History Series / TheRealONeals

* TheBeard: Kenny's ex-girlfriend Mimi.

''The Real O'Neals'' was an ABC sitcom than ran for two seasons from 2016-2017. The close-knit, Chicago-based O'Neals seem to be the perfect Catholic family, but when surprising truths come to light, some lives take an unexpected turn. The middle son Kenny comes out as gay, and his parents Eileen and Pat are getting a divorce. The show deals with the fallout from these decisions, as well as the shenanigans of Kenny's two siblings Jimmy and Shannon.

* RaisedCatholic: Obviously, all of the children. However Shannon seems to be the only one who actively questions her faith, even going as far as to refuse to be confirmed in the Church.

* RealityEnsues: When Kenny comes out, most of his friends and family members are supportive, and he doesn't face a lot of challenges for it. When Allison is introduced in Season 2, it's pointed out that since she comes from a fairly conservative Asian family, she doesn't have any guarantee that coming out to her parents would work out nearly as well as it did for Kenny. The reality is, as far as the LGBTQ community has come in the United States, homophobia is still very much alive.
** In another episode, Kenny joins the wrestling team in order to help Jimmy out, and ends up winning matches and gaining praise and accolades from the school. Everything is going well until a student from the rival wrestling team refuses to wrestle Kenny because he's gay, Kenny has to point this out to Jimmy.

* FirstEpisodeSpoiler: Kenny being gay was in the promotional material for the show, however Pat and Eileen's divorce was not.

* GoodAngelBadAngel: Kenny's are Jesus and [[Disney/SleepingBeauty Maleficent]], respectively.

* AbortedArc: The revelation that Jimmy is struggling with anorexia is quickly dropped after the first few episodes without any real resolution.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Jimmy's revelation in the pilot is that he has anorexia, but it's never brought up in the series again.

* MamasBoy: Kenny was definitely this, his coming out damaged their relationship but they eventually manage to heal the rift for the most part.

The close-knit, Chicago-based O'Neals seem to be the perfect Catholic family, but when surprising truths come to light, some lives take an unexpected turn. The middle son Kenny comes out as gay, and his parents Eileen and Pat are getting a divorce. The show deals with the fallout from these decisions, as well as the shenanigans of Kenny's two siblings Jimmy and Shannon.

** In another episode, Kenny joins the wrestling team in order to help Jimmy out, and ends up winning matches and gaining praise and accolades from the school. Everything is going well until a student from the rival wrestling team refuses to wrestle Kenny because he's gay.

* WhereEveryoneKnowsYourFlame: Subverted. Kenny, being under 21, mostly hangs out in a calm yet friendly gay coffee shop.

* OutOfOrder: The only episodes shown in production order in the first season are the first two and the last two. This is most glaringly obvious with "The Real Lent", which was the third episode aired but the sixth in production order. In it, Kenny has his first gay date and meets up with the guy twice. However, the next episode features his first day back at school after coming out, which would make no sense since the previous episode obviously covered a few days. This was also noted to make the depiction of Eileen's struggle to come to terms with having a gay son oddly realistic, as it comes off as a messy hodgepodge of conflicted emotions rather than the straight line to acceptance that had been intended.