LGBT Themes, Stories And Characters On TV

[Luckylyn]

I just started Schitt’s Creek so I haven’t seen Patrick yet.  I’m looking forward to it based on the recommendations here.

So I want to apologize for recommending Quinten and Elliot on The Magicians because the season’s ending just made me feel like some sort of bait and switch happened.   The most frustrating thing is I feel foolish getting my hopes up because this type of manipulation with same sex pairings happens all the time on tv shows.  They tease to bring in pro LGBTQ viewers and then don’t fulfill the implied promise.  I thought the writers of The Magicians were better than that, but I had them pegged wrong.

Spoiler

So during this season Elliot has been possessed by a monster and Quinten has been absolutely  determined to get Elliot back.   The writers brought back some stuff from a past season that made Elliot realize he regretted rejecting Quinten romantically.  This seemed like the perfect set up for Q to save Elliot and Elliot to pursue Q.   But that didn’t happen.  Instead near the end of the season Q gets back together with his ex Alice.  They save Elliot, but he and Q are never reunited.  Elliot never gets to tell Q that he wants to be with him and Q never has to make a choice between Elliot and Alice.  The season ends with Q dying saving everyone.  He and Elliot never got a scene together after Elliot was saved from the monster.   All we get is the look on Q’s face when he sees Elliot at his funeral.   The actor infused so much love for Elliot in that look.   I feel like I’ve been tricked.  I don’t know why the writers had Elliot discover Q was who he wanted only to have Q get back with Alice and never get to have a scene with Elliot.   What was the point in stirring all that up and leaving it unresolved?  

The funeral was a beautifully done sequence, but I’m left so bitter.   I’d be sad to lose Q no matter what but if they hadn’t teased Q/Elliot I wouldn’t be so angry.

Edited April 24, 2019 by Luckylyn

[SimoneS]

2 hours ago, Luckylyn said:

So I want to apologize for recommending Quinten and Elliot on The Magicians because the season’s ending just made me feel like some sort of bait and switch happened.   The most frustrating thing is I feel foolish getting my hopes up because this type of manipulation with same sex pairings happens all the time on tv shows.  They tease to bring in pro LGBTQ viewers and then don’t fulfill the implied promise.  I thought the writers of The Magicians were better than that, but I had them pegged wrong.

  Reveal spoiler

So during this season Elliot has been possessed by a monster and Quinten has been absolutely  determined to get Elliot back.   The writers brought back some stuff from a past season that made Elliot realize he regretted rejecting Quinten romantically.  This seemed like the perfect set up for Q to save Elliot and Elliot to pursue Q.   But that didn’t happen.  Instead near the end of the season Q gets back together with his ex Alice.  They save Elliot, but he and Q are never reunited.  Elliot never gets to tell Q that he wants to be with him and Q never has to make a choice between Elliot and Alice.  The season ends with Q dying saving everyone.  He and Elliot never got a scene together after Elliot was saved from the monster.   All we get is the look on Q’s face when he sees Elliot at his funeral.   The actor infused so much love for Elliot in that look.   I feel like I’ve been tricked.  I don’t know why the writers had Elliot discover Q was who he wanted only to have Q get back with Alice and never get to have a scene with Elliot.   What was the point in stirring all that up and leaving it unresolved?  

The funeral was a beautifully done sequence, but I’m left so bitter.   I’d be sad to lose Q no matter what but if they hadn’t teased Q/Elliot I wouldn’t be so angry.

Not surprised. I have never understood the love for The Magicians. One of the things that made me stop watching was that Elliot was always with a woman in some capacity. It seems obvious to me that they never intended to give him a significant romance with a man.

Edited April 24, 2019 by SimoneS

[kieyra]

On 4/24/2019 at 11:52 AM, Luckylyn said:

I just started Schitt’s Creek so I haven’t seen Patrick yet.  I’m looking forward to it based on the recommendations here.

So I want to apologize for recommending Quinten and Elliot on The Magicians because the season’s ending just made me feel like some sort of bait and switch happened.   The most frustrating thing is I feel foolish getting my hopes up because this type of manipulation with same sex pairings happens all the time on tv shows.  They tease to bring in pro LGBTQ viewers and then don’t fulfill the implied promise.  I thought the writers of The Magicians were better than that, but I had them pegged wrong.

  Reveal spoiler

So during this season Elliot has been possessed by a monster and Quinten has been absolutely  determined to get Elliot back.   The writers brought back some stuff from a past season that made Elliot realize he regretted rejecting Quinten romantically.  This seemed like the perfect set up for Q to save Elliot and Elliot to pursue Q.   But that didn’t happen.  Instead near the end of the season Q gets back together with his ex Alice.  They save Elliot, but he and Q are never reunited.  Elliot never gets to tell Q that he wants to be with him and Q never has to make a choice between Elliot and Alice.  The season ends with Q dying saving everyone.  He and Elliot never got a scene together after Elliot was saved from the monster.   All we get is the look on Q’s face when he sees Elliot at his funeral.   The actor infused so much love for Elliot in that look.   I feel like I’ve been tricked.  I don’t know why the writers had Elliot discover Q was who he wanted only to have Q get back with Alice and never get to have a scene with Elliot.   What was the point in stirring all that up and leaving it unresolved?  

The funeral was a beautifully done sequence, but I’m left so bitter.   I’d be sad to lose Q no matter what but if they hadn’t teased Q/Elliot I wouldn’t be so angry.

I was one of the people brought in by this season's developments with Quentin/Eliot, specifically after someone linked this article on reddit:

https://www.themarysue.com/magicians-rewrote-rules-of-slash/

I've mentioned it on the Magicians forum, but yeah, they Lexa/Clarke'd the hell out of that one. Heartbroken.

[Luckylyn]

So thanks for the Schitts Creek recommendation.  Not only are David and Patrick a great couple but the show in general  is a fun watch.  Both the “Simply the Best” scenes tugged on my heart. 

[Silver Raven]

Noah Wyle stars in the upcoming series The Red Line, as half of an interracial gay couple whose husband is killed by cops.

Greg Berlanti and Ava Duvernay.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9564862/videoplayer/vi519552281?ref_=tt_pv_vi_aiv_1

[festivus]

1 hour ago, Luckylyn said:

 Both the “Simply the Best” scenes tugged on my heart. 

I know! Whenever I need a lift I pull those up and watch them. The whole show is a just a feel good show and it's hella funny. I just found it a few months ago but I'm already ready to watch the whole thing again.

[scarynikki12]

I watch Patrick proposing to David at least once a day since the episode aired.  It brings so much joy.

[kieyra]

I can agree that Schitt’s Creek is an antidote to much that is terrible and depressing right now.

Also on thread topic, Gentleman Jack on HBO started on Monday. It’s based on the real life and journals of Anne Lister, who was a British landowner and “out” lesbian in the early 1800s:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Lister

(I guess maybe historical spoilers there.)

I like it so far, but showrunner Sally Wainwright wrote one of my favorite shows ever (Happy Valley), so I’d be watching it even if it was a documentary about chalkboards.

https://www.bustle.com/p/gentleman-jack-is-the-lesbian-pride-prejudice-queer-women-deserve-17134962

[tennisgurl]

On 4/24/2019 at 9:52 AM, Luckylyn said:

So I want to apologize for recommending Quinten and Elliot on The Magicians because the season’s ending just made me feel like some sort of bait and switch happened.

Ugggg I am so sorry I ever recommended that show to anyone or sung its praises for its LGBTQ representation. It all turns out it was all a big tease, a cheap ploy to get free press for how "progressive" they are, soaking up the praise, and then pulling...what they did in the season finale. What a pack of smug assholes. Then we had to listen to them go on and on about how brilliant and progressive they are, freaking bite me you cowards. You built all that up with Quentin and Elliot, made for what could have been such an amazing and revolutionary story, and then they ruined it all.

I really should check Schitts Creek out sooner rather than later. 

[kieyra]

All I can say about The Magicians at this point is that they have actively lost what would have been a *fuckton* of Netflix rewatches on my part in their streaming statistics. Just a single data point, but I’m sure I’m not the only one. 

On that note, I’m going to let Schitt’s Creek run in the background for a while. 🙂

NOPE edited to add one more thing: seriously, fuck The Magicians for thinking that “sometimes life just sucks” is a profound and insightful message in 2019. Fuck. Them. And fuck them for ending their hugely depressing finale with a splash screen for the National suicide hotline. 

Edited April 26, 2019 by kieyra

[scarynikki12]

5 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

I really should check Schitts Creek out sooner rather than later. 

Netflix! You won't be sorry. In addition to the perfection of Patrick and David, there's Alexis, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, and Catherine O'Hara's wigs.  It's great.

[HunterHunted]

On 4/24/2019 at 1:25 PM, SimoneS said:

Not surprised. I have never understood the love for The Magicians. One of the things that made me stop watching was that Elliot was always with a woman in some capacity. It seems obvious to me that they never intended to give him a significant romance with a man.

Except for Penny and Kady and after Quentin and Alice broke up, the show seemed to have largely abandoned romance plots. Eliot and Margot had a series of marriage plots that were mostly about political alliances for Fillory. Although Quentin Coldwater somehow managed to fuck everything with a hole. For a very long time, Penny and Kady had become the OTP of the show until they stupidly had Quentin and Alice reconnect in the 11th hour this season.

[LilWharveyGal]

8 hours ago, scarynikki12 said:

Netflix! You won't be sorry. In addition to the perfection of Patrick and David, there's Alexis, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, and Catherine O'Hara's wigs.  It's great.

And Stevie! But just be warned - whenever Roland comes on screen is a decent time for a bathroom break.

[Luckylyn]

49 minutes ago, LilWharveyGal said:

And Stevie! But just be warned - whenever Roland comes on screen is a decent time for a bathroom break.

Roland’s the only sour note on the show.   I just can’t stand that character at all.  Dan Levy has done so great writing for almost everyone but just pushes the Chris Elliott as Roland obnoxiousness to far.  At least Jocelyn and her frenemy dynamic with Moira is fun.  

I adore Stevie.  She and David have such a wonderful friendship, and she’s basically become a member of the Rose family at this point.  I got a kick out of scene when Stevie told David Patrick approached her to get permission to propose to David like she was his parent.  For a second, it seemed like Stevie/David were endgame but the show backing away from that while preserving the friendship was really well done.  It was really mature of David to shut down the friends with benefits thing he and Stevie had started up because he valued her friendship more.   The scene when David and Stevie are pretending to be married to get free stuff, and they admit they are best friends was so sweet and kind of sad because they never had a close friend before.  David/Stevie work better as friends than as lovers because they are a little too a like and can lean a little dark.  They need romantic partners who can keep up with their banter while also brightening up their lives.  It’s nice that Patrick and Stevie bonded so fast and that she was so supportive of the romance when David was being so oblivious and hesitant to admit something was happening with Patrick.  The episode where Stevie and Patrick spend the whole day teasing David about his difficulty compromising with others leading David to tell them off and accidentally calling Patrick his boyfriend while yelling at him was fun and sweet.  I loved that when Stevie realized things were going in a romantic direction she immediately left David and Patrick alone while simultaneously stealing a plunger from their store on her way out.  

The Roses and the supporting characters from the town really have grown so much over the courses of the series.  Even though Patrick doesn’t join the cast until Season 3.  The first two seasons are totally worth the watch.  

[Rinaldo]

I figure everyone here watches more and is more eloquent than I am (I've never gotten more than two episodes into The Magicians, for instance; I do second the love for Schitt's Creek, which has become so unexpectedly gratifying [Roland aside]), I generally haven't taken the step of bringing up series myself in this topic. But there have been a remarkable number of series lately in which LGBTQ characters are central, and looking back a couple of pages/years I don't see them mentioned here. Apologies if I am in fact duplicating someone else.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend just concluded its planned 4-season run. As a loyal viewer I feel entitled to quibble with this or that element (most of its weak aspects, to my mind, came up in the third season and had to do with thinking up enough to keep all its secondary or tertiary characters involved in the ongoing stories, or with (for me) misjudging how extreme to go). But looking at its whole arc now that it's complete, they told the tale they intended effectively, they created over 150 new songs without repeating a style and performed them wonderfully well, they unpicked the questionable idea stated in its title, and they ended it in exactly the right way. Plus, among the dozen or so main characters we had one divorced man who discovered he was bisexual (and sang a Huey Lewis style anthem about it, "Gettin' Bi"), a matter-of-factly gay man, one bisexual woman, one woman who had only dated men as the series began but by the had proposed to the woman she now lived with, and a man who presented with characteristics considered "feminine" in terms of hair, body language, and vocal style. None of it made a big deal of, at any point. All 4 seasons now on Netflix, all the musical numbers viewable on YouTube.

Now Apocalypse centers on a group of LA twentysomethings of various sexual bents and recreational inclinations, the central character being a gay guy who has visions of lizard aliens that may be premonitions or drug-induced dreams. On Starz. I have to say that this first season didn't add up to much or do much for me (prurient aspects aside), but others may differ.

The Other Two just concluded its first 10-episode season and has been renewed for a second. The titular two are the 30-ish siblings (a female former dancer and a struggling gay actor) of a 13-year-old boy who has instantly become a national sensation via one song on YouTube and is now being "managed" to capitalize on his fame. There's a lot of satire about celebrity, the challenges of a performer's life, and the difficulty of remaining a loving family (which, refreshingly, they are portrayed as, including their Midwestern mother Molly Shannon) when the youngest is by far the most successful. There's also some unexpectedly sharp looks at internalized homophobia in the older brother well played by Drew Tarver (does he really welcome being instantly outed to the whole country in a song? is a director's request to give a "straighter" reading at an audition a legitimate artistic request, or veiled bigotry?) and in public attitudes in general (the kid's managers are charting the success of the kid's "I Love My Gay Brother" song by the hour, getting reactions from The Advocate and the AV Club; there's also a new manager for the actor who instantly feels free to address him as "f*****" because she is such an ally). I enjoyed this one a lot. On Comedy Central.

Special is current, an 8-episode half-hour (actually episodes are 12-17 minutes) show starring and created by Ryan O'Connell, who plays Ryan Hayes, like himself a gay man with mild cerebral palsy. Jessica Hecht plays his perhaps excessively attached mother. It shows Ryan navigating friends, work, sex, and independence. Refreshingly, he's by no means a saintly role model; he can be a bit of an asshole and is called out for it. (For instance, when people at his new job assume that his limp and lack of coordination are results of his recent auto accident, he impulsively allows the assumption to stand so that he can feel "normal" for the first time; and as time goes on, of course, regrets it.) I'd call it a promising start, but I hope it gets renewed because "what comes next" will be the really interesting part. On Netflix.

Edited April 28, 2019 by Rinaldo

[HunterHunted]

3 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

Now Apocalypse centers on a group of LA twentysomethings of various sexual bents and recreational inclinations, the central character being a gay guy who has visions of lizard aliens that may be premonitions or drug-induced dreams. On Starz. I have to say that this first season didn't add up to much or do much for me (prurient aspects aside), but others may differ.

It's from Gregg Araki. I think some here realized that Now Apocalypse was probably heavily inspired by Araki's film, Nowhere. Sex, drugs, and surreal paranoid fever dreams are pretty much Araki's metier. I have a lot less affection for his work now than I did 20 years ago. However, I think he's a lot better director when he's not directing things he's written. Mysterious Skin is the exception, but it adapted an existing property. He's also directed some solid episodes of other tv shows.

I thought Now Apocalypse was fairly decent and slightly better than Araki's typical efforts. I'll probably watch a second season, especially if they let viewers binge it.

[Rinaldo]

1 hour ago, HunterHunted said:

I thought Now Apocalypse was fairly decent and slightly better than Araki's typical efforts. I'll probably watch a second season, especially if they let viewers binge it.

"Fairly decent" may be about where I land, on consideration. I was enjoying it quite well while watching -- I had no problem getting through it all -- but that reaction was based on the assumption that all these portents and moods were building up to something fantastic by the end of the season. And then nothing like that happened. 

I'll watch a second season too, hoping that it'll get to some of what I was hoping for in the first one. But I've seen so many series like this by now (often by filmmakers, e.g. Twin Peaks) -- wonderfully evocative and suspenseful and with a unique look, but never channeling all that into anything resembling a story as that term is generally understood -- that my patience is more exhaustible than it used to be.

[HunterHunted]

@Rinaldo I was calling it "fairly decent" on a Gregg Araki scale. Mysterious Skin is his best. Nowhere is probably his worst. Although, there's a solid case to be made Doom Generation as a close second for worst. On average, most of Araki's films are closer to Nowhere than Mysterious Skin. So "fairly decent" is my way of saying that it's not hot garbage. Though making it bingeable absolutely helped the show because it helped you ignore the worst part of any episode when you didn't have a week to ruminate.

[possibilities]

I watched The Other Two, and I don't get Starz. I can't remember what channel I watched it on, but I'm pretty sure it was an original airing and not a re-broadcast.

[Rinaldo]

20 hours ago, possibilities said:

I watched The Other Two, and I don't get Starz. I can't remember what channel I watched it on, but I'm pretty sure it was an original airing and not a re-broadcast.

Argh! Heartfelt apologies! I must have got confused writing up 4 shows, or reused something from another paragraph, or something brainless of that sort. I know perfectly well that it aired on Comedy Central, when I'm in my right mind. I've now corrected my original post so that it won't mislead anyone, and I thank you for the correction.

[possibilities]

5 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

Argh! Heartfelt apologies!

No worries! After I posted, I thought... maybe I came across a little bitchy, and I didn't mean it that way, fwiw.

[Rinaldo]

Not at all, it seemed a mildly puzzled response, which was entirely justified. 

I'm going to add here (as the forum for the show is kind of on a different wavelength from me) that this retired music professor is going to do something entirely uncharacteristic for him on May 15 and travel up to NYC to attend the final live concert that the cast of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend will give, at Radio City Music Hall. I dare say I'll be surrounded by young fanatics in costume, which is fine (as long as they don't sing along -- I want to hear what the people onstage are doing). I am finding, quite to my surprise, that I don't want to let go of this unique achievement, and this will be the last time they're all gathered together.

[praeceptrix]

10 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

Not at all, it seemed a mildly puzzled response, which was entirely justified. 

I'm going to add here (as the forum for the show is kind of on a different wavelength from me) that this retired music professor is going to do something entirely uncharacteristic for him on May 15 and travel up to NYC to attend the final live concert that the cast of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend will give, at Radio City Music Hall. I dare say I'll be surrounded by young fanatics in costume, which is fine (as long as they don't sing along -- I want to hear what the people onstage are doing). I am finding, quite to my surprise, that I don't want to let go of this unique achievement, and this will be the last time they're all gathered together.

That sounds like fun. I don't suppose you would like to make the trip twice? I'm performing at Carnegie Hall on Friday, 5/3. Celebrity tie in: we (The Cecilia Chorus of New York) are performing a piece by The Brothers Balliett we commissioned, the libretto is taken from My Stroke of Insight by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor of TED talks fame.

[possibilities]

I read Jill B's book years ago. I think about it often. Is there going to be a recording of the performance?

[Dancingjaneway]

On 2/14/2019 at 12:36 PM, Luckylyn said:

Queer Baiting 

Peter Lenkov is the king of queerbaiting. He is the creator of the new Hawaii-50. The two leads McGarrett & Danno have chemistry that is off the charts & they have said I love you to each other on multiple occasions but can't say it to their female love interests. I had to stop watching because it was so frustrating and blood boiling. 

[krankydoodle]

Arthur's Mr. Ratburn Comes Out as Gay, Gets Married in Season 22 Premiere

I can't believe the show's been on that long!

[Annber03]

Same. I remember watching it sometimes as a kid. 

That's really cool about Mr. Rathburn. Reminds me of the revelation about Mr. Simmons on "Hey Arnold!". 

[galax-arena]

I've become so obsessed with Gentleman Jack. Suranne Jones as Anne Lister... 😍

I am surprised at how many people don't seem to be aware that Anne Lister was a real person. I definitely knew she existed, even though I didn't know all the (explicit, ha) details. 

I wonder how far they're gonna go with the television show. Maybe they'll end it on her final diary entry, which was (I think) written only a few weeks before she died.

[ApathyMonger]

https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/showtime-comedy-series-lilly-wachowski-1203229281/

Quote

“Work In Progress” is described as a funny and “uniquely human” comedy, which features McEnany as a 45-year-old self-identified “fat, queer” woman from Chicago whose misfortune and despair unexpectedly lead her to a vibrantly transformative relationship. Chicago-based performers Theo Germaine and Karin Anglin co-star alongside Celeste Pechous, with “SNL” alumna Julia Sweeney also appearing as herself.

It seems part of the show will be Julia Sweeney being held accountable for the sins of It's Pat?

[UYI]

Sheila Kuehl from the Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (and later a California Assemblywoman) on how she came out, and much later would help her friend Dick Sargent (Bewitched's "other" Darrin) come out as well.

[Drogo]

9-1-1: Lone Star casts a transgender actor for trans role

Quote

Brian Michael Smith will play a transgender male firefighter "with a gift for observation worthy of Sherlock Holmes," according to The Hollywood Reporter. 

[possibilities]

Oh shit, now I might have to watch. I really don't want another show in the disaster/medical genre, but...

[piccadilly83]

Has anyone here watched the series Dear White People? One of its main characters, Lionel, is a young gay man in college. I can't remember if the first season deals with his coming out process, but by the second season he starts dating, and well that doesn't go so well for him. He ends having to break up with his first boyfriend/love interest due to his lack of experience. The third season takes place after spring break and apparently he has experienced some sexual encounters when he went back home to Houston. As a result of some unprotected sex, he visits the campus clinic to get HIV tested, and while there befriends the test administrator, name D'Unte. D'Unte is everything. Seriously, he's just the sort of awesome person anyone and everyone needs in their life. His wisdom, his guidance, his shade, his humor, and his compassion are everything. Anyway, the show eventually includes a transgender student who befriends Lionel along with an HIV+ upperclassman. Also, the non-LGBT students are incorporated in the LGBT students' world as well.  They run into each other at a gay nightclub/bar on campus, and one of the other main characters, Sam, goes to a drag ball with Lionel's friends (to which Lionel was NOT invited.) Finally, there's an anonymously written publication circulating on campus that serializes the life of a fictional gay man at the school. It's the most popular leisure reading material on campus.

Oh, I also almost forgot about Kelsey, who I love just for her princess Trini ways. She's an out of the closet lesbian and she gets into a relationship/fling type situation with one of her classmates.

Edited September 25, 2019 by piccadilly83

[giovannif7]

Actor Brian J Smith (Will on the Netflix LGBTQ-inclusive series Sense8) has officially come out.

[DearEvette]

On 9/25/2019 at 2:32 AM, piccadilly83 said:

Has anyone here watched the series Dear White People? One of its main characters, Lionel, is a young gay man in college. I can't remember if the first season deals with his coming out process, but by the second season he starts dating, and well that doesn't go so well for him. He ends having to break up with his first boyfriend/love interest due to his lack of experience. The third season takes place after spring break and apparently he has experienced some sexual encounters when he went back home to Houston. As a result of some unprotected sex, he visits the campus clinic to get HIV tested, and while there befriends the test administrator, name D'Unte. D'Unte is everything. Seriously, he's just the sort of awesome person anyone and everyone needs in their life. His wisdom, his guidance, his shade, his humor, and his compassion are everything. Anyway, the show eventually includes a transgender student who befriends Lionel along with an HIV+ upperclassman. Also, the non-LGBT students are incorporated in the LGBT students' world as well.  They run into each other at a gay nightclub/bar on campus, and one of the other main characters, Sam, goes to a drag ball with Lionel's friends (to which Lionel was NOT invited.) Finally, there's an anonymously written publication circulating on campus that serializes the life of a fictional gay man at the school. It's the most popular leisure reading material on campus.

Oh, I also almost forgot about Kelsey, who I love just for her princess Trini ways. She's an out of the closet lesbian and she gets into a relationship/fling type situation with one of her classmates.

Oh yes, this show is excellent on so many levels, no just wrt to race but also with LGBTQ issues.  Honestly the show does a great job with identity politics in general.

Lionel does begin his coming out process in S1, but it is baby steps.  One thing I loved was how he is so afraid to come out to Troy, his uber-masculine het roommate and Troy is actually the one who schools Lionel on some places to go to meet other brown gay students and helps him as a straight ally.

I also appreciate that while giving a robust and largely positive POV to a main character who happens to be gay, they also don't shy away from some of the less positive aspects either as Lionel navigates through the gay cub culture at school over the three seasons he definitely comes across some very toxic elements as well.  But again, no matter what social aspect the show explores it never shies away from getting critical about it.

Revealing Kelsey as a lesbian was also  an awesome surprise.  Not only that, but as we learned more about Kelsey she went from the largely vapid Trini fashionista to a really sharp and deep character.  I enjoyed the glimpses we got of her in S1, but S2 and S3 I fell in love with Kelsey

[possibilities]

A few years ago the Dead Lesbian trope was brought to public attention, but now I'm seeing something else that strikes me as really weird and highly annoying.

Maybe it's not as widespread as it feels to me, but there are TWO shows on broadcast right now, which have lesbians who are married to men, despite having a deep, possible OTP, for a woman, and they are lying to their husbands about it while everyone else knows.

Worse, BOTH characters are African American.

I'm talking about Sophie on Batwoman, and Edie on Almost Family.

It's weird and off-putting. They are acting like it's 1950, and coming out would destroy their lives. They both seem to have an overwhelming shame about being lesbians (both characters seem to be lesbian, not bi). But they are surrounded by supportive people, and it's freaking 2019. In neither case is there ANY reason to think they'd be shunned, or otherwise penalized.

It's nice not to kill us off for fun, but I haven't seen a story like this about a gay male character in decades. Why is it suddenly the lesbian plot du jour?

[Rinaldo]

The only one of those I've seen is Almost Family, and I FF through a lot of it because it's really a pretty bad show (it shows up on my DVR because of Victoria Clark). So my understanding is likely less than complete. But the character in question has been married to a man for some time (reasonably happily on the whole, it would seem), and the surfacing of her same-sex attraction is undoubtedly going to mess that up, if not end it. That seems to me a reasonable cause for some conflicted feelings in the short term.

But again, I avoid listening to all the dialog, and what I do catch is written in a shallow melodramatic way, so I may be giving it too much credit.

[possibilities]

he dialogue makes it clear that she thinks things like "I can't have a family if I'm with a woman" and other utterly unbelieveable crap. She does feel bad about hurting her husband, but not enough to be honest with him. Instead, she does things like ditch him on Thanksgiving to be with her lover, and lie to him constantly.

I agree it's not a well-written show. But it's more than just her not wanting to hurt her husband or disrupt her life. She seems to have a totally bizarre, decades out of date weirdness about her orientation. It's especially weird because NO ONE around her shares her hang ups. Even her mom is debunking it. It doesn't make any sense.

[ApathyMonger]

Not a place expected to find this type of inclusion, but the Saved by the Bell reboot has cast Josie Totah as its lead:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/peacocks-saved-by-bell-sequel-finds-lead-josie-totah-1266269
 

Quote

 

Totah will star as Lexi, a beautiful, sharp-tongued cheerleader and the most popular girl at Bayside High who is both admired and feared by her fellow students.

The role brings Totah back into the NBCUniversal fold after she starred in NBC and Universal TV's short-lived Mindy Kaling-produced comedy Champions. Totah, who came out as transgender in a moving Time essay in August 2018, is fresh off a recurring role on Netflix's No Good Nick.

 

 

[Silver Raven]

On 1/6/2020 at 8:02 AM, ApathyMonger said:

Not a place expected to find this type of inclusion, but the Saved by the Bell reboot has cast Josie Totah as its lead:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/peacocks-saved-by-bell-sequel-finds-lead-josie-totah-1266269
 

 

And Mario Lopez is in it, too, less than a year after saying that it's dangerous for parents to support their transgender kids.

BTW, it's on the Peacock App, NBC's digital app.

 

Edited January 8, 2020 by Silver Raven

[Hiyo]

Quote

they also don't shy away from some of the less positive aspects either as Lionel navigates through the gay cub culture at school

Just at school?

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-51270317

[possibilities]

"For Life" (on ABC) surprised me by having the prison warden be a woman, who is married to another woman. Her wife is running for AG and they have kids.

It's too soon to know just how well the show will handle the situation, but in the pilot her relationship with the main character (Black man who was sent to prison for life for a crime he didn't commit, got his law degree inside, and is trying to free other innocents, along with himself) is layered and key to the show.

 

[Danny Franks]

I hope people are watching Sex Education on Netflix. They already dealt with openly gay characters in the first season, including this really sweet scene between a gay teen and his father:

Then in season two they had two or three characters coming to terms with being bisexual, and one girl who has no interest in sex at all, and thinks she must be broken. As another character tells her, "sex doesn't complete you, so how could you ever be broken?"

Edited February 13, 2020 by Danny Franks

[Bastet]

I haven't watched season two yet, but I second the recommendation of Sex Education.  I watched it because of Gillian Anderson, knowing nothing else about it and going in with no expectations, and wound up thoroughly enamored of the teenagers' storylines.  The friendship between main character Otis and his best friend Eric is particularly wonderful, showing all the ways in which one being straight and one being gay doesn't make their friendship any different than that between two straight guys, while being honest about the ways in which their experiences being different does affect the relationship.

[Hiyo]

Any bears on this show?

[Danny Franks]

16 hours ago, Hiyo said:

Any bears on this show?

Not really, I guess. Most of the characters are teens. But there are characters that don't fit the stereotypical depictions of LGBT characters.

16 hours ago, Bastet said:

I haven't watched season two yet, but I second the recommendation of Sex Education.  I watched it because of Gillian Anderson, knowing nothing else about it and going in with no expectations, and wound up thoroughly enamored of the teenagers' storylines.  The friendship between main character Otis and his best friend Eric is particularly wonderful, showing all the ways in which one being straight and one being gay doesn't make their friendship any different than that between two straight guys, while being honest about the ways in which their experiences being different does affect the relationship.

Yeah, they have the same friendship that two straight boys would have - hanging out, playing videogames, taking the piss out of each other, even talking about their sex lives (or lack thereof). But there are differences between them, with Eric always wanting to be seen and acknowledged, while Otis said himself that he was happy being "the guy in the corner no one notices."

Otis shows no squeamishness whatsoever when Eric talks about giving "two and a half handjobs to that boy [he] met at Butlins" and they're completely open with one another over issues like Otis' inability to masturbate. There's never any gay panic that Eric might think about him in a lascivious way.

I really love the scene shortly after that one I posted of Eric and his dad, where Eric and Otis dance together in front of everyone. It's just two friends having a good time together, and the rest of the kids seem to react positively as well.

I guess it's a sort of hyperrealist fantasy world, where Anwar can dismissively say that "homophobia is so 2008" and everyone is accepted by their peers... albeit with the same social hierarchies that teen stories always have.

Edited February 14, 2020 by Danny Franks

[Hiyo]

Quote

Not really, I guess. Most of the characters are teens. But there are characters that don't fit the stereotypical depictions of LGBT characters.

Ah well. Hopefully we'll see more bears on TV shows that aren't your typical stereotypical bear.

[Blergh]

2 hours ago, Hiyo said:

Ah well. Hopefully we'll see more bears on TV shows that aren't your typical stereotypical bear.

I don't know if one should be upset or relieved  that Yogi and Boo Boo haven't been shipped as much as Bert and Ernie have been down the years! 

[possibilities]

There's one of the teachers who might, sort of, if you stretch your mind a bit, have the bear body type. But he's straight. He's definitely not a deliberate bear representation, though.

[peachmangosteen]

On 2/13/2020 at 1:43 PM, Danny Franks said:

... one girl who has no interest in sex at all, and thinks she must be broken. As another character tells her, "sex doesn't complete you, so how could you ever be broken?"

I hadn't planned and it but this has me considering giving Sex Education a look.