Buffalo writer and Nichols School alumnus Nick Bakay is having quite a week.
On Monday night, he was part of a fantasy NFL draft along with full-time experts for five publications.
At 9 p.m. Thursday on WIVB-TV, the Chuck Lorre CBS comedy, “Mom,” that Bakay runs with Gemma Baker, ends an eight-year journey that initially focused on a mother and a daughter recovering from addiction issues.
Like the fantasy draft four months before the NFL season, the ending of “Mom” seems premature.
The fantasy assignment had a Buffalo angle.
“The most popular quarterback in these magazine drafts was Josh Allen,” Bakay said in a telephone interview. “If he's not ahead of Patrick Mahomes, the minute Mahomes gets drafted, Josh is the next quarterback in that round because he a fantasy monster and there is nothing to say it won’t get better.”
People are also reading…
Of course, projecting who the fantasy monsters will be is difficult when the regular season doesn’t begin until September.
Very few broadcast network experts last September would have projected that season eight of “Mom” would have been the final one.
Allison Janney, who stars in “Mom” as recovering alcoholic Bonnie Plunkett, said on CBS’ “Sunday Morning” two days ago that she was surprised that the series was suddenly ending.
So was Bakay.
“It’s too bad the show is going away, but you can't complain after eight years,” said Bakay. “I think we had more years in us, for sure. And we had an amazing team top to bottom. I hate seeing that go away because that doesn't grow on trees.”
“We still get a good (rating) for them right now. We had a number that was rock-solid and in this climate a really good number. Also this year, we got three Critics Choice Award nominations. We were the only CBS show that was sort of seemingly in the Emmys and Critics Choice races. So we thought that had value, too. Everybody was a little blindsided.”
The cancellation came after a season in which everyone associated with the show had to be tested for Covid-19 four times a week.
“We just gave them 18 episodes during Covid,” said Bakay. “Even if they had been absolutely (expletive deleted) on a shingle, we deserve a medal for that. But they were great. And that doesn’t grow on trees, either – the ability to do great TV under those circumstances.”
He didn’t think the sudden departure of Anna Faris, who played Bonnie’s daughter Christy, had anything to do with the cancellation. The series focused this year on Bonnie, her husband played by Western New York native William Fichtner and Bonnie’s recovering friends played by Mimi Kennedy, Jaime Pressly, Kristen Johnston and Beth Hall.
“Hell no, it wasn’t that,” said Bakay. “The reason that we've been given is, and this does happen, you get expensive. And I think the business model for a lot of this stuff is changing. And there's been a changing of the guard at the network and at the studio.”
“We got those three Critics Choice Award nominations without Anna,” added Bakay. “The fact is the show had been transformed into an ensemble show years before she went away. Nothing against her or the character who were great. But we had a stellar season and this is the direction the show was going before she left. So, no, I don't think that had anything to do with it and also, our number remains absolutely unblemished after her departure.”
The sudden cancellation meant Lorre, Bakay, Baker and Warren Bell didn’t have time to fashion a three-episode arc to end the series even if they had wanted to do it.
They teamed up writing the finale, which is a regular half-hour episode that includes a wedding. But more importantly, the episodes includes a daughter and mother with addiction issues. The daughter initially joins the series regulars who explain the past problems they have dealt with and will continue to deal with in their recovery.
“I think the message of the show and the message of the finale is this is all going to carry on because that is very much in line with recovery and AA and all that,” said Bakay. “The show may no longer carry on, but these characters and their recovery will.
“There’s nothing like, well, we're going to stick the landing like a gymnast at the end of her routine. I don't think that was ever the game plan. I think that what you'll find in the finale is that it does a nice job of putting a period on the sentence, but it's also an ellipse.”
“We gave everybody their moment,” added Bakay. “But also the last episode is very much about what the show has tried to represent about recovery, that literally it is one day at a time and you're never done, you're never out of the woods, you never stop the process.”
With the series ending, Bakay had time to reflect on some of his favorite guest stars over the years.
Rainn Wilson, the co-star of “The Office” who played Bonnie’s psychiatrist in several episodes, is at the top of his list.
“Writing for and watching Allison Janney and Rainn Wilson work was one of the great joys of my career so that would be a number one on my list,” said Bakay.
He also was proud of the episode he wrote and directed this season that starred “Never Call Saul” star Bob Odenkirk as a strip club manager who refused Bonnie’s request to take down a 20-year-old billboard of Christy.
“If you live in Los Angeles as I have for 30 years, the same girls have been up on billboards for strip clubs for 30 years and you realize they are grandmothers now,” said Bakay.
“I loved Odenkirk and that was a really fun episode,” said Bakay. “There’s this incredibly fun scene where Bonnie confronts Odenkirk’s character.”
With “Mom” ending, Bakay is going to continue working next season in Lorre’s universe as one of the executive producers of the "The Big Bang Theory" spinoff, "Young Sheldon," about a boy genius in Texas.
“I'm really excited about it,” said Bakay. “I have some good things to bring to the party. I lived in Texas for a while in the ‘80s when the show is kind of set. As my wife put it, I bring Texas, football and barbecue to the party. But the genius kid part, well, three out of four ain't bad.”
