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Home » Blogs » Michael Jensen's blog » TCA Update: Fox's Kevin Reilly on the network's gay representation and GLAAD's failing grade

TCA Update: Fox's Kevin Reilly on the network's gay representation and GLAAD's failing grade

by
Michael Jensen


Kevin Reilly (Photo credit: Getty Images/Frank Micelotta)

Today was Fox's turn at the TCA and I asked Fox's Entertainment President Kevin Reilly (pictured above at last year's TCA) about his network coming in last for the second year in a row on GLAAD's Network Responsibility Index. Asked for his thoughts on failing again and whether they was anything coming down the pipeline other than the not-exactly-groundbreaking gay character on Do Not Disturb.

Said Reilly:

"I haven't had the chance to put any of the product on the air. I can say we've got several shows now moving forward with gay characters in them. I think our score ... I think our ... the scores get affected by what's ... sometimes you've actually got great representation and then for commercial or creative reasons something gets canceled and your numbers go down. That's something we're really committed to. In fact, right now were in production on a pilot called Virtuality that Ron Moore and Michael Taylor created and Peter Berg is directing. It's got a gay relationship that is as dimensional and honest as anything I've ever seen portrayed on television right now. If we move forward on that I think that is something to really note."

Another journalist followed up with a question about Fox's commitment to diversity overall given that the new season's largest part for a minority is on Seth Macfarlane's Family Guy spin-off, Cleveland.

Reilly talked about how diversity at networks used to be a department that had yearly meetings, but that Fox's commitment was at the center and woven in the fabric at what they do. He said it was really a strange disconnect between that commitment and the results ... which was basically the answer he gave us last year in our two part article on the lack of gay visibility.

As for Virtuality, the show is a creation of writers Ronald Moore (Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek) and Michael Taylor (Battlestar Galactica) and director Peter Berg (Hancock). Given the sort of "gay" content that has passed on Battlestar (basically straight guy fantasies and the lesbian character in the stand-alone movie Razor) you have to figure they really owe us.

The gay couple Reilly referred to are named Manny and Val and hate being stuck on galley duty aboard the star ship Phaeton. According to the Sci Fi website io9 which has snuck a look at some of the script, the series is about a crew embarking on a very long journey forcing them to spend a great deal of time in virtual reality where peculiar things happen.

It's slightly discouraging that the gay characters are the cooks (Neelix, anyone?), but obviously everything depends on the execution and I've got high hopes. It's certainly seems like Reilly's best chance to follow up on words that sound great, but if not followed up one, will guarantee the network gets a failing mark again next year.

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    • Submitted by
    Michael Jensen
    on Mon, 2008-07-14 14:21.
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    Guillermo Serritiello's picture

    If he'd only had the balls to say: "We came in number 1 in the

    Submitted by
    Guillermo Serri... (3151 points) (817 posts)
    on Mon, 2008-07-14 21:33.
    only barometer that I give a ____ about (Nielsen ratings, both young and old) and if you want I can give this song and dance about a disconnect between an integrated diversity mechanism in place that seems to yield worse results than the old once a year audit. But I don't care as I've got the young viewers hooked and they are of every color under the sun so that's how we view diversity at Fox."

    My make-believe "answer" sounds a little/lot cynical and not very smart in the long-run, but the answer given to me reflects that this guy he is clueless as the diversity question is always posed in these fora or maybe he just does not care as it would have taken very little to have one of his minions prepare an "I feel your pain" response.

    Many of Fox's shows lend themselves to seasonal reinvention given their narrative, so it's quite east to make immediate and significant changes on a show like say 24, as it has a huge revolving cast which has already showcased black characters quite successfully (including a U.S. President and kick-ass first lady)that were the direct the result of blind casting at its best. 24 ahead of America as if not for the writers strike the show would already have aired episodes that have the U.S. being run by a female President. But even in this show, gays have not even been portrayed in ordinary ways. I am not asking for the VP, but why not given its history?

    Who's to say that the new season of 24 could not welcome a gay central character who might be Jack's side-kick or Chloe's coolest boss ever... or maybe turns out to be a bad guy. I doubt that there would be a single phone call protesting it, but why risk it? If diversity auditors were to put a gun to his head, I would put money that "gay" would fall last on the diversity list with gender and ethnicity leading the way, but only for economic reasons as Univision actually beats several of the big 4 quite often, and who would not want a more of that Latino market if it did not mean losing ANY of its Anglo market?

    I project that Fox will stick to its guns with its well received shows, shoot for a critical darling, keep the Idol wagon going, and maybe sneak a woman or better yet a really hot Latino lipstick lesbian into an existing show, and (I assume) will order more game shows like the repugnant Moment of Truth or mind-numbing Are You Smarter Than.....

    If Fox wants to play the game, they call give the famous illusion of transparency and improve their scores by grilling a couple of gays on Moment, attesting that the skeleton in the cool Bones campaign is also gay, and that House will be find smiling as he watches a the babes of Wild Things in a threesome during the May sweeps.

    I just hope that the gay creative and business community and those who embrace our money and lives, can continue to come up with better and better products, with contributions from many of us for those who feel they have something to say, and to keep making it more clear everyday that quality could trump fear or lack of interest in anything that sounds remotely gay.

    Guillermo's Media Guillotine: Entertainment, journalism, politics, and popular culture.

    http://springintoaction.typepad.com

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    Knickie's picture

    Fox was once a place that

    Submitted by
    Knickie (4275 points) (871 posts)
    on Tue, 2008-07-15 01:57.
    Fox was once a place that was willing to go where other networks didn't dare -- "The Simpsons" and "Tracey Ullman" (remember the gay dads? I do), and even "90210" and those soaps broke a lot of ground. Now they are fooling themselves that they're even trying for anything but a buck, IMHO.
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