10/30/14

A New Family Drama: The McCarthys



Tonight is the premiere of CBS' new show The McCarthy's.  And don't worry, this is not about zombies, superheroes or any other of the current themes filling the airwaves. This is simply a family drama. 

Here is the story:

Based on writer Brian Gallivan's real life, a family comedy about a loud, sports-crazed Boston clan. The series centers on the youngest and somewhat sports-challenged gay son, Ronny, who decides to take a job in Rhode Island in an attempt to extract himself from his overly-involved family. His mother, Marjorie, is devastated that her "favorite son" might move away, until Ronny's father, Arthur, stuns everyone and asks Ronny, the least qualified sibling, to be his assistant High School basketball coach.

Sounds pretty straightforward. With Modern Family and The Middle doing well, not to mention Shameless, there is a demand for good family shows.  And one more is always welcome.

Update:  The series kicked off with a strong pilot episode.  I found the who family likeable, including the dopey dad (aren't they all nowadays on these series?), the manipulative mom, and the hair-brained siblings, one of whom is Boston-native Joey McIntyre from New Kids on the Block.  Tyler Ritter, son of the late actor John Ritter, demonstrated he has the right stuff to carry this show along as the gay brother.  And while the show deals with his sexuality to a degree, it is clearly going to be only one of multiple story lines in this new series.  Speaking of his gay character in a recent interview, Ritter stated:

The show starts out with him already having come out a few years before, and the family is totally OK and accepting of him. Aside from the fact that he's in the dating world and meeting new guys, it really isn't that big of a plot, because these guys could easily be girls.

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