By Robert Lloyd October 30, 2014 at 6:30 AM
The McCarthy kids are, from left, Kelen Coleman, Joey McIntyre, Jimmy Dunn and Tyler Ritter. (Patrick McElhenney / CBS)
In “The McCarthys,” a multi-camera sitcom premiering Thursday on CBS — where the multi-camera sitcom has always had a home — Tyler Ritter plays Ronny, the black-sheep son of a close-knit Boston family.
‘The McCarthys‘ CBS sitcoms, though most have their individual subtleties, do tend to beat you around the head with the jokes and the squabbling and the outrageousness, and “The McCarthys,” though less hectic than some of its stablemates, is not an exception to this rule. (Patrick McElhenney / CBS) By black sheep, I mean that, unlike his parents and siblings, he has no interest in sports and that he has proposed leaving Boston for Providence, for a better job and “vibrant gay community.” The gay thing, though imperfectly understood by the other McCarthys — “Aren’t all gay communities vibrant?” wonders brother Gerard (Joey McIntyre) — is not so much an issue.
The family is filled out by Laurie Metcalf as Ronny’s mother, who loves “The Good Wife” and mourns “The Closer” and is surprised to find that Ronny is “still pursuin’ ” being gay; Jack McGee as his basketball-coach father; Kelen Coleman as sister Jackie, who wears sequins to a funeral; and comedian Jimmy Dunn as big slow brother Sean, an extremely non-identical twin to McIntyre’s lean and hungry Gerard. McIntyre was in New Kids on the Block, it seems worth mentioning.
Everyone is good, though there is something especially warming in the presence of Ritter. He looks, sounds and acts very much like his late father, John, a stalwart of the situation comedy through the late 20th century.
And we note with some satisfaction that where the father got famous playing a straight man pretending to be gay — so he can room with two women, priceless — we have progressed to the point where a gay character can lead a network comedy, created by a gay man (Brian Gallivan, “Happy Endings“), and the only question is whether it’s funny or not. It’s not even a fluke anymore.