The Moodys

Leary’s lives bring chaotic fun

What we learn from Denis Leary’s lives – his real one and his fictional one in the new “Moodys” comedy – is basic:
Marriage and family are works in progress. Occasionally, you get it right.
“Within the course of a marriage, you do have a lot of love and anger and stories and experiences to build on,” Leary told the Television Critics Association, “in dealing with, especially, adult children.”
In “Moodys,” Leary and his wife — played by Elizabeth Perkins (they’re shown here) — have three grown-up children. A mini-series in December of 2019 saw all of them return home for Christmas; now the series (debuting at 9 and 9:30 p.m. Thursday, April 2, on Fox) has them moving back in, at least temporarily. Read more…

Surprise: Three excellent comedy-dramas arrive

Each December, our TV expectations become lower or looser.
We expect a few specks of greatness – Charlie Brown and the Grinch, mostly – and lots of pleasantly adequate shows. So this is a surprise: In a five-day stretch, three terrific shows will arrive.
One of those — the much-honored “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (shown here) — was expected; the others weren’t.
“The Moodys” is a comedy-drama mini-series, on a network (Fox) that’s been comedy-deprived lately. “Work in Progress” is a low-budget series with high-IQ scripts. Let’s view all three chronologically: Read more…