Mid-Century Modern had everything going for it. Nathan Lane, Nathan Lee Graham, Matt Bomer, the late Linda Lavin, and the creators of Will & Grace, Matt Mutchnick and David Kohan—I couldn’t have been more excited for a new Queer comedy in 2025. What started as excitement fell quickly into disappointment as Mid-Century Modern barely managed to strike a balance between over-the-top and sincere.
Mid-Century Modern follows three Queer men of a certain age who, after the death of their fourth, decide to move in together in Bunny’s mansion in Palm Springs. With Matt Bomer as flight attendant Jerry, Nathan Lane as the rich bra businessman Bunny, and Nathan Lee Graham as the semi-unemployed Arthur, the three come together as very different men with seemingly only one thing in common: their love for other men. To add to the chaos, Linda Lavin plays Sybil, Bunny’s mother, who also lives with the trio.
This is a concept that could—and occasionally does—bring a lot of laughs. But when line after line after line is nothing but another attempt at a punchline followed by a laugh track, there is no downtime to fall in love with the characters on anything but a superficial level. It got so excessive that in a one-minute clip—the first minute of the episode—the laugh track was triggered 10 times. It is excessive.
“What started as excitement fell quickly into disappointment as Mid-Century Modern barely managed to strike a balance between over-the-top and sincere.”
The comparisons to Will & Grace are going to be plentiful, but what Will & Grace mastered that Mid-Century Modern has not is everything in moderation, or at least taking a beat on occasion. While both Will and Grace had funny moments, they were more the “straight” cast, whereas Jack and Karen were out there almost constantly. Eventually, Mid-Century Modern tries to give each cast member their moment to shine, dramatically speaking, but with so much time spent making them caricatures of queer men, it becomes difficult to make the switch back to real people with real problems.
I adored Matt Bomer in White Collar, and I found Sean Hayes as Jack in Will & Grace hilarious, but that doesn’t mean one should try to be the other. Sadly, Bomer is the weakest of the three performances and has a character who could have been the most impactful. With a history in the Church, straight-passing for the majority of his life, and an estranged daughter, he could have brought real depth to his character, but instead, he is played off as the flighty friend who is often written as just plain stupid. I am disappointed to report that Bomer’s moments felt the most forced and the least sincere across the board.
Graham’s Arthur is more of a snarky, pretentious Gay, who is easier to digest in larger doses. He was my favourite of the three, and the writing for his character—though ruthless—was sharp and snappy. Nathan Lane’s Bunny was…well, everything I have ever seen Nathan Lane do. He is always enjoyable and on his own, but he is usually the most boisterous on-screen. In Mid-Century Modern, though still a big character, Lane tends to be overshadowed by Bomer, Graham and Lavin.
I am sad to say, Linda Lavin, who plays the sassy mother, Sybil, unfortunately, passed away in December 2024. Her dynamic with all three men and even her daughter, Mindy (Pamela Adolon), were often the funniest moments in the show. I’ll be honest: I didn’t realize Lavin had passed away when I saw the episode where they addressed it. “She’s dead. My Mother’s Dead” hit a lot harder when I rewatched the episode.
Though there were other heartfelt moments in the show, this was the first one where they didn’t try to insert a joke every three seconds. You could see the raw emotion in all three of them, and that made the jokes they used feel natural. I remember when my father died—there was sadness all around—but when we did joke, as we often do to cope in my family, they were usually the jokes most true to who we were. That is something Mid-Century Modern was missing for its characters.
Joking about his glowing eulogy—which paints his mother as an angel when she was crude and rude—felt right rather than forced, unlike the rest of the show. My heart hurts for this team, who had to keep going after losing a member of the ensemble. My first reaction was, “The show must go on,” especially in a queer comedy where you just know theatre matters. And lo and behold, the following episode’s title was The Show Must Go On.
“Mid-Century Modern wants to give us the same level of non-stop, one-liner jokes while we also bond and care about the stories and characters, but it never really earns that love and respect from its viewers.”
It’s hard to hate on a show that ends up having to carry a tragedy along with it, and even more difficult knowing that a death brought real life into the show right toward the end of the season. I don’t see a season two in the future for Mid-Century Modern, but if there is one, I think it will largely be due to that. Bringing in Mindy more regularly might help balance out the cast, but I’m not sure we’ll get to see more.
I also want to give a shout-out to the guest stars. Many episodes of Mid-Century Modern brought in names that viewers will recognize. Judd Hirsche, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Vanessa Bayer, Richard Kind and more made appearances, and if the show does go on, I could see plenty more names on the show. I will note, however, that even these characters were wildly over-the-top, too, so there is still no balance, often leaving our main characters seemingly reasonable.
I believe people will chalk this up to I just don’t like Queer comedy or even “stupid” comedy, but let me tell you, Dicks: The Musical, though not an Oscar winner, was downright hilarious. However, those characters were supposed to be ridiculous. Mid-Century Modern wants to give us the same level of non-stop, one-liner jokes while we also bond and care about the stories and characters, but it never really earns that love and respect from its viewers. I spent most of my time cringing at the jokes, and that doesn’t a good comedy make.
