WE WANT OUR GAY TV: LGBT CHARACTERS AND THEMES STILL RISING ON TV
By Michael W. Sasser
From Archie Bunker’s encounter with a trans woman to Billy Crystal’s Jodie Dallas in Soap to the groundbreaking Queer as Folk, television has a long history of pushing the boundaries when it comes to portrayal of LGBT people and themes. Sometimes for drama, often for comedy, and not infrequently with some controversy, the small screen has been arguably more inclusive than the big screen and permitted talent to blaze trails.
This has certainly been the case in recent years, when gay characters and themes have been explored in depth, and are even featured as integral components of some of the most popular broadcast programs. Gay characters are more than the laugh-track choreographed comic relief. Gay themes are usually well beyond the coming out experience. Gays can be seen across the dial and on streaming Internet programs living fleshed-out lives with ups and downs, challenges and victories, just like anyone else. Imagine that!
There are a lot more TV choices today than there used to be, so gay characters and themes are prevalent across more platforms than just the old three network anachronism. “TV” now includes online entertainment providers such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, iTunes, as well as cable and satellite. Who knows what the future will hold. Whatever it is, it will most certainly include plenty of people and stories with whom gays and lesbians can relate.
Let’s take a look at some of the programs with content specifically inclusive of LGBT characters and themes.
Everyone is waiting to see what American Horror Story brings to the table in its next season. So far, there has been everything from a sanitarium to witches, with frights and freaks in between. In the meantime, many are still recovering from this last season, Hotel. Although sexual identities have been blurred many times in the mind-bending series, rarely have they been as pronounced as in Hotel. None other than Lady Gaga played the eponymous establishment’s bisexual “Countess.” Transgender Liz worked the front desk, gay Will Drake owned the hotel and Ramona Royale was a bisexual former film star played by Angela Bassett. With its twisted plots and complicated, woven stories, incorporating characters into series such as this demonstrates how far depictions have come from comic relief.
Arrow
The CW
Let’s face it, even if there weren’t a gay character or theme to ever come within an arrow shot of Arrow, there would be plenty of gay men DVRing this underappreciated series on The CW. That’s because it has its own resident queen – “Oliver Queen,” the secret identity of DC superhero Green Arrow. Played by dreamy Stephen Amell, who alternates between shirtless and spandex scenes, Queen is a compelling character – we’re told – even with the volume actually up. As if that isn’t enough, former co-star Colton Haynes, who is possibly even hotter than Amell, recently came out as IRL gay! Yes, it’s as if every young gay boy’s comic book fantasies come to life in Arrow. To be fair, besides the eye candy and off camera storyline, the series also has featured magnificent lesbian Nyssa al Ghul (Katrina Law) and Curtis Holt (Echo Kellum).
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow
The CW
Marvel better get quick with that Captain “Gay boy next door” America story revision, or the less successful rival DC is going to have an insurmountable lead in Homo Points. Although this series is really still trying to find its legs, it has potential. The series airs on The CW and premiered on January 21, 2016. The show is a spin-off from Arrow and The Flash, existing in the same fictional universe. On March 11, 2016, The CW renewed the series for a second season, scheduled to debut on October 13, 2016. So far, Legends features Sara Lance (Caity Lotz), who was previously on Arrow, now is bisexual and with a potential love interest.
Empire
FOX
Empire became a cultural touchstone shortly after its launch and should now have forever dispelled the Hollywood notion that an African-American driven drama can’t find a broad audience. Pshaw. Awards and accolades for the show have come flowing in from the beginning. Empire stars Terrence Howard, Taraji P. Henson, Jussie Smollett, Bryshere “Yazz” Gray, Trai Byers, Grace Gealey, Kaitlin Doubleday, Gabourey Sidibe, Ta'Rhonda Jones and Serayah McNeill. In addition to the regular cast, the series has featured guest appearances by a wide range of talented performers, including Chris Rock, Alicia Keys, Marisa Tomei, Naomi Campbell, Ludacris, Adam Rodriguez, Vivica A. Fox, Rosie O’ Donnell and Andre Royo. As if the entertainment industry power family wasn’t risky enough, Empire also features Smollett portraying Jamal Lyon, who is gay and born into the featured family. The set-up has helped explore the issue of orientation, the entertainment industry overall and specifically the African-American segment of the industry, with uncommon directness and honesty.
If the suspicious Sam and Frodo hobbit relationship in Lord of the Rings – or the entire Xena series – weren’t enough gay in your fantasy entertainment, there is Game of Thrones, which today ranks among the most popular cable series of all times. For the uninitiated, GoT is like a LOTR crossed with House of Cards, with a dash of snuff flick and touch of Willow (think on that). If that doesn’t make sense, you’ll just have to catch up on a few seasons. Sure, the whole fantasy genre reeks of gay, with all the exaggerated machismo of a rodeo, the fellowship, the drama, the manly men and maidenly women (OK, the latter went out the window in GoT, but still…). Finn Jones played a knight named Loras Tyrell, who… yatta, yatta, yatta… died. Not to worry, in GoT, everyone dies. Still, it’s fantasy so he could still return; and it’s only a matter of time until, under a starry night sky, a knight and his squire discover the love that hath no name.
Girls
HBO
Sorry, ladies, even with a title like Girls, the HBO series is predominantly straight-driven. Of course, by now, most are pretty familiar with the series. Created by and starring Lena Dunham, Girls is a comedy-drama following the lives of four young women living in New York City. The show’s premise and major aspects of the main character were drawn from Dunham’s own life. The fifth season premiered on February 21, 2016, and HBO renewed the series for a sixth and final season to air in 2017. Andrew Rannells plays Elijah Krantz, a friend of the girls, who evolved from a recurring to a regular character. Less solid is the more recent complication when one of the lead girl’s father comes out as gay.
With its second season having dropped just in May, Grace and Frankie has quickly gained a following, particularly among fans of its stars, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. Viewers can’t get past the gay component from the beginning. The series follows Grace, a retired cosmetics mogul, and Frankie, a hippie art teacher, whose husbands, Robert and Sol, are successful divorce lawyers in San Diego. Grace and Frankie’s lives are turned upside down when Robert and Sol announce that they are in love with each other and are leaving their wives. Now, the women, who have never particularly liked each other, are forced to live together and support each other as they navigate the next chapter of their lives. While the chemistry is a bit awkward, some have opined, it’s still a zany good time.
How to Get Away with Murder
ABC
While it maybe hasn’t gotten the attention that some of the other series on this list have garnered, critics certainly recognize the groundbreaking aspect of Murder. Viola Davis stars as a law professor at a prestigious Philadelphia university who, with five of her students, becomes entwined in a murder plot. For her portrayal, Viola Davis has received critical acclaim; she became the first African-American woman to win an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, also winning two SAG Awards for Outstanding Performance in a Drama Series, and the Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series. The show was named Television Program of the Year by the American Film Institute and won Outstanding Drama Series at the Image Awards and GLAAD Awards. Davis’s Annalise Keating is complicated and, among other things, a bisexual who ended up marrying the therapist she saw to address her orientation issues (and that’s just the start). Connor Walsh (Jack Falahee) is a gay student accepted into Keating’s inner circle.
Jessica Jones
Netflix
Marvel Entertainment strikes back at DC in the superhomo competition with Jessica Jones, but we’re still waiting for a gay Captain America. JJ is a gritty, dark as night series where the superheroes maybe are a little more mundane than super. Jones (Krysten Ritter) is a former “hero,” who became a PI in Hell’s Kitchen (which isn’t nearly as gay on Netflix as it is in actual NYC) when things didn’t so much work out. The lesbians involved are Jeri Hogarth (Carrie-Anne Moss) – a bad-bitch defense attorney who is so dour and focused on her work we’re told she was on the phone with clients all through her honeymoon – and Wendy Ross-Hogarth (Robin Weigert), a physician who put her wife through law school, then used the income from her law practice to subsidize her work in low-income clinics. Their parting is far from amicable. But it is entertaining and the women are integral to the series. Even if you don’t do superhero series, like Netflix’s Daredevil, this one is worth it for the human drama.
Orange is the New Black
Netflix
Netflix has really been a revelation for gay characters and themes, and particularly in terms of lesbians, bi and trans women. OItNB really set the pace, instantly becoming a cultural sensation and launching a million memes. The range of female sexuality was built into the show premise and that was only expanded as we travel into a women’s minimum security federal prison. Gay women abound – some “fem,” some “butch,” some jailhouse explorers and some militant. Thing is, you can’t always tell which is which in a sometimes touching and honest exploration of identity, humanity and emotion. There’s really never been anything quite like this series, which also explores issues of race and gives one plenty of reasons to ponder the nature of law and criminal justice.
Sense8
Netflix
Well, Netflix, here we go again. And this time, it’s with this little sleeper that appeared to be all about the Syfy, but as it has turned out, is also steeped in the fluidity of identity and orientation – albeit with a fantastical cloak. Sense8 is about eight people connected all around the world who, after experiencing a violent vision, are able to see, feel, hear and talk to each other as if they are in the same place. Not only must these eight adapt to this new ability and to each other, they must figure out what happened and why and what it means for the future of humanity, while being hunted by an organization out to capture, kill or vivisect them. Obviously this connection between the eight sets up interesting sexual situations and that is particularly so with characters such as the hunky Lito Rodriguez (Miguel Silvestre), proud trans woman and lesbian Nomi Marks (Jamie Clayton) and their respective partners. The whole series drips with concepts of connection and disconnection and its little wonder orientation is in the mix throughout Sense8 since it was created by The Wachowskis, formerly the Wachowski Brothers (The Matrix) but now both trans women.
Transparent
Amazon Studios
Another streaming entertainment success, Transparent is an American comedy television series created by Jill Soloway for Amazon Studios that debuted on February 6, 2014. The story revolves around a Los Angeles family and their lives following the discovery that the person they knew as their father Mort (Jeffrey Tambor) is transgender. At the 72nd Golden Globe Awards, the show won the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy, while Jeffrey Tambor won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. This is the first show produced by Amazon Studios to win a major award and the first show produced by a streaming media service to win a Golden Globe for Best Series.
True Detective
HBO
HBO’s genre thriller has had mixed reviews in its first couple of seasons but did, at least, feature a lead gay character in one of its plot lines in Taylor Kitsch’s Paul Woodrugh, a former soldier turned cop. Sadly, he was killed in an effort to maintain his discretion, but True Detective showed willingness to go there in a genre not always so open.
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Netflix
The quirky series follows 29-year-old Kimmy Schmidt (Kemper) as she adjusts to life in New York City after her rescue from a doomsday cult in Indiana where she and three other women were held by Reverend Richard Wayne Gary Wayne (Jon Hamm) for 15 years. Determined to be seen as something other than a victim and armed only with a positive attitude, Kimmy decides to restart her life by moving to New York City, where she quickly befriends her street-wise landlady Lillian Kaushtupper (Carol Kane), finds a roommate in struggling actor Titus Andromedon (Tituss Burgess), and gains a job as a nanny for the melancholy and out-of-touch socialite Jacqueline Voorhees (Jane Krakowski). It’s hardly your usual sitcom setup and hardly your average sitcom, with very funny moments and other moments that seem like they should be funnier. As Titus Andromedon, Tituss Burgess camps it up for good fun.
Arguably the most talked-about TV show of the past four or five years, the zombie laden series is far more than a horror/Syfy melodrama, and themes exploring humanity and its tearing away, and about what happens when the fabric of society is torn apart and it’s up to individuals to try to repair it – or not. And that’s just the meta. The original graphic novel source material has included several significant gay characters and there have been a handful in the TV version. Most recent is Tom Payne’s portrayal of Paul Monroe, a man nicknamed “Jesus” for his strong sense of morals and values. He also just so happens to be gay. Typically, there is no surprise of discovery or big issue with the series’ gay characters – they’re just part of the storyline. The same is actually true of other minority characters, illustrating the true inclusive nature of the fantasy genres – they just are.
This article was originally published in Wire Magazine Issue 28.2016
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