LGBT Themes, Stories And Characters On TV

[giovannif7]

I've been catching up on last summer's Season 1 of Canadian comedy The Lake on Amazon Prime Video, as Season 2 drops today. Fun show, with Julia Stiles and Jordan Gavaris (Felix from Orphan Black) as step-siblings squabbling over ownership of a family lakeside cabin. A nicely diverse cast, including a sweet gay romance for Jordan's character and a gender-queer 10 year old, all in a beautiful setting, make for an enjoyable summer binge! I just hope Season 2 keeps up the campy, chill vibe set in the first season.

 

[Irlandesa]

17 hours ago, giovannif7 said:

nicely diverse cast, including a sweet gay romance for Jordan's character and a gender-queer 10 year old, all in a beautiful setting, make for an enjoyable summer binge! I just hope Season 2 keeps up the campy, chill vibe set in the first season.

I just finished the second season. Maybe it's a little less wacky compared to last season but I completely enjoyed it. It still completely nailed the summer vibe which is all that I'm looking for. 

And it even got gayer.

[possibilities]

I need to track down anything that gets gayer over time.

[possibilities]

---

Just watched the first episode of Season 1. I love it. Justin G is what makes it good, though. I think, without him, it would be terrible. And I guess that explains why so many tv shows and movies exactly like this seem completely unwatchable to me. Some things just wash down better with family. 

Thanks so much for cluing us in to this show's existence. It's the perfect thing for my procrastinating agenda for the day and the bitterness I was feeling over another show that blatantly minimized its queer content for no good reason.

[argrow]

Speaking of Canadian shows, CBC series Sort Of is a wonderful show about non-binary South Asian millennial living in Toronto, juggling their identity with their Pakistani family. It has won Best Comedy Series in the last two Canadian Screen Awards and has also won a Peabody Award. It is airing on CBC in Canada and Max in the US. Just a charming show about Sabi as they navigate their life.

 

Edited June 11, 2023 by argrow

[possibilities]

Keep the recommendations coming! I am fairly well saturated for straight stories, and am always grateful to discover other shows from home.

[giovannif7]

Netflix's preview of the upcoming Season 2 of Heartstopper, including the opening scene and the titles for all 8 episodes. The new season begins streaming Thursday, August 3rd.

 

[giovannif7]

New promo video for Elite Season 7 reveals the 8 episode season debuts on Friday, October 20, 2023. My big takeaway, aside from the arty style of the video, is the return of

Spoiler

Omar Ayuso as Omar, after he sat out Season 6.

 

[argrow]

With it being Pride weekend here in Toronto, a shout out to Miss Persona- a Canadian pre-school show that aired two LGBTQ- related episodes a few years ago.

In the first episode- Love Every Moment- Miss Persona attends her moms' wedding, and is the first same-sex wedding shown in the Canadian preschool realm. I can't find the episode online, but here's the song that is in that episode

And then, an episode where they went to a pride parade. Thankfully, the entire episode is on YouTube.

Happy Pride, everyone.

Edited June 24, 2023 by argrow

[Kel Varnsen]

On 2/27/2023 at 8:19 PM, giovannif7 said:

I don't know how far you've gotten into the series, but there's another episode where Herb's transgender issues are confronted in an even-more-personal storyline (in the Season 3 Vicki Von Vicki designer jeans episode). It's been years since I've seen those episodes, but I don't recall other regular characters reacting anywhere near as negatively as Herb in either storyline.

I watched that one last night and it wasn't great but it was probably pretty good for 1980. The transgender character was presented as a real person who explains basically that this is how she was born and seems comfortable with her life; instead of being presented as some kind of crazy person who is doing something wrong with her life. The only weird part was her attraction to Herb. A lot of that was played for laughs and the laugh track was going strong,  but I still think for 1980 that was probably pretty good. Especially since like you said a lot of the comedy was Herb's reaction and Herb is always a jackass.  I bet 20 years later that still would have been good as far as presentation of a trans character.

[Spartan Girl]

Speaking of something that was fair for it’s day, I found this video about the Two and a Half Men episode where Charlie reunites with an old lover that came out as a trans man:

It shocks me to admit it: they DID handle it pretty well. I mean, yes, he’s played by a cisgender actor (Chris O’Donnell) but they still handled the subject pretty sensitively. Evelyn didn’t have any issues with him being trans, she was just horrified that her new boyfriend used to sleep with her son. And she was still able to get over that to keep dating him. So yeah, for once that show did do something right—of course this was back when it used to be passable before it turned into a complete shitshow, but still!

Edited October 27, 2023 by Spartan Girl

[Spartan Girl]

Just gonna leave this here. It’s a long video, but it really nails how South Park’s “both sides” issues basically winds up coddling transphobia.

 

[giovannif7]

Happy for the progress in seeing so many male-male couples make the TVLine 2023 year-end list of "Most Dynamic 'Ships", including

Heartstopper - Nick and Charlie

Doom Patrol - Larry and Rama

Fellow Travelers - Hawk and Tim/'Skippy'

The Righteous Gemstones - Kelvin and Keefe

The Last of Us - Bill and Frank

Sadly, other couples from Fellow Travelers, Our Flag Means Death, Good Omens and others were not included, and there's a complete lack of lesbian couples mentioned, so there is still a lot of room for diverse growth. I'm choosing to see it as a positive trend toward increasing inclusion.

[JustHereForFood]

The 13 most groundbreaking queer TV and film moments of 2023

[Anduin]

So in the upcoming returning X-Men cartoon, X-Men '97, Morph will be non-binary. Makes sense for a character who can radically change their shape, right? Apparently some people are already up in arms about it. But do these people actually read the X-Men comics? Did they watch the old cartoon? See, the X-Men have always been stand-ins for oppressed minorities. The actual minorities have shifted over the years as creative teams, politics, and acceptance have changed, but that's the general gist of things.

It's my suspicion that some people go looking for minority representation to complain about, regardless of the source material.

Anyway, while the trailer doesn't grab me, I'm happy for other people to have nice things.