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New TV Season Is Pretty and Witty... But Less Gay
Frances O'Connor, Lucy Liu, Bonnie Somerville and Miranda Otto in Cashmere Mafia by Craig Sjodin/ABC
An annual report by GLAAD says that the coming TV season is less gay than the one prior, with a total of seven series (versus last year's nine) on the five networks regularly featuring lesbian, gay, bi or transgender characters. The study notes that the only new show to feature a non-hetero person is ABC's midseason Cashmere Mafia, in which Bonnie Somerville swings from both sides of the plate.
ABC retained its strong lead in featuring LGBT characters, thanks to the likes of Brothers & Sisters, Ugly Betty and Housewives (which this season has a gay couple moving into the nabe). NBC, with The Office's Oscar, is the only other major to showcase a L, G, B or T.
Among recurring LGBT characters, ABC boasts six of network TV's 13. Fox has four (all fabulously animated!) and NBC three.
No, I don't know in which category Betty's nephew got counted.
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Sep 24, 2007 10:05 AM
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Maybe CBS can get Jamie Farr to join The Unit.
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Sep 24, 2007 10:52 AM
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Sep 24, 2007 11:23 AM
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Seeing Lucy Liu in the photo made me think why we don't see similar reports on the ridiculously small numbers of Asians featured in primetime. And then when they are featured, it's either sexpot femme fetales, geeky men, crime lords, or cranky grocers.
Rarely do we see Indians or Pakistanis. Middle Easterners are usually shown as terrorists.
We finally have a drama, "Cane", featuring Hispanics, though I'm a little worried it's going to be to the Latino community what "Sopranos" was to the Italian community.
I appreciate the work GLAAD does, I just wish TVGuide.com would place their press releases in context.
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Sep 24, 2007 11:23 AM
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Too bad Lucy Liu's character is not going to be the one who "goes both ways" on Cashemere Mafia - I'd like to see that...she's pretty hot!
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Sep 24, 2007 11:34 AM
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Well oh my god let's get on this situation right now. Let's not cured the middle East mess but let's get more gays and lesbians on tv right now.
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Sep 24, 2007 11:42 AM
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Which 4 are the "fabulously animated" characters on Fox?
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Sep 24, 2007 12:06 PM
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Fox's Fab Four, I believe, are:
Waylon Smithers
Patty Bouvier
Stan Smith's gay neighbors on American Dad
To "Scorned" - when will you people learn the meaning of the word "fallacy"? Issues are not mutually exclusive - they can be pursued independently.
To dumb it down for you - GLAAD's monitoring of the number of gay characters on television in no way detracts from bringing peace to the Middle East, solving world hunger, ending global warming OR ensuring that Sci-Fi never, ever, ever makes another Highlander movie.
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Sep 24, 2007 12:24 PM
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Its just balancing out after every freaking show had to have their gay character. People whine way too much about not having enough this or that on television, like minorities, women, or gay people. It shouldn't matter at all, just enjoy the shows.
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Sep 24, 2007 1:18 PM
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Sheldon,
I do believe that there are reports on the representation of, say, Asian characters since, yeah, representations for any kind of minority can pretty much be guarenteed to suck.
But I wouldn't worry about Cane. I've seen the pilot, and...it's not The Sopranos. Despite all the comparisons you'll see, the Duque family is not the mob/the mafia/organized crime what-have-you. They're a family buisness, and the show centers on all the conflicts therein. I mean, they aren't saints 'cause that would be boring, but they aren't criminals either.
The72John,
Well said!
Miamifan39,
Would you feel the same way if all shows only ever positively represented racial minorites, queer characters, women, et cetera and never ever depicted straight white [et cetera] men in a good light?
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Sep 24, 2007 2:12 PM
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TV doesn't need just more gay characters, it needs more openly gay actors, male & female, regardless of whether they portray GLBT characters.
On another, related front, when are late night talk show hosts going to stop making fun of gay men/behaviors in their shows? Leno & O'Brian in particular always make comments about not gay men. Lesbians get a pass (except for Rosie O'Donnell) because men think that they'll turn straight if they have sex with the right guy. Or they'll at least wear bikinis while making out.
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Sep 24, 2007 2:41 PM
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Bonasi, I'm sure there are other reports on TV representation of other groups. My point is that TVGuide.com seems only to publish GLAAD's press releases. This is about the third one I've seen in the past couple months. I can't remember the last time I saw a similar item regarding other groups, which TVGuide.com seems to ignore as much as TV itself.
There was the whole "Grey's Anatomy" blow-up.
Around the same time was an item on "How I Met Your Mother" featuring a gay actor in a straight role and how gay actors avoid playing gay parts.
It wasn't specifically gay, but a lot of commentary on Rosie O'Donnell and "The View" turned on her being an out lesbian. That was followed by the Barry Manilow boycott (though, he's not out, to my knowledge).
There was the Jerry Lewis incident.
There was the GLAAD report on openly gay people on reality shows and whether the producers try to stuff them back in the closet.
When was the last time we got an item on the visibility of blind, deaf or amputee characters?
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Sep 24, 2007 2:51 PM
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I love television no matter who is presented on screen, as long as the show is good. But I am in favor of adding much more diversity to television, for the simple fact that the casts for many shows are just so similar.
How many shows have a white in the lead role with a minority playing their BFF/sidekick?? Too many. With that said I am totally against shows adding a diverse character just to "quiet the crowd".
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Sep 24, 2007 3:00 PM
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One that you are forgetting is the T in Dirty Sexy Money (Baldwin's Characters mistress is a tranny) and that show is funny as hell
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Oct 5, 2007 4:39 AM
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In the last couple of years, the addition of gay characters to tv shows seemed to become to topic du jour if a show wanted to be in contention for awards. I believe they are are well-represented, as they should be.
I put forth one of my favorites shows, Brothers and Sisters. The character of Kevin is a great member of the family. His story is well-nuanced and I look forward to seeing his character development.
On the other hand, the story arc of Saul being secretly gay or bi is inane. There is no background for this character to be anything buy heterosexual. If Ron Rifkin, whose work I have always loved, can't make me believe this, then something is wrong with the story.
I could easily wonder why there is such a lack of Jewish characters in medical and legal shows, which certainly does not accurately reflect the real world. I don't. This is fiction and if the writing, direction, and performances are good, that's enough for me.
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Oct 8, 2007 4:29 PM
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