Do we still need sitcoms? That’s something I have been asking myself in this age of arthouse TV, where shows like “The White Lotus” and “Severance” are all we really talk about. But I think that if we do — if we’re still not over the live laughter of studio audiences or the visual style that makes it clear these shows are fully filmed on that live sound stage, if we can binge on streaming platforms the kind of shows we used to wait for every week — then we absolutely need “Mid-Century Modern” which landed on Hulu at the end of April. Honestly, even if we don’t need sitcoms, we do need this specific sitcom. It’s a very Jewish, smartly written queer show with Nathan Lane and Matt Bomer and Pamela Adlon! It feels like a pretty great gift.
Before we get into what the show is actually about, I think we need to stop a minute to honor its two trailblazing Jewish show runners. I’m talking, of course, about Max Mutchnick and David Kohan, the Jewish duo behind the hit sitcom “Will & Grace,” which aired between 1998 and 2006 and then again between 2017 and 2020.
“Will & Grace,” about a gay man, Will (Eric McCormack), his best friend Grace, and their life in New York City, was a revolutionary show. Despite much of the criticism it has received, it was the first intentionally and openly LGBTQ sitcom, one that brought out gay men into TV screens across the country and the world — and yes, also gave us the very openly Jewish Grace played by Debra Messing.
“Mid-Century Modern” leans on those groundbreaking sensibilities, showing us a group of three “older” (age is but a number, hey) men who choose to room together in Palm Springs. It is more diverse than “Will & Grace,” but it’s still very Jewish — maybe even more so. Our main protagonist, Bunny Schniedermann, played by Nathan Lane — who used to sometimes tell reporters that he was Jewish because he was so often cast as a Jew in theater and film — is Jewish. His Jewish identity is made explicit — oh, so explicit — in an early hookup with a younger man, with mentions of foreskin and a sexually fulfilling dogpile at Camp Shalom.
At the center of the buddy comedy are Schneidermann, the Jewish scion of a bra legacy, who lives in Palm Springs, Jerry Frank, a raised Mormon flight attendant who got married and had a child in the church before leaving it to live, played by Matt Bomer, and the great Nathan Lee Graham as Arthur Broussard, both fabulous and hilarious as the sassy New Yorker, who completes this fabulously musical triangle (the three were in a musical group together in their younger days). Bomer’s role is a truly surprising delight; I’m so used to seeing him play these complex characters in shows like “White Collar” and “Perfect Strangers,” but he plays the dumb handsome gay man with a heart of gold so well.
Though there’s one more roommate in the fancy house — Bunny’s mother Sybill, played by the incredible Linda Lavin, who recently passed away. She’s in eight of the show’s 10 episodes and the ninth episode of the show is a fond and bittersweet farewell to both her and her character. Lavin played the daughter of Jewish refugees perfectly in this role. She and Bunny are impossibly close, a TV stereotype about Jewish mothers and sons that is often true to life. They sometimes can’t stand each other (Bunny describes her as being filled with “cottage cheese and spite”) and more often can’t stand being apart. When Jerry gives her a Catholic medallion of St. Raphael, she accepts it but chides him: “Not the best gift to give an old Jewish lady with Polish roots whose family was turned in by Catholics.”
I’m so heartbroken that we won’t get more of Sybill but so deeply grateful that Lavin is immortalized in this show, one of her last projects, in her full glory — she can be funny and heartfelt, she’s glamorous and she’s oh-so-much larger than life. Yes, the overcritical controlling Jewish mother stereotype is a tired one, and the “fat-shaming” scenes of her hiding Fig Newtons from her son do sometimes make me wince, but it’s also not unrealistic to have a little toxicity in your relationship with your Jewish mom. And that overbearing stereotype is at the crux of who Sybill is — she’s a fully fledged character with her own life, rivalries and romances. Some of my favorite scenes are her show-off with the incredible Rhea Pearlman, or a tender moment with Jewish legend Judd Hirsch or her many catty but loving show-offs with Graham’s Arthur.
And there’s a refreshing self-awareness to Lavin’s character. She readily admits the mistakes she’s made in her relationship with her daughter Mindy, played by an incredibly gruff and wonderful Pamela Adlon. She apologizes for not being the kind of mother her daughter deserved when she was growing up. I loved seeing Adlon and Lavin together on screen, two amazing Jewish women who’ve changed the ways we see TV comedy. If “Mid-Century Modern” ups the ante of representation when it comes to queer people, it also does it in its representation of Jewish women. Lavin’s character is pure magic.
The show is full of musical moments and perfectly written jokes that both make fresh references and feel timelessly funny. It feels very “write what you know,” based on real experiences of being a gay “middle-aged” man. Many of us rewatch the sitcoms of yore for comfort and I definitely see myself adding “Mid-Century Modern” to my repertoire. It’s equal part good and ridiculous, the sheer volume of legendary talents in this show is hard to beat, and the costumes — especially Lavin’s — are “Nanny”-level camp perfection.
So do we need more sitcoms in this year of their Lord 2025? I don’t know the answer to that, but I do know that with all the darkness outside, I loved and needed the bright light of “Mid-Century Modern,” laugh track and all.
The first season of “Mid-Century Modern” is now streaming on Hulu.
