Fall Television Pickups Leave Gays Behind

[homaffectional]

Last week during what the television industry refers to as The Upfronts, the major broadcast networks announced which series were being picked up for the fall schedule. Of the to pilot earlier this year, only six included significant gay content. Of those six, the fall schedule will include only three, none of them in any way ground breaking. In addition, the end of Will & Grace, which also happened to be during Upfront Week, also marked the end of any leading gay characters on network TV.

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During the network 2005/2006 television season, there were fifteen reoccurring gay male characters on scripted broadcast television. That number presented a marked improvement after years of steady decline. However, unless something changes between now and next fall, that number will again plunge dramatically to only eight, and that is being generous with the definition of what constitutes a gay role. That total includes minor characters such as Kenny on My Name is Earl and Oscar on The Office. To put it in perspective, Kenny appeared as a supporting role in three episodes of Earl—not exactly high profile.
After a high of thirteen gay characters during the 1996/1997 season, the number of gay roles steadily declined to as few as seven during 2004/2005. Even last season's number of fifteen roles is misleading given the number of shows canceled after airing as few as a single episode. Among last season's quick casualties were Emily's Reasons Why Not, Love Monkey, The Book of Daniel, and Crumbs. With the loss of the gay characters on the now canceled Will & Grace, Half and Half, Twins, Inconceivable, Kitchen Confidential, and Commander in Chief things are looking bleak indeed.

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