Best Writing

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain! Nothing to see here, please move along.  After all, writers are usually the least visible piece of a television show, though easily the most important. And if it weren’t for a generation of out power-queer writers in Hollywood today, we wouldn’t have the representation in television we now enjoy.

It’s easy to complain about our representation – trust me, we do it every day. But it’s quite a different thing to get out there and make a difference. Plus, odds are, when you do stick your neck out as a writer, and try to create a gay character, someone somewhere is going to be upset that he’s too gay, not gay enough, there’s not enough kissing, not the right kind of kissing, too stereotypical and ... well you get the point.

So no, they’re not supermen, but they’re trying harder than most of us and some of them are quite brilliant at what they do. Here are six of them.

Alan Ball (True Blood)

Scanning Alan Ball’s list of credits is like reading an evolution of gay on TV – Grace Under Fire, followed by Cybill (Christine Baranski’s lines were divine, just like her), then Six Feet Under with a real gay couple. Now he’s adapted Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampires series into everybody’s dirty little pleasure.

Some people have been claiming he’s de-gaying the series, but it’s hard to take that seriously. The biggest gay presence, until Sookie’s cousins arrive, is Lafayette, and he’d already be dead if Ball hadn't deviated from the books. Nor has Ball glossed over Godric and Eric’s relationship and last week, he had Sophie-Ann waxing nostalgic about watching men have sex with each other.

If anything, he’s gayed the books up, which were pretty gay to start with. Add in Jason Stackhouse’s aversion to clothing, and Michelle Forbe’s Maenad, and this is arguably the gayest thing on television.

Marc Cherry (Desperate Housewives)

What is it with this show, and these incredibly odd women, that resonates with so many gay men? You could claim to be watching the show for the gay characters, but let’s face it, they’re not on all that much – but at four out and proud men, it may have more gay characters than any scripted network programming.

It may not have inspired games like “Which Sex and the City Girl Are You?”, but each and every one of these crazy women brings a certain aspect to the table that we’re likely to identify with. Edie was promiscuous, but she owned it. Susan is just a mess. Bree is kind of prissy. Lynette would have it all going on, if it weren’t for the lead weights known as her family tied around her neck while Gabrielle is a snob. Please – you can’t think of some men you know that fit in here?

Cherry gets bonus points for marrying Andrew off to a doctor who paid for medical school by doing adult movies  – and not web style like all the kids these days. He did proper smut on DVD.

Bryan Fuller (Pushing Daisies)

The ill-fated Pushing Daisies was completely unique on television. It was a weekly fairy tale (not the gay kind) delivered in brilliant Technicolor. It didn’t have a developed onscreen gay presence (though one was hiding in plain sight), but it had a definite gay sensibility.

Fuller has a knack for creating things that don’t fit the mold on network television. He was prominently involved in the good season of NBC’s NBC's Heroes, the delightfully quirky Dead Like Me, and of course, Wonderfalls. He’s not active on any one new show right now, but he has an open development deal, so he’s likely fleshing out some other fever-dream production that will gladden our gay hearts!

Silvio Horta (Ugly Betty)

Sure, the show has had ups and downs in quality, but you can’t say it hasn’t been willing to throw it all out there. Rebecca Romijn as Alexis Meade was a heck of a twist, back from gender reassignment surgery. Marc is evil, shallow, deep, and good all at the same time and Cliff made anything but the stereotypical boyfriend. Even Claire versus Willie is a reason to tune in all on its own.

Plus, the show has given us some of the best cameos in recent memory – Lindsay Lohan, Cheyenne Jackson, and Christian Siriano. Now UB has access to all the richness of New York City, and Silvio knows how to dip into that pot and serve us up the meatiest bits.

Sean Smith  (Greek)

We’ve done a lot of complaining about the fact that gay frat boy Calvin is largely a sounding board for everybody else’s problems. He counsels his frat bothers on love, friendship and girls who think they may like girls. He got it on with another frat brother for a short while, and had an inappropriate fling with a very hot teacher. And it does finally look like he’s getting a real love life.

Juggling all of this is Sean Smith, Greek’s creator and head writer. Despite our own gripes with Calvin, let’s give credit where credit is due: ABC Family has been talked into doing a fairly edgy depiction of college life including sex, drinking and the like. And Smith has also given us Calvin, something of a rarity on television – a young gay man of color. And while it’s not been nearly as consistent as the love lives of his frat brothers, he has had one, something that can't be said about a lot of other gay characters we could name.

Russell T. Davies

Perhaps the most controversial writer in the category, there’s something to be said about the fact that at least people are talking about Mr. Davies.

Some fans have accused Davies of homophobia, which is, we’re afraid, a little ridiculous. Davies is out, he created Queer as Folk, and he created Janto in the first place. There’s no way you can look at his writing from a rational perspective and claim bias from the man. (Let the comments begin!)

Yes, we all loved the world he created, and yes, he rampaged through that world in Children of Earth like Godzilla on a caffeine high, but he also did something quite amazing: He made us care that he went on the rampage. He wrote one of the most talked about stories of the year, and he’s proud of it. Even if we mostly disagree, we can’t really blame him for that.