The Good, the Bad, ‘The Real O’Neals’

Last updated on: May 16, 2016 at 10:31 am by Kate O'Hare

The Good, the Bad, ‘The Real O’Neals’ 2016-05-16T10:31:51-08:00 Kate O'Hare

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Yes, it’s coming back for a second season — ABC’s attempt at “Catholic” humor, “The Real O’Neals.”

Oh, well, it’s Disney/ABC, so my expectations were in the cellar, and they were met. As an interesting side note, the man who greenlit “The Real O’Neals,” Paul Lee, who thought it was “on brand” and “adorable” — and who kept citing his Irish-Catholic wife as some sort of justification for supporting the show — abruptly left the network earlier this year. There’s no telling if his replacement will do anything different, but you never know.

My sense from what I’ve read is one reason the show got picked up is it’s from ABC sister organization ABC Studios, so it’s an in-house production from the good folks at the Walt Disney Company (into whose coffers Catholics pour millions of dollars each year). Here’s what Deadline.com said:

This marks the second comedy series renewal for ABC Studios, along with Black-ish, as ABC’s sister studio is looking to grow its comedy business.

Here’s how the Catholic League responded:

For weeks, we have been hearing how “The Real O’Neals” was “on the bubble,” meaning that no decision had been made to renew or cancel the show. Now ABC has made it official—the show has been renewed for the new season.

The “O’Neals” consistently performed poorly against its competitors on CBS (“NCIS”) and NBC (“The Voice”), though they are one-hour shows; it also consistently lost hundreds of thousands of viewers following the ABC half-hour show that preceded it, “Fresh Off the Boat.” But it drew a modest-size audience nonetheless.

The Catholic League’s objections to the show center less on its scripts—they have uniformly appealed to those with a juvenile sense of humor—than with the decision to base the show on the life of a morally destitute, and relentlessly anti-Catholic, man, Dan Savage (he is also an executive producer). It just goes to show, once again, what Hollywood thinks of practicing Catholics.

It must be noted, however, that our campaign has not been without effect: the scripts were rarely of a blatantly anti-Catholic nature, and Disney/ABC silenced Dan Savage. That they dumbed-down the content—fearful of provoking a backlash—is indisputable. It is equally clear that Savage was ordered not to engage me; we previously clashed on many occasions.

Whether the scripts next season will stoke anti-Catholic sentiment, or whether they will remove the gag order on Savage, remains to be seen. If they do, we will gin up our efforts by attacking the Disney brand.

We are not walking away from this fight: Disney/ABC has shown its contempt for Catholics, and they will not escape with impunity.

So, it’s back on the air, but it’s not the Catholic-bashing horror show indicated in the pilot, so there’s that, at least.

Meanwhile, in New York City, the annual upfronts begin today. During a series of gala presentations, the networks offer up their new fall schedules to the advertisers, in hopes of selling a lot of ad time in advance (or “up front,” hence the name). It’s a tough slog out there for everyone these days, what with streaming services, cord-cutting and Millennial apathy cutting into the broadcast-network business and ad rates.

I keep preaching the gospel that the broadcasters should go back to being broadcasters, stop trying to compete with niche-focused pay cable and streaming services, and once again make shows that appeal to the broad audience (which includes the huge, and usually shunned, Christian or values-based audience). This would mean they’d never sit at the cool kids’ table again or win another Emmy (which seems inevitable no matter what), but they might be able to pay their bills and mend the trust they’ve broken with huge segments of the audience.

But in a town that runs on cool, it’s a tough sell. Maybe they’ll have to go broke first. That’s when people usually have their come-to-Jesus moment, right?

Anyway, the circus starts today, and when I get a closer look at the new offerings, I’ll be back. Stay tuned …

Image: Courtesy ABC

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