''The Real O'Neals'' is an American single-camera
sitcom
A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...
that aired on
ABC from March 2, 2016, to March 14, 2017. The series, based on an idea by
Dan Savage
Daniel Keenan Savage (born October 7, 1964) is an American author, media pundit, journalist, and LGBTQ community activist. He writes Savage Love, an internationally syndicated relationship and sex advice column. In 2010, Savage and his husband, ...
(who also served as an executive producer), was picked up to series on May 7, 2015. The series was renewed for a second season on May 12, 2016, which premiered on October 11, 2016.
On May 11, 2017, ABC canceled the series after two seasons.
Plot
This series follows the turbulent day-to-day life of a dysfunctional yet close
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
family as their formerly exemplary reputation suffers in their community when it is learned that matriarch Eileen and her husband, Pat, are seeking a divorce. Their oldest son, Jimmy, is
anorexic
Anorexia nervosa (AN), often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by Calorie restriction, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin.
Individuals wit ...
. Their middle child, Kenny, is gay. Their youngest, Shannon, is questioning her faith.
Cast and characters
Main
*
Martha Plimpton
Martha Plimpton (born November 16, 1970) is an American actress and member of the Carradine family. She started her career as a teen actress in film before transitioning to adult roles on stage and screen. She has received several awards includ ...
as Eileen O'Neal, the matriarch of the O'Neal family. She is a judgemental perfectionist and is obsessed with her family's image in their Irish Catholic community. She struggles to loosen her controlling nature over her family.
*
Jay R. Ferguson as Pat O'Neal, a Chicago Police Department officer. He is more laid-back than Eileen and often struggles with her obsessive need for control. He moves into the basement of their house during their separation.
*
Noah Galvin
Noah Egidi Galvin (born May 6, 1994) is an American actor and singer. He portrayed Kenny O'Neal in the ABC sitcom '' The Real O'Neals'' and was the second person to perform the title role in the Broadway musical ''Dear Evan Hansen''. He also pl ...
as Kenneth "Kenny" Christopher Sebastian O'Neal, the 16-year-old middle child who comes out to his family as gay. His voice-over to the series comes from his internal thoughts and often features surreal fantasies.
*
Matthew Shively as James "Jimmy" O'Neal, the eldest child of the three O'Neal siblings. He is a wrestler who struggles with
anorexia
Anorexia nervosa (AN), often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by Calorie restriction, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin.
Individuals wit ...
. Jimmy is a simple-minded and positive person.
*
Bebe Wood as Shannon O'Neal, the 14-year-old youngest child and the only daughter who is questioning her faith. She admits to being a
kleptomaniac in the pilot episode.
*
Mary Hollis Inboden
Mary Hollis Inboden is an American actress and writer best known for appearing on the TV shows ''The Real O'Neals'', ''Kevin Can F**k Himself'', and ''The Righteous Gemstones''.
Early life
Inboden is a survivor of the 1998 Westside Middle Scho ...
as Jodi O'Neal, Pat's ex-sister-in-law and closest friend.
Recurring
*
Matt Oberg as Vice Principal Clive Murray, Eileen's boyfriend and Pat's friend
*
Ramona Young as Allison Adler-Wong, Kenny's lesbian friend and the other member of the school's LGBT club
*
Hannah Marks as Mimi Waxberg, Kenny's ex-girlfriend
*
Sean Grandillo
Sean Grandillo (born December 9, 1992) is an American actor, singer and musician, known for his roles as the Voice of Otto in the 2015 Broadway revival of '' Spring Awakening'', Eli Hudson in MTV's horror series '' Scream'', Brett Young in ABC's ...
as Brett Young, Kenny's first boyfriend
*
Sarayu Blue as Marcia Worthman
*
Brian Huskey
Brian Huskey (born September 8, 1968) is an American character actor, comedian, and writer. He is best known for his roles in comedy programs such as '' People of Earth'', ''Childrens Hospital'', '' Veep'', and '' Another Period''. He also provi ...
as Father Phil
* Caleb Pierce as Stuart
* Madison Iseman as Madison
*
Kaylee Bryant as Lacey
*
Laura Napoli as Bebe Wood
* Jeremy Lawson as Jesus (Kenny's "
shoulder angel")
*
Angela Kinsey as Sheila DeMars, Eileen's rival
* Jessica-Snow Wilson as Gloria, Pat's colleague and love interest
* Christopher Avila as Ethan, Shannon's boyfriend
* Ray Ford as Steve the Colorist, Jodi's colleague
* Lizzie White as Claire, Shannon's friend
Guest
*
Jimmy Kimmel
James Christian Kimmel (born November 13, 1967), known professionally as Jimmy Kimmel, is an American television host, comedian, writer, voice actor, and producer. He has been the host and executive producer of '' Jimmy Kimmel Live!'', a late-n ...
as himself
*
Garrett Clayton as Ricky
*
Madison Pettis as Chloe Perrente
*
Caroline Morahan as Maleficent (Kenny's "shoulder devil")
*
Frances Conroy
Frances Hardman Conroy (born March 15, 1953) is an American actress. She is best known for playing Ruth Fisher on the television series '' Six Feet Under'' (2001–2005), for which she won a Golden Globe and three Screen Actors Guild Awards, a ...
as Grandma Agnes
*
Phil LaMarr
Phil LaMarr is an American actor and comedian. He was one of the original featured cast members on the sketch comedy television series '' Mad TV'', where he stayed for five seasons. His voice acting roles in animated series include the Sam B of ' ...
as Archie, Pat's partner
*
Ian Gomez
Ian Braque Gomez (born December 27, 1964) is an American actor known for his comedic TV work, which includes series-regular roles as Javier on '' Felicity'' and Andy on ''Cougar Town''.
Early life
He was born in New York City to a dancer mother ...
as Michael-Gregory
*
Noah Crawford as Drew
*
Scott Menville
Scott David Menville (born February 12, 1971) is an American actor and musician who is known for his voice work in animated films, television series and video games. He voices Robin in Cartoon Network's ''Teen Titans'' (2003–2006) and ''Teen ...
as Gangbanger ("Pilot") and Tony ("The Real Halloween")
*
Cheyenne Jackson as Mr. Peters
*
Marija Omaljev-Grbić as Dream Woman
*
Jordin Sparks
Jordin Sparks (born December 22, 1989) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame in 2007 after winning the American Idol (season 6), sixth season of ''American Idol'' at age 17, becoming the youngest winner in the series' history. He ...
as herself
*
Tim Gunn
Timothy MacKenzie Gunn (born July 29, 1953) is an American author, academic, and television personality. He served on the faculty of Parsons School of Design from 1982 to 2007 and was chair of fashion design at the school from August 2000 to March ...
as himself
*
RuPaul
RuPaul Andre Charles (born November 17, 1960) is an American drag queen, television host, singer, producer, writer, and actor. He produces, hosts, and judges the reality competition series ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' and has received List of awards ...
as himself
*
Tyler Oakley
Mathew Tyler Oakley (born March 22, 1989) is an American YouTuber, actor, activist, author, television personality and Twitch streamer. Much of Oakley's activism has been dedicated to LGBTQ youth, LGBTQ rights, as well as social issues including ...
as himself
*
Lance Bass
James Lance Bass (; born May 4, 1979) is an American singer, actor, and producer. He grew up in Mississippi and rose to fame as the Bass (voice type), bass singer for the boy band NSYNC. The band has sold over 70 million records, becoming one of ...
as himself
*
Jane Lynch
Jane Marie Lynch (born July 14, 1960) is an American actress, comedian, and singer. Known for playing starring and recurring roles in comedic television, her accolades include one Golden Globe, five Primetime Emmys and two Screen Actors Gui ...
as herself
*
Gus Kenworthy
Augustus Richard Kenworthy (born October 1, 1991) is a British-American former freestyle skiing, freestyle skier, actor, and YouTuber. He has competed in slopestyle, halfpipe, and big air. Kenworthy won the Olympic medal, silver medal in men's s ...
as himself
*
Robbie Rogers as himself
*
Antonia Lofaso as herself
*
Alex Guarnaschelli as herself
*
Graham Elliot as himself
Episodes
Series overview
Season 1 (2016)
Season 2 (2016–17)
Ratings
Season 1
Season 2
}
Reception
Ratings
Critical reception
The series received a generally favorable response from critics. On review aggregator site
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, ''The Real O'Neals'' has a metascore of 62 out of 100 based on 22 critics signifying "generally favorable reviews". On another review aggregator site
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, the show has a 67% approval rating, based on 27 reviews, with an average rating of 6.4/10. The site's critical consensus: "Funny writing and a solid cast save ''The Real O'Neals'' from traditional sitcom perils."
Awards and nominations
Controversies
News of the series' pickup
The news of the series' pick-up attracted attention and controversy before its debut. On May 12, 2015, the day it was announced that the series had been added to the ABC network schedule,
Christian right
The Christian right are Christian political factions characterized by their strong support of socially conservative and traditionalist policies. Christian conservatives seek to influence politics and public policy with their interpretation ...
groups such as the
American Family Association and the
Family Research Council
The Family Research Council (FRC) is an American evangelical 501(c)(3) non-profit activist group and think-tank with an affiliated lobbying organization. FRC promotes what it considers to be family values. It opposes and lobbies against access ...
called for a boycott and petitioned to prevent the series from airing. They also cited Savage's views on religion, sexuality, and
same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...
, which they believed had been infused into the series due to it being based on his life, but Savage claimed that the concept went in a different direction since he was not involved in the writing.
Bisexual joke
The second-season episode "The Real Acceptance" featured a joke regarding bisexuals, in which Kenny, who is openly gay, compared being bisexual to having "webbed toes" or "money problems". Bisexual actor
Sara Ramirez
Sara Elena Ramírez Vargas (; born August 31, 1975) is an American actor. Born in Mazatlán, Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Ramírez moved from Mexico to the United States at eight years old, eventually graduating with a fine arts degree from the Juillia ...
, who played the bisexual character
Callie Torres on ''
Grey's Anatomy
''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series focusing on the personal and professional lives of surgical internship (medicine), interns, residency (medicine), residents, and attending physician, attendings at the fictional ...
'', criticized
ABC and the series, finding the joke offensive.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Real O'Neals, The
2016 American television series debuts
2017 American television series endings
2010s American single-camera sitcoms
2010s American LGBTQ-related sitcoms
2010s American teen sitcoms
American English-language television shows
Religious comedy television series
Gay-related television shows
Irish-American mass media
Television series about dysfunctional families
American television series about teenagers
Television series by ABC Studios
Television shows set in Chicago
Television shows based on books
Fictional portrayals of the Chicago Police Department
American Broadcasting Company sitcoms