Post by Hoong on Oct 20, 2013 0:29:20 GMT -5
I create this community thread for episodes in mainstream TV shows that deal with gay issues. A distinction needs to be shared about the difference between M/M Romance genre and LGBT fiction genre. M/M romance...[is] a genre of fiction that purports to represent a version of gay male love that is largely created by and for non-LGBT audiences." Lizzy Shramko contends that "the demand for M/M romance novels within a straight community signals a want to challenge strands of hetero-normative love. " 1
Gay fiction "is a collective term for literature produced by or for the LGBT community, or which involves characters, plot lines or themes portraying male homosexual behavior". 2
[Source 1: www.lambdaliterary.org/features/oped/08/18/mm-romance-queer/]
[Source 2: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_literature]
Gay episodes watched
The Mentalist, Season 3, episode 17 Bloodstream. The team investigates the case of a murdered doctor. If it weren't for his male partner being shown answering questions on the doctor's whereabouts on the night of his death, the audience wouldn't know that he is gay. No drama from the gay partner or his colleagues at the hospital for his sexual orientation. That he is gay doesn't bring any special stereotypical gay angle to the investigation. Imagine what this says to the primarily straight male audience watching this series.
The Mentalist, Season 4, episode 21, Ruby Slippers: A college-aged gay man, his gay relationship, and friendship with drag artists.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Season 5, episode 8, Abomination, Again, a college-aged gay man, his relationship with his secret lover, and his father. I'm very impressed with prosecuting attorney's attitude toward homophobia.
Law & Order: SVU Season 3, Episode 7 Sacrifice
A gay-for-pay young man and his porn-star wife is caught in a situation with a porn producer. It shows a gritty side of those involved in the business. Hopefully, the viewer will have a more sympathetic and compassionate attitude towards those actors and actresses.
Law & Order: SVU Season 7, Episode 5 Strain
An AIDS activist and his involvement with select gay men. Is it plain vicious antisocial behavior or an altruistic attempt to save other gay men at large? The public defender raised the Act Utilitarian rule of Ethics in court. I never thought I’d see a practical application of moral philosophy in such a memorable way.
Law & Order: SVU S9, Ep16 Closet A dead gay man, a football star, his agent, and a tabloid newspaper editor are players in this intriguing episode. Gay bashing is still alive and well, too.
Law & Order UK S02 Ep 1 ’09 Samaritan. A gay patrol police office was shot during a street drug dealing and according to CCTV footage kept away by another officer, his fellow police partner left him to die, but the judge disallows that footage as evidence. The British version is existential compared to the American version that typically adheres to a justice-prevails-in-the-end formula.
Close to Home: season 1, episode 20 The Shot. A teenage basketball player, his secret boyfriend, his father's disapproval, and his way out. A good portrayal of teenage psyche. (The prosecuting team in this show looks less polished than those in Law & Order).
Bones: Season 5, episode 13 The Dentist in the Ditch
A murdered gay man and the forensic team's effort to find the culprit. The verbal exchanges among the specialist team members require concentration to grasp what clues or red herrings might be thrown at the viewers. This is the first episode that I watched of this series, but I find the giving of too many false leads too distracting. It is the opposite of legal dramas like 'Close to Home' and 'Law & Order.' Surprisingly it successfully tells a murder story without graphic scenes of violence and no readily detectable crass language. That, in itself, earns the writing team high praise.
Nip and Tuck Season 4 Episode 2 Blu Mondae One of the plastic surgeons on whom the series focuses tried to help a gay-for-pay man reconnect with his heterosexuality. This episode shows the supposedly well-intended straight man worse off than the hustler he was helping! I find this series quite unpleasant (in terms of violence) and won't likely be watching many more from this series.
True Blood Season 1, Episode 9 Plaisir D'Amour, A heavy-set gay vampire and a weak-will but buff and handsome straight man, with a lot of nude scenes of the latter and his girlfriend. I'm not sure if this will attract the straight men viewers, but I definitely am not amused at the gratuitous nudity. This series looks like a grown-up version of Teen Wolf.
Veronica Mars, Season 2 Episode 14 Versatile Toppings The title sleuth investigates the blackmailing of teens from an LGBT forum. Gear toward a teenage audience, this is a complex intertwining of two cases, one of the daughter, and another, her father, the detective. I like the realism in this story which makes the perpetrator revelation a bit unpredictable.
Cold Case Season 2 Ep 7 It’s Raining Men A murdered gay man, previously disinherited from his wealthy family & his activism to find a cure for or stop AIDS in 1983, his AIDS infected lover, and his brother. Memorable historical gay culture instances are weaved into an intelligent plot. Definitely a winner for a detective genre series with snippets of intense male emotions on the two gay 'cold cases' that I have watched. This will satisfy the M/M genre fans.
Cold Case Season 4 Episode 10 Forever Blue. Two closeted gay cops in the sixties, one intolerant father and a cop captain with a disdain for gays in his jurisdiction. Again, great intense male emotions from the gay characters, and the famous Peter Graves of the late 60's and 80's Mission Impossible series guest stars.
Endgame. Season 1 Ep 1. Opening Moves. Not much interaction between the gay couple, whose adapted son was kidnapped, but this series looks like an updated version of Nero Wolf (with the armchair detective change to a chess master).
If others have run across episodes dealing with LGBTQ issues in prime time TV shows, please share. Thank you.
Gay fiction "is a collective term for literature produced by or for the LGBT community, or which involves characters, plot lines or themes portraying male homosexual behavior". 2
[Source 1: www.lambdaliterary.org/features/oped/08/18/mm-romance-queer/]
[Source 2: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_literature]
Gay episodes watched
The Mentalist, Season 3, episode 17 Bloodstream. The team investigates the case of a murdered doctor. If it weren't for his male partner being shown answering questions on the doctor's whereabouts on the night of his death, the audience wouldn't know that he is gay. No drama from the gay partner or his colleagues at the hospital for his sexual orientation. That he is gay doesn't bring any special stereotypical gay angle to the investigation. Imagine what this says to the primarily straight male audience watching this series.
The Mentalist, Season 4, episode 21, Ruby Slippers: A college-aged gay man, his gay relationship, and friendship with drag artists.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Season 5, episode 8, Abomination, Again, a college-aged gay man, his relationship with his secret lover, and his father. I'm very impressed with prosecuting attorney's attitude toward homophobia.
Law & Order: SVU Season 3, Episode 7 Sacrifice
A gay-for-pay young man and his porn-star wife is caught in a situation with a porn producer. It shows a gritty side of those involved in the business. Hopefully, the viewer will have a more sympathetic and compassionate attitude towards those actors and actresses.
Law & Order: SVU Season 7, Episode 5 Strain
An AIDS activist and his involvement with select gay men. Is it plain vicious antisocial behavior or an altruistic attempt to save other gay men at large? The public defender raised the Act Utilitarian rule of Ethics in court. I never thought I’d see a practical application of moral philosophy in such a memorable way.
Law & Order: SVU S9, Ep16 Closet A dead gay man, a football star, his agent, and a tabloid newspaper editor are players in this intriguing episode. Gay bashing is still alive and well, too.
Law & Order UK S02 Ep 1 ’09 Samaritan. A gay patrol police office was shot during a street drug dealing and according to CCTV footage kept away by another officer, his fellow police partner left him to die, but the judge disallows that footage as evidence. The British version is existential compared to the American version that typically adheres to a justice-prevails-in-the-end formula.
Close to Home: season 1, episode 20 The Shot. A teenage basketball player, his secret boyfriend, his father's disapproval, and his way out. A good portrayal of teenage psyche. (The prosecuting team in this show looks less polished than those in Law & Order).
Bones: Season 5, episode 13 The Dentist in the Ditch
A murdered gay man and the forensic team's effort to find the culprit. The verbal exchanges among the specialist team members require concentration to grasp what clues or red herrings might be thrown at the viewers. This is the first episode that I watched of this series, but I find the giving of too many false leads too distracting. It is the opposite of legal dramas like 'Close to Home' and 'Law & Order.' Surprisingly it successfully tells a murder story without graphic scenes of violence and no readily detectable crass language. That, in itself, earns the writing team high praise.
Nip and Tuck Season 4 Episode 2 Blu Mondae One of the plastic surgeons on whom the series focuses tried to help a gay-for-pay man reconnect with his heterosexuality. This episode shows the supposedly well-intended straight man worse off than the hustler he was helping! I find this series quite unpleasant (in terms of violence) and won't likely be watching many more from this series.
True Blood Season 1, Episode 9 Plaisir D'Amour, A heavy-set gay vampire and a weak-will but buff and handsome straight man, with a lot of nude scenes of the latter and his girlfriend. I'm not sure if this will attract the straight men viewers, but I definitely am not amused at the gratuitous nudity. This series looks like a grown-up version of Teen Wolf.
Veronica Mars, Season 2 Episode 14 Versatile Toppings The title sleuth investigates the blackmailing of teens from an LGBT forum. Gear toward a teenage audience, this is a complex intertwining of two cases, one of the daughter, and another, her father, the detective. I like the realism in this story which makes the perpetrator revelation a bit unpredictable.
Cold Case Season 2 Ep 7 It’s Raining Men A murdered gay man, previously disinherited from his wealthy family & his activism to find a cure for or stop AIDS in 1983, his AIDS infected lover, and his brother. Memorable historical gay culture instances are weaved into an intelligent plot. Definitely a winner for a detective genre series with snippets of intense male emotions on the two gay 'cold cases' that I have watched. This will satisfy the M/M genre fans.
Cold Case Season 4 Episode 10 Forever Blue. Two closeted gay cops in the sixties, one intolerant father and a cop captain with a disdain for gays in his jurisdiction. Again, great intense male emotions from the gay characters, and the famous Peter Graves of the late 60's and 80's Mission Impossible series guest stars.
Endgame. Season 1 Ep 1. Opening Moves. Not much interaction between the gay couple, whose adapted son was kidnapped, but this series looks like an updated version of Nero Wolf (with the armchair detective change to a chess master).
If others have run across episodes dealing with LGBTQ issues in prime time TV shows, please share. Thank you.
