Monday, January 24, 2011

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.

10 comments:

  1. Note to self: investigate Spartacus. Ha.

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  2. Oh Tea. Oh Tea, Tea, TEA. She might be (okay, probably is) the only reason I'll continue to watch US Skins. That girl is just... YUM.

    Can't wait for Thirteen's return to House! I neeeeed to see Olivia on my TV screen every week again. :)

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  3. Anonymous1:53 PM

    Hey Dorothy - Thank you for bringing such wonders as Tea and lovely lady-lovin'-TV-ladies to our collective awareness. I continue to be saddened, however, that the already scant list of lesbian characters includes almost no butch, soft-butch, masculine-identified (but not trans), or less-than-Hollywood-feminine characters. Even TLW couldn't maintain a truly "butch" character for more than a few episodes. As a butch-identified actress in LA, I am fervently hoping and waiting for the writers to start including the entire spectrum of gay female characters, much as they have embraced a more complete view of the full spectrum of gay men. In the meantime, I continue to play female cops, park rangers, and prisoners. Downside: sigh- is that all? Upside: Butch gals look foxy in uniform. I guess it's a start?

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  4. any thoughts on the callie/arizona storyline on grey's? really, callie is pregnant with mark's baby? somebody please, SAY IT ISN'T SO!! i almost feel deterred from watching now.

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  5. tlsintx1:53 PM

    hahaha! I lie on that mature viewers age verifier thingy EVERY TIME and they still let me watch!! suckas~

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  6. Anonymous7:39 PM

    giggle~
    somethin' going on?

    i'm tired to find lesbian pictures
    or movies, or something related.
    so I let's you do it as you do,

    then I can do whatever something
    interested, that's all.

    how difficult to find something
    fun+lesbian.

    you know not every lesbian is fun.
    if you feel boring, then they might
    consider cus you know they want
    people watch their show, so say
    it's boring pregnant lesbian theme!

    something like that. I respect
    people who have children, but
    also think that it's choice.

    we're not living iron age. it's not
    that women's must job anymore.

    thanks for the posting,
    see you~

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  7. Anonymous7:44 PM

    the comment not fixable?

    then let me add,
    there is not many lesbian stuff,
    so it's difficult to find pics and movies,

    then to find something fun
    among them is also not easy.

    thank you!

    i simply give up, then
    just posted. hahaha!

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  8. I totally get putting in my age (or something near it) for the Spartacus episode. But seriously, the Skins episode in its entirety had less skin than the preview clip for Spartacus. Really liked them both for very different reasons...

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  9. "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."

    That is why I love Yuri anime. So much more! <3

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