Just binged the two seasons on HULU. The writing is very good. I found myself laughing out loud a lot, which is rare for me. The jokes don't pander, and contain many cultural references. Started watching because of Martha Plimpton. Who is always brilliant. The rest of the cast is wonderful, and the plot lines are inventive. As a gay guy, I appreciate all the cameos and references (Gus Kenworthy, Jane Lynch, Cheyenne Jackson.........).

The O'Neals are a traditional Irish-Catholic family in Chicago. Eileen (Martha Plimpton) tries to keep up appearances but her marriage to Pat (Jay R. Ferguson) falls apart. On top of that, their son Kenny (Noah Galvin) comes out of the closet. The brutish oldest son Jimmy (Matt Shively) reveals his anorexia. The youngest Shannon (Bebe Wood) is smarter than all of them and questions her faith. There is family friend Jodi (Mary Hollis Inboden) and Eileen starts dating Vice Principal Murray (Matt Oberg).

This is structurally a traditional sitcom except it piles on all the non-traditional elements. I like almost everyone except sometimes Kenny gets whiny. His effeminate manner only accentuates that aspect. It keeps me from fully embracing him. Sometimes, I really like him and root for his struggles. Other times, I want him to be above it and be the bigger person. This was canceled after two seasons.

We just saw the first and fourth episodes of this at a screening and since the audience loved it and were laughing like crazy I have to say that I am suspicious of a few of the eleven revues I see here. It seems that the Catholic League and the Hundred.....er... 'Million Moms' have a problem with it so I can't help but wondering if they are using IMDb to try to scuttle it.

It's a very funny comedy which deals with timely and serious issues. If you think that a young gay character should not be depicted on broadcast TV or that the Catholic Church is a sacred institution about which nothing humorous can ever be said or even implied than I suggest you steer away from this show.

However, I have to say that I thought the pilot one of the best I have ever seen. If I had any problem with the show it was that the Catholic School that he was attending wasn't dealing with him the way that the Catholic League is dealing with this show, in other words going on the attack with reckless abandon.

All five members of this family were a bit over the top but I liked them all. The relationship between the mother and the son was especially unusual in my experience with sitcoms so I'm not sure where the notion that this series is 'nothing new' is coming from?

Looking at the five 1*star reviews that are present , as I am writing this, two were from members who have never reviewed anything before, one from a reviewer whose only recent reviews were "Trash" and "Terrible" and one from someone who loved "Paul Blart: Mall Cop II" saying "This is the kind of film we need more of in America. No profanity, no homos"..... So if that's where you're coming from stay away from The Real O'Neals. Otherwise, I suggest you give it a try.

When I first saw the trailer few months back, i was too excited. Now i can't wait for the next episode. Its funny, subtle and hilarious with stereotypes. I loved every bit of it.

Noah's acting, voice modulations, dance, expressions are damn near perfect. No wonder he is in theater.

Bebe wood is all grown up since i saw her in the new normal.

Sarayu rao in guest role is icing on cake. Princess Panjali has actually become a women.

Everybody else has put great amount of acting. I just don't want to give any spoilers.

Well done!!! Bravo!!!

I have been a long term of Martha Plimpton, from her early dramas to the hilarity of Raising Hope, so I am happy she is back on TV. Fortunately, she again picked a great vehicle to display her talent. I don't understand the negative reviews since aside from writing that is several notches above many sitcoms, it actually displays characters who are warm, affectionate, and compassionate in spite of their flaws. To suggest that the show reflects negatively on all Irish Catholic families is tantamount to suggesting that "Psycho" reflects negatively on all motel owners. And on top of that, the show is often quite funny. Who could ask for more from network TV!

I hope you will ignore the negative reviews and watch it to decide for yourself.

This show is off to a good start. Outstanding cast; very happy to see Martha Plimpton on TV again and the kid playing the Gay son is very funny and talented. I hope they explore more family situations involving a Gay family matter. Too bad the Catholic League can't see how much love there is in this family and how supportive they are of each other. THAT is what family is all about! I have watched all three episodes aired and have enjoyed all of them. The writing is good and should keep getting better. This show is funny and I'm very happy its on an early hour so families can watch together. Check it out. I'll keep watching!

Noah Galvin reminds me of a young Matthew Broderick, circa "Ferris Bueller's Day Off". In fact even the use of self-narrations are similar. I'm surprised more people haven't noticed or mentioned this as they both are quite similar.

It would have been better casting to see Broderick as the father, would have looked more like Galvins dad. Their similar comedic mannerisms and expressions would have played off one another very well. Martin Short would have made a hilarious school principal.

Anyway I like this series so far. Will see how it goes as its too early to tell.

While the show has many sub themes, the primary story of the show is the relationship between a teenage boy and his family. The boy, Kenny (Noah Galvin) is gay and the show is mostly told through his point of view. But this is not a show made for a niche audience, it is a show made for all viewers.

My only criticism of the show is they seem to mock Christians, Catholics in particular, for no reason. For instance, they have a stature of the virgin Mary on the toilet tank. Jesus shows up in a few episodes, and has a few lines that do not really add to the plot. Hopefully there will be less of this as the show matures.

The show has a solid cast. Noah Galvin in particular does a great job of making the gay teenager relatable, serious and funny. All the cast is quite good.

Be sure to check this one out.

When a producer is competing to capture their fair share of a television viewer audience with a new comedy series they either have to create a whole new comedy genre stratosphere such as the huge success of The Big Bang Theory and/or Modern Family accomplished, go back to an earlier era of simpler times such as the 1974 Happy Days series that ran for 11 years, or they will choose to piggyback off of the success of a defunct series that had previous success for many years. I think what ABC is attempting to accomplish with their new TV comedy series "The Real O'Neals" without leaving themselves open to any legal challenges that have the word "piracy" or "copyright infringement" in the lead statement was to utilize one of their own former successful TV series namely the 1988-1993 The Wonder Years.

Of course ABC is attempting to modernize their comedy series for a more acceptable and approving 2016 audience than what was expected from the then wholesome 1988 Arnold family of five starting with the then 13 year old Kevin Arnold played by Fred Savage in his breakout role. There are similarities such as the Arnold family was comprised of a gruff dad who holds a senior management position at NORCOM a defense contractor, and the loving wife, two sons and one daughter. Sound familiar?

Why I am making the comparison between the 1988 ABC TV series The Wonder Years, and the current 2016 ABC TV series The Real O'Neals, is both are comprised of a family of five with two sons and one daughter living in a middle income home and both have a narrative style where the families issues are described to the audience by a family member in the third party style of describing their actual feelings and circumstances/experiences.

Where I personally see the major difference in these two ABC series that are close to 30 years apart is that I could relate to the issues and events that evolved in the 1988 series The Wonder Years, but The Real O'Neals smacks of absurd shock value in the pilot episode by showing us how dysfunctional the Real O'Neals actually are. First of all, mom Eileen and dad Pat (played by Martha Plimpton and Jay R Ferguson) who pretend to be devout church worshippers and the epitome of good parents have secretly been going to therapy for marriage counselling for the past year and have decided to divorce. Older son Jimmy played by Matt Shively has admitted to being anorexic. Daughter Shannon played by Bebe Wood, has admitted that the charity she has been aggressively raising funds for is actually just a front to allow her to keep the money and buy a car off of Craigslist since as long as you pay by cash (the donations she wrongfully has been collecting) the seller doesn't care if he is selling a car to a 14 year old girl. The only family member who doesn't seem to have any personal problem is the younger son Kenny played by Noah Galvin, who comes out of the closet that he is gay. What TV show in this century does not have representation from the LBGT community? What is the shocker there? This whole supposedly dysfunctional family unit on the inside who portrays a devout religious and perfect family unit on the outside in a comedic atmosphere just does not work for me. Just because all of their deep secrets are revealed in the church hall kitchen to each other for the very first time and revealed to the entire church congregation via speaker phone supposedly unbeknownst to the Real O'Neal family is not funny, nor a shocking revelation. How they get out of this mess was even more absurd.

I give the series a 4 out of 10 rating and predict there will not be a season 2 unless the storyline and characters develop significantly to more realistic characters than the shallow shells they currently are portraying.

January 29, 2017 update

I have to come clean and admit that this series is deserving of a second season and also a third. My review above was based solely on the pilot episode that aired and I still believe that first episode was attempting to divulge way too much information about the five (5) O'Neal family members to the point of being absurd. Through subsequent episodes, although the series comedy level is inconsistent there definitely are enough above average episodes that are worth watching. I have upgraded my original rating from a 4 to a 6 and I am optimistic that the series is progressing in the right direction. Which means it is well worth watching. It has grown on me.

I think that if this show would have had the older brother jimmy coming out as gay that this would have been groundbreaking. As with the younger effeminate brother being gay is very stereotypical in a lot of straight people's view of what a gay man is.

Don't get me wrong I did enjoy the casts portrayals of their characters, but wish that Hollywood and tv execs would be more inclusive to the wider community. But instead they go straight(no pun intended) to the camp side.

I know a lot of gay men who don't identify as camp or effeminate, and surely that if jimmy would have been the gay brother there would be a lot of younger men struggling with their sexual identity would see that being gay isn't a one size fits all situation.

I love this show.I laughed through the entire episode. After a long stressful week, it's nice to have something that makes me laugh. I won't leave any spoilers so that other people can enjoy it for themselves. :)

I just worry that the show will get canceled because of all the complainers. :( That happened to quite a few shows that I watched. If you don't like it, move on. You don't have to ruin it for the rest of us.

It's nice to see something other than drama and reality shows once in a while. Give it a chance.

It's just a cheap ripoff of the the "The McCarthys". Why would ABC launch the exact same show as CBS?

It feels like all the jokes that were too terrible for "The Middle" got put here. The middle was also just a Malcolm in the middle ripoff.

Its tries to be like Modern with parents being cheesy. The kids are dumb jock, gay kid, and weird smart girl. We have seen this before and it has been executed WAY better by other shows.

Is ABC ever original? Well when they are they cancel their shows. the only good show in recent years was "don't trust the B in apartment 23" and they canceled that.

Just avoid this show, its crap and very mediocre.

After watching three episodes of this series, I want to support this show and see more. Having a an almost teenage daughter I want her to feel loved and supported. All the characters in the show have their "secrets" and are figuring out how to deal with their new changes and yet still love and support each other. The mom with her religious beliefs working it out with the dad who she is divorcing and "secrets" she found out about her kids, the dad still trying to be a dad to his kids, the older brother being supportive of his younger brother and of course Kenny, dealing with his "coming out". This is probably the least interesting to me. I like the family dynamics and overall the warmth and love of the family.

Watching this show now and it's hilarious. Not sure how it was canceled, but reading other reviews leads me to believe people just weren't ready. Does it follow the ABC sitcom playback, yes, can it get redundant, yes. Does it ever stop being funny? Absolutely not.

We are 2 old gay guys-together 27 years and married 2 years. We love the show. It is handling the subject matter in a funny and subtle way. Everything gets covered and no one is offended. Maybe we're too old to be offended or think EVERYTHING is just too boring, but there is a audience out here for QUALITY and WELL WRITTEN shows- like The Real O'Neal's. The subject matters covered are topical and written in an intelligent way and not talking down to it's audience. You expect us to understand what is going on also, which is refreshing. Thank you to the cast and crew for all your hard work. We are enjoying it. Jim and Jack

(our email didn't come through fully. It is doublejranchfh@hotmail.com

The central idea is interesting, but once in season 2 the limitations of the show are evident.

There's not much that works beyond the gay jokes that seem repetitive by now. The secondary character are too conventional, too stereotypical sitcom material.

This was a cute show with good actors and entertaining writing. Would have enjoyed seeing more about this family, growing and changing as each of them began to get more "real". Fortunately the actors went on to other roles.

Knowing that the Catholic Church had some complaints about the show makes me wonder if people were turned away from the show because of it.

There was a lot of potential for this show to continue to explore the themes it began with and for viewers to be educated on them.

It was never a hilarious comedy, but it was funny and heartwarming. Wondering what really caused the drop in ratings...

This doesn't rate as a comedy in my book. This show plays in Istanbul so I am a little bit of a hostage in what is available on cable. I'm not homophobic, so my dislike is not based on this. Drab, boring characters that aren't interesting or particularly likable. I feel like the good reviews are probably mostly from people that are homosexual, so they have a vested interest in this show succeeding. I don't have anything else to add but I am forced to write more. I would be surprised if this show isn't canceled. I wonder why they make the straight brother dress like he is a wife beater in tank tops and come across as a dimwit. The gay son is the most annoying character on the show, except for the mother. I can't say I've laughed one time after watching the many episodes that have played here.

This show is so bittersweet to me. We thoroughly enjoy the antics, his just-camp-enough-without-being-fake mannerisms, the supportive big bro, the cool dad, the surprised and eventually embracing mom... It's everything we wish we had when we came out of the closet 20 years ago. I'm so happy that shows like this can not only be made, but thrive.

I say bittersweet because, just like Troye Sivan's music & videos, it makes me feel happy for teens struggling with those questions, to have secular touchstones, but also makes me think... where were shows like this when I grew up?

I really hope we'll be able to join Kenny (Noah Galvin) and his family for many seasons to come!

a slice of real life with all its funny , quirky pitfalls and pleasures. We Love this show and gather as a large group for it weekly....it fills the soul with laughter at the perils of modern life, adult children and the day to day trails that in retrospect seem to echo real life, both funny, and thought provoking. The cast is well rounded and the ability to work the humor into every thing is a gift few ensemble cast can pull off theses days.....I suggest you grab a friend or two, sit down and enjoy this half hour slice of modern Americana at its very best. Leave your preconceived notions and pent up fear at the door, I promise you will find this more like a walk thru your own family album than you might have realized.