I have to confess, lambs, that when this poster began popping up all over the place, I did not recognize the woman on the right. It took my beloved to make me realize it was none other than Martha Plimpton!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Martha Plimpton as the matriarch of a straight arrow, sort of lace curtain, Irish family????????? Huh????????????
Now, I have loved Martha, since she was a little girl. And her mother, Shelley, whose birthday is in just several days, is a musical theater icon of mine. But Martha has always had an edginess and quirkiness to her work that makes her...well, Martha Plimpton. No one played White Trash with more humor than Martha. She was actually better than Mama June!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But this? Are we going to have Martha in church wearing doilies on her head, and saying the Rosary????????? That would be too much for us, me included, to take.
Martha, no one is judging you for grabbing onto the brass financial ring that TV offers. But, darling, please keep that wonderful edginess and quirkiness of yours.
It's what we love most about you!!!!!!!!!!!!! So we will be watching!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, there will be some "edge" to this series, so don't you worry about ole Martha's reputation for "quirk", RQ. This is either gonna hit big ala "Modern Family", or crash on the launchpad like "The New Normal". Most critics are betting on the latter. "The Real O'Neals" will prominently feature Martha's very horny (and not very discreet) gay teenage son as a plot device: whether America is ready to cheer a hormonal gay boy in a network sitcom is the million dollar question. Kurt on "Glee" was accepted because he was a neutered, safe fairy: this new series goes for the uncomfortable jugular.
ReplyDeleteIts the dream project of Dan Savage, once-amusing-but-now-really-annoying (and very gay) advice columnist. He's the queen who purchased Ann Lander's desk at the estate sale. Once upon a time, he gave great snarky sex and relationship advice when his column appeared in "alternative weekly papers" like Village Voice, New York Press, etc. Then, he "married" some spineless insipid twink who he bullied into being his literal housewife, adopted (ne bought) a baby, dumped it in the twinks lap, then continued to trick with anything that moved within ten feet of him.
The only thing more tedious than a sexless vanilla gay couple preaching about the joys of adoptive parenthood is an "edgy" gay couple consisting of a browbeaten voiceless twink "mother" and a loud, obnoxious, promiscuous stud "father". The former can be forgiven because at least they're sincere: their life becomes all about the child (although questions re the child filling a void in their de-sexed lives remain, just as with overzealous straight parents). The latter are super-annoying hypocrites: "daddy" can barely keep it in his pants, but insists on writing books extolling what an "ideal" family they are (while trumpeting what a butch stud he is). Blecch.
One is torn between wanting Martha to earn a retirement nestegg, and hoping this show dies a quick death so she can work in better projects.