Disney/ABC won’t come right out and say it, so we will: The obituary for “The Real O’Neals” has been written, and will soon be announced.
On January 18, we noted that over one million viewers who watched the ABC show which precedes the “O’Neals”—”Fresh Off the Boat”—turned to another channel. Thus did we declare, “It’s toast.”
On March 21, we noted that “Fresh Off the Boat” was slated for 23 episodes, but the plug had been pulled on “O’Neals” after 16 shows: “O’Neals” was replaced with “Blackish.” Then it was replaced with a new show, “Imaginary Mary.”
If more proof is needed to show that the handwriting is on the wall, consider that two of the “O’Neals” stars, Matt Shively and Jay R. Ferguson, have been cast for a new series; the former in a NBC pilot and the latter in a CBS pilot.
The obit for the Dan Savage-inspired show is looming, and we are delighted. It would be hard to find a more obscene anti-Catholic in America than Dan Savage, so we can’t wait to witness the final nail in this show’s coffin. We’ve seen worse shows, but the fact that “O’Neals” was based on a bigot’s life is disturbing enough.
We hope that in the next issue of Catalyst we will be able to make it official. We are convinced that Disney/ABC kept the show alive because it didn’t want to appear to be giving in to the Catholic League. But now the jig is about up.
