So Harry Potter finally kissed Chris Colfer on a gleeful little show the children can see (aka a network program!) and the most prominent person to get upset about it is some washed up SNL crazy married to a fire breathing magician. Indeed, the gay network television kiss is no longer a huge deal. But once upon a time, such a thing took courage and made history, and advertisers got UPSET. So, gay network teevee history after the JUMP!
1940s: Elmer Fudd name drops his divas and makes out with Bugs Bunny. Animation history is made.
1969: Closeted gay man Dick Sargent replaces Dick York as heterosexual advertising executive Darrin on unbelievably gay prime time show Bewitched just as ratings were starting to slide. Everything about the show was gay. Elizabeth Montgomery has magical powers but has to hide them to "pass" as a boring mortal. Agnes Moorehead was in it. One of the two twin girls who played daughter "Tabitha" grew up to be a lesbian activist. In 1992 Dick Sargent and Elizabeth Montgomery served as the grand marshals of the Los Angeles Gay Pride Parade. But, no gay kisses.
RUSSELL: So what's it like at work? (being gay)
PETER: Not bad. Most people know, the others just assume from the picture on my desk that I'm married to Bernadette Peters.
But, no gay kisses.
1994: Primetime sexy soap Melrose Place allows Doug Savant's gay character one kiss. One. Advertisers go nuts. FOX censors the scene. So, no gay kisses.
1990s: Women kiss women all over the place, from ER to Friends. The guys on Friends kissed too, but for kicks. HAHA! But the men aren't allowed, really. Ellen comes out on her show (she's hot for Laura Dern!); Ellen gets cancelled. It's the 90s.
2000: The first gay male kiss happens on network television. It's not romantic, really, it's Will & Grace. Will and Jack stage a kiss on the "Today" show to protest the censorship of a gay kiss on a fake sitcom, but really to protest NBC's pressure not to have anything too explicit on Will & Grace. By the end of the show's run, Will gets to kiss his boyfriends regularly, and Glenn Close gets to hump Debra Messing. Winning!
2001: The first gay male romantic network TV kiss happens...on WB's Dawson's Creek. In 2000 Kerr Smith did a "peck," but the 2001 kiss was intense. That's the one history remembers.
2005: Andrew kisses Justin on Desperate Housewives.
2006: Brothers and Sisters premieres on ABC and treats the romantic adventures of Kevin McCallister just like everyone else's. Lots of gay kissing. In HD! Scotty! So hot.
And since 2006, lots of gay kisses. ABC and FOX and NBC leading the way network-wise. CBS, not so much.
Anyway, here's something better than Glee:
Awesome post as usual Kevin. The Melrose Place kiss was absolutely disgusting. They cut to slo mo and showed Andrew Shue's horrified reaction. It was the most antigay moment I've ever seen
ReplyDeleteother than that Ryan Reynolds movie Waiting...
But as for a positive portrayal of men kissing, there was the San Francisco season of The Real World, which aired when you were in dapers. Pedro and his bf casually (and it was interracial too) kissed and it was the most shocking thing I'd seen on TV before I was out of the closet. I stayed home from a family vacation to watch a marathon. Yes, the Real World used to be relevant.