A celebration of the sitcom that dialed up the gay.

Last week ABC announced that The Real O’Neals would not be renewed for a third season. The sitcom, loosely based on the life of sex advice columnist Dan Savage, told the story of a devout Irish Catholic family dealing with divorce, dysfunction and gay teen son Kenny (Noah Galvin).

Kevin Foley/ABC via Getty Images

While Kenny often dreamed up musical fantasies to handle stressful situations, his real life was also pretty queer. Below we celebrate the gayest and most memorable moments from the groundbreaking sitcom.

Kenny has West Side Story wrestling moves Kenny is the newest addition to the high school wrestling team and since this is Kenny, he tries to pin his opponent using the choreography from West Side Story—as any athlete would. Kenny deals with heartbreak After Kenny and his boyfriend, Brett (Sean Grandillo), call it quits Kenny gets through his heartbreak by living in a cheesy ’90s music video. Whatever gets you through! Kenny makes some Halloween Lemonade Kenny’s reveals his spot-on Beyoncé costume at his Halloween party, and it turns out his mother, Eileen (Martha Plimpton), is a natural at throwing shade. Kenny gets a pep talk Before Kenny goes out to wrestle for the first time he fantasizes meeting out athletes Gus Kenworthy and Robbie Rogers in the locker room beforehand—too bad the two sports superstars start bickering about their Olympic medals instead. Kenny serves fabulous football fantasy Kenny calls Halloween the “gay Super Bowl” so what better way to prepare for the holiday than by dreaming of a fantasy football musical number set to “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga? Kenny’s perfect prom Kenny dreams up his perfect prom which includes “a perfect kiss with a perfect boy”—and an ABBA soundtrack. Camp NoHomo In this Season 1 episode Kenny’s grandmother (Frances Conroy) wants to send him to a conversion therapy summer camp—but Kenny’s only imagines how much fun he will have being stuck in the woods with nothing but hot gay men. LGBT Club Reality Kenny dreams that the new LGBT Club at his school will be an over-the-top pride dance party, but the reality turns out to be far more boring. Kenny’s dancing date Before he portrayed porn star Brent Corrigan in King Cobra, Garrett Clayton guest starred on The Real O’Neals as a love interest for Kenny and the two went on a cute date that ended with a dance number. Teacher’s pet In the episode “The Real Mr. Nice Guy” Cheyenne Jackson’s mean teacher might not have been too fond of Kenny, but he taught him some valuable lessons on how to be the best gay man he can be using “Do Re Mi” from The Sound of Music. Boyfriend: The Musical! Kenny finally has a boyfriend and he tells the whole world about it in a colorful musical number that was made for the Broadway stage. Kenny gets caught up in the Rainbow Grind A gay cafe that’s really a gym/club inside? That’s what Kenny thinks before he enters the Rainbow Grind for the first time. Kenny and Brett share an unexpected kiss Brett, the newest member of the church choir, turns out to have a thing for Kenny when he suddenly kisses him after choir practice. Kenny gets Physical In the second season Kenny visits the local gym with his mom for the first time, he thinks it’s going to be just like Olivia Newton John’s classic “Physical” video. Not exactly. Kenny calls up RuPaul While watching a gay pride parade on TV Kenny’s mom asks him to tell the other gays to “tone it down a bit.” Kenny gets on the “Rainbow Bat Phone” and calls gay celebrities like Jane Lynch, Lance Bass and RuPaul to relay the message.

Catch Noah Galvin as a guest judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race, Friday, May 18, at 8/7c on VH1.





