Streaming services were the new frontier of television, but the new frontier is starting to look a lot like the old one. Netflix and Max have recently introduced some medical procedurals. Now Hulu is going similarly classic, but in another direction: the old-fashioned, live, multi-cam sitcom. The Mid-Century Modern trailer has all the familiar trappings of a bygone era of network television but with a fresh, modern perspective—thematically appropriate, given the show’s premise.
That premise being inspired by The Golden Girls is also thematically appropriate to the whole “classic, but updated” thing going on with Mid-Century Modern, which premieres March 28. The series “follows three best friends – gay gentlemen of a certain age – who, after an unexpected death, decide to spend their golden years living together in Palm Springs where the wealthiest one lives with his mother,” the synopsis reads. “As a chosen family, they prove that no matter how hard things get, there’s always someone around to remind you it would be better if you got your neck done.”
The Mid-Century Modern trailer introduces us to our golden guys. Nathan Lane is Bunny Schneiderman, who implores his friends Jerry Frank (Matt Bomer) and Arthur Broussard (Nathan Lee Graham) to move into his mother’s place. The trailer also teases appearances from Pamela Adlon, who plays Bunny’s sister, as well as guest stars Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Richard Kind, and English Teacher‘s Stephanie Koenig; Vanessa Bayer, Cheri Oteri, and Rhea Perlman are also among the list of guests for the first season. The late Linda Lavin stars as Lane’s mother Sybil Schneiderman. “Working with Linda was one of the highlights of our careers,” the show’s executive producers shared in a statement regarding her death in December 2024. “She was a magnificent actress, singer, musician, and a heat seeking missile with a joke. But more significantly, she was a beautiful soul. Deep, joyful, generous and loving. She made our days better. The entire staff and crew will miss her beyond measure. We are better for having known her.”
Bomer spoke with The A.V. Club in August 2024 shortly after wrapping the Mid-Century Modern pilot. He called it a “dream team of collaborators” and gushed about his early memories of Nathan Lane in Terrence McNally’s play The Lisbon Traviata. “He’s such an icon to me, as are the others involved, like Nathan Lee Graham and Linda Lavin. The show’s from Max Mutchnick and David Kohan; I worked with them on Will & Grace. Jimmy Burrows, the best director in the business, is the director,” Bomer shared. (Burrows is also an EP, as is Bomer’s American Horror Story boss Ryan Murphy.) “It’s a really beautiful story about a found family. It was inspired by Max, David, and this group of men who decided not to have kids and were finding out what family meant for them at a certain chapter in their lives. It’s a lot of that but the writing is hysterical with an emotional base.”
