Monday, July 27, 2009
New study: HBO shows gay characters more than any other network
2 comments
For the third year in a row, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) evaluated prime-time programming on 15 major TV networks to determine how often LGBT characters are portrayed in their content. Aaaaaand the winner isssss... HBO!
...Of HBO's 14 original prime-time series, 10 included content reflecting the lives of gay, bisexual and transgender people. That totaled 42 percent of the network's programming hours, in series such as "True Blood," "Entourage" and "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency."
That's excellent that LGBT people are portrayed in almost half of HBO's primetime programming. Of course, how they are portrayed is an entirely different discussion. Still, is portraying people who are queer stereotypically better than not portraying them at all?
Posts
July 27, 2009 at 4:55 PM
My all-time favorite show is Six Feet Under, which was on HBO from 2001-2005. One of the main characters in the Fisher family (David, played by Michael C. Hall... who is now on Dexter) was gay. His storyline revolved around accepting that he took over his father's funeral home business, and his turbulent relationship with Keith (a black man). So it was gay and multiracial and the issues were tackled in (what I felt) a very straightforward manner. They had to deal with a lot of shit (other people not accepting their relationship, trying to adopt children, juggling their careers with family life, etc.). It was a terrific show and I think the portrayal of gay characters (in David & Keith's case) was great.
July 27, 2009 at 5:15 PM
Aw, that's good to hear. I've never watched Six Feet Under, but I hear it's a great show.