Obsessed with Hollywood

***Warning*** This article discusses some potential plot points for the HBO pilot The Miraculous Year.

While the HBO drama has only been ordered to pilot as of now, a lot of star power is involved. The potential cast includes Frank Langella, Lee Pace, Norbert Leo Butz, Eddie Redmayne and Hope Davis, the pilot's director is Oscar winner Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker), and it was written by Tony winner John Logan (Red),

With that roster of talent it almost seems impossible that HBO won’t ultimately pick up the series for 2011. And that’s a very good thing for gay viewers.

Set in the theater world of New York City, The Miraculous Year is a family drama that has at its center Terry Segal (Butz), a gay man who also happens to be a Broadway composing genius. Around him revolve a large cast that not only include his lover Frank (Pace), but his gay nephew Cameron, as well as Connor (Redmayne), a young actor with whom Terry has an affair, Frederick Hunter, an aging Broadway composer down on his luck, as well as several other secondary gay characters. Additionally, Patti LuPone will reportedly play a Broadway diva in a number of episodes.
To quote Neil Patrick Harris from the 2009 Tony Awards, “this show couldn’t be any gayer if Liza was named mayor.”

Indeed, it’s been a long time since a drama featured so many gay male characters this prominently. While Brothers & Sisters currently has three out characters – Kevin, Scotty, and Uncle Saul – with B&S’ large cast, both Scotty and Saul have been known to disappear entirely for several episodes in a row. The same is almost as true for other shows featuring prominent gay characters such as Glee, Southland, and the recently canceled Ugly Betty.

Only Modern Family can claim to truly feature its gay characters prominently in every episode and even then 22 minutes of screentime is split between that show’s three different families.
But The Miraculous Year isn’t just noteworthy for having so many gay characters. What's truly significant is that it features such a complicated gay character as its main protagonist and it is around him the central drama of the show will swirl.
Based on casting sides for the show (these are portions of a script — in this case from the pilot — used by actors auditioning for different roles. Much can change about the sides, but they do give a good indication of what the show should be like) Terry is described as being a “charismatic, self-destructive composer” having “messy hair and beard. Body’s a wreck. Unhealthy lifestyle taking a toll. 40s.”

He also comes across as bitter, cynical and under a great deal of pressure as he’s attempting to mount an original Broadway musical he’s been working on for ten years. In other words, he's your tortured, brilliant artist, only gay.

His high pressure life "causes" Terry to act in inappropriate ways including sexually and by using drugs. Of course, this has an impact on his relationship with his partner Frank who has seen Terry’s self-destructive behavior before.

At one point in the pilot, Frank comes home to find Terry high on coke and in bed with Connor, an aspiring actor in Terry’s current musical.

After escorting Connor out of their townhouse, Frank confronts Terry.

FRANK
In our bed, Terry? Come on, I can’t sleep in that bed.

TERRY
It’s not like I don’t try! I do. I do try. But these kids throw themselves at me.

FRANK
They throw themselves into the house and up the stairs into the bed?

TERRY
Very much like that, yes.

FRANK
Shut the f*ck up.
It isn’t the cheating that most bothers Frank, but what Terry is doing to himself. When Terry tries to justify his behavior due to the stress he’s under, as well as what appear to be Frank’s own past infidelities and drug use, Frank says, “Stop. Take a look in the mirror … That’s what’s killing me. Not the f*cking around. That.”
But Terry isn’t interested in hearing it.
Shortly thereafter he delivers a scathing monologue about how stressful his life is – and how much their finances depend on his success.
Says Frank:

It’s all me, you understand? All those actors, all those musicians, our house, our life, the whole goddamn thing depends on my pencil up there in that room – so, YES, I f*ck up, I drink too much, I eat too much, I am unfaithful, I am selfish, I am back on f*cking coke, but that that is ME RIGHT NOW IN MY LIFE and I WILL NOT APOLOGIZE FOR IT…

Let’s just say these two are not Kevin and Scotty.

As for the show’s other gay characters, considerably younger and more optimistic is Terry’s nephew Cameron. The sides describe him as “about 17, sharp, theatrical, sunny and busting to come out of the closet which will surprise no one.”
He’s also best friends with his sister Lara who is considerably less sunny. At one point they have the following exchange:

CAMERON
I wish I could give you a tiny piece of me. I’m happy all the time. Which makes me stupid, I know. But I can’t help it.

LARA
That’s your gift, Cam. You’re the one who’s gonna get out of this f*cked up family alive … For me, it’s like … I’ve forgotten how to be happy.
While Cameron isn’t out at the start of the pilot, his sexuality isn’t an issue for his family. Indeed, at one point Mandy, his mother, thinks he’s going to come out to Terry (who is his uncle). Says Mandy, “This is so adorable! … I think I’m going to cry.”
But Terry is worried about how he’ll handle it.

TERRY
This is just the kind of thing I will totally f*ck up and ruin his life … What should I say?

MANDY
Just be nice. Tell him you love him and you’re proud of him … And do not introduce him to any of your friends!

He laughs.

TERRY
God, I remember when I came out. He wasn’t trying to, but Dad made me feel immoral. He looked at me and in his eyes … it’s like he saw my whole life stretching out ahead of me: a nonstop spiral straight down … Guess he wasn’t all that wrong.
The sides do include a later conversation between Terry and Cameron about what Terry was like as a boy, as well as a discussion of what a theater life is all about. Cameron, who dreams of also succeeding on Broadway, is a refreshingly sweet, self-accepting kid and a welcome addition to the growing pantheon of gay teens on U.S. television.

The show is also refreshing in its depiction of gay male sexuality. Indeed, in the scripts obtained by AfterElton.com, the only sex portrayed is between Terry and Connor, and it reads as if the scene will be handled the same as any heterosexual sex scene on HBO.

Given that, as well as the show’s handling of the other gay elements and the number of gay characters, The Miraculous Year stands a good chance of being the most gay-centric show seen on American television since Queer as Folk went off the air in 2005.

Given that this is coming from HBO, already known for the gay favorites Oz, Six Feet Under and True Blood, and with the talent involved across the board, it stands to reason this might just be the most well done gay series American viewers have ever seen.

Miraculous indeed.