Hulu’s Mid-Century Modern : something queer to laugh about in these tough times

It seems like every gay man (and woman) in the US right now has their TV switched to HULU for one reason only. David Kohan and Max Mutchnick the creative force behind so much of our best TV comedy for the past 30 years are back.  Their very successful careers stretch back to  The Single Guy (1995) and include Good Morning, Miami (2002) Twins (2005) Partners (2012)….. and let’s not forget the 32 episodes of Will & Grace that started in 1998 and ended in 2020.  It was the latter that changed the whole way that queer men were portrayed on TV in a form that we could finally relate to.  It had a major impact on the LGBTQ+ community particularly for those of us who publically ‘came out’ during that period.  Many men I knew modeled themselves on the cast, thinking they were as good-looking as ‘Will’ and as funny as ‘Jack’, whereas in reality they were just slutty ‘Karens’. 

Now we are all hooked on Kohan and Mutchnick’s latest project MID-CENTURY MODERN a new comedy set in Palm Springs (and it doesn’t get much gayer than that). The story is about 3 ‘older’ gay men who for one reason or another are still single and have decided to become ‘housemates’ . Because the arrangement includes one of their mothers (impeccably played by the late Linda Lavin) there has been much discourse about comparing it to the Golden Girls. The argument against that would be that (the too handsome for words) Jerry,  Matt Bomer‘s character would be a cross between sexy Blanche and nice-but-dim Rose.  Except in reality he is cast as the house ‘twink’ which is kind of pushing it at 49!

This however is the perfect time for a feel-good-laugh-out-loud queer comedy especially one with the combination of a very talented cast with some superb camp one liners, even if they have insisted on labouring it all with an annoying laughter track.  Its also very noteworthy tackles the rarely discussed topic of loneliness amongst older gay men.

Besides Bomer, Nathan Lane playing Bunny is clearly in his element, so too is Nathan Lee Graham as the 3rd roommate, and over the 10 episodes are  an impressive list of guest stars who include Richard Kind, Billie Lourd, Judd Hirsch, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Zane Phillips, Rhea Perlman, Clinton Leupp and Judd Hirsch etc

This is however not award-winning comedy and it does have the disadvantage of feeling a little too dated especially with some of its plot lines and maybe trying a tad too hard,  but with our community as a target for this adminstration it does provide us with some very much needed relief.  And a reason to laugh again.