There are actors who appear on TV — and then there are actors who were made for TV.
Add Sean Hayes to that rarefied latter group.
Hayes was the biggest reason to watch “Will & Grace” in its heyday, and he’s the primary reason to watch “Sean Saves the World,” his new sitcom premiering Thursday night on NBC.
Like memorable sitcom stars of TV past — including Lucille Ball (but only for “I Love Lucy”), Andy Griffith, Bob Newhart, Don Adams and Jason Alexander — you can’t imagine Hayes doing anything but acting in sitcoms. He’s the consummate pro, with impeccable comedic timing, fluid verbal and physical dexterity — a nod to Ball’s slapstick shtick — and a tendency to let others around him share in the laughs.
That’s all on display in “Sean Saves the World,” in which Hayes plays — wait for it — Sean, a 40-year-old divorced gay dad raising his 14-year-old daughter, Ellie (Samantha Isler), who’s now living with Sean after his ex-wife (her mother) moved away for a new job.
When Samantha asks Sean how she was conceived, he explains it to her thusly: “Gay. Tried not to be. Was. Was again. Was, one more time because it was not unpleasant.” Hayes delivers those lines — and many more — with a comic precision that almost makes you forget they were written for him. The premise of Thursday’s opener is that Sean, an exec at an online retailer, has a “new and weird boss,” Max (Thomas Lennon), who duels with Sean in an endless battle of mind games. He also sports a thick Ron Swanson-ish mustache (were the writers influenced by Nick Offerman’s character on NBC stablemate “Parks & Recreation”?).
Outside of the office, Sean has to deal with his overly critical-but-loving mother, Lorna (a terrific Linda Lavin, aging gracefully), who has a key to Sean’s apartment and frequently drops in unannounced (in the grandest of sitcom traditions). The natural repartee between Hayes and Lavin is refreshing — two sitcom pros doing their thing.
“Fish have it right — just drop ’em and go,” Lorna says to Sean, who’s bemoaning his duties as a single dad (which include shopping for a bra with Samantha).
Sean to Lorna, in an exchange from the show’s second episode: “I really appreciate the judgmental food-buying” (as she unloads a bag of groceries for her “too thin” granddaughter).
A chunk of “Sean Saves the World” unfolds in the office, and Hayes is nicely supported by Echo Kellum and Megan Hilty as co-workers Hunter (he of the understated sarcasm) and Liz (also Sean’s best friend outside the office). Funny stuff.