Some of My Best Friends (previously titled Macho Man and Me and Frankie Z before its premiere) is an American sitcom television series created by Marc Cherry and Tony Vitale, that aired on CBS from February 28 until April 11, 2001.
Some of My Best Friends stars Jason Bateman as Warren, a mild-mannered gay writer living in Greenwich Village, and Danny Nucci as Frankie, his straight (and at first homophobic) roommate.
"[2] One day, someone commented, "It would be great if somebody made a sitcom out of you two,"[2] which sparked an idea in Vitale's head for a television show.
By 1996, the story was filmed under the title Kiss Me, Guido, picked up for distribution by Paramount Pictures and widely released in 1997.
"[5] Vitale again tried to get it turned into a TV series, but it wasn't until after Will & Grace had become a hit that television executives would finally take him seriously.
[6] The show wound up at the Axelrod/Widdoes production company, which had previously produced another Odd Couple variation titled Brother's Keeper in the 1998–99 season.
Jason Bateman arrived at Axelrod/Widdoes to pitch a spec script that he'd written, but the producers were more interested in getting him to star as gay lead Warren Fairbanks in their TV series.
"Through the years I've watched him grow from looking at the world this way" — Nucci held his palms close together — "to this," he said, stretching his hands apart.
"[9] The casting of the Vern character (named "Terry" in earlier incarnations) was trickier, as he was originally written to be played by an overweight white guy.
[10] Mapa was repeatedly called back to audition, but it wasn't until the zero hour that he was finally cast and the character was re-conceived to suit him.
The first tip-off that the series was in trouble came early on when actress Josette DiCarlo, who originally portrayed Frankie's mother in the pilot, was replaced by character-actress Camille Saviola.
[6] "I honestly wasn't given any explanation," said DiCarlo, "but during studio audience filming an exec approached me prior to my first scene and said 'YOU'RE Danny's mom?'.
In December 2001, Midler went on Late Show with David Letterman and publicly denounced her own series, calling it “the lowest thing that ever happened to me in my life.”[13] Ratings of her show were already steadily declining,[13] so CBS made the unwise decision to put Some of My Best Friends in her timeslot and push Bette back a half-hour in place of Welcome to New York, which was put on permanent hiatus.
The unaired episodes wouldn't surface in the USA until the show was run sporadically on the gay-themed Logo network a few years later.
"[17] New York Daily News critic David Bianculli stated, "[Alec] Mapa plays Vern as a cross between Sean Hayes' Jack on Will & Grace and Suzanne Somers' Chrissy on Three's Company.
"[19] Rosenbaum similarly stated, "Familiar stereotypes have always earned easy howls, from minstrel shows and old-time burlesque to political cartoons that deploy exaggeration as parody.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Rob Owen stated, "Some of My Best Friends trades on every Italian and gay stereotype possible, but it manages to make these zingers seem fresh thanks to strong performances from Bateman and Nucci.