‘My Boys’: Full roster

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It’s never-ending!

The cast of characters, that is, on ‘My Boys.’ One of the show’s weaknesses in its premiere season last year was that it seemed to possess at least one too many boys. Protagonist P.J. Franklin (Jordana Spiro) hung out with a circle of five guys: her brother Andy (Jim Gaffigan), cool hipster-type Brendan (Reid Scott), dorky Kenny (Michael Bunin), smarmy, conniving Mike (Jamie Kaler) and the other one, Bobby (Kyle Howard). Plus, there’s her best girlfriend, Stephanie (Kellee Stewart). It was a little difficult to keep up with this large group, and even the writers seemed to have a hard time fitting everyone into the show. Very often an episode would focus on P.J. and a few of the boys, and several others would have to grab some bench, to borrow some ‘My Boys’ baseball parlance.

It was the debut season, though, so it seemed plausible that the characters would get more settled in the second season. That’s a difficult task, however, when a guest character is introduced virtually every episode. The season premiere, it was Nicole Sullivan, playing Kenny’s pregnant girlfriend. Last week, Jeremy Sisto made an appearance as an ex-flame of P.J.’s, whose temporariness became apparent the minute he announced that he was living in Seattle. The city of Chicago is as integral to ‘My Boys’ as New York was to ‘Sex and the City.’

Last night’s episode seemed to be heading in a familiar direction, beginning with a cameo by Ryan Reynolds and the introduction of another character, P.J.’s college friend Lissa, who was visiting from New York with friends. How can we get to know P.J. and the boys better when the cast is always growing?

But it turned out to be one of the best episodes of the season. The show tends to swing and miss when it comes to compelling ongoing plot lines. Bobby has a secret, and it turns out that he’s ... rich? P.J. and Stephanie get tickets to Italy, and if they don’t get boyfriends to go with them they ... go by themselves and have a great time? The show is best when it handles the growing pains of adulthood, and last night’s episode tackled this with the signature ‘My Boys’ offbeat, Chicago-focused take. P.J. finds herself growing apart from Lissa, who committed one of the greatest atrocities a Chicagoan can do: compare the Windy City unfavorably to New York. Every once in a while a scene between Stephanie and P.J. will show a glimpse of some truly brilliant female-character-driven writing, and last night’s ‘Sex and the City’ parallels between Lissa’s friends were pretty wonderful: ‘I just want to be loved! I overcompensate,’ the ‘Samantha’ character blurted out after one too many sexual innuendos. P.J. let Lissa go, but she and the boys aren’t willing to give up on Brendan, whose head has swollen since he was named one of Chicago Magazine’s most eligible bachelors. Can anything be more douchey in Chicago than name-dropping Billy Corgan and Jeremy Piven?

The episode still felt a little overcrowded, especially with the subplot of Kenny’s and Mike’s sports business. But if the writers on ‘My Boys’ can hold onto the humor and the observations about the trials and tribulations of becoming an adult, the show might have a winning season.

-- Claire Zulkey