Part 12 & Final Installment: The Current Future of Gay Men of Color on Television; 2018 and Beyond

The Current Future of Gay Men of Color on Television: 2018 and Beyond

????????????? Network television has placed gay television characters in primarily heteronormative boxes to appease American audiences.? Looking back at the original run of Will & Grace (1998-2006), and the current reboot (2017-2020), the four main characters are paired off in man and woman relationships.? The characters of Will and Grace are essentially existing in a marriage, as well as Karen and Jack who are partnered together.? The progress that took years to get to the point where a series such as Will & Grace could exist in a coveted timeslot with series such as Seinfeld and Friends should not be overlooked.? However, the show is still titled Will & Grace, there has yet to be a series titled “Will & Jack” on primetime network television.? There has yet to be a thirty-minute sitcom successfully airing on a primetime network such as ABC, CBS, NBC, or Fox where the focus is on a group of gay friends, family, or couples.? There have been several sitcoms where there is a lead gay character, often single, existing in a world with their straight family or friends.? Ellen DeGeneres has had several series with this premise.?

Other shows have existed with similar plots, such as; The Real O’Neils, The McCarthys, Sean Saves the World, and Partners.? The New Normal, which aired on NBC from 2012 to 2013, did focus on a gay, married couple.? However, the shows listed all have two things in common.? These series did not succeed past two seasons, and the lead gay characters on all series were White men.? There has yet to be a primetime network series where the lead character is a gay man of color, or a gay person of color, whether it be Black, Latino, or Asian.? The only moderate success for series meeting these parameters has existed on cable television.? The shows that have existed on these parameters on cable television have still yet to prove longevity, despite their success or cult fan followings.?

Two examples of cable television series that have focused on gay men and gay men of color in the past are Looking, which aired on HBO from 2014 to 2015, and Noah’s Arc, which aired on Logo from 2005 to 2006.? Both series only lasted for two seasons, and both series released films to tie up loose storyline ends after being cancelled prematurely.? Noah’s Arc and Looking both aired in half-hour time slots.? A much more successful example of a series portraying a full gay cast of characters would be Showtime’s Queer as Folk.? Queer as Folk aired as an hour-long drama for five seasons and featured an exclusively White cast of characters.? The series was very successful, excessively sexualized, and featured over the top storylines.? Looking and Noah’s Arc are very different series from that of Queer as Folk.? However, all three illustrate the fact that a “gay” television show’s place is on cable, and not network television.?

Looking at the current representation on television gay men and gay men of color, we are seeing that existence still primarily on cable and streaming platforms such as Netflix.? Pose premiered on FX in 2018, and quickly surprised critics as an underdog and breakout success.? Pose is nothing like the series on network television that has been decided for audiences as suitable representation of gay men in America.? The main characters and actors are primarily Black and Latino members of the LGBT community.? Many of the actors are portraying characters true to their real-life identities, which is not always the case in film and television.? Not only are the actors and characters members of the LGBT community, but so are the creators of the show.? Ryan Murphy, a gay White man, may not be a person of color, however he is succeeding at helping represent otherwise underrepresented groups.? Television critic and reviewer Jerry Nunn shares, “Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Steven Canals are the show’s co-creators. It takes an LGBTQ army to create this piece of work, with many consultants, writers and producers wisely included… (Transgender advocate/author/actress Janet Mock is among those directing other episodes)… this is no Glee, but instead more of an American Horror Story tale, with AIDS as the real killer.”[1]?

Pose does follow the popular model on television of a friend group as a replacement for family, however, the series is not a feel-good sitcom.? This dynamic and comparison is discussed by Connor Garel, stating, “The friends-as-family paradigm has existed independent of the queer spectrum for decades. Sex and the City debuted in 1998 as a story about a sex columnist sustained by a community of women; Seinfeld arrived in 1989 starring four close friends joined by romantic shortcomings; Friends, a 1994 ten-season epic, is among the longest-running sitcoms in the history of television. But what sets these shows and these families apart from Pose is the need for their survival, both onscreen and off.”[2]?

With this new success of a television series focusing on LGBT people of color, including gay Black men, on Pose, what does this mean for the future of representation for such communities? Are dramatic cable series the only successful outlet for showing America gay men of color?? How long will it be until there is a series like Will & Grace, but with a diverse cast, on NBC?? Would that show be referred to as "the Black Will & Grace" by critics? Will there need to be a successful “Will & Jack” before America can accept a gay Black, Latino, or Asian version of an already existing White cast series focusing on gay characters?? Titus Burgess, who portrays Titus Andromedon on the Netflix series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt stated in a 2018 interview, regarding representation on television, “I did not have that… I did not have black, out men representing gay out black men when I was growing up. Just the sight of him alone. Regardless of what he does, his character, what he wears, just the sight of him speaks volumes to both how far we’ve come and how far we have to go.”[3]? In an interview with Issa Rae with the magazine The Atlantic, speaking of her original series she states, “There haven’t been many flattering images of black males on television, because there haven’t been a lot of flattering images of black people on television.”[4]? Creator of HBO’s Insecure, Issa Rae, has a new original series, Him or Her, premiering on the network in the upcoming year focusing on the dating adventures of a bisexual Black male lead.? This is a positive deviation from the miniscule representation on Black series and sitcoms airing prior to current date.? Ultimately, for the depiction of gay men of color to be accepted on par with gay White men on television, or simply share a space with White television, the representation gay Black men and gay people of color must diverge from the current standard.? Gay men of color are making a name for themselves and creating a space on cable television and streaming platforms.? It may be years before NBC airs a more diverse series that could be compared to Will & Grace.? However, currently there are strong characters and representation on original series on Netflix, and new series like Pose on FX, with continual success and public praise.? There are more series and more characters every year on American television showcasing and telling the story of underrepresented diverse groups of LGBT people.?

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[1] Nunn, Jerry. “Pose.” Windy City Times. https://www.windycitymediagroup.com/lgbt/TELEVISION-REVIEW-Pose/63093.html (June 6, 2018).

[2] Garel, Connor. ‘Pose’ Is the Most Important Show on TV Right Now. VICE (VICE Canada). https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/d3epxq/pose-is-the-most-important-show-on-tv-right-now (July 17, 2018).

[3] Fallon, Kevin. Titus Burgess: How ‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’s’ Black, Gay, Fabulous Titus Andromedon Changed Television. The Daily Beast. May 30, 2018.

[4] Ioffe, Julia. Issa Rae: ‘I Never Identified as a Nerd’. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/05/issa-rae-insecure/556880/ (May 2018 Issue).