Mid-Century Modern has finally arrived.
The Hulu comedy, pitched as "the gay Golden Girls" from Will & Grace creators Max Mutchnick and David Kohan, drops its first 10-episode season Friday on the streaming service. And in celebration, its gay stars Nathan Lane, Matt Bomer, and Nathan Lee Graham spoke with Out about the groundbreaking sitcom for a special digital cover.
At the show's Tuesday premiere, Mutchnick called Mid-Century Modern's players "the gay Avengers." And indeed, this creative team has assembled to bring the world some much-needed queer comedy. Read ahead to learn more about the show, these characters, and the actors who brought them to life.
Nathan LaneDisney/Pari Dukovic
On Mid-Century Modern, Nathan Lane plays Bunny Schneiderman, a successful businessman who invites his friends Arthur Broussard (Graham) and Jerry Frank (Bomer) to live in his posh Palm Springs home after the death of a mutual friend, George. Although he's had a profitable career, he harbors some regrets at not having found a partner. "He wears his heart on his sleeve," says Lane. "He's very emotional. He's lonely. When he says he's never had the great love of his life, that in a sense, this friendship has been his love story, that's very genuine."
Lane, both a star and executive producer, credits fellow EC Ryan Murphy with recruiting him to the project and ushering its first season to completion with record speed. The multicam, considered by some in Hollywood to be out of fashion, boasts "some of the best people who've ever done this form, and that makes a huge difference."
In addition to Mutchnick and Kohan, the legendary James Burrows, who traces his beginnings to The Mary Tyler Moore Show, directs the first season of Mid-Century Modern, which also stars Bomer and Graham as "gay gentlemen of a certain age" who are Bunny's new housemates. Another famed actor, the late Linda Lavin (who marked her TV debut on Rhoda), rounds out the central cast of chosen family tackling life and love (and hookup apps) in the desert.
"All of the people came together, and it all seemed to work," Lane shares. "It was almost unnerving how well it was going and certainly is the happiest experience that I've had in television."
Read more from Lane in his Out profile, where he praises how Hulu allowed Mid-Century Content to tackle spicy content like these men's sex lives as well as thoughts on how the show about queer found family will be received in a more conservative era.
"Comedy is a great way to win people over. It puts them in a vulnerable position. And...it's a very successful way of delivering a message," Lane attests.
Matt BomerDisney/Pari Dukovic
Matt Bomer is overjoyed to be portraying a ditz on TV.
His character Jerry is "inspired by some of the great ditzes over the years" like Woody from Cheers, Rose from The Golden Girls, Edith from All in the Family, and Phoebe from Friends, Bomer says.
While he isn't as old as Bunny or Arthur, Jerry plays an essential role in the chosen family: he was adopted in while dating George after he lost his own community and family when his Mormon ex-wife outed him to the entire congregation.
And Mid-Century Modern's central theme of found family really hit home with Bomer, who recalls a time when his friends became a "sanctuary" at a time when he was a younger person in NYC and not yet out to his family.
"It's one of the things that really resonated with me the most about this piece," Bomer continues. "Until you can live your authenticity in all aspects of your life and it's safe to do that, they are your gateway. They are your safe haven. They are your future. They are your path to finding your true self."
Read more from Bomer in his Out profile, including why the show was a literal comic relief for the actor. "I'd done quite a few repressed characters back to back, in terms of the LGBTQ characters that I was playing. So if you go all the way back to Doom Patrol and The Boys in the Band… And then, you get into Fellow Travelers and Maestro. I remember turning to my husband and saying, 'I need to do a comedy. I really need to do a comedy,'" he says.
Nathan Lee GrahamDisney/Pari Dukovic
The luminous Nathan Lee Graham plays Arthur Broussard on Hulu's Mid-Century Modern — a Black gay man whose long-term husband passed away and whose career as a high-profile editor at a prestigious fashion magazine came to an end. Unconventionally, Arthur isn't sappy, tortured, or even icy. He is hard-headed and self-assured, but also lovely, wise, joyous, and fun.
Graham — along with castmates Lane, Bomer, and Lavin — show a lot of heart as unconventional housemates and found family in their Palm Springs home. And the actor credits the show's creative collaborative genius for pulling that off.
"The way these characters start off being real people is that they're written that way," Graham says. "And then, hopefully, I meet our incredible writers somewhere in the middle, and it becomes a wonderful marriage of all these talents. I'm so grateful to be a part of it, and to have a fully fleshed-out character with real dimensions."
What does Graham hope that viewers of Mid-Century Modern will walk away with?
"Feeling good about themselves," he says. "I want people to feel good about themselves. I want them to enjoy the 30, 28, 22, 25, 26, 34, 40 minutes of each episode [laughs] and, for a moment, to really have a good time…. I want them to realize that they actually do matter. They actually are seen. They can have a good time and not feel guilty about it. They can lean into the joy."
Read more from Graham in his Out profile, where he talks more about the "lovely joy bomb" that is Mid-Century Modern.
Mid-Century Modern premieres Friday, March 28 on Hulu.
Mid-Century Modern
Disney/Pari Dukovic
