Bye From TCA: Max Greenfield, Christina Ricci, and the Cast of "Happy Endings"

THE BATAAN DEATH MARCH … WITH CHOCOLATE
Another Television Critics Association Summer Tour is over and this was probably the most memorable one I’ve ever done, for a whole host of reasons.

Another critic once described the press tour (which usually lasts for two solid weeks with no breaks at all) as the Bataan Death March With Cocktails. Since I’m not much of a drinker that isn’t true for me. Instead, for me it’s a death march with chocolate since the cable and broadcast networks were constantly tempting us with all kinds of chocolates, from marshmallows covered with dark chocolate to chocolate covered strawberries to all kinds of fancy fou-fou chocolate desserts. 

ABC even sent a box of amazing chocolate chip cookies to my room where they begged me to eat them! Talk about evil.

As I said, this TCA was very memorable. The day I arrived in Los Angeles, a glitch on the site crippled us for almost two days which made life very difficult. Then we posted an article which generated a great deal of discussion about the direction of AfterElton. And on top of that, I was working on a story about British actor Luke Evans that I didn’t really have time to write during the TCA (my days usually started about 6:30 AM and often ended around midnight) because I wanted to make sure we got it right.

Like I said, Interesting!

Because it relates to much of what I do at the TCA, I wanted to start with my "post gay" article. My use of the term “post gay” clearly troubled some readers, who seemed to think I was implying that all was fine and dandy all over the world when it comes to gay issues.

Trust me, here at AfterElton.com we know that isn’t the case. That’s why our Morning Meme and Afternoon Briefs often include news about Uganda’s horrific treatment of gay people, reports of bullying and worse from all over the globe, and examples of homophobia that are still far too often prevalent.

However, AfterElton is predominantly a pop culture site that covers TV, movies, music and so forth here in North America. So it seemed self-evident to me that when I used the term “post gay,” especially with Hawaii 5-0 in the title, that I wasn’t talking about everywhere in the world, or about politics, but about the subjects we cover – television, movies, music and so forth

And yes, I realize that even when talking about pop culture, we have not arrived at some promised land where gay characters appear on every show and have great storylines and everything is hugs and kisses. But I also think it’s important to note how very different things are from even ten years ago.

Neil Patrick Harris hosting the Spike Video Game Awards

Out gay people host the Emmys and the Tonys and even the Spike TV Video Game Awards, while out gay actors are nominated for Emmy awards for playing wonderful out gay characters on shows like Modern Family and Glee, and all in the same year. Shows like Glee are so gay some readers want to pull their hair out because we cover them so much. Meanwhile, one of my favorite relaxations shows is Househunters International and it seems like every other week we see a gay couple featured.

We live in an era when just about the only folks who haven’t done an “It Gets Better” video are Maggie Gallagher and Fred Phelps.

We live in an era where some athletes still make homophobic comments, but doing so gets them fined and a ton of bad press.

And we also live in era where increasing numbers of gay folks have specifically told us a show or a movie doesn’t have to be "gay" for them to want us to cover it. (Hello, Hawaii 5-0, Community and The Big Bang Theory.)

Given that my original article now has over a hundred comments on it, clearly not everyone feels that way. Which is perfectly fine. But there were a number of comments left that I want to address, some of which are just differences of opinion, while others are misconceptions.

One thing that many of our newer readers might not know is just how much this site means to me personally. Trust me, this isn't just a job and I’m not just the editor. While I’m not the site’s very first editor (that would be my friend and former boss Sarah Warn) I was here at the very beginning and took over AfterElton in its infancy.

I, along with the rest of AE’s amazing staff, have put our blood, sweat and tears into this site. Not to sound overly dramatic, but AfterElton is my baby and the thing I’m most proud of having done in my life. To take this job, I gave up writing novels — which had always been my dream job — AE is now my "book." When I took over the site, we were completely unknown in Hollywood and elsewhere, and I’m very proud to say that these days we aren’t just well known, but widely respected.

Trust me when I say that I wouldn’t do anything to AfterElton that I didn’t think was right for the site and right for ensuring its future.