[this page version=05 September 2012]
For several years now I have been trying to compile a list of television programs that have included gay/lesbian/bisexual characters as a part of their regular (or semi-regular) casts. Many shows have `dealt' with sexual orientation in a single episode or story line, but just how many have included gay, lesbian or bisexual characters on a regular (or recurring) basis? This is the list I have. My intention is to keep the list to network and widely-syndicated entertainment shows in the English language.
To be listed a character should have appeared in at least three episodes and be explicitly gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered. Effeminate (but not gay) male characters, manish (but not lesbian) female characters, and gender shifting science fiction characters are generally not listed. For the purposes of this list, a character is described as `recurring' if he or she has appeared in at least three (3) episodes.
If you can recall any other shows, or can correct errors or omissions in this list, please e-mail to: dawwpg@shaw.ca
The latest version of this list is always available on the World Wide Web at the URL: http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~wyatt/tv-characters.html
Days of Our Lives (daytime serial drama) NBC 1965-present. In 1977 the unhappily married Sharon Duval (Sally Stark) admitted to her dear friend Julie Williams that she was bisexual and was in love with her. The story line was quickly wrapped up when problems broke out backstage between head writer Pat Falken Smith and the NBC top brass.
Dallas (serial drama) CBS 1978-1991. Serial drama set among Texas oil barons. In 1978 J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman) schemed to have his niece Lucy (Charlene Tilton) married to Kit Mainwaring (Mark Wheeler), the heir of the Mainwaring Oil Company. Lucy was smitten by the handsome young man but it was not to be... Kit had just broken up with his boyfriend. (2 episodes).
Golden Girls (sitcom) NBC 1985-1992. Blanche's gay brother Clayton Farnsworth (Monte Markham) appeared twice. In another episode Dorothy's lesbian friend Jean appeared. The pilot for Golden Girls included a gay cook/houseboy as a regular cast member, but the character was eliminated when series production began.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (science fiction) Syndicated 1987-1994. Dr. Crusher's orderly in an unproduced first season script, Ensign Freeman, was supposed to be gay. A 1991 promise by series creator Gene Roddenberry to introduce minor regular gay characters during the 1991/92 season was reneged on by Paramount after Roddenberry's death. Two other episodes touched on orientation identity issues: "The Outcast" (1992) ("heterosexual" of the gender neutral J'naii people de-oriented by psychotherapy) and "The Host" (1991) (Trill object of affections of female crewmember changes hosts and therefore outward gender). Star Trek: Deep Space 9, in the episode "Rejoined," also used the Trill host-symbiot construct to portray love between two Trills, now both female.
Roc (sitcom) FOX 1991-1994 An interracial gay couple Russell Emerson (Richard Roundtree) and _______? ( ) appeared twice.
In the Life (talk/variety) PBS 1992-2012. Monthly, then quarterly show focusing on gay and lesbian life in the US. Some PBS stations elected not to broadcast it. No roles (therefore no gay characters). In the Life's website is http://inthelifetv.org.
Hope and Gloria (sitcom) NBC 1995-1996? Hair stylist Isaac (Eric Allan Kramer) appeared in the first few episodes but was quickly written out.
Babylon 5 (science fiction) syndicated 1993-present. Susan Ivanova (Claudia Christian) and Talia Winters (Andrea Thompson) had an implied lesbian relationship. In an episode after Talia's character was written out, Susan confesses that she loved Talia.
Murder One (legal drama) ABC 1995-1997. Publicity for this show included the news that one of the minor recurring characters was gay. Most watchers assumed that character would be the lead lawyer's legal assistant Louis Heinsbergen (John Fleck 1995-1996) but the revelation seemed never to occur. [One email correspondent reported having seen the "coming out" episode in Germany, but that it was never broadcast in the U.S.].
F Troop (sitcom) ABC 1965-1967. Before there were overt gay characters on television there were coded representations, manish women and effeminate men. One such character was Roaring Chicken (Edward Everett Horton), the Hekawi medicine man on F Troop.
Saturday Night Live (sketch comedy/variety) NBC 1975-present. After more than twenty years of supposedly pushing the envelope of television conventions, SNL has yet to produce a regular or recurring gay, lesbian or bisexual character. (Although there have been many close encounters: Franz (Kevin Nealon 1986-1995) once experienced a moment of clarity about his affection for bodybuilding buddy Hans (Dana Carvey 1986-1992); androgynous Pat (Julia Sweeney 1990-1994) kept everyone guessing; and out actor Terry Sweeney 1985-1986 played several one-off gay characters but is probably best remembered for his Nancy Reagan). In the fall of 1996 an animated segment titled “The Ambiguously Gay Duo” began appearing irregularly, featuring Ace (Stephen Colbert [voice]) and Gary (Steve Carell [voice]), two superheros battling evil and patting each other on the behind. In a 2011 appearance, Ace and Gary became unanimated, played by John Hamm and Jimmy Fallon. [Did Stuart Smalley, a member of several twelve step programs (Al Franken) ever discuss his sexual orientation? Further information requested.]
Keeping Up Appearances (sitcom) [U.K.] 1990-1993, 1995. We never saw Mrs. Bucket's son Sheridan (or even heard his voice), but he called his mummy regularly from college, usually to ask for money or talk about his very best friend Tarquin.
Four Kings (sitcom) NBC 2006, Living [U.K.] 2006?, 9NA 2006?. Four men, best friends, share a New York apartment. Thirteen episodes were produced. NBC cancelled the series after airing seven, but Living and Nine Network Australia aired all thirteen. One of the four, Jason (Todd Grinnell) was written with the door open to an eventual coming out, but it never made it to air.
Batman (comic-book drama) ABC 1966-1968. This was the story of a bachelor millionaire named Bruce who kept house with a teenaged lad named Dick. Bruce and his young ward Dick went everywhere together and dressed in capes and tights to combat the villains of Gotham City. As Batman, Bruce was completely tongue-tied whenever villain Cat-Woman ever suggested anything remotely sexual. [There were, of course, no gay characters in Batman, but one might wonder about Louie the Lilac (Milton Berle).]
Sesame Street (children's education) PBS and worldwide syndication 1969-present. Just who are Ernie and Bert? Those two guys living together for all these years, sharing a bedroom... And why is it Bert is always so interested in Ernie's baths? [No children's show would depict a male couple among its menagerie of characters. Would it?].
It can also be said with some certainty that
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Budd, Dave `DeaconBlu', ed., The Definitive UK Sitcom List, a compilation posted monthly to the USEnet newsgroups alt.comedy.british and rec.arts.tv.uk by zlsiida@fs1.mcc.ac.uk (DeaconBlu), and hosted at the Internet gopher site gopher://info.mcc.ac.uk:70/11/miscellany/sitcom.
Capsuto, Steven, Alternate Channels: The Uncensored Story of Gay and Lesbian Images on Radio and Television, 1930s to the present, New York: Ballantine Books, 2000.
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Collis, Rose, "Telling Tales," Gay Times, September 1993, pp. 10-12.
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Freuer, Jane, Paul Kerr and Tise Vahimagi, eds., MTM: `Quality Television', London: British Film Institute, 1984.
Frutkin, Alan, "Television's 23 Gay Characters," The Advocate, Issue 727, February 18 1997, pp. 30-31.
Frutkin, Alan, "TV's 26 Gay Characters," The Advocate, Issue 768, September 15 1998, pp. 34-36.
Frutkin, Alan, and Gerry Kroll, "Gays on the Tube," The Advocate, Issue 713/714, August 20, 1996, pp. 11-22. Revised edition published on the World Wide Web at the URL: http://www.advocate.com/html/issuelinks/gaytube1.html, 31 January 1997.
Frutkin, Alan, "The Best Fall Television," The Advocate, Number 742, 16 September 1997, p55.
GLAAD TV Scoreboard on the World Wide Web at the URL: http://www.glaad.org/glaad/scoreboard.html April 1997.
Giltz, Michael, "TV Gayed", Out, No. 37, October 1996, p. 70.
Howes, Keith, Broadcasting It: An Encyclopaedia of Homosexuality on Film, Radio and TV in the UK 1923-1993, London: Cassell, 1993.
The Internet Movie Database at the World Wide Web URL: http://us.imdb.com/
Jacobs, A.J., "Out?", Entertainment Weekly, No. 347, October 4, 1996, pp. 18-25.
Jones, Christopher, "The Point: On the Air", weekly column in The Washington Blade Online, on the World Wide Web and the URL: http://www.washblade.com/point/ontheair.htm
The Larkhall Insider: ITV's Bad Girls, a world wide web site at the URL: http://www.fortunecity.com/village/turner/381, 1999.
List of Television Shows With LGBT Characters, a Wikipedia web page at the URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_television_shows_with_lesbian,_gay,_bisexual,_or_transgendered_characters 2007.
McLean, Ian, An Annotated Character List of Gay/Bi Characters in Number 96, personal email correspondence dated Mon, 13 Jan 1997 20:43:21 +1100. Additional email Tue, 24 Jun 1997 21:30:14 +1000.
Maynard, Kevin, "Culture: `Real' Dirt," Out, May 1999, p. 32.
Mortimer, Carol. "Gay TV," ? - March 1996. A weekly article posted (and reposted) to several Internet locations, including the USEnet forum soc.motss and the World Wide Web URL: http://pages.prodigy.com/NJ/carol_mortimer/gay_tv_menu.html
Pela, Robrt L. "The Days of Whose Lives?," Genre No. 48, May 1997, pp. 46-49, 95.
Poniewozik, James, "TV's Coming-Out Party," Time, Vol. 154, No. 17, October 25, 1999, pp. 54-56.
"TV Comes Out of the Closet", Globe, Vol. 46, No. 11 (March 16, 1999), pp. 24-25, 32.
The contributions and assistance of many helpful Internet Email correspondents, and USEnet and GayNet readers is gratefully acknowledged.
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