Grading the Majors

For the past 10 years, GLAAD has tracked the number of regular and recurring LGBT characters on television. These statistics have been and continue to be a helpful indicator of overall gay visibility in television, but what is missing is a comparison of each network's record of gay representation. We here at AfterElton.com decided it would be helpful to individually review the networks, looking at both highlights of their gay programming history and also their current slate of shows. This allows us to grade the performance of each network relative to their peers.

We have elected to focus on the five major broadcast networks: CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX and the CW. This article does not address gay representation on the cable networks, because we felt it would be inappropriate to grade both the five majors and the myriad cable networks on the same scale. There are two reasons for this: First, even the most established cable brands (Bravo, Showtime, HBO, Comedy Central, etc.) lack the long history of original programming that the majors do. Second, the FCC imposes far more restrictive content standards on the five major broadcast networks. Quite simply, it's a different playing field. But cable fans can take heart: AfterElton.com is planning a follow-up article focusing exclusively on the cable channels. 

CBS

Summary

Thanks primarily to the work of producer Norman Lear, CBS was in the lead in the early-to-mid-1970s in terms of gay and lesbian representation and treatment of gay issues. Since then, the network has fallen seriously behind — particularly with its scripted programming. (The network's more recent landmark contributions to gay visibility have been mostly limited to the reality television genre.) However, a recent well-received gay-themed episode of the police procedural Cold Case may indicate LGBT visibility is on the upswing at CBS. 

Discussion

In 1971, CBS was looking to update its image and replace its aging, rural shows (Mayberry R.F.D., The Beverly Hillbillies, etc.) with more urban and contemporary programming. They bought the rights to a series called All in the Family, which had originally been produced as a pilot for ABC.

The fifth episode of the series was called "Judging Books by Covers." In it, Archie Bunker (Carroll O'Connor) meets Mike's (Rob Reiner) effeminate friend Roger and assumes he's gay: 

Mike: Whaddya mean, Arch?
Archie: Whaddya think I mean? F-A-G, fruit!
Mike: That's right, you always have to hang a label on everything, don't you?
Archie: [affecting a lisp] Well, if the purse fits.

It turns out that the effeminate friend is actually heterosexual, but in an ironic twist, Archie later discovers that one of his own all-American drinking buddies is actually a gay man.  

Though tame by modern standards, this early episode of All in the Family had a liberal, gay-affirming viewpoint and was the focus of much water-cooler discussion. In fact, President Nixon himself can be heard giving his view on the "Judging Books by Covers" episode on one of the infamous Nixon tapes. Perhaps not surprisingly, he didn't like the show. 

The massive success of All in the Family no doubt encouraged CBS to try additional "urban" programming. What followed was: Maude, The Jeffersons, M*A*S*H, Good Times, etc. These shows (several produced by Normal Lear) seemed to have a more liberal point of view than what was airing on other networks at the time. Many of them, at some point, featured a "gay" episode.

In a 1976 M*A*S*H episode, "George," a serviceman gets beaten by members of his own unit for being gay. He confides what happened to Hawkeye (Alan Alda), but Major Burns (Larry Linville) overhears and tries to have the soldier dishonorably discharged. Hawkeye and Trapper (Wayne Rogers) avert this by threatening to rat Major Burns out for cheating on his medical school admission exams if he pursues the soldier's discharge.

In a 1977 Maude episode, "The Gay Bar," Maude (Bea Arthur) gets upset when her husband and some of his friends try to prevent a gay bar from opening up in their neighborhood.

By the early 1980s, however, CBS seemed to shift directions. Shows such as Dallas and Murder, She Wrote became the network's bread and butter, and these programs lacked the political and social edge that had been prevalent on CBS the decade before. Shows with gay characters — or even gay-themed episodes — became a rarity.

For example, Murder, She Wrote ran for 264 episodes, but the only installment that even remotely dealt with homosexuality was the first season episode "Birds of a Feather" (1984). In it, Jessica Fletcher travels to San Francisco for the wedding of her niece, only to discover that the girl's fiancé is cross-dressing at a nightclub to earn a living. (The fiancé becomes a suspect in the murder of his boss.) Though the fiancé turns out to be straight, the episode featured a gay couple in the background. So much for gay visibility on CBS in the 1980s.  

In fact, except for a few gay episodes ("Cicely" on Northern Exposure; "Sugar and Spice" on Picket Fences), CBS was pretty much a barren landscape for gays until 2000 brought the first season of Survivor. The eventual winner turned out to be Richard Hatch.

Conniving, conceited and an unabashed nudist, Hatch made for good television because he was someone that television viewers loved to hate. Hatch also happened to be openly gay. What was so groundbreaking was that Hatch's sexual orientation seemed to be beside the point with viewers. He may have been reprehensible in certain respects, but not because he was gay. The man was something unique — not in any way a gay stereotype. 

Survivor became a huge hit for CBS, and its success helped to launch the reality show genre in the United States. Both of CBS' main reality show franchises, Survivor and The Amazing Race, frequently feature gay contestants. A particular highlight was Season 4 of Amazing Race, in which Reichen Lehmkuhl and partner Chip Arndt beat out 11 other teams to win the million-dollar prize. The current season of The Amazing Race features two gay teams.

While Survivor and Amazing Race have offered some much needed gay visibility on CBS, gay characters and content on the network's scripted shows remain scarce, but there are some notable recent exceptions.  

In 2006, on the CBS soap opera As The World Turns, teenager Luke Snyder came out to his parents. This made Luke the first gay male regular character on an American soap.  

The current CBS prime-time lineup has only one scripted series with a recurring gay character: The Class features Sean Maguire playing Kyle Lendo, the only openly gay lead character on broadcast television. While the portrayal of Kyle is mostly positive (he has a steady boyfriend), his role has been relatively minimal, and his relationship is rarely mentioned or shown.

The Class also features openly gay actor Sam Harris as Perry Pearl. Pearl is ostensibly a straight man, but many viewers find his stereotypically flamboyant behavior combined with a steady stream of gay double-entendres to be offensive. This series has suffered from lackluster ratings, and though there is no word yet on whether it will return next season, it seems doubtful.

There is one bright spot on CBS' schedule this season: The police procedural Cold Case aired a remarkable episode that featured a Brokeback-type story line. In "Forever Blue," two detectives investigate the 20-year-old murder of a closeted gay cop. The episode was very well received by critics and seemed to generate no backlash from conservative viewers — which is surprising considering the episode featured a very passionate same-sex kiss.