If you didn’t know by now, the O’Malleys are a Showbiz Dynasty. I mean, it can’t be denied so you may as well accept it. Survivor’s Remorse, my cousin Mike’s show on the Starz network, is about to premiere Season 3 on July 24th. Trailer above. Cousin Mike created the show, wrote the show, and show-runs the show. (And somehow had time to start the ball rolling on, and then executive-produce the short film I wrote. This is who Cousin Mike is.)
Jessie T. Usher, RonReaco Lee, Erica Ash, Teyonah Parris, Tichina Arnold and Mike Epps star as the Calloway family, whose fortunes transform overnight when Cam Calloway gets a lucrative contract with a (fictional) NBA team based out of Atlanta. It’s not Beverly Hillbillies. It’s a smart series about money and success, and how those things transform your relationships – good and bad. Based on an idea from LeBron James (who knows of what he speaks, and calls the situation “survivor’s remorse,” as in: You start to make a little cash in your life, you feel obligated to save everyone from your old neighborhood, take everyone along with you, and yet you can’t: you have survived, and you have remorse about it), Survivor’s Remorse is a true ensemble drama, very intelligent about family (first of all), as well as economic realities, not to mention sudden-wealth’s mixed blessing. I highly recommend it. (It’s also hilarious.)
My brother Brendan O’Malley is a writer and story editor on the writing staff (all of them so talented, I met them all when we rehearsed my short film in Mike’s offices on Sunset Boulevard), my cousin Kerry O’Malley (who also appears in the very promising Amazon pilot The Last Tycoon, and works constantly in television and Broadway and Vegas in between) has a recurring role as an obnoxious and clueless sports-journalist, and my aunt Regina O’Malley – veteran of years of theatre, including Broadway – will appear in Season 3 as a therapist for one of the Calloways. (It’s a dynasty, I told you!)
Season 3 premieres on July 24th at 10pm ET/PT, with two back-to-back thirty minute episodes. There’s been a time-slot change: The show will now be playing on Sunday nights for the rest of its 10-episode season.
Yesterday at the movies the trailer of Sully came up and I yelled “Oh, Cousin Mike’s in it!” The person I was with was very confused. This gets funnier every time. I wonder if sometimes Mike O’Malley is greeted in the streets by total strangers going “Hey Cousin Mike, nice to see you, how are you doing?”
Damn, that show is on my To Watch List, but that list is not getting shorter…
I love when he comments here, he signs it “Cousin Mike.”
and I’m “cousin Sheila.” There are so many damn O’Malley cousins, we have to keep each other straight somehow!
The show is so entertaining – and thought-provoking – with great characters, and little twists and glitches in the fabric where expectations are turned on their heads. Scenes don’t go how you think they are going to go. There’s always a prioritizing of the Human – it’s not cliched.
//If you didn’t know by now, the O’Malleys are a Showbiz Dynasty. I mean, it can’t be denied so you may as well accept it.//
You ARE! Curiosity question: Does your dynasty include this guy?
PATRICK H.O’MALLEY, JR (1890-1966)
American vaudeville and stage performer prior to starting a prolific film career at the age of 16.
Born as Patrick Henry O’Malley, Jr. in Forest City, Pennsylvania, O’Malley also had circus experience by the time he discovered an interest in motion pictures. His screen career dates from the days of Kalem and Edison. From 1918 to 1927, he appeared in scores of silents as both a leading man and a character actor, in such classics as: The Heart of Humanity, My Wild Irish Rose, The Virginian, and in the adaptation of bestseller, Brothers Under the Skin.
O’Malley had aged rather suddenly, and he saw his career decline with the advent of sound. He was quickly relegated to supporting parts, and appeared in some four-hundred films in bit parts and supporting roles. He guest starred on the early musical series Faye Emerson’s Wonderful Town on CBS. O’Malley remained “on call” into the early 1960s for such TV shows as The Twilight Zone and such films as Days of Wine and Roses.
O’Malley died of a heart attack in 1966, aged 75.
FAMILY
In 1915 O’Malley married actress Lillian Wilkes (died December 15, 1976); the couple had three children, Sheila, Eileen and Kathleen.
BTW, Survivor’s Remorse is one of my favorite shows. Can’t wait for Season 3!
I’m so glad to hear you love Survivor’s Remorse. Look for my beloved Auntie Gina this season as a therapist. She’s gorgeous and she has long white hair.
I don’t know about Patrick. I’m sure we’re related somewhere way back.
P.S. Got that off of Cinematophile on FB. Do you follow?
https://www.facebook.com/cinematophile/