Aired: 2000 ABC 
DAD: Benjamin Madigan (Gabriel Byrne) / Divorced
DAD’S JOB: Architect
KIDS: Luke (John Hensley) (16)
WHERE’S MOM?: Left
STAND-IN “MOM”: Seamus Madigan (Roy Dotrice) / live-in Grandpa.
Wow. The toolkit for building TV Single Dad-ish shows is well-used in this new venture. Here’s an architect (thank you Mike Brady) who is as inept in dating as his son is proficient (thank you Martin Tupper). They even gave him the name Benjamin, a nod to Ben Cartwright, The Gregory Hines Show, and Deep Space Nine!
Here’s ABC’s spin on the show:
International film star Gabriel Byrne (“End of Days,” “The Usual Suspects”) comes to television in a new comedy from Golden Globe Award-winning writer Cindy Chupack (“Sex and the City”), which examines the lives of three generations of men making their way through the dating world. Byrne stars as Benjamin Madigan, a handsome, successful and charismatic architect in New York City. He is single, adorable and available and should be making out like a bandit with the ladies. But Benjamin is recently divorced, and after 20 years of being a dutiful husband and provider, he just hasn’t got a clue about dating. He is a member of a rare breed of men – the sexy man completely oblivious to his own sexiness. While his co-workers shove him into the dating world, he is full of the most rudimentary questions, like how soon to call a woman after she gives you her number. For the answers to these and many other questions, Ben can turn to his 16-year-old son, Luke (John Hensley), for whom juggling a series of girlfriends couldn’t come more naturally. In addition, Ben’s recently widowed father, Seamus (Roy Dotrice, TV’s “Beauty and the Beast”), has just moved in. Seamus is ornery and speaks his mind, and with Luke’s help, they might just be able to teach Benjamin a thing or two about dating and women in the 21st century.
Update December 18, 2000: The Powers That Be at ABC have decided not to renew the men Madigan. Faulty ratings are once again to blame. I guess the road rose up to meet them. Bye, Madigans!