Three gay men living in a house in Palm Springs with one of their moms. Sounds like a great premise for a sitcom, right?
That’s what Max Mutchnick and David Kohan (the brains behind Will & Grace) thought as they came up with the concept for Mid-Century Modern, a multi-camera comedy directed by James Burrows and shot in front of a live audience—with 10 episodes now streaming on Hulu.
It’s a throwback to the glory days of sitcoms and reminiscent of Golden Girls with a cast led by Nathan Lane, Matt Bomer, Nathan Lee Graham and the late, great Linda Lavin, who sadly died during production.
Lavin plays Sybil, the mother of Lane’s character, Bunny Schneiderman, wealthy from the family business of a chain of bra stores. After the death of a close friend, Bunny invites two other close friends, Bomer’s Jerry Frank and Graham’s Arthur Broussard to come live in his mid-century modern home in the gay enclave of the desert community.
Jerry, a flight attendant and Arthur, a fashionista who’s left his position at Vogue in New York, aren’t really keen on the idea, but they come around—deciding to navigate life and love under one roof—under the watchful eye of Sybil, who doesn’t miss a beat.
The cast spoke with the media a few days before the series debut and talked about the bond that developed amongst all of them.
“I think we all have kind of a kinship because we all have come from theater,” Lane said. “And so I knew Linda as a fan and just to talk socially. But we would always say, ‘I really hope we get to work together someday.’ So this was very special. And as everyone knows, she was just extraordinary, a one-of-a-kind actress who could do comedy or drama and brilliantly.”
Kohan and Mutchnick spoke movingly about Lavin’s final days on the set and how difficult it was to grieve and carry on, even as she gave them direction on how to do so.
“When she knew she was ill, she said, ‘Whatever is happening to me, put it into the character, put it into the script. Because it will justify why I’m going through what I’m going through.’ That was almost our edict. That was sort of our directive,” Kohan said.
Added Mutchnick: “And then we had this incredible group of actors, these three gentlemen tell a story that was very, very hard for all of us to do.”
While Lane is known for his many flamboyant characters on stage and screen, Bomer has played a number of dark, dramatic roles over the past decade, including in the recent series Fellow Travelers.
Shifting to comedy was a welcome break but also a homecoming of sorts. Many may not recall that he appeared as a guest star a number of times in Will & Grace.
“I’ve been really grateful to get to explore repression and trauma for the past 12 years of my career, and I wouldn’t change it for anything,” Bomer said. “But I did come off a Fellow Travelers and think, gosh it would be nice to go to work and laugh. And I needed to. And I think what we all found over the course of the show is that everybody needs a laugh right now.”
Graham is also appreciating the snappy dialogue as well as some of the physical comedy.
“Coming from the theater, it’s always wonderful to have wonderful dialogue which we do with these writers because they’re the best in the business,” he said. “But also to have physical comedy, especially working with the wonderful Nathan Lane, it’s just an amazing thing. And Lucille Ball is a huge, huge inspiration for me. So there was lots of physical comedy with her work, which I love to emulate in any way possible.”
The laughs keep coming with the supporting players who include former SNL cast members Vanessa Bayer and Cheri Oteri, along with some other funny folks like Richard Kind, Pamela Adlon and Rhea Perlman.
