Watching something like Mid-Century Modern you’re reminded of both the golden age of the multi-cam, live audience classicality of a sitcom, as well as the shift in televisual consumption, with this nostalgic itch-scratching firecracker of a show taking advantage of its streaming setting with boundary-pushing humour and considerable profanity; once you hear the stupendous Linda Lavin describe what “time” represents to people of a certain age, you’ll know you aren’t watching your parents’ sitcom.
Having already broken barriers with Will & Grace, which was something of the first of its kind in how it represented gay men in mainstream media, co-creators Max Mutchnick and David Kohan revel in the queerness of Mid-Century Modern‘s setting, which plays out a little Golden Girls-adjacent, as it focuses on the living arrangement between ageing single Bunny Schneiderman (Nathan Lane), catty former Vogue columnist Arthur (Nathan Lee Graham), and all-too-handsome flight attendant Jerry (Matt Bomer, who is perhaps the show’s secret MVP).
Though Bunny shares the luxurious Palm Springs dwelling they all eventually call home with his sharp, no nonsense mother, Sybil (the late Lavin in her final on-screen role), he wants to be close to both Arthur and Jerry when he attends the funeral of another friend, realising the fleeting nature of life and that his is better with them in it – and in close proximity. Across the series’ 10 episodes, a variety of homosexual hijinks take place, there’s a plethora of welcome guest stars (Vanessa Bayer, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Billie Lourd, Cheri Oteri, and Richard Kind just a few familiar faces throughout), and it breaks queer stereotypes as much as it embraces them. It isn’t groundbreaking, but in embracing a format that seems less and less common across television screens as of late, it almost feels revolutionary because of such.
We’re in a prime age of television right now, and comedy has been expressing itself in a variety of manners, with shows such as Hacks, Abbott Elementary and The White Lotus proving the upper end of the genre spectrum. But Mid-Century Modern highlights the value of a more simplistic model, that whatever shenanigans these characters will stumble into will be solved in a neat 20-30 minutes, the resolution will come with enough of a message to matter (but not in a preachy temperament), and the next episode is already lined up to go with a fresh sheen. And it’ll do it all with a wild sense of humour, because, most importantly, Mid-Century Modern is very, very funny.
Though gay audiences are sure to find more to relate to across Mid-Century Modern as a whole, the catty, often random humour finds enough of a sweet spot to cross into a territory of universality; and sure, some of you may not spontaneously break out into perfectly choreographed dance sequences, but don’t act like you haven’t thought about it.
FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
All 10 episodes of Mid-Century Modern are now available to stream on Hulu in the United States and Disney+ in Australia.
