The Grand Unified Theory of Why Frasier Seems Gay
Gayest Episode Ever
“The Matchmaker” (October 4, 1994) Whelp, it’s our 250th episode (sort of), and we’re celebrating by going back and reexamining our first-ever episode and, really, the reason this podcast exists in the first place: “The Matchmaker” from Frasier’s second season, which the show used to tell viewers definitively that no, despite all appearances otherwise, Frasier Crane is not gay. We’re joined again by , who also helps us recount Frasier’s entire history of seeming kinda gay, from being metaphorically born from Diane Chambers all the way until the reboot. Buy Anthony’s new...
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It’s All Relative Was ABC’s Attempt at a Will & Grace
Gayest Episode Ever
“Pilot” (October 1, 2003) Even NBC tried to replicate the success of America’s first popular gay sitcom, and this week we’re joined once again by to discuss an attempt to bring same-sex parents to prime time. It’s All Relative only lasted a season, but that’s actually longer than most LGBTQ-inclusive sitcoms that followed in Will & Grace’s wake, and for what it’s worth, its pilot shows a lot of promise. Read , which is basically the same thing as actually winning an Emmy. Buy the revised edition of Steven’s book, . Listen to , about Tony Randall’s Love,...
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Bob’s Burgers Gives Marshmallow a New Voice
Gayest Episode Ever
“Hope ’n’ Mic Night” (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 Bob’s Burgers proves that this can be accomplished thoughtfully and deliberately. “Hope ’n’ Mic Night” repeatedly references the season one episode “Sheesh! Cab, Bob?” 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 she’s deserved for while,...
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It’s a Will & Grace Thanksgiving!
Gayest Episode Ever
“Homo for the Holidays” (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 it’s basically the gayest Thanksgiving episode of any sitcom ever. And it’s 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 don’t. Also: Is Jack McFarland responsible for popularizing the phrase “platinum gay”? Listen to previous Will & Grace episodes .
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King of the Hill Accidentally Explores Muscle Gainer Subculture
Gayest Episode Ever
“Bill, Bulk and the Body Buddies” (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. It’s inadvertent — and specifically this episode also features explicitly gay characters as a counterpoint to the rude, crude muscle bros, but there’s plenty to talk about nonetheless in Bill’s adventures through body transformation. Listen to our previous King of the Hill episodes . Follow , ...
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That Girl Meets the Cross-Dressing Cops
Gayest Episode Ever
"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 it’s nonetheless interesting to see how a progressive show handles queer things fairly...
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Boy Meets World Does a Scream Parody
Gayest Episode Ever
“And Then There Was Shawn” (February 27, 1998) Somehow, Boy Meets World got ABC to say yes to a parody of Scream within the confines of the TGIF lineup. That’s wild enough, but it’s even more surprising what this “it was all a dream” episode lifts directly from the 1996 slasher. Joining us to discuss this unlikely intersection of franchises are the hosts of the podcast, and her little brother, (not the gay beach). Happy Halloween! Listen to Guide to the Unknown groundbreaking analysis of the Scary Movie franchise, . Listen to William’s narrative horror...
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Bewitched Unleashes the Gay Scourge That Is Uncle Arthur
Gayest Episode Ever
“The Joker Is a Card” (October 14, 1965) Nearly two hundred episodes later, we’re finally returning to Bewitched to give Uncle Arthur a proper introduction. And while he’s a big part of Bewitched’s 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, ! Listen to Drew discussing 16-bit horror video games . This episode featured a lot of references to previous episodes, so here are all of those, for your listening pleasure: (but honestly this new episode is better) ...
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Karl Is the Simpsons' First Gay Friend
Gayest Episode Ever
“Simpson and Delilah” (October 18, 1990) Not only the earliest gay-themed Simpsons episode we’ve ever done, this one is also the first gay-themed episode The Simpsons ever did. And while the enigmatic Karl doesn’t get to be explicitly gay, we argue whether having a gay-coded character might have been the show’s way to — in its second season and at the height of Simpsons mania — 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...
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A Different World Meets a Possible Lesbian
Gayest Episode Ever
“Wild Child” (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 joins us to discuss this episode and why A Different World still matters in 2024. You can watch this episode of A Different World . Listen to Stacey's appearances on Sam Pancake Presents the Monday Afternoon Movie...
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“The Competition” (February 13, 1987)
Yes, we did do an episode last year in which we summed up Mr. Belvedere are a whole and said it never did an outright gay episode. We were wrong, and thanks to two different listers who politely exposed our ignorance, this week you are getting Drew and Glen talking about the one where Heather convinces her boyfriend he’s gay and Mr. Belvedere convinces him he’s not. It’s a weird bit of TV, but it’s also one of the very few family-focused sitcoms of this era to actually acknowledge that gay people exist.
Also you can listen to the previous Mr. Belvedere outing, but also maybe don’t because this one is good enough to just replace the original?
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This episode’s outro theme is “Balla Balla Ballerina” by Tony Manero, which isn’t on any of the music streaming services or digital music stores, as near as Drew can find, so just listen to it on YouTube, I guess?