3 Nov 2014 1:12 PM PT
Posted by Curtis M. Wong 11/03/2014 12:23 pm EST
Tyler Ritter arrives at CBS Television Studios Summer Soiree at The London Hotel on Monday,May 19, 2014 in Los Angeles. (Photo by Katy Winn//Invision/AP) | Katy Winn/Invision/AP
Actor Tyler Ritter is following in his father’s television comedy footsteps with “The McCarthys.” Still, he hopes the CBS series’ subtle treatment of his character Ronny McCarthy’s sexuality will break fresh ground in its own right.
“It’s not really a huge storyline,” Ritter, who is the son of Emmy Award-winning actor John Ritter, tells The Wrap. “The show starts out with him already having come out a few years before, and the family is totally OK and accepting of him. Aside from the fact that he’s in the dating world and meeting new guys, it really isn’t that big of a plot, because these guys could easily be girls.”
He went on to note, “The actual sexuality in and of itself isn’t what makes this show tick. It’s the characters themselves, it’s the conflicts they run into.”
“The McCarthys” is loosely based on the life of actor-writer Brian Gallivan (“Happy Endings”), which Ritter says is extra incentive for the show’s creators “to keep [the character of Ronny McCarthy] from ever becoming something that isn’t identifiable and grounded.”