Mid-Century Modern. After the pilot, I thought, “Ugh. Derivative. Formulaic. Ah well, I’ll watch it for Nathan Lane and not expect a second season.” Takesy Backsies and Mea culpa.It didn’t take long for me to realize that Mid-Century Modern is a nod to classical sitcoms (in the age when Mid-Century Modern furniture was popular). It’s camp (I say that with deep reverence). I quickly came to care about the characters.
Now I beg Hulu to give us a 2nd season. The fabulous Linda Lavin (Sybil in the show) was diagnosed with cancer and died after recording 7 episodes. The producers took some of the scenes she recorded for episode 4 and used them instead for episode 8. Then episodes 9 and 10 deal with the reality of her loss. The mature men of the story (they are late 40s, late 50s, and mid-sixties, respectively) form a family of choice (as the Golden Girls did in the 80s). The men live all over: New York, Atlanta, and Palm Springs…and decide to spend their latter years together.
So, they move in with the wealthiest among them, who lives with his feisty mother in her late 80s. I worried the show would go the way of 2018’s The Cool Kids (about 4 friends in a retirement home) which had great actors but they never formed a seamless unit. The three gays in real-life Guys of Mid-century Modern seem to share the same glittery fairy soul. It really is the new Golden Girls. Arthur is Blanche (elegant & flirty), Jerry (played by gorgeous Matt Bomer) is Rose (super naive & sweet), & Bunny is sardonic Dorothy with a special if sparring relationship with his mother (Sybil, the show’s Sophia).
Sexy, sweet, spiritual, funny: Whether you know it or not, Mid-Century Modern is the show you need during these difficult and uncertain days. What could be more medicinal than a gay version of the Golden Girls?
