One of the newest comedies on ABC has me LOL’ing! Thanks to Disney I was invited to the #CaptainAmericaEvent in Los Angeles, however all opinions expressed are my very own. I am a huge fan of The Real O’Neals! We had the opportunity to speak with a few of the cast members and the creators of the show during the trip. Let me tell you, we had a great time laughing with The Real O’Neals! and we got to watch a couple episodes with Matt Shively! This weeks’ post I’m giving you a preview of tonight’s episode: The Real Book Club
Photo Credit: ABC
If you’ve not caught an episode of The Real O’Neals you are truly missing out. Being of Catholic faith I knew I had to watch it. But don’t think it’s all churchy and preachy it’s hilarious! I’m sure there are families that are experiencing the same situations but this show truly shows how it can still make for a great family dynamic and nobody’s perfect. As much as we try or want to be. Here’s a brief synopsis on the show:
“To people in their Chicago community, the O’Neals appear to be your all-American perfect family, and if it were up to Eileen (Martha Plimpton), she’d prefer to keep it that way. Eileen is a mom who prides herself on her unparalleled organizational skills and also strives to put on the best charity event at her church every year. Early in the season, a crack in family armor forces Eileen to admit that her marriage is on the rocks and that her family may be a bit of a mess. Eventually being not-so-perfect is something that Eileen finds very liberating and humiliating at the same time.”
Photo Credit: LovebugsandPostcards.com
The cast of The Real O’Neals, we got to speak to Matt Shively, Mary Hollis Inboden, Jay Ferguson and Noah Galvin. It was pretty phenomenal sitting with two of them at a time at the cafeteria in the ABC building. I have to say that entering those buildings is pretty legit. My breath is taken each time, this girl really feels fortunate to do what I do.
We got the inside scoop on Aunt Jodi from Mary Hollis Inboden:
“When I auditioned for this, it was not- I was not, a family member. I was a next-door neighbor with a fifteen year old son who’d gotten a girl pregnant. That was the original role. And then I came in, and they really, you know, I guess I just, I just knocked it right out of the park. So they said, let’s, let’s change this up and make- let’s make her part of the family. My mom always said that in times of tragedy, you know, you might not know what to say but just being there is, you know, important if you ever had a friend pass away or, you know, any, any trauma, really, I feel like the O’Neals are going through this- a traumatic event, and the family’s kind of imploding a little bit.” And so Aunt Jodi is, the one who’s there, but actually can’t keep her mouth shut.” They could not have cast a funnier and more pleasant person in Mary Hollis Inboden. During the show’s downtime she’s become a dog mom. She’s a new dog owner to a CavaPoo. She was sweet enough to show us a picture too. Here’s Mary’s bio courtesy of ABC: “Originally from Arkansas, Mary Hollis Inboden’s career began performing in theaters throughout the south before relocating to the Midwest. Inboden is an accomplished theatre actress, writer and producer who spent several years performing on various stages in her adopted home of Chicago where she is a founding member of The New Colony Theatre.“
One of the truly burning questions we all had for Matt Shively was about Jimmy’s hair. I’m not going to lie I’ve always wondered.. “Why is his character’s hair like that?” Jimmy is not your typical jock, but his hair game is on point. Here’s the low down on the Jimmy helmet:
“Ask about the hair. That is how I was doing my hair for awhile. I was shorter on the sides but, all my friends were doing it, so I was like, you know what? I’m gonna try this out, and when, you look in the mirror and it looks than when it- when you look back at in a picture, because always, like, from ten years ago, you’re like, I shouldn’t have dressed that, and so I thought it was, like, cool to do that, and I did that, and then I realized that it was not cool, and they were like, but that’s one of the main reasons why we love you guys. I thought, all the entire first season, I was like- he, he’s just came out and he’s gay, and in the tag of the pilot, they say, I’m like, what’s the worse thing that I- he’s like, your hair. So I’m like, okay, they’re gonna change it, and they refused to change it. I’m like, give me a makeover episode where Kenny gives him a makeover- so I lowkey- if and when we come back for a second season, if they don’t change it, I’m gonna buzz my head. I’m dead- I’m dead serious. I can’t do- that thing is a helmet. Like, if you, if you were to try and go against the grain, you’ll cut your hand. There’s so much product in that hair, I could like, leave it- it was really a helmet. We threw the creators a couple ideas on Jimmy’s hair.. wouldn’t it be cool if they used it?! What what.. stay tuned!
Photo Credit: PostcardsandLovebugs.com
Here’s Matt’s bio courtesy of ABC: “Shively is best known for his role as Ryan Laserbeam on Nickelodeon’s television series “True Jackson, VP.” Shively’s other television credits include Nickelodeon’s “The Troop” and “Bucket & Skinner’s Epic Adventures,” MTV’s “Teen Wolf,” “Resident’s Advisors” on Hulu, “C.S.I.” and ABC’s “Last Man Standing.” Shively starred in the feature “Paranormal Activity 4.”
We shared great laughs with on-screen father and son played by Jay Ferguson and Noah Galvin during our interview. Turns out as we imagined there are scenes they just can’t make it through without laughing. I laugh so much, I think I’d get fired after the first couple outbursts. It’s truly a craft.
Photo Credit: PostcardsandLovebugs.com
We asked Jay so far what was his favorite scene, “I don’t know if I have a favorite scene. I mean, I probably do if I thought about it, but I definitely have favorite lines. My- mine’s more about the moments that made me laugh while we were working, and those are always the ones that I look back on with the most fondness, and the ones that inevitably crack me up the most once I see it on TV. Noah’s- I don’t know if you guys saw the, the camping episode where we all go camping, but when he pulls out the Luna Bar and, and he says, I saw- what is that? I saw the moon on it, or something.. ” Noah added, “Yeah, I saw the moon on it.“
“He saw the moon on it, like on the cabbage, and it, and he said, and I thought- camping. And the way he said it, but I mean, I was dreading it before we even shot it- I was dreading- just off our table read, I said to myself, oh boy, that’s gonna be one of those that’s gonna be really challenging for me to keep, keep together. And, and I mean, sure as I thought, the first take and it’s on me, and I just immediately crack up. Another one with- in that same episode, Matt had a moment that kept cracking me up, and I couldn’t hold it together- actually, he had many moments like that, so the end of the woods thing with the boots was.” Noah addded” That was a favorite of mine. Definitely a favorite of mine. He needs to make a any kind of musical theater inference.“
Turns out they have hilarious moments on set! I can imagine, I know I’m laughing right along while I watch! Jay added, “But if I look over and any of the other guys- if their, if their lips are quivering at all, it’s just a snowball, and then we’re- we both lose- so with that- the end of woods moment, you know, Matt and I were basically, you know, it was like, okay, who’s gonna, who’s gonna be the one? I’m not- it’s not gonna be me. It’s not gonna be me. And then he’d go, and then I’d go, or then, you know, vice versa. So there’s just a lot moments like that, that, that are my favorite moments.”
We also had a chance to pick the brains of the creators of The Real O’Neals. This is always a treat for me. As a writer I want to know how they find their inspiration. Casey Johnson, David Windsor and Stacy Traub were amazing and so easy going to speak with.
Photo Credit: PostcardsandLovebugs.com
The first question asked was about the concept of the show, “David Well, Casey and I, were first approached two years ago- last year, I guess from the network and studio who had, tried to develop and idea with Dan Savage- I don’t know if you guys know who Dan Savage is. So it’s sort of very loosely based on his life being a gay kid growing up in a Catholic family. We thought, it’s kind of interesting like- we liked the idea of a family show for ABC that all these really good family shows. It’s very specific, so it, it sort of- that was the germ of it from upstairs in this building. And then I sort took it and, and ran after that.” Casey added: “Yeah, so David, Stacy and I we’ve all got families. Stacy has four kids; I have two kids; he has two kids. David and I have been writing have been writing together for about fifteen years, and then we wrote the pilot for this, and when we went into production on the pilot, we Stacy Traub onboard to help us and, uh, one it got to series, the three of us run it together which is great, especially for people with so many- eight children between us.” So if there’s, like, something at school, we have each other covered, you know? It’s like parent/teacher day? Okay, we’ve got it. We understand. And it probably trickles down to storylines, too, right?”
They each agreed that they totally worked as a team together with their amazing group of writers.
Putting a little bit of their own lives into the show
Per David, “I don’t know if you guys saw the episode where they went camping- the beginning of that- it’s just a silly thing, but Jay and Matt do a boy battle; that’s something my son and I do. I’m just in the room, like, oh, and we do this silly thing. He’s only seven. Um, I was like, we, we wrestle and we have this, like, elaborate introduction and Jay- oh, like, let’s put it in. And I was like, oh, but it’s so stupid. It’s fun. It’s specific, and yeah, so we ended up doing that.
[bctt tweet=”There’s always stuff from our lives that we like putting in- it just feels more authentic, you know? It’s more real.” -David Well @TheRealONeals ” username=”candypo”]
We learned that it’s truly a family on and off set at ABC’s The Real O’Neals. I can’t wait to share more with you from these awesome sets of interviews! Make sure to check back on May 3rd!
Photo Credit: LovebugsandPostcards.com
Now make sure to catch tonight’s episode! The Real Book Club! Tonight on ABC, Tuesday nights at 8:30 pm!
THE REAL O’NEALS – “The Real Book Club” – Eileen faces her book club for the first time after her family’s “outing,” but things take a surprising turn when instead of shunning her the ladies begin opening up – way too much – about their own problems. Kenny’s first trip to the “gayborhood” coffee shop is everything he’d hoped for, until Pat tags along with him to a gay dodge ball match, on “The Real O’Neals,” TUESDAY, APRIL 19 (8:30-9:00 p.m. EDT), on the ABC Television Network. (ABC/Vivian Zink)
MARY HOLLIS INBODEN, MARTHA PLIMPTON, ANITA BARONE, MELANIE PAXSON
And of course we got a group shot! Yay!
Photo Credit: LoveBugsandPostcards.com
What a wonderful afternoon spent at the ABC building with the cast and creators of The Real O’Neals! And in case you are a fan but don’t watch live, if you DVR The Real O’Neals, make sure to watch it within 3 days of the live showing. This helps the Nielson rating because we want a second season!! We won’t know until mid May if the show is picked up for a second season. Let’s help make it happen for the cast and crew of ABC’s The Real O’Neals!
