The moment US TV network ABC announced it was planning a sitcom loosely based around the early life of pundit and It Gets Better co-founder Dan Savage, which would centre on a staunchly Catholic family dealing with one of their children coming out, it’s drawn protests from conservative religious groups in the US. Now it’s on its way to American TV screens and ABC has introduced it to journalists with a TCA panel on Saturday.
The panel included the news that 21-year-old theatre actor Noah Galvin, who plays 16-year old Kenny O’Neal in the show, is gay in real-life as well as in the series. He told those listening, “There is a very clear distinction between how young people view the show as opposed to older people, who [may] have gone through this. I’m gay myself and I haven’t gone through a lot of the things that Kenny goes through in the series.”
His issue was partly that having come from background where he didn’t have to struggle against his sexuality in the way his character does – apparently his mother asked him whether he was gay three times and reassured him about it before he finally told her – made him question whether the TV show was bringing anything new to the table. He says, “I [thought], ’Is this crazy, is it new and groundbreaking?’” However after he showed the pilot to an older friend, “They were astounded by it.”
The producers were also pleased to have found a gay actor for the role, with producer Todd Holland, saying “As a gay man, this is a landmark role on network television. It was very important to me that a gay kid play this role.” However, he added that they didn’t insist on it while casting the role – not least because non-discrimination laws barred them from asking the auditionees sexuality – but that he was extremely pleased that the right person for the role was openly gay – “For the top dog in the whole competition to be a really confident gay kid is just so satisfying,” he said.
Martha Plimpton, who plays the devout Catholic mother of the family said one of the things she hoped the show does is that, “It’s normalising Kenny and making the fearful homophobes the weirdos, which is what I like about it.”
As well as the main character’s sexuality, the show sets out to challenge the idea of the perfect nuclear family in other ways, such as Kenny’s brothers issues eith eating disorders. It debuts in the US in March.
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