How Gay Characters Have Come of Age

[Kath]

I thought that this article was appropriate considering the recent discussions on here re: Queer Eye and that awful reality thing... this show starts on Sunday on Bravo.


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/21/ar...ner=ALTAVISTA1

TV REVIEW | 'TV REVOLUTION: OUT OF THE CLOSET'
How Gay Characters Have Come of Age
By VIRGINIA HEFFERNAN

Published: May 21, 2004

Most Americans are repelled by the mere notion of homosexuality," Mike Wallace asserts on a news special.

From 1967. Today, repulsion at the mere notion of homosexuality — or that way of phrasing it, at least — is a thing of the past.

Or so we will be told on Sunday. The archaic CBS clip, in which Mr. Wallace interviews an anonymous Gay Man whose face is decorously obscured by the leaves of a potted plant, has a reprise on Bravo as part of a documentary about social progress that doubles as an hourlong promo for another Bravo show, "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy." "TV Revolution: Out of the Closet" appears as the first installment in a harmless but self-congratulatory weekly series about how television has revolutionized everything in every possible way. (Next up: women.)

A bargain-basement history of TV is enlivened, a little, by a tender account of gay men and women in the media. Bedeviled by the usual "and lesbians" problem that tugs at every effort to talk about gay people as a coherent group, "TV Revolution" begins and ends with stories of homosexual men.

Revisiting this country's "Far From Heaven" days of stylized repression, the documentary cites Paul Lynde and other wisecracking figures as paradigms of a bygone closeted gay television identity. Archie Bunker then appears, on cue, vexed by the fact of a manly homosexual. This is a handy transition, if a familiar one: it sometimes seems we'll be teaching that lumbering straw man our lessons of tolerance forever.

Some details stand out. The behind-the-scenes story of "An Early Frost" (1985) forcefully evokes the health panic of the 1980's. Before televising the movie, NBC had to consult the Centers for Disease Control to get leave to show the movie's AIDS-stricken hero, Michael Pierson (Aidan Quinn), getting a kiss from his grandmother (Sylvia Sidney). What was that conversation like between the experts and the network? Did they talk about blood-borne diseases and saliva or what? The questions are tantalizing; I could have heard more.

On a lighter note, images of certain protean gay television icons — Jody Dallas (Billy Crystal) from "Soap," Matt Fielding (Doug Savant) from "Melrose Place," and Xena (Lucy Lawless) and Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor) from "Xena, Warrior Princess" make a pleasant review.

The documentary also nails a small but bright point. It asserts that lesbian romance on television is a function of sweeps week; the networks want to be able to promote kisses between women that can be billed as minor porn and political provocation. Liz Friedman, the most insightful commentator on this program and a television writer, calls these kisses "sweeps lesbianism"; others note that characters who participate generally snap back to heterosexuality when a show's regular season resumes.

At the end, Ted Allen of "Queer Eye" shows up to give the final score. His show, on which he stars with four other gay men who rehabilitate sloppy straight men, has accustomed viewers to gayness, he says, and that's commendable. The show has superb ratings, too. And to Bravo, that's even better.

[Kath]

So what do you guys think? Interesting article... I mean, it brings up a lot of the Hollywood stereotypes that were discussed in the other thread here - and it does chronicle "how far we have come" in a way... but still in many ways it reflects how far we HAVEN'T come IMHO... if anything it shows how far we still need to go.

I wonder what the reaction will be to the actual show... Anyone plan on watching this series? Apparently next week it will be women in TV - I wonder how many people will be offended with that feature?

:boom:

[Lee]

This actually has the potential to be a good show im going to refrain from judgement until i have seen it

Regards,

Lee

[AusCoding Allan]

Good idea Lee, I will to refrain from passing judgement however it may be a while before the show reaches australia's shores.

Cheers,

Allan

[Kath]

So did anybody see the show? I missed it - totally spaced this weekend - we took the kids to see Shrek2 and the whole time I was thinking, "there's something I'm supposed to be watching." Anybody know if they will be re-playing it during the week? Checking Bravo today online - hopefully they have the guide...

I agree on not judging till you see though... I guess I got swept up in that review (those persuasive writers!)... I hope the reviewer was giving more opinion than fact about the and that Lee is right - it does have the potential to be a good show. I hope they did it well.

[Jason]

i saw the one about "women in tv" didn't catch the one on gay characters

[Kath]

Originally posted by 123Jason
i saw the one about "women in tv" didn't catch the one on gay characters

So how was it?

(hmmm... they said that the women one was supposed to be show #2 - I bet we missed that first episode) :crybaby:

[Jason]

it was really pretty good....although, i was flipping between that and svu so i didn't really see it all. they devoted a rather large portion to mary tyler moore as that really was the turning point in feminism on tv....obvious inclusions in the program were: edith bunker, charlies angels, murphy brown, maude, louise jefferson, etc....

i thought it was very well done. would really liked to have seen the gay character episode

[Kath]

Cool, thanks for the review - glad to hear they treated it well, I mean it sounds like a great concept. Looked it up finally and tonight they are replaying the "Women" one and the original "Sex in the Box" episode... here's the schedule:

http://www.bravotv.com/Schedule/sear...on&start=today

It shows that the "Out of the Closet" episode will be on May 25th at 1:00 AM (but I think they mean May 26th). Best to check www.tvguide.com and put in your cable/satellite subscriber and location for actual time. Sometimes these cable channel websites really get it wrong - HBO is famous for this!

Looks like on the weekend it was a marathon of TV Revolution - sorry I missed it... it would have been a better way to fill the hours than with Shrek2 and a trip with 2 "I-want-I-want" teenagers to the mall on a crowded Sunday! Ack!

[Lee]

Have to admit i missed the program too

Hopefully they will have a rerun on soon though :thumbsup:

Regards,

Lee