Afleveringen
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If you grew up watching TV in the 80s, you may have noticed that there was a preponderance of⊠if not shows about orphans specifically then similar shows where the care of children was entrusted to people who werenât their parents and maybe didnât know how to raise kids. Weâre talking Diffârent Strokes, Rags to Riches, Punky Brewster, Webster and Gimme a Break, but also The Facts of Life, Charles in Charge, My Two Dads, Full House, My Sister Sam, Silver Spoons, The Hogan Family and more. Sure, a lot of factors could explain these absent parents, but what if we told you there was a single patient zero for this whole trend? Because Drew thinks there is one, and its history stretches back to the 19th century.
Links to previous episodes mentioned in this one:
Gimme a Break Meets Yet Another 80s Orphan Gimme a Break Transformed Into a Lesbian Perfect Strangers Backdoor Pilots: Diffârent Strokes Spins Mrs. Garrett into Facts of Life Weirdest Episode Ever: Day by Day Has a Very Brady Nightmare Superstore Is Queerer Than You ThinkAnd if you want to watch the video version of the Seinfeld addiction/cashmere examination at the end of this episode, click here.
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âThe Family in Questionâ (May 9, 1988)
It might seem like a joke today, that a show called My Two Dads is about two very hetero bachelors. But donât let that stop you from appreciating My Two Dads for being a smarter, funnier version of Full House. They debuted the same week, and unlike Full House, My Two Dads actually acknowledges that gay people exist. In this episode, the judge who awarded them custody of their daughter is persecuted in the press as being an activist judicial who is changing the definition of a family.
Read the New York Times piece from 2022 that finally outed Ed Koch.
Listen to the Bad Gays episode about Larry Kramer, which also discusses Ed Koch.
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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âThe Friendly Physicianâ (April 7, 1966)
Sure, Gilliganâs Island may have skewed family-friendly, but its love of genre parody meant that it did a body swap episode in which all of its female characters end up in male bodies. Horny! Thatâs enough to get our attention, even without the mad scientist bad guy with perversely vampiric sexual energy.
Follow: GEE on Bluesky âą Drew on Bluesky âą Glen on Bluesky
Listen: Apple Podcasts âą Spotify
And yes, we do have an official website! We even have episode transcripts courtesy of Sarah Neal. Our logo was designed by Rob Wilson. This episodeâs art was designed by Ian OâPhelan.
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âLarry vs. Michael J. Foxâ (September 11, 2011)
For better or worse, Larry David is a truth-teller, and the fictional version of him can help but to poke at social taboos. In this Curb Your Enthusiasm episode, Larry suspects that Michael J. Fox may be using Parkinsonâs to get away with bad behavior while also insisting that his latest love interestâs seven-year-old child is gay. Itâs a lot, but hereâs the thing: Larry is often not wrong.
Read âThe Great and Wonderful Wizard of Odds,â the 2000 New York Times piece on Curb Your Enthusiasm.
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We are keeping our tradition of making our first post of the new year about Sailor Moon. That ep, about the debatably trans Sailor Starlights, is now live on Patreon â at $1 for subscribers but it can also be purchased for $3 for non-subscribers. But we're putting last year's Sailor Moon ep, about the villain Fisheye, on the main feed.
Important note: Due to recent political events, weâre giving all of our Patreon proceeds for this month to the Transgender Law Center.
âShadow of Evil: The Trio's Last Chanceâ (September 23, 1995)
Itâs a new year, and youâre getting a new Sailor Moon. This time, we are focusing on Fisheye, a henchman villain from the fourth season who defies categorization both in terms of his gender performance and his status as a bad guy. This one is all over the place in the best possible way, and might be the closest to a true anti-Sailor Moon the series ever gets. Seriously, we love this goofy weirdo and who he gets more of an arc than anyone else does this season.
We gave Fisheye the Leon Carp treatment, and this episode also examines the following other episodes: Meeting of Destiny: The Night Pegasus Dances (s4e1), Forest of Illusion: A Beautiful Fairyâs Invitation (s4e10), We Love Fashion: The Stylish Guardians (s4e13), Become a Prima: Usagiâs Ballet (s4e18) and Mirrors of Dreams: The Amazon's Last Stage (s4e22).
Also listen to our previous Sailor Moon episodes: The Cartoons That Made Us Gay: Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon Meets a Lesbian Couple.
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âThe Matchmakerâ (October 4, 1994)
Whelp, itâs our 250th episode (sort of), and weâre celebrating by going back and reexamining our first-ever episode and, really, the reason this podcast exists in the first place: âThe Matchmakerâ from Frasierâs second season, which the show used to tell viewers definitively that no, despite all appearances otherwise, Frasier Crane is not gay. Weâre joined again by Anthony Oliveira, who also helps us recount Frasierâs entire history of seeming kinda gay, from being metaphorically born from Diane Chambers all the way until the reboot.
Buy Anthonyâs new book, Dayspring.
Read the New York Times article Drew mentions, âThe Boys in the Writersâ Room.â
Read GEE's write-up in Emmy magazine, which is basically the same thing as actually winning an Emmy.
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âPilotâ (October 1, 2003)
Even NBC tried to replicate the success of Americaâs first popular gay sitcom, and this week weâre joined once again by Steven Capsuto to discuss an attempt to bring same-sex parents to prime time. Itâs All Relative only lasted a season, but thatâs actually longer than most LGBTQ-inclusive sitcoms that followed in Will & Graceâs wake, and for what itâs worth, its pilot shows a lot of promise.
Read GEE's write-up in Emmy magazine, which is basically the same thing as actually winning an Emmy.
Buy the revised edition of Stevenâs book, Alternate Channels: Queer Images on 20th-Century TV.
Listen to Stevenâs previous episode, about Tony Randallâs Love, Sidney.
Drew is pulling quotes from the following articles:
âThe gaying of TV / Advertisers step up as more shows step outâ (SFGate, Aug. 24, 2003) âReview: Itâs All Relativeâ (Variety, Sep. 28, 2003) âItâs profitable to be a little bit gayâ (LA TImes, Aug. 27, 2003) âGays on TV: Hardly a Trendâ (Chicago Tribune, Aug. 12, 2003) -
âHope ânâ Mic Nightâ (November 10, 2024)
Long-running animated sitcoms face a unique challenge in having to account for an episode that aired more than a decade previously, and this recent Bobâs Burgers proves that this can be accomplished thoughtfully and deliberately. âHope ânâ Mic Nightâ repeatedly references the season one episode âSheesh! Cab, Bob?â which introduced Marshmallow to the show but also did a few things that cast trans characters in a less than flattering light. Fifteen years later, the show gives Marshmallow 2.0 the spotlight sheâs deserved for while, and frankly itâs heartening to see a show make all the right moves.
Watch the homemade Archer/Bobâs Burgers crossover that got Simon Chong, the director of this episode, a real Hollywood job.
What the video for Paula Abdulâs âOpposites Attract.â
Read the Deadline interview with Jari Jones, the new voice of Marshmallow.
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âHomo for the Holidaysâ (November 25, 1999)
What? An episode of Will & Grace that Drew actually likes? Kind of! This season two episode has Jack coming out to his mother over Thanksgiving dinner, and itâs basically the gayest Thanksgiving episode of any sitcom ever. And itâs a good piece of TV with some thoughtful dialogue, even if a lot of the jokes are very representative of that Will & Grace style, which you either like or you donât. Also: Is Jack McFarland responsible for popularizing the phrase âplatinum gayâ?
Listen to previous Will & Grace episodes here.
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âBill, Bulk and the Body Buddiesâ (May 20, 2007)
Can one illustration of a buff Bill Dauterive change your entire life in an instant? Well, for some people, yeah. This King of the Hill outing manages to stuff in a whole lot of imagery that will be familiar to a certain gay subculture. Itâs inadvertent â and specifically this episode also features explicitly gay characters as a counterpoint to the rude, crude muscle bros, but thereâs plenty to talk about nonetheless in Billâs adventures through body transformation.
Listen to our previous King of the Hill episodes here.
Follow Drew, Glen and Tony on Bluesky!
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"A Muggy Day in Central Park" (November 14, 1968)
A contemporary of Bewitched, That Girl aimed for a more sophisticated audience than most sitcoms of its era. Not only does it look more cinematic, in a way that sitcoms generally wouldn't until the 2000s, but it's also more clearly a feminist show, where Marlo Thomas plays a woman braving big city life on her own. This episode does that tired thing where gay men, cross-dressers, trans woman and drag queens are conflated down to a single thing, but itâs nonetheless interesting to see how a progressive show handles queer things fairly explicitly in the 1960s.
Listen to the Monday Afternoon Movie episode about the Ted Bessell thriller Scream, Pretty Peggy.
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âAnd Then There Was Shawnâ (February 27, 1998)
Somehow, Boy Meets World got ABC to say yes to a parody of Scream within the confines of the TGIF lineup. Thatâs wild enough, but itâs even more surprising what this âit was all a dreamâ episode lifts directly from the 1996 slasher. Joining us to discuss this unlikely intersection of franchises are the hosts of the Guide to the Unknown podcast, Kristen Anderson and her little brother, Will Rogers (not the gay beach). Happy Halloween!
Listen to Guide to the Unknown groundbreaking analysis of the Scary Movie franchise, SCARMUTO.
Listen to Williamâs narrative horror podcast Blackwood.
And if you want to read more about the Scream 3/Harvey Weinstein connection, read this Slate article.
Watch the new season of Glen's show, Ninjago: Dragons Unleashed!
Listen to Drew discussing 16-bit horror video games on Retronauts.
Episodes what we mentioned:
Guide to the Unknown, âMommy Watched Screamâ
Guide to the Unknown, âScream, Queen! / Freddyâs Revengeâ
Gayest Episode Ever, âBoy Meets World Accidentally Does a Trans Episodeâ
Gayest Episode Ever, âThe Terror of Zombie Sandy Duncanâ
Gayest Episode Ever, âTwo Guys, a Girl and a Post-Scream Slasher Halloweenâ
Gayest Episode Ever, âThe Facts of Life Goes to the Twilight Zoneâ
Weirdest Episode Ever, âFamily Matters Fights and Evil Murderous Puppetâ
Monday Afternoon Movie, âSummer of Fear with John Arthur Hillâ
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âThe Joker Is a Cardâ (October 14, 1965)
Nearly two hundred episodes later, weâre finally returning to Bewitched to give Uncle Arthur a proper introduction. And while heâs a big part of Bewitchedâs gay fandom, Paul Lynde brings a lot of baggage to the role that taught Americans to laugh at eccentric gay weirdos everywhere.
Watch the new season of Glen's show, Ninjago: Dragons Unleashed!
Listen to Drew discussing 16-bit horror video games on Retronauts.
This episode featured a lot of references to previous episodes, so here are all of those, for your listening pleasure:
The previous GEE about Bewitched (but honestly this new episode is better)
Our episode about I Dream of Jeannie
Our episode about The Addams Family, which deals with similar themes of ethnicity/culture erasure
The GEE/Monday Afternoon Movie crossover episode about the Paul Lynde Halloween Special
The Monday Afternoon Movie episode about The Legend of Lizzie Borden, which starred Elizabeth Montgomery and Katherine Helmond
And finally the Monday Afternoon Movie episode about the Star Wars Holiday Special, with special guest Bruce Villance
Finally, the Hollywood Squares zingers all come from this YouTube compilation.
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âSimpson and Delilahâ (October 18, 1990)
Not only the earliest gay-themed Simpsons episode weâve ever done, this one is also the first gay-themed episode The Simpsons ever did. And while the enigmatic Karl doesnât get to be explicitly gay, we argue whether having a gay-coded character might have been the showâs way to â in its second season and at the height of Simpsons mania â signal to grown-ups that no, despite the t-shirts, this was not a show for kids and it could operate at a higher level. But how many adults watching TV in 1990 knew who Harvey Fierstein was?
Remember when I did a supercut of all the LGBTQ jokes on The Simpsons? It still lives, even if you have to go to YouTube to watch it now for stupid homophobic reasons. It has 3.7 million views so far! I just think that's neat!
Also listen to the most recent Talking Simpsons take on this episode here.
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âWild Childâ (February 4, 1988)
Officially, A Different World never did a gay episode and there were no queer students at Hillman. Nestled in the middle of the Bonet/Tomei season, however, is an interesting episode about a girl named Cougar, who happens to be easily read as a lesbian and interact in interesting ways with both Denise and Whitley. Entertainment journalist Stacey Yvonne joins us to discuss this episode and why A Different World still matters in 2024.
You can watch this episode of A Different World on our Vimeo.
Listen to Stacey's appearances on Sam Pancake Presents the Monday Afternoon Movie discussing the made-for-TV horror films The Possessed and The Strange and Deadly Occurrence.
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âPranks for the Memoriesâ (September 18, 1991) and âBeetlebonesâ (September 27, 1991)
Sure, weâve all thought more about Beetlejuice in the last few weeks than we have in the last few decades, but we come to you today not to discuss the sequel film but the animated spinoff. Henry Giardina returns to explain why this more kid-friendly version of the Tim Burton ghoul lends itself to trans and queer readings.
Listen to Henryâs movie podcast, Iâll Watch Anything, and also subscribe to Totally Trans, which is currently on hiatus.
Mentioned in this episode:
The Lost Gals and specifically their episode about Drop Dead Fred
The Best Movies Never Made and their episodes about all the Beetlejuice sequels that never were
Guide to the Unknown and their episode about A Nightmare on Elm Street 3
What Went Wrong and their episode about the making of Beetlejuice
Crackedâs oral history of the Beetlejuice cartoon
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âMac Finds His Prideâ (November 7, 2018)
Twelve seasons in, Itâs Always Sunny in Philadelphia stopped giving Mac the Smithers treatment and let him be gay, but itâs the season thirteen finale weâre talking about because it highlights Macâs sexuality without making jokes, at least for the third act. The episode received wide praise, but did it also jeopardize the showâs comedic tone in order to make a statement?
Thanks to Dr. Alfred Smith, David Russell and Ally J. Shivka for offering their interpretations of the narrative in the dance sequence!
Watch the dance sequence in question here.
Read Vultureâs analysis of âMac Finds His Pride.â
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This is the second-to-last of our summer reruns; new episodes back Sept. 18 on the Patreon feed and Sept. 25 on the main feed! For this one, we're taking a break from looking at the ways that sitcoms advanced American discourse about LGBTQ people and instead gawking at campy 80s fluff â because that is also a thing that is important to gay people.
âJennifer: The Movieâ (October 29, 1983)
Weâre celebrating both Halloween and week two of our celebration of Ann Jillian with an episode about how the 1983 NBC series Jennifer Slept Here is both so very weird and also a little gay boyâs fantasy â because it pairs an awkward boy with glamorous ghost, and thatâs secretly what every little gay boy wishes he had to guide him through his awkward years. This is peak 80s, but also it has one of the best sitcom themes ever, regardless of decade.
Watch Drewâs video of the 1982 Night of a Thousand Stars fashion show, which features Ann Jillian looking like her most Debbie Harry ever.
Gawk in awe at:
The opening to Mr. Smith The opening to Double Trouble The opening to Mr. Merlin The opening to Down to Earth The opening to Ann Jillian Ann as the Red Queen in the live action Alice in Wonderland + the very scary Jabberwocky scenes -
Yep, we are still in summer reruns â but to return with new episodes in September! This one is out second look at the Showtime sitcom Brothers, which I feel too few listeners know about. Let this episode be your primer, however! And your jumping off point to watching the entire series on YouTube!
âIt Only Hurts When Iâm Gayâ (October 25, 1985)
On paper, the idea of a sitcom taking on the subject of gay bashing seems like the worst idea, but somehow Brothers â TVâs first gay sitcom â manages to tell a real story about violence against gay people while avoiding the hokey âvery special episodeâ tropes. Weâre as shocked as anyone how good this turned out, and whatâs more, itâs genuinely funny without underselling the gravity of the attack.
You can now watch Glenâs movie, Being Frank, on Freevee via Amazon Prime. WATCH IT NOW!
Please, watch this episode (and other Brothers episodes!) on YouTube. The posting we used to do this episode only had 36 views as of the time this GEE first went live!
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This is a summer rerun of an episode that originally went live in May 2023. We know that no one likes to reflect on how Roseanne used to be awesome, but we get through that emotional baggage as quickly as we can to discuss why Martin Mull's character is openly gay but also tweaks certain gay stereotypes.
âThe Driverâs Seatâ (November 30, 1993)
Weâre giving another shot to Roseanne, because perhaps itâs been long enough that you all want to listen to stories about this iconic series. Perhaps not! Regardless, this show offered us Martin Mullâs Leon, who goes unsung in the annals of gay supporting characters. Heâs a villain, though much of his evildoing has nothing to do with his sexuality, and in this particular episode, his gayness doesnât even come up â which is unusual, because usually gay supporting characters on sitcoms only show up to be gay and do nothing else.
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