You might actually want to “Netflix” and not just “chill” once you hear about the streaming service’s new comedy series Special, based on Ryan O’Connell’s book I’m Special: And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves.
Related: Seeking sex and love while growing up gay and disabled
“Growing up gay and disabled with cerebral palsy, [O’Donnell] constantly felt like he was one step behind everybody else,” the book description reads.
“Then the rude curveball known as your twenties happened and things got even more confusing … Ryan spent years as a Millennial cliché: he had dead-end internships; dabbled in unemployment; worked in his pajamas as a blogger; communicated mostly via text; looked for love online; spent hundreds on ‘necessary’ items, like candles, while claiming to have no money; and even descended into aimless pill-popping.
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“But through extensive trial and error, Ryan eventually figured out how to take his life from bleak to chic and began limping towards adulthood.”
O’Connell will write, produce, and star in the eight-episode comedy, playing a gay man with cerebral palsy “who decides to rewrite his identity as an accident victim and finally go after the life he wants,” according to the logline.
Related: Netflix takes $60 million stand for LGBTQ rights
Joining him in the cast are Punam Patel, Marla Mindelle, Augustus Prew, Patrick Fabian, and Jessica Hecht (a.k.a. Susan from Friends). And on board as executive producers are Big Bang Theory star Jim Parsons and his husband, Todd Spiewak.
FYI, O’Donnell has been working as an executive story editor on Will & Grace lately, and if that’s not enough comedy cred for you, check out his pun game: The first episode of Special is titled “Cerebral LOLzy.”
Special premieres on Netflix on April 12.
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dinard38
Good Lord!!!! Queerty, how many times are you going to post an article titled, Netflix is about to get gayer?
ShortBearBHam
For many years I have had to come to terms with being single due to my disability. It is nice to see someone finally tackling this. There also needs to be a documentary on how bad hate is within our own gay community.
Pete le meat
Too much gay identity politics is a TV turn-off. I would rather watch male sexuality as a part of the complexity of males, and not as politics.
nitejonboy
He is gorgeous, I’ve gotta see this show!!
MuslimSlutBox
I had a BF with cerebral palsy and he had to shake hands with his left hand. Greeting someone new is an moment full of information and emotion and watching people adjust and accommodate at that moment never got tired. Point is, people were lovely and endearing when they “got it”.
kossl2000
Can we get his name right at least? You call him “O’Donnell” twice instead of “O’Connell”.
Scotty2Naughty
NetFlix removed Queer As Folk from it’s lineup, though. I was in the middle of watching it. Then noticed it was gone. It seems like there’s an agenda. I noticed multiple apps Gay apps are being censored and now NetFlix removing Queer As Folk. Seems like people don’t want to see us as sexual beings, even though it’s okay for straight people.