How “Mid-Century” Handles Linda Lavin’s Passing

One of the more anticipated comedy series is “Mid-Century Modern,” the new Hulu sitcom from David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, the creators of “Will and Grace”.

Nathan Lane, Matt Bomer, Nathan Lee Graham and Linda Lavin star in the series, which is being seen as essentially “Golden Girls” but with gay men (i.e. Lane is Dorothy, Bomer is Rose, Graham is Blanche, Lavin is Sophia).

The multi-camera comedy series follows three best friends (Lane, Bomer, Graham) – gay gentlemen of a certain age – who, after an unexpected death, decide to spend their golden years living together in Palm Spring with the wealthiest one Bunny Schneiderman (Lane) who lives with his mother Sybil (Lavin).

The pilot was greenlit in June, and very strong word-of-mouth from both development teams and early recordings suggest they’re on to a winner here. However, the show was dealt a blow when Lavin abruptly passed away a month ago. The veteran stage and TV actress died of complications from recently discovered lung cancer.

Lavin died with three episodes of the first season’s ten-episode run left to shoot. As a result, the last few episodes have been re-tooled from the sounds of it with the show opting to kill off the character rather than recast.

Mutchnick took to Instagram to post that the eighth episode of the season will now be titled “Here’s to You, Mrs. Schneiderman” which will serve as a tribute to both the character and actress.

He says in his post: “This Week at ‘Mid-Century Modern’ we filmed an episode I never thought we’d have to write… saying goodbye to the character of Sybil was painful. Saying goodbye to Linda Lavin was heartbreaking.”

Lane and Bomer executive produce the series alongside Mutchnick, Kohan, director James Burrows and Ryan Murphy. No word as yet on a premiere date for the series.

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