Ask the Flying Monkey! Which Has the Bigger Gay Fanbase: "True Blood" or "Glee"? Plus, How Great is Jonathan Groff?

I confess, I chose “C.” I like True Blood a bit more than Glee, but for me, both shows would qualify for Woody Allen’s Academy of the Overrated.

These past few months, I’ve been going nuts for Modern Family and Breaking Bad, which I think are both literally some of the best television of all time – absolutely perfect in both conception and execution. So I admit that it chaps my ass just a tad to see all this attention lavished on shows that even their fans always seem to agree are flawed.

Still, in a world of misery, it’s hard to tell anyone to be less passionate about something, right?

Q: I was young when Unhappily Ever After was on the air. I remember it having a somewhat successful run and helping to launch the career of comedian ANT. I was just wondering what the reactions were towards the show having an openly gay character at that time? – Jamal, Washington, DC

Unhappily Ever After, which was a Married … With Children-like show about a very dysfunctional family, aired on The WB from 1995 to 1999 and included one of TV’s first out gay teen characters – 15-year-old Barry Wallenstein, the best friend of geeky son Ryan (played by Entourage’s Kevin Connolly) and a recurring role for ANT.

For the record, ANT was 28 – almost twice the age of the character! – when he first started playing the role.

“It was my first acting job,” ANT tells me. “I was on the show for about four seasons and I learned so much. I became good friends with [co-stars] Kevin Connolly, Nikki Cox, and Dana D’Aurey.”

Unhappily Ever After's Kevin Connolly (left), Nikki Cox, and ANT (as Barry)

In fact, the role was created for him. “The character was originally for a chubby African-American female,” ANT says. “I was there to read ‘Ryan,’ the part played by Kevin Connolly. I was walking down the corridor toward the casting room. There was a guy dressed like a plumber or air conditioning fix-it guy: greasy hair, trucker cap, food stained t-shirt. Thinking that’s who he was, I said to him, ‘Isn’t it a bitch having to work like this for a living? You fixing the air system?’ Then he laughed, and I said, ‘Listen, don’t fix it so great that you don’t have a job next year.’

Then I went and signed in, went into the bathroom, and waited to be called in. The casting director calls me into the room and sitting on the couch was the fix-it man: Ron Leavitt, the creator of the show [and also Married With…Children]. He said I had chutzpah and liked that I was looking out for the working man.”

Does he remember any gay-related controversy? None regarding his character.

“There was an episode where Mr. Floppy was going to say ‘fag,’” ANT says. “I didn’t think it was offensive: I believe we give words power. Inherently, they aren’t good or bad, they just are. But The WB network censor wasn’t having any part of it. So the memo that came down was so hilarious. It said, 'Please remove the word "Fag" and replace is with "1/2 a gypsy."’ The homosexual community is very organized. The gypsies are not.”

Next Page! Is So You Think You Can Dance? going anti-gay again?