2 l December
1 - 7, 2019
Northeast Oregon TV Weekly
BY JAY BOBBIN
Denis Leary, Jay Baruchel,
Francois Arnaud, Chelsea Frei
and Elizabeth Perkins (from left)
Denis Leary is the head of
the family in Fox’s ‘The
Moodys’
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Denis Leary wasn’t looking for another series nor a Christmas comedy, but both found him in
one package.
The “Rescue Me” and “Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll” veteran stars in “The Moodys,” a limited-
run Fox sitcom about a dysfunctional Chicago family reunited for the holidays, for better or
worse. The show airs two of its six episodes on each of three nights starting Wednesday, Dec. 4,
then continuing the following Monday and Tuesday. Elizabeth Perkins (“Weeds”) plays Leary’s
wife, with Jay Baruchel (“Man Seeking Woman”), Chelsea Frei (“Victoria Gotti: My Father’s
Daughter”) and Francois Arnaud (“The Borgias”) as the couple’s grown children.
“It’s probably the craziest shooting schedule I’ve ever been involved with,” the dryly witty Leary
muses, “with the exception of a couple of reshoots for movies. We go on the air a month after we
wrapped, and I’ve never done anything that crazy before.”
Still, Leary adds that he has confidence in the outcome largely because of Bob Fisher, one of its
writers, directors and executive producers: “He and I adapted the British show ‘Sirens’ together
for USA Network, and we had a great time. I say ‘No’ to everything, basically, but he’s one of
the people on my short list. I’m always looking to work with somebody I know or somebody I’m
really interested in working with. Nobody can guarantee that anything is going to be good or
even middling. You can only do the work, so I want to have a good time doing it.”
Leary played a Christmas Eve criminal in the 1994 movie “The Ref.” He admits “it’s hard
to convince me” to attempt edgy holiday humor again, “but the tone of this felt a lot like that.
That’s how Bob sold it to me, actually. He said, ‘This is like ”The Ref“ as a television show,’ and
that was a good hook.”
Also a recurring player on TNT’s “Animal Kingdom,” Leary often writes his own material,
but he says that wasn’t a concern for him in the case of “The Moodys.” He notes, “There was
certainly a lot of playing around and improvising on the set, but this guy was written as someone
with a big heart but a hard external shell. It’s clear this family loves each other, but man, they
have a lot of stuff to get through.”
While “The Moodys” is only a one-shot project for now, Leary is ready should Fox decide to
order more of it. “We all signed up with that idea in mind,” he confirms. “If the thing works, the
game plan is to bring the Moodys back with a different family event ... a wedding, an anniversary,
a funeral. All of their resentments and grudges could go on.”
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