Mid-Century Modern is this season’s highly anticipated TV sitcom created by Max Mutchnick and David Kohan, the masterminds behind Will & Grace. In an homage to The Golden Girls, the show centers around three gay friends who decide to come together in Palm Springs to live out their golden years, with the wealthiest of the friends bringing along his mother. The cast is an embarrassment of riches with entertainment veterans of stage and screen Nathan Lane, Matt Bomer, Linda Lavin, and Nathan Lee Graham taking starring roles. Metrosource was on the scene for a live taping, and let’s just say, it’s a gay ol’ time. No doubt the show will have broad appeal, beyond the queer audience, much like Will & Grace. During these trying times, we all could use a laugh to bring us together…and this show has many.
Giving us Blanche Devereaux vibes is actor and singer Nathan Lee Graham. Graham’s extensive career on screen is at the 25-year mark, not to mention a long list of stage credits. On screen, he has appeared in iconic projects like Absolutely Fabulous, Zoolander, The Comeback, Scrubs, Law and Order: SVU, and the list goes on. Being a leading part of Mid-Century Modern just seems destined. He has personally seen and been involved in the evolution of queer representation, seeing gay characters go from sidekick stereotypes to leading characters with complexity. Now he is starring in a major network show alongside two other queer, leading characters.
In a word, it feels amazing. What I’ve always longed for is good writing and fully fleshed-out characters with lots of dimensions, human beings. I didn’t play a gay character until the year 2000 because I would go in for these roles and they would say to me, “Nathan, you’re not flamboyant enough.” I said, “Well, I have a boa in my hand. It’s just that I’m a real human being with nuance.” We can have these flamboyant moments because there’s nothing wrong with being flamboyant. I think it’s exciting not to be a dull person. But we’re also human beings with thoughts and a rollercoaster of emotions, we go through lots of things. This is so exciting to have a project that’s so well-rounded, so well-written. You get to see all the shades, all forms. Yes, the gays do break out into song and dance around their kitchens. I do it alone, so that is real too. But we can also sit down in the kitchen and have a heart-to-heart at that table. You’re going to see all of those things.
Mid-Century Modern comes at a time when our nation is divided. As a queer, Black man, Nathan feels the energy of the juxtaposition of the success of the show next to the current social and political climate. Making this show is his statement.
You lean in and you keep doing what you do. My activism is a bit about showing up. Oh, there’s that bitch again! There’s that Black bitch again. Oh, there she is again. Why? Because I keep working. You’re not going to get rid of me. And when I say me, I mean all of us. So, if you lean in and continue to do the work, wherever it is, you can’t get mired down in the persecution. You can’t get mired down in fearmongering and fear-based things because then you stop. That would be the point for those entities, right? No, what you must do is to continue to work and continue to tell stories and continue to be present and represent. That’s the best sort of activism for me. I have plenty of actor friends who are out there on the front lines and marching and that’s great for them and I certainly support them. This is my way.
Nathan was sought after by Max and David, the show’s creators. After his auditions and a chemistry read with Nathan Lane, he got the call at 10:45 pm that he was cast. He was determined to do the best job he could do, and the script immediately spoke to him.
I just thought it was brilliant. It’s multilayered, it’s funny as hell, and it’s heartfelt. I can’t think of a better ensemble because we’re all from the theater. I just thought it doesn’t get any better than this. And then with Jimmy Barrows directing and the best writing team in sitcom television, the only thing better than this would be me doing a musical of Veep on Broadway.
As Arthur, the homage to Blanche, Graham does share some strong similarities with his character, except for one.
Arthur has a lot more sex than I ever had. But we are alike so much sartorially. The difference is that Arthur is interested in helping other people dress well through his fashion editorials, I don’t care what you look like. You know you look awful, so you don’t need me to tell you this. So that’s the difference between Nathan and Arthur. But we’re both fashion plates. We both shoot from the hip and tell it like it is and we always mean it with love. That connection is real for me. He is just more blunt than I would ever be, but we still feel the same things, he just says it, and I sort of keep it to myself. I love Arthur. He’s so fun.
MID-CENTURY MODERN – “Hello, Fisty’s” – Bunny, Jerry and Arthur return to Fire Island with hopes of hooking up, but the connections they make are not what they expected. Back home, Sybil takes on a scam caller. (Disney/Chris Haston)
NATHAN LEE GRAHAM
Yes, the show centers around the lives of gay men, but that is not the sole audience for Mid-Century Modern. There is plenty of gay humor, but the situations, feelings, and relationships are not bound by sexuality.
Anyone who has a pulse and likes to laugh with a little sprinkling of heartfelt stuff in there, this show is for you. You want a little escape that makes you think about something? This show is for you. If you love The Golden Girls, and who doesn’t? This show is for you. Not because it is the Golden Girls, but because it’s about a group of friends coming together and deciding to live together and mayhem ensues. It’s exciting and it’s fun to watch. It’s fun to turn your brain off for just a moment, to watch something that’s going to make you feel good about yourself, and you might possibly be seen as well, which is always so lovely.
There are many jokes about aging in the show, there are situations directly related to age differences, there is talk of death, and there are comparisons made between the elders of the queer community and the younger generation of gay men. What does Nathan think the younger LGBTQ generation can learn from our more mature queers?
Patience. You can learn so much, but patience is a big one because we’ve lived through it, especially when you’ve lived through the era of AIDS being at its height. Learning that old phrase, “it gets better.” I like to put a little twist on that, what I like to say is “it can get better.” You know, it doesn’t always get better, but it can get better if you listen and choose positive things to be involved with. So, it can get better and the reason you know that is because you have elders who have been through some of the struggles that you’re going to go through. Yes, you have to do them on your own, and yes, this is a different time, and it requires some different tools, but the hard and fast tool tools, the basics, are always the same, right?
We can learn from each other by sharing each other’s stories. And I feel like I learned so much from the younger generation as well, by listening, even though I have to decode half of what they’re saying. But once it’s decoded, I’m like, oh, we’re saying the same thing. It’s just that you’re saying it that way, and I’m saying it this way, and there’ll be a meeting of the minds so we can all learn from each other. Just hold on. My grandmother said to me on her deathbed, she grabbed, she squeezed my hand, and she said, “Outlast them.” And that’s what we need to do about this world and all of the things. That’s a metaphor for everything really.
The show’s four leads are consummate performers, no doubt. But there is chemistry and there is a charm that leaps off the screen. Not only are these actors damn good, but they are also damn good together, each gracefully allowing the other actors to share in the spotlight. No one walks away with the show here because they all do. You would have thought this was the 7th season of the show. Nathan shares what he thinks the cast all learned from each other…
First of all, we are all fans of each other. So that’s a huge deal when you love someone else’s work. There was no sort of ego cloak and dagger about it. Second, we’re all from the theatre, and in the theatre, you have to be vulnerable right away because we don’t have time not to be. You come together and you have to love each other. Take your clothes off and let’s get to work, right? And so we all have that background. A ball is tossed, someone’s going to catch it, it falls to the ground, someone’s going to pick it up and throw it again.
And that’s just the energy we came in with. We all wanted the best show possible. It was all unspoken. We all are huggers, it’s just that we all happen to be tactile in that way and so that was also another energy that made us come together so quickly. What I’ve noticed with all of my castmates is that each of us looks into each other’s eyes when we’re speaking to each other and when we’re acting together. We’re not only listening with our ears but with also our eyes and hearts, which was unspoken. When you look up and things like this happen, you just embrace it and you keep it moving, so now we can get to work faster. We can play faster, we can enjoy time together faster, and we can support each other when things are not going so well in our personal lives. I’ve loved that. It’s been so wonderful with this cast. They’re so good.
As audiences started to watch live tapings of the show, word was getting out that the show was damn good. That, on top of eager media coverage, made the show popular before it even hit the screen. Magazines, blogs, social media, gossip sites, and more, were all building excitement before an air date was even announced. Tragically, at the height of the media frenzy, Linda Lavin, the Sophia energy of the show, passed away before the season was completed. Cameras stopped rolling, scripts had to be retooled, and the laughs had to continue even with a heartbroken cast. Nathan pauses to reflect on his relationship with Lavin.
The first thing, and the last thing I think of when I hear Linda Lavin’s name is joy and gratitude. That’s what she gave the whole time. She was so supportive. She looked you in the eye, she held your hand. She caressed my cheek. She did all of these things naturally and she listened. She showed you what a pro is all about. She was a “broad” in the best possible sense. She worked from five to 87, literally. It was a gift to have her around. Remember she was 87, she seemed like she was 47. It was a privilege and an honor to work with her. She was at the top of her power still. That’s the way you want to go, quite frankly. And she laid down that foundation for us. I keep saying this, but I really feel it.
She’s the spiritual showrunner of our show. She’s the glue, the puppet master. It was sad and we miss her terribly, but there was nothing tragic about it because she had such an amazing career and life, and that’s the only thing that you’re left with. And that’s how we got through it. The tribute episode to Ms. Lavin is one of the best pieces of television I’ve ever been a part of. It’s just extraordinary. The care that went into it, the commitment to doing our very best. And Nathan (Lane)’s work is sublime, playing her son specifically. I love her so much. I feel her now. I feel her all the time.
With such an extensive career of his own, and with much more to come, and hopefully more seasons of Mid-Century Modern, what kind of legacy is Nathan building with his work?
What I love about all of the work is that it was consistently, hopefully good. That’s what I would love for people to say. Young people always come up to me and say, “Because I saw you in something, it made me feel like I mattered.” I would love for that to continue to be said. And that my work is of the highest quality equality is a lovely thing to be said as well. I care about that very much. Whether I have six lines or 600 lines, I’m going to lay down the gauntlet each time and try to leave an impression of whatever that character might be.
Mid-Century Modern is now streaming on Hulu
Last modified: April 4, 2025
