The Real O'neals: What happens when a family reveals their secrets

At the start of The Real O'neals, the family are a nice Irish Catholic family. Photo / ABC

You'd think we'd have seen a show like this before. But it's a perfect fit with the authenticity we demand from television now - even in sitcom land.

We're introduced to the O'Neals at post-church brunch in a Chicago restaurant. Image-obsessed mom Eileen (Martha Plimpton) places orders for the entire family, including her husband, Pat (Jay R. Ferguson), a cop, who takes his salmon with a lemon wedge in stride: "Can't have meat and potatoes for every meal, not till I'm in heaven."

"My mom always told us to behave as if Jesus were watching," our narrator, 16-year-old Kenny (Noah Galvin), tells us.

A fresh take on a seemingly perfect Catholic family, whose lives take an unexpected turn when surprising truths are revealed. Photo / ABC

And just like that, a very chill Jesus appears, launching a series of amusing cameos by the man, er, deity. He says, "I'm gonna let her order for me, too, but then I'm just gonna turn it into whatever I want."

At the start of the pilot, which airs next Tuesday, the O'Neals are a nice Irish Catholic family. By the end, they're a nice Irish Catholic family whose secrets have spilled out in spectacular fashion, over a loudspeaker at a bingo night for their parish.

The biggest of these secrets needs no spoiler alert. Promo images for the show picture the O'Neals with bright halos above their heads. Kenny's halo looks a bit different - it's a rainbow, because he's gay, get it? - and unlike his smiling relatives, he looks like a deer in headlights.

Kenny spends much of the first episode trying to dissuade his girlfriend, Mimi, from initiating sex. ("Father Phil's here and he's wearing his collar.") After various unsuccessful attempts to thwart her advances - including flushing an entire box of condoms down the toilet - Kenny faces the truth of his sexuality.

His coming-out is central to the show but the entire family has stuff to work through. Eileen and Pat are planning to divorce, daughter Shannon (Bebe Wood) has a penchant for lying and, in the flimsiest of plot points, eldest son Jimmy (Matt Shively), a high-school wrestler, has an eating disorder that appears to resolve itself over pancakes.

Galvin is fantastic in his role, delivering lines with the awkward self-assurance of a teenager who is just starting to figure everything out. Even throwaway exchanges become devilishly funny as a result. Eileen: "What's in that closet?" Kenny: "Not me anymore!"

The series is based on an idea by LGBT activist and advice columnist Dan Savage, whose involvement in the project has prompted some protests from groups that consider some statements by Savage to be anti-Catholic.

(The Catholic League took out an ad in the New York Times in which President Bill Donohue scolded ABC). Savage is listed as an executive producer, but co-executive producer and director Todd Holland told the Seattle Times Savage's role has been fairly limited.

"The protests are unwarranted," he said. "The Real O'Neals has some fun with Catholicism but faith isn't the butt of the joke in the show, which is ultimately an endearing story about a family that loves and supports one another."

Tune in

When: Tuesday, 8pm
Where: TV2
What: A gay old time