...lol...
Posted on 07/29/2003 1:59:01 AM PDT by kattracks
TV is not afraid to be gay these days.After avoiding gay and lesbian characters - and topics - for decades, it's now hip for networks to have gay themes and shows.
Consider this: Last week, 7 million viewers watched a shortened version of Bravo's makeover series, "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," when it was rerun on NBC.
Tonight at 9, Bravo launches the gay dating series, "Boy Meets Boy."
But the coming out party doesn't stop there.
The reality show "Amazing Race" on CBS has two openly gay men and ABC is developing a sitcom pilot from Steve Martin and Joan Stein - titled "Mr. and Mr. Nash" - about a gay couple who are decorators by day and spies by night.
And the popular soap opera "All My Children" built a story this summer around the rape of daytime's only lesbian character, Bianca, played by Eden Riegel.
"With every successful sitcom or reality program that has a gay character, TV programmers become bolder," said media analyst John Rash, director of broadcast negotiations at ad buyer Campbell Mithun. "Barriers continue to be broken and envelopes pushed, but it's been incremental."
Not too long ago, many advertisers wouldn't have considered something like "Queer Eye."
But shows such as the gay-flavored "Will & Grace," which ranked 12th among TV's most-watched shows last season, have persuaded some advertisers and programmers to rethink things.
"I think the networks are experimenting with it to see whether there's more of an appetite for this niche programming," said Tim Spengler, director of national broadcasting at ad buyer Initiative Media.
Still, most gay programming likely will come from cable.
American Movie Classics will get in on the act with its documentary "The AMC Project: Gay Hollywood" on Aug. 11 at 10 p.m.
Likewise, cable may be the best bet for a new show being developed by Larry Dvoskin and Jeff Margolis, who'll begin next month auditioning gay, male country singers to star in a reality series.
"Gay culture has contributed for a long time from the shadows into popular art and fashion," said Dvoskin, "and it deserves its own place on TV."
Originally published on July 29, 2003
They're coming to take me away...I just know it...
The three words that describe the most powerful recruitment tool.
And TV continues to lose viewers by the boxcar load. But there's no connection ...
Good luck with that.
...lol...
Well, I watched where the gay assistant poured his heart out that he had been bullied in high school because he was "different". Then the next day I saw the FR article about the gay high school....I thought, bingo, they're timing the sit-com gay propaganda to match up w/announcements like this high school. One reinforces the other. It's no coincidence. Which makes it more serious (not just a natural cultural event, as we're meant to think).
Bravo! With my daily schedule, including time spent on my interests and hobbies... I have no "spare" time, but do have a little free time.
How best to spend it?
I don't throw money away, and I chide myself for doing likewise with time.
If you believe we have only a little while in this life, it behooves you to be a steward of that time.
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