CBS President Nina Tassler on network's lack of gay visibility: "We want to do better." Yet somehow they don't...

Tassler seems very well-spoken. But we all know where the road of good intentions leads. 

I know GLAAD didn't cover daytime in their study, but I'd still be curious to know why Nina thinks her daytime programming can be inclusive, with Rafe, Phillip, heteroflexible Adam, Luke, Noah, Mason, etc. and why she can't manage anything in primetime.

It seems an odd disconnect. I know they license the inclusive daytime programming, but they license a lot of the primetime programming too.

it always has been. Despite several attempts to change their image their bread and butter is still programming that skews toward an older viewing audience and I think they're afraid that moving into the 21st century will piss off or scare off their viewers.

It's a shame too considering the majority of their shows are ensembles set in major cities with a variety of recurring characters. The type of show ripe for inclusiveness. It's particularly jarring considering they do a fairly good job with the women and minority presence on their shows.

 

 

It seems to me that TV stations are being judged by how many regular gay characters are on shows ONLY.  There is such a thing as quantity, and there is also quality.  Yes, there are 2 queeny and snippy gay neighbors on Desperate Housewives, who we seldom see.  And there is the gay son of Bree who was such a HORRID person until this year.  We also seldom see him.  And there is the queeny and snippy gay stereotype on Ugly Betty.  In the meantime, on CBS, shows have dealt with gay issues and the gay characters have NOT been stereotypes.  And the message has been that homophobia is bad, wrong, ugly, cruel, ETC.  And who receives those messages?  People who might not otherwise turn into a show that has a queeny, regular gay character.  But they tune into Cold Case, for example, and now and then see a gay themed show that can break your heart.  

 

As we wait around for Desperate Housewives to work in a few minutes, now and then, of one of their gay characters, CBS has given us, for example, a wonderful interview with KD Lang on Sunday Morning while other TV stations have not done such things.  What other TV Station has given us the intimate, personable, sit down interviews with gay personalities as CBS has on Sunday Morning?  SO, ABC has FAILED in that way and CBS has SUCCEEDED.  What other station has OPENLY gay people on their sitcoms?  CBS has Neil Patrick Harris AND Wanda Sykes, and both are a major part of the sitcoms they are on.  So CBS has SUCCEEDED in that way, and ABC has FAILED.  Yes, Luke MacFarlane is on Brothers And Sisters, but how often do we see him?  Before ABC started rolling out it's gay stereotypes The Amazing Race started treating homosexuality as just a part of life.  We've seen gay people as REAL people and not stereotypes.  Quite often the gay teams have showed themselves to be the better people.    

 

The best gay characters (for me) are on ABC's Brothers and Sisters.  The wonderful Kevin and his PERFECT husband, Scotty.  But AfterElton slams that show all the time.  It's as if the gay characters must be twinky and queeny in order for AfterElton to approve.  And we need lots and lots of them.  But I feel that Mel and Mike White (for example) were way more positive for the gay community than Marc on Ugly Betty.  So there is a way to judge and there is a way to judge.  Yes I'd love to see regular gay characters on CBS, and there is NOTHING wrong in encouraging CBS to do so, but when they have gay themed shows they are FAR superior in message to anything being done on ABC.  And I think CBS is being judged unfairly and credit is not being given where credit is due.            

 

 

I don't think a lot of older viewers would turn away from the channel if gay characters appeared regularly. I may be wrong, but don't some of the guys on The Big Bang Theory seem borderline gay? That show could really use a regular gay character. (I don't watch the show regularly so if there is already a gay character, forgive me.)

Especially if it involves the Dorkalicious Jim Parsons.

Still, while GLAAD and Michael's points are well-taken, Gay Quantity is less important to me than Gay Quality. I would hate to see the network slap together something makeshift if order to be more gay inclusive only to end up with something no one can stand.

And then there are the demands of the markeptplace. The Class had some interesting gay characters and situations, but died before it could develop. There's no simple formula for all of this. 

 

 

Leslie Moonves does not like having gay male characters on the network.  Any time there were instances of two men kissing (in CSI sub-plots or other crime shows), we were told to actively discourage producers from showing these kisses.  It was okay for two women to kiss, but not two men.  We were told it was because Leslie found this gross and disgusting.  Moonves is a chauvenistic womanizer who surrounds himself with yes-women like Tassler and they do "Daddy's" bidding or face his wrath. 

Formerly from the inside... 

Just saw online a NY Post article that As the World Turns may be cancelled. Tassler is quoted in the article. If the show is cancelled that would be one less show on CBS with a gay relationship.