him and the rest of the congregation that he was a homosexual. Now a latter-day saint in the literal sense of the term, Jerry is pure of heart. He is also hard of body and soft of head. ”
That sure sounds a lot like our favorite ‘golden’ sitcom from the 80s. The Golden Girls ran on NBC for seven seasons before ending in 1992 and has become a classic in the LGBTQ community.
Hulu has officially ordered the pilot which will be directed by 11-time Emmy Award winner James Burrows (Friends, Will & Grace). No word yet on a premiere date.
Hulu has ordered ‘Mid-Century Modern,’ a comedy pilot from Will & Grace duo Max Mutchnick and David Kohan and Ryan Murphy.
Nathan Lane and Matt Bomer are set to star and executive produce the series that will also star Linda Laving https://t.co/dgC2zHefdc
— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) June 18, 2024
I proposed this eons ago, starring Harvey Fierstein, Bruce Villanch and John Travolta. They could call it The Golden Gurlz and use all the original GG scripts, just assigned to the guys.
Matt isn’t old enough to play a retiree opposite Nathan Lane.
they have to have a blanche
Bomer, IMHO, shouldn’t be playing this kind of role. He frankly could still play in parts similar to Fellow Travelers, versus being stuck in a non-leading man type role in a comedy. Victor Garber, who might not want to commit to another series, would be a good age match and a good counterpart to Nathan. Denis O’Hare is the right age and can handle comedy and has worked with Ryan Murphy before, but they would probably be better served with someone with Charles Nelson Riley/Paul Lynde type talent.
That said, hopefully this will be actually funny, rather than similar to Vicious, which relied on a lot of very obvious, not that entertaining humor and wasted both McKellen and Jacobi.
The Will and Grace reboot wasn’t as good as the original. Sadly, Leslie Jordan is no longer alive, and a few other people who would be great guest (George Takei) are more semi-retired than not but could do one episode. Rupaul would also be a great guest, as a male, as would be some younger actors of colors (Billy Porter would be great as a reoccurring guest star – in fact, with Garber if they got him, and Lane, it would be neat to see some episodes work on a local repertory or theater company in the desert. That stuff from Grace and Frankie was interesting, even if the two males were cis het actors.