Star Trek Isn’t a Sitcom But It Sure Is Gay
Gayest Episode Ever
“The Offspring” (March 12, 1990) Yeah, we finally did an hourlong — and if you’re surprised that we picked Star Trek: The Next Generation, then you are probably unaware how many fans of GEE are also huge Star Trek nerds. We’re joined by friend , who knows more about the Star Trek franchise than we do, to discuss the episode with Data’s daughter Lal, which isn’t especially any of the letters in LBGTQ but manages to tread into each of their territories. Trust us, it’s a great episode of TV even if you don’t know the difference between an Andorian and a J’naii. We...
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Dinosaurs Uses Vegetarianism as a Metaphor for Homosexuality
Gayest Episode Ever
Heads up! This is a rerun of an episode that originally aired in 2019. We’re putting a few of our favorite episodes in the off-weeks of our final season. “I Never Ate for My Father” (October 2, 1991) When Robbie Sinclair fails to kill his first live prey, he begins to wonder if he might be more herbivorously oriented — and that fits in really well with this episode’s extensive use of vegetarianism as a metaphor for homosexuality. (But also drug use and communism, because America.)
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Ned & Stacey Is Secretly the Prequel to Will & Grace
Gayest Episode Ever
“The Gay Caballeros” (February 19, 1996) Full disclosure: We didn’t come here to say nice things about Debra Messing. What we will say is that she’s forever trapped in sitcom mode, to the point that the laffer that preceded the gay one has her essentially playing an identical character. What’s more? Ned, who is supposedly straight, really reads like a gay character. For these reasons and more, this explicitly gay episode gives this podcast a lot to discuss. We have courtesy of . Our logo was designed by . This episode’s art was designed by . Sound...
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Happy Days Puts Richie Cunningham in the Closet
Gayest Episode Ever
“You Go to My Head” (October 1, 1974) We’re kicking off our final season by discussing what’s arguably the most important sitcom that we haven’t profiled yet: Happy Days. Technically, Happy Days never did an episode, but what’s surprising is how close this one gets, with actual lines spoken including “I’m in the closet” and “Do you prefer dick?” We have courtesy of . Our logo was designed by . This episode’s art was designed by . Sound cues for this podcast were composed by .
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Gayest Episode Ever: The Final Season
Gayest Episode Ever
Yes, we’re wrapping up the podcast. Is it Heated Rivalry's fault? Kinda! We had a really good go, but after a lot of conversations about this, we have decided that we will end Gayest Episode Ever with one last ten-episode season. The below episodes will be going live every other week (in the way new episodes have appeared in the feed in the last year), so we’re going to be around for some time yet, but this is the plan for the last run of GEE. And if you’re disappointed or surprised, please let us know. But in this mini-ep we do get into the reason why we’ve come to that decision. The...
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Sailor Moon Meets the (Trans?) Sailor Starlights
Gayest Episode Ever
“A Night Alone Together: Usagi in Danger” (August 17, 1996) In our fourth look at Sailor Moon, we’re discussing the final season, which features the Sailor Stars. Canonically, they’re female superheroes who magically become boys in order to remain in disguise, and as a result some Sailor Moon fans consider them to be trans-coded or metaphorically transgender. It’s not really for us to say one way or another, but there’s enough discussion about how to discuss these characters’ gender that it made sense to cover this episode. Will it be the last? Sailor Moon, previously: Also...
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Ellen Won’t Say Gay on Christmas
Gayest Episode Ever
“Ellen’s First Christmess” (December 17, 2001) Yes, we’re closing 2025 with a lump of coal rather than a sugarplum fairy. Believe it or not, Ellen Degeneres had a second sitcom between her first one and her reign as the iron-fisted queen of daytime. It’s mostly lost in the shuffle today, but we’re taking a look at her Christmas episode to point out how she chose to shut up about her sexuality this time around. Was it worth it? No. See you in hell, 2025. We have courtesy of . Our logo was designed by . This episode’s art was designed by . Sound cues for...
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The Golden Girls Meet a Gay… for the Final Time?
Gayest Episode Ever
“The Artist” (December 19, 1987) Over the years, we’ve shared a lot of laughs with the girls on the laini, but our journey with the four horniest seniors in the history of Miami has come to an end, as “The Artist” is the final gay episode of The Golden Girls that we have much to say about. It’s a slight episode, in terms of gay rep, but it actually has a lot to say about the show and the way gay men relate to it, we’d rager. Links what Drew discusses: Drew on Super Mario Moment podcast ( and ) Drew Drew Drew
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Happy Endings Comes Out for Thanksgiving
Gayest Episode Ever
“More Like Skanksgiving” (November 20, 2012) Here you have it: the one other gay-themed Thanksgiving episode of a sitcom. Three seasons in, this one reveals heretofore-unheard canon that the Happy Endings characters exist as they do solely as a result of MTV’s The Real World — and that Max things he might have been the first gay person on TV. Meanwhile, no one is remarking how Jane’s 2002 raver outfit is one of the more explicitly bisexual things she’s ever done on this show, and we at one point meet her ex-girlfriend. Listen to our previous , and if this one isn’t Thanksgiving...
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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...
info_outline“Boys II Men II Women” (December 4, 1995)
Twenty-five ago, long before he’d become a media mogul and the face of an international franchise, Rupaul made 1995 his most mainstream year yet. Not only did he have his mainstream debut in The Brady Bunch movie, but he also did one-off guest roles in a number of network sitcoms. But only In the House had him playing a drag queen who was an avowed heterosexual.
Drew talked with In the House creator Winifred Hervey about her time on Golden Girls. Read his roundtable interview with her and other Golden Girls writers here.
Here is the In the House episode that has Debbie Allen playing opposite her real-life sister, Phylicia Rashad.
And here is an episode of Friday Night Videos that has Debbie and Phylicia hanging out — and Debbie referring to eldest daughter Saundra as “the older one.”
Drew appeared on last week’s Sam Pancake Presents the Monday Afternoon Movie to discuss Don’t Go to Sleep, a made-for-TV oddity that features Ruth Gordon getting killed by an iguana and Valerie Harper menaced by a child wielding a rolling pizza cutter. It’s weird!
The Easy Spirit Playoffs: Purple vs. Metallic!
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This episode’s outro track is Black Book’s “You Must Change (Mystery Woman),” which isn’t on any of the streaming services so maybe just listen to it on YouTube?