Lez Time Telelvision

Kittens, the lesbians are coming. To TV. To American network broadcast TV. LESBIANS. Someone pinch me. NBC has picked up a half-hour romantic comedy pilot called “I Hate That I Love You.” According to Vulture, it’s logline reads: “A straight couple introduces two of its lesbian friends to one another and what results is both instant attraction and a pregnancy.” OK, a lesbian couple? Fantastic! But a pregnant lesbian couple? Fuck, we’re not all barefoot and pregnant! Still, you know what, I don’t care. They can only be pregnant for, what, nine months tops, right? I will swallow this tired stereotype of perpetual lesbian pregnancy for the chance to see a show that centers around a lesbian couple on my television. Two other comedies featuring lesbians were in the development stages back in late 2009, but so far little has come of those. So this pilot pick-up is another chance at that big gay TV brass ring.

There are so few lesbian or bisexual women on TV, period, let alone broadcast network TV. By my rough count there are currently 17 permanent recurring lesbian/bi characters on TV right now. Of those seven are on broadcast network TV, the rest are on cable or premium cable. (Note: “Spartacus” really skews the numbers, because people are less lesbian or gay on that show as willing to fuck anything in sandals.) And, if memory serves, there have only ever been two shows that center specifically around a gay or lesbian character as its lead: “Will & Grace” and “Ellen.” So then the inclusion of two more lesbian characters into that tiny canon is good news – very good news. And what gives me even more hope about this project is that it is form veteran TV writer/producer Jhoni Marchinko, who worked on “Will & Grace,” “Murphy Brown” and “Men in Trers.” I used to follow Jhoni on Twitter (before she deactivated her account), and she is friends with lesbians in high places – including Sarah Paulson and Sandra Bernhard. Speaking of which, I’d kill to have Sarah Paulson play one of the lesbians on this series. And who else? Erin Daniels, Michelle Krusiec, Kristin Chenoweth, God, the possibilities are endless. Bring on the lesbians, TV, pregnant or otherwise.

p.s. Tonight you’ll get to meet a very unpregnant lesbian on TV, as Tea on MTV’s “Skins” gets her moment in the sun. Forget what you’ve heard with those ridiculous kiddie porn accusation that have been hurled at the show. It may not be as good as the British version (in fact, it isn’t – I marathoned season one over the weekend), but it gives us a convincing three-dimensional lesbian character and there aren’t a whole hell of a lot of those on TV anywhere.

p.p.s. How fucking ridiculous is it that that clip needs a mature content age verifier? They just kiss. This Puritan on our collective shoulders needs to piss off already.