Gay couples in Prime Time mini-series and soaps..has much changed over the years?

[elegant20]

As far as television is concerned, you think much has change over the years with soaps from the 80s-onward? Just wondering to know...

 

[unabear09]

I think tv has progressed by leaps and bounds, however, the media's leaps and bounds are pathetic.

 

[Hoss]

As far as television is concerned, you think much has change over the years with soaps from the 80s-onward? Just wondering to know...
More characters are created, but unless it's a lead (Modern Family, Will & Grace) they are sent packing when advertisers get panicked by threats of boycotting.

 

[D_Tim McGnaw]

It depends on which country you live in. What's trrue for the U.S. isn't necessarily true for the rest of the world, but if you chaps would rather have a closed debate purely about American TV work away.

 

[Hoss]

It depends on which country you live in. What's trrue for the U.S. isn't necessarily true for the rest of the world, but if you chaps would rather have a closed debate purely about American TV work away.

I didn't see any country listed, why the presumption?

 

[D_Tim McGnaw]

I didn't see any country listed, why the presumption?

Because the answers given didn't seem to reflect anywhere else than the U.S. or otherwise they would have been more subtle, since the picture isn't uniform around the world.

 

[Hoss]

Because the answers given didn't seem to reflect anywhere else than the U.S. or otherwise they would have been more subtle, since the picture isn't uniform around the world.

Then add a take which says what happens where you are, and get the thread spinning with different cultures and takes. The open didn't say U.S. only.

 

[luka82]

I believe the link has to go down. If it really features River Phoenix, he was 14 in 1984.

 

[nudeyorker]

The link has been removed. I believe it was in innocent mistake. But please remember not to post images of minors no matter how innocent it may appear.
Thank you!

 

[Bbucko]

I don't watch TV at all now (except for what I can glean off the internet), and have never really been a fan of the medium.

But in terms of progress, all you need to do is look at two characters from the mid-80s to see how far we've come:

1) Steven Carrington: Dynasty's writers were always highly ambivalent about this character: he even married Sammy Jo, for crissakes Aside from his sexual orientation's contributions to occasional plot twists, it was never apparent whatsoever that Steven actually was gay.

2) Coco: The Golden Girls pilot episode included a gay cook/housekeeper named CoCo. According to IMDb:

The show's creator, Susan Harris, decided to drop the character after the first episode was shot because she felt he was unnecessary. Once Sophia came along, she became a stronger character, and with four major characters there just wasn't enough room for Coco.

This is simply not correct. I have seen the episode in question and distinctly remember seeing Coco and Sophia interacting. She referred to him disparagingly as the "fancy man". Coco was cut because American TV simply wasn't ready for a flamboyant gay man in everyone's living room once a week.

Though it could be argued that Frasier opened the closet door in prime time, both he and Niles were straight, which was perhaps the funniest thing about the entire show.

 

[nudeyorker]

When I was walking home today I remembered a flight where I was sitting next to Bill Persky and we talked about what was permissible when he was working on That Girl and how much things had changed when he was working on Kate And Allie.
I can't help but think that it was episodes like this that reached people outside of urban areas that may have planted a seed of acceptance... But who knows.
The K and A Episode

 

[ronin001]

I dont know how old some of you are but the TV show comedy SOAP with Billy Crystaly who played an openly gay man was ground breaking in the 80s. He was funny as hell and the actors on the comedies who came later should kiss his feet

 

[nudeyorker]

I dont know how old some of you are but the TV show comedy SOAP with Billy Crystaly who played an openly gay man was ground breaking in the 80s. He was funny as hell and the actors on the comedies who came later should kiss his feet

Yes I remember that show quite well it was a gem. But the Jody characters gayness was really downplayed after season one because of pressure from the advertising sponsors.

 

[Bbucko]

Yes I remember that show quite well it was a gem. But the Jody characters gayness was really downplayed after season one because of pressure from the advertising sponsors.

I had to check to make sure that Soap even ran during the 80s :wink:

Jody Dallas qualifies as American TV's first openly gay character, as I guess we needn't bother with Charles Nelson Reilly's character on The Ghost & Mrs Muir or Paul Lynde on Bewitched (or Dr Smith, for that matter).

 

[elegant20]

Oh, my fault. Sorry about that link.