Peter Tolan has been one busy guy since the end of his seven years on Rescue Me, working hard to get something new on the air. Although his comedy at NBC appears to have been dropped, he’s moved right along to developing another project, this time over at HBO. He’s working with Nick Schenk, the writer from Gran Torino.
The comedy project is currently working under the title Royal, although it has nothing whatsoever to do with blue blood. Instead, according to Deadline, it’s a little more towards the blue collar. It centers on an opinionated old-school biker who has to step up and become the guardian of his nephew and nieces. Not surprisingly, his methods of acting as a parent to them don’t quite fit in with the world the kids are from, and he doesn’t precisely fit into the new role, or the new neighbourhood, all that easily. So it’s kind of like Sons of Anarchy meets Uncle Buck?
Tolan’s previous project with NBC was one of two comedies to be focused on gay men, but the network apparently went ahead with the other option, The New Normal and Tolan’s project fell off the radar. It was set to star Will & Grace’s Sean Hayes. So instead Tolan is looking to return to HBO, where he spent some time on The Larry Sanders Show.
Putting an unlikely character in charge of raising someone else’s kids has a long and rich history, and can certainly be funny if it’s done correctly. Tolan has a strong comedy background, and with the project at HBO it can be as crass as it needs to be to truly work, so I think there’s hope for this one.
