It's All Relative

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It's All Relative was an ABC sitcom about a man who dates the adoptive daughter of a gay couple, which forces their very different families to learn to coexist.

The show premiered on ABC on October 1, 2003 and was cancelled, with two episodes unaired, on April 6, 2004. Although the show had a loyal audience, ABC pulled it two episodes short of completing its first and only season under the allegation of poor ratings.

Many argued that what killed the show was its bad time slot, on Wednesday nights, but fans were rather suspicious that what actually would have caused cancellation was an alleged conservatism as well as censorship on the part of ABC and possibly some of the channel's audience. According to this theory, the presence of a homossexual couple that had adopted and raised a child was too much of a shock and considered inappropiate for the time slot, which would be a more "familiar" one. ABC has vehemently denied that thesis, but fans were not convinced, and were particularly irritated by the fact that the creators and writers of the show were fired from ABC following the show's cancellation.

The story revolved around two rather different realities, in Boston, Massachusetts. In one corner, there was the rather stereotyped character played by Lenny Clarke, an Irish bar owner close to retirement who watches with dismay as his son falls for a girl with a rather unorthodox family history: she is the adoptive, and somewhat spoiled, daughter of a male homossexual couple. The situation forces the character to come to terms with his homophobia — although this aspect of Clarke's character was substantially toned down, since the atmosphere of a sitcom would not be suitable to explore such a conflict appropriately. In addition, the audience is introduced to the also stereotypical Irish wife (Harriet Sansom Harris), who helps in the pub but is generally a traditional middle-aged housewife (but oddly has little problems accepting her soon-to-be daughter-in-law's parents), as well as the couple's tough-but-kind daughter (Paige Moss), who waitresses in the family's bar.

On the other side, there were Simon (Christopher Sieber) and Philip (John Benjamin Hickey), a same-sex couple who takes pride in how well they were able to raise their adoptive daughter. Here, the comedy came from the couple's difficulties in adjusting to their daughter's boyfriend's family, especially his father (Lenny Clarke), and most notably from Philip's notion that his daughter was dating someone "beneath her", both socially and culturally.

The first (and as it turned out, the only) season followed Maggie Lawson's and Reid Scott's characters romance as it evolved from a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship into engagement and, eventually, marriage. During this process, the two families strived to come to terms with the inevitability of being "joined" by their children's union, which would force both sides to revisit their preconceptions and prejudices.

The Cast

• Lenny Clarke played Mace O'Neill
• Harriet Sansom Harris played Audrey O'Neill
• John Benjamin Hickey played Philip Stoddard
• Maggie Lawson played Liz Stoddard-Banks
• Paige Moss played Maddy O'Neill
• Reid Scott played Bobby O'Neill
• Christopher Sieber played Simon Banks

Episode Guide

<spoiler> (Some episode titles may be spoilers)

External links

• It's All Relative at TV Tome