Gay in the Writer’s Room

The unofficial reason given by the same Spelling executive was that since Young and Tori Spelling were dating, there was concern that viewers would confuse the storyline on the show with real life and assume that Aaron Spelling’s daughter was dating a gay man.

Tori Spelling (left) & Vincent Young in 2001

Still wanting to do a gay story of some kind, the writers came up with a gay-bashing story revolving around a guest character who was an acquaintance of Dylan (Luke Perry). As for Noah, he ventured off to a relationship with a new female character, who like himself, was an alcoholic trying to remain sober.

Apparently Spelling was not bothered with the thought of people thinking his daughter was dating a man with a drinking problem.

Censor Me This

Out writer Adam Waring, who has written for popular sitcoms like Two and a Half Men and Still Standing, feels that gay writers have to have a thick skin when working in the writers’ room of sitcoms.

“Comedy writing is so collaborative,” Waring told AfterElton.com. “People have to be comfortable with anything that is said in the writers’ room.”

Recounting how everyone riffs numerous jokes that they hope will end up being a part of the episode at hand, Waring said that “there are no sacred cows so you have to roll with the punches.” Not only are gays fodder for jokes, Waring added that “religion, the elderly, babies and fat people” are all considered when seeking out the joke that will make an episode come together and punch up the laugh quotient.

In fact, while writing on the CBS sitcom Still Standing, Waring wrote an episode where the two main parents worried their teenage son might be gay because he enjoyed working on a parade float. They contrasted their son with the All-Star athlete son of a friend and “it was the All-Star son who ended up being gay.” When asked if the network or producers had any input or reaction to the gay content, Waring said it was “one of the network’s favorite episodes.”

The cast of Still Standing

When dealing with the censors regarding gay material on Still Standing, Waring said that the network would often look to him to see if gay content was offensive as he was the sole gay writer on the staff. “A couple of times, the censors would tell the producers to tone down a gay-themed joke but I was the one who said the joke was okay to leave in.” However, Waring added that “as a gay writer, it was good that I was there to shepherd the [gay-themed] stories.”

The Macho Side of Gay

When out writer Jed Seidel worked on the CBS crime drama Nash Bridges starring macho Don Johnson, “the core group of writers on the show were straight,” Seidel recalls. However, he added, “It was good for the sake of the show that there was a gay writer on the show since there was a sameness in the vision of the other straight writers.”

Seidel wrote an episode where Johnson and co-star Cheech Marin masqueraded as a gay couple to solve a crime. “That episode may not have happened if a gay writer hadn’t been on staff,” said Seidel. In terms of the notoriously macho Johnson and sidekick Marin playing gay, Seidel said, “Don was very good-natured about the gay material and they both had a lot of fun playing gay. Don has a lot of gay people in his life [friends, staff, assistants] and was very comfortable with the concept.” Seidel added that the network executive they worked with on the series was also gay and was very encouraging about using gay storylines on the series.

Nash Bridges' Don Johnson (left) & Cheech Marin

Seidel most recently worked on the ABC Family college series Greek, which prominently features the character of Calvin (played by Paul James) who is the best friend of the straight lead character. Calvin spent the first season dealing with coming out to his traditional fraternity house as well as having a relationship with a closeted fraternity member. Seidel said that because creator Patrick Sean Smith is gay, the environment in the writers’ room was very gay-friendly.

Compared to his experience working among straight writers on Nash Bridges, Seidel said, “It becomes very interesting when the environment comes with predominantly gay voices.” Seidel added that from what he’s seen having worked on several series since Nash Bridges, “more show runners want diversity in their writing staff to ensure all voices are heard.”