Best. Gay. Week. Ever. (March 14, 2008)

IT MUST BE NICE LIVING WHERE UNICORNS FROLIC UNDER RAINBOWS. YOU KNOW, INSTEAD OF THE REAL WORLD
Last week we ran an interview with Will & Grace co-creator Max Mutchnick who said some, um, interesting things about why there are so few gay characters on network television (the interview was conducted as part of our upcoming in-depth look at gay representation on network television).

When asked why he thinks there are so few characters on television, Max ate some magic jelly beans and said, "I don’t think that people write them well. I actually believe that the bar is high."

When told many showrunners had said to us they believe that having a central lead gay character on a program could tip the scales against a show being picked up, Mutchnick responded "That’s just not the case anymore. We can’t make those kinds of excuses. Because we live in a world where if you write a serial killer sympathetically, it will get on the air and it will do well. People want to be with interesting characters who are experiencing interesting story lines. ... There’s no oppression. The only oppression that exists that you and I have been talking about is internal. ... The straight people that are working in these positions of power, not a one of them that I’ve come into contact with in my professional dealings has felt reluctant or homophobic or disinterested in this subject matter. Not once."

Mutchnick then climbed aboard his magic carpet powered by rainbow power and zoomed back to Never Never Land.

Yeah, I'm a little bitter. With all due respect to Mr. Mutchnick, I think he is seriously out-of-touch. Sure, when you're the co-creator of a smash hit sitcom, no one is likeley to tell you (to your face) they think a gay character is a bad idea. But let's take a look at what else is currently going on in Hollywood when it comes to gay representation.

Exhibit A: The de-gaying of Zach on Heroes. And before the Heroes fanboys start emailing me whining that Zach was never gay, when we originally broke the story, we heard from Heroes creator Tim Kring himself who apologized for what happened with Zach. And even before then, Kring had discussed the difficulties of getting a gay character on the air due to network resistance saying how at one point during filming, a network executive complained that Zach was reading "too" gay.

I guess in Mutchnick's Hollywood that translates to "This character is so poorly developed and written that we simply can't allow it on air lest offend our gay viewers."

Zach (Thomas Dekker) on Heroes, Tim Kring

Exhibit B: The statistics. GLAAD's numbers paint a harsh picture and are hard to dispute. Put simply, not only are the number of GLBT characters down, right now there are no lead gay characters on broadcast television. None. Zilch. We have to make due with supporting characters, the best of which — Kevin Walker (Matthew Rhys) on Brothers & Sisters has to share every sixty minute episode with his nineteen brothers and sisters, his mother, Rob Lowe's (fantasy) Republican senator, and a whole host of supporting characters for these main characters.

Exhibit C: Luke and Noah on As the World Turns. Boy, if there was ever proof that there was a double-standard for how gay characters are treated on television, this is it. Yes, we're talking primetime versus daytime, and, yes, I frequently defend the show, but the fact that CBS/Procter & Gamble has refused to show Nuke kissing for six months proves that putting gay characters on television can still be plenty controversial.

Finally, I have talked to casting agents, publicists, writers, etc., and most say there is still plenty of anxiety over gay characters in Hollywood from the actors who might play them to the suits who greenlight shows. And I simply don't buy for a minute that Mutchnick's contemporaries aren't getting gay characters on their shows because their writing skills are lacking. If Will & Grace proved anything, it's that good writing is not key to getting gay characters on the air; yes, Megan Mullally was great, but the show's scripts were frequently lacking.