The Gay Subtext of Dobie Gillis, TV’s First Teen Sitcom
Gayest Episode Ever
“The Ruptured Duck” (October 10, 1961) On the surface, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis tells the story of a teen boy who falls in love with every girl except Zelda Gilroy, who pines for him hopelessly. All of this is complicated by the fact that the Sheila Keuhl, the actor who played Zelda was in real life a gay woman who ultimately lost out on getting her own spinoff because she didn’t fit the idea for what a leading lady was in the early 1960s. But Keuhl got the last laugh IRL, and Zelda Gilroy’s queer adjacent legacy lives on in Velma from Scooby-Doo. We have courtesy...
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Marge Simpson Meets a Drag Queen
Gayest Episode Ever
“Werking Mom” (November 18, 2018) Yes, The Simpsons did a drag episode, and you might be interested to know that the idea did not originate with “Hey, let’s do one about RuPaul’s Drag Race.” In fact, co-writer provided some background info, including how the surprising success of drag queens in the Tupperware sales market ultimately resulted in both Marg and Homer donning drag, and we say this is a great example of how latter-day Simpsons can bend with the times. Our blue duck has become a swan! Listen to the latest episode of The Fox Files — posted so everyone who follows us on...
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Small Wonder Celebrated an 80s Kid Who Was Different
Gayest Episode Ever
“The Neighbors” (September 14, 1985) “Victor / Vicki-toria” (February 14, 1987) “The Bad Seed” (November 7, 1987) Ignore whatever you might have heard about Small Wonder and focus instead on how the show spotlighted Vicki (a.k.a. V.I.C.I), a kid who was labeled as different just for acting the only way she knew. As a result of being defiantly resistant to social norms, Vicki has become iconic to all sorts of 80s kids also failed to fit in, and in this episode, we’ll make the argument for the ways she speaks to queer audiences. Tiffany Brissette, you should have been a star. Works...
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Fired Up Had the Best Gay Character on Must See TV
Gayest Episode Ever
“Truth and Consequences” (September 29, 1997) Though it didn’t even get a chance to finish out its second season, Fired Up was one of the rare Must See TV sitcoms to feature two female leads. What’s more, the recurring gay character, Shannon (played by Mark Davis), is unusual in that he’s out, confident and going about his life in a way you just didn’t see on other NBC shows of this era. What’s even odder is that his traditionally masculine dad (Jonathan Banks) loves his son and supports his career as a drag performer. Can we thank Arleen Sorkin for this? See the photo of Mark...
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Not Just Bugs Bunny in Drag! (Seven Very Gay Looney Tunes Shorts)
Gayest Episode Ever
It may not be news to listeners of this podcast, but the Looney Tunes cartoons can be very gay. In celebration of the nearly 800 shorts being hosted on Tubi, Drew, Glen and returning guest look at some of our favorites that also lend themselves to a queer reading. And no, it’s not all Bugs Bunny in Drag. In fact, we probably didn’t pick the drag moments you’re expecting. But no worries: There is zero Tweety content in this episode. (The search function on the desktop version of Tubi sucks, so you will have to settle for mostly non-Tubi links. Oh well, we tried.) 1. To Hare Is Human: 2....
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The Critic Is Very Gay (Even If Jay Sherman Is Not)
Gayest Episode Ever
"Siskel & Ebert & Jay & Alice" (March 12, 1995) Finally, we get around to discussing one of our more formative comedic experiences, and it’s one shared more or less exclusively by elder millennials: The Critic, which somehow managed to be both more grown up and more juvenile than The Simpsons. In this episode, we discuss how the two seasons of this cult favorite repeatedly insinuated that the title character was gay, and how and episode guest-starring Siskel and Ebert manages to be the gayest episode of all. The Mr. President episode of our bonus series The Fox Files is free to...
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Laverne & Shirley Check Into the Honeymoon Suite
Gayest Episode Ever
“Honeymoon Hotel” (February 22, 1977) You innocent TV Land watchers may not have suspected that there was anything queer about Laverne & Shirley, a show about two women who share an apartment and work at a brewery. Sure, they’re boy crazy, but also there’s this episode where they scam their way into a bridal suite and downtown Milwaukee’s finest hotel. Here to help us unpack the sapphic undertones is the final girl herself, ! Also: Ghosts! Farrah Fawcett! And Rosie O’Donnell! Listen to Stacie’s new podcast, , as well as her watchthrough of the entire Twin Peaks franchise,...
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The Cleveland Show Whiffs a Potentially Great Bi Episode
Gayest Episode Ever
“Terry Unmarried” (February 20, 2011) The second season of the Family Guy spinoff makes the surprising decision to have Terry, Cleveland’s womanizing coworker buddy, come out as not straight. And while that’s good, it’s sort of weird how no one ever suggests that he might be bisexual. This retcon underscores problems with bi representation in media, but we’re also going to talk about how during the four years it was on Fox, The Cleveland Show was one of the only black sitcoms on broadcast TV… for better or for worse. Please note: This is the one and only time this podcast will...
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Rebecca Howe Is Not a Lesbian (But Kirstie Alley Did Save Cheers)
Gayest Episode Ever
“A Kiss Is Still a Kiss” (December 3, 1987) We’re supporters of Shelley Long on this podcast, but in advocating for the Diane years of Cheers, we’ve overlooked the Rebecca years. As such, we’re bringing back in to speak about what works well during the back half of the show. In a lot of ways, Kirstie Alley saved Cheers, but does what she became IRL affect how we should feel about her heyday? Well, it’s complicated, but we’ll talk you through our feelings on the subject. We have courtesy of . Our logo was designed by . This episode’s art was designed...
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Ventures Bros. Is a Very Gay Show, But…
Gayest Episode Ever
“Handsome Ransom” (October 25, 2009) Let’s say this at the top: We are both fans in general of The Venture Bros, but this extremely homosocial show has a tendency to tiptoe up to being full-on gay and then laughing it all off as a joke. It’s a product of its time, and even explicitly gay characters like The Alchemist and Shore Leave don’t get their own episodes. So when it comes to picking one installment of the Adult Swim series that comes closest, we had to go with the one with Captain Sunshine, which sort of works but also makes the mistake of approaching pedo humor in the same...
info_outlineContent warning: In this episode we talk about sexual assault.
“For Every Man, There's Two Women” (July 20, 1985)
This week, we’re not talking about an explicitly LGBT-focused episode of TV. No, we’re talking about the episode of Too Close for Comfort in which a male character, Monroe, is sexually assaulted by two women. No, really. Jim J. Bullock, the actor playing that character, is gay in real life, and because Monroe is coded as queer as well, this episode serves as a bizarre example of not just how a sitcom can handle a sensitive topic but also how some actors’ offscreen sexuality can color the way their performance is received and even how their characters get written. Jeffrey McCrann joins Drew and Glen to try and make sense of this strange, strange bit of TV history.
RAINN is an online organization that offers both information about sexual assault and counseling. You can chat live with a counselor here.
Have a listen to the episode of the Drew-Tony podcast You Have to Watch the Movie that Jeffrey guested on back in 2018. We talk about Fright Night. Much in the way Bullock’s offscreen sexuality informs this episode of TV, the queerness of Fright Night’s cast really changes the way that movie plays out.
This 2012 A.V. Club article on this episode is pretty much the best text trying to make sense of this episode. It also brought us to this interview with Jim J. Bullock on the website Guy Spy. Check out Old Time TV, without whose help we would not have been able to do this episode.
Behold the short-lived wonder of Jim J. and Tammy Faye.
And have a look at the David Lynch series Rabbits that Jeffrey mentions.
Here’s an explainer for how the movie Streets of Fire may have “inspired” elements in the video game Final Fight, which BTW is one of the most homoerotic games ever.
And here’s the weird bit with Roseanne and Freddy Krueger that makes it four — count ‘em FOUR — of the daughters from Just the Ten of Us who share screentime with Freddy. Weird, right?
Buy Glen’s movie, Being Frank.
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The outro for this episode is “Number of the Dancer” by Al Monroe, which isn’t on any of the online music services, but it is on YouTube if you want to hear it.