Gays in Primetime -- A Special Investigative Report: Part I

Tassler said CBS works hard to get out that message of inclusion, explaining “We get on the phone, during every pitch, at the beginning of every season, with every studio, with producers… and talk about diversity and that it is a priority for the network.” Like Reilly, Tassler described having a responsibility to ask potential show creators, “Could this character be transgender, or could this character be gay or lesbian?” And Tassler said she’s “crazy proud of” individual episodes of Cold Case, Without a Trace and How I Met Your Mother, which featured gay characters and storylines.

When it’s pointed out that these are isolated episodes and there are currently no recurring GLBT characters on CBS, Tassler concedes, “It is few and far between.” And she believes that when it comes to getting out the message that regular gay characters are welcomed on CBS, “I know we haven’t done enough. And I know we can do more.”

ABC Entertainment President Stephen McPherson

ABC: Voraciously heterosexual president; voraciously gay-friendly programming

Currently, it’s ABC, the network of gay-inclusive shows Ugly Betty, Brothers & Sisters and Desperate Housewives that is generally regarded as having the gay-friendliest programming, and the recent GLAAD report gave ABC it’s only “good” rating. Regarding network responsibility to GLBT visibility, ABC Entertainment President Stephen McPherson echoes Tassler and Reilly, explaining that “diversity is not only the right thing to do, but it’s good business. … You go to any school, to any mall – that’s just a factor of life. Gay and lesbian lifestyles are just a part of America, and a part of what our audience is.”

McPherson said that ABC has a team of executives who promote diversity with a variety of outreach programs directed at talent. Asked about the concept of having a diversity executive as a part of all the highest level staff meetings, or challenging creators as to whether a character could be rewritten as gay, McPherson implied that may be too late in the process: “That’s not the way development works. That’s not the way current programming works.”

So why has ABC been so successful producing queer characters? “I think a lot of times it has to do with the creative talent that we’re working with, in terms of what their voices are, what stories they want to tell, what characters they have in mind,” said McPherson.

This may be true, but in fact there are many gay and gay-friendly people working at all five networks. Yet it’s only ABC that currently has any significant scripted content with gay characters.

This may be due in part to what the television creators we spoke to saw as ABC and McPherson’s equal treatment when it came to sexual orientation of characters on scripted shows. While describing McPherson with good-humored phrases such as “voraciously heterosexual” and “as straight as they come,” creators were also unequivocal in their view that when it came to GLBT characters, the only concern for McPherson and ABC was the same as it would be for any character: Is it an interesting character telling an interesting story?

It’s likely no coincidence that the number of creators and show runners from ABC who agreed to speak for this article far outpaced the other networks. And some of those we spoke with not at ABC – both gay and gay-friendly straights – said they expect to be at ABC soon.

But even at ABC, where the queer creators express total faith in their home turf’s gay-inclusive attitude toward broadcasting, there are currently no gay characters who are central leads in the manner of Ellen or Will & Grace. McPherson is asked about the GLAAD report’s finding that the number of GLBT characters is down on the networks from a decade ago. “I’m not sure I would support the claim that it’s down,” insisted McPherson, adding, “I think the intent – certainly of ABC – is to just constantly be moving much more forward towards something that is representative of the society we live in.”

Ben Silverman, Co-Chairman of NBC Entertainment and NBC Universal

NBC: Gay-friendly executive: check. Gay-inclusive programming: not yet.

One positive theme that emerges speaking to these executives is the recent generational change at the top; these presidents are conversant and comfortable with GLBT issues. No one better exemplifies this youthful, more egalitarian shift than Ben Silverman, Co-Chairman of NBC Entertainment and NBC Universal. Silverman has won three GLAAD awards as the independent producer behind Ugly Betty, The Office and the F/X documentary show 30 Days; awards which he keeps in his office, giddily announcing “I’m just surrounded with GLAAD awards!”

Silverman echoes the other executives diversity refrain of doing good while doing good business, stating that his network not only has “an absolute responsibility to represent the diversity that exists within the American landscape,” but also a responsibility to maintain “an awareness of the impact that television has as an influencer.”

And Silverman said for him personally, “I think it’s important on a human basis to represent the disenfranchised,” an attitude he thinks his work as an independent producer bears out. But now, in his current position, which he’s held since last summer, Silverman represents NBC where at present there are only three GLBT recurring characters, all relatively minor supporting players with little to do.

“I can only say - that will change under my watch,” said Silverman confidently, pointing both to his previous record as a producer and to NBC’s tradition as the network of Will & Grace.

Silverman also gives the concrete example of lesbian character Carrie Rivai, the FBI agent played by Sydney Tamiia Poitier in the recent telefilm pilot for Knight Rider, a series that will return with that character in the fall. And Silverman, like McPherson, said a key to having more GLBT characters on NBC is the relationships they develop with queer writers and creators, believing that, “the more gay writers you have, the more gay characters you have.”