This Just In: Sean Hayes To Play A Gay Dad On New NBC Comedy Series

Sean Hayes

As was announced by NBC programming chairman Robert Greenblatt at the TCAs in Los Angeles earlier this month, former Will & Grace star Sean Hayes is in talks to return to the small screen in a new comedy for the network. While details on the project were kept under wraps at the time, Entertainment Weekly is now reporting that the series will have Hayes starring as a gay man who is raising a 12-year-old boy with his partner.

In addition, Rescue Me co-creator Peter Tolan and his creative partner Michael Wimer are currently in talks to come on board the series, with Tolan serving as writer and executive-producer.

While an NBC comedy may seem like an odd fit for the edgy scribe, prior to the boundary-pushing FX firefighter series, he also wrote for such hit half-hours as Murphy Brown and The Larry Sanders Show, in addition to scripts for mainstream comedies like Analyze This and Guess Who. No doubt, some gay viewers will have concerns about Tolan's involvement given his handling of Rescue Me's gay storylines, which were to say the least problematic at times.

I'm glad that Hayes is going this direction with the series, particularly since he's one of the few TV actors with the cache to get a show revolving around two gay fathers actually produced on a broadcast network. Although Glee and Modern Family have gone a long way in increasing the visibility of gay characters on television, as noted by EW, putting the central focus on a gay couple is unprecedented on broadcast TV.

Plaudits must also go to Greenblatt, the first openly-gay network head who doubtless played a major role in moving forward with the project.

So, are you happy to see Hayes back in a series regular role on television? Surprised at Tolan's involvement? I think it might be interesting to see a mixture of Rescue Me radicalism within a Modern Family-style setting.

Sound off with your own thoughts below!