GLAAD were pleased with the positive role models in Modern Family.
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) organisation has published its annual report about the production content of the major American broadcasters, and this year, CBS (which owns TV.com, and produces Survivor and CSI) has fallen foul of the committee.
Following GLAAD's review, it was found that of the 126 regular characters on CBS, there was only one gay character in the form of Brad (Orlando Jones) on Rules of Engagement. As a result, the network earned a "fail" rating for its representation of minority sexuality groups.
In contrast, MTV earned the first ever "excellent" rating from the organisation -- out of the 207.5 total hours of original prime-time programming, 87 hours (42 per cent) included lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender (LGBT) relevant material.
Following the success of Glee and 90210, Fox also managed to strike a high note with the committee, with a score of 30 per cent of total programming hours making an LGBT impression.
Glee's Kurt.
In a statement preceding the release of the GLAAD report, GLAAD president Neil Giuliano stated that "As the networks gradually add characters from all backgrounds and all walks of life to prime-time programming, more and more Americans are seeing their LGBT friends and neighbours reflected on the small screen."
Reacting to the results, CBS president, Erin Tassler stated: "We are adding a few characters to this season because we are very disappointed in our track record so far. We know we will do better.
"Once you come out of your pilot season disappointed with yourself, you go into the current series season and say 'Let's look for every opportunity to improve the numbers we have represented in the cast so we're going to do that. And then we'll continue to focus on that as we go into development season. We're not happy with ourselves."
An announcement has been made by CBS, stating that The Good Wife will feature a gay character in the new series, as Julianna Margulies' character's brother. In addition, there will be a recurring gay role in Bleep My Dad Says.
Although it's not entirely clear if these decisions were made in response to the GLAAD report, one would hope that CBS's decision stemmed from logical narrative threads within the shows, rather than adopting gay characters as a token gesture to meet quotas.
Performing worse than CBS were the TBS (2 per cent) and A&E (3 per cent) networks, for their lack of LGBT programming.
Do you think these kind of reports are useful for either the television production or the gay communities?
Comments (7)
Absolutely. In Australia in the 70\'s we had Number 96, a raunchy series set in Sydney. There were plenty of sex scenes and nudity and a gay couple who gave us our first TV gay kiss. Prisoner some years later gave us what we might expect from a womens prison but it was a long time before gay characters became a regular part of television viewing. Will and Grace came at a time when being gay was seen as okay by most people but we were still seen as funny people and not too many serious roles had been offered. These days, gay characters are everywhere, just as in society, a normal part of everyday life. Brothers and Sisters, The United States Of Tara, Desperate Housewives have all shown us that American television has grown up a lot and it is great viewing. So it is great that these reports are being conducted because the GLBT community needs to be represented fairly through all forms of media and having characters on more shows helps us all to understand and accept each other more, openly and warmly. Now I know about the CBS reaction, I will be tuning into The Good Wife now.moreless
I could understand if they wanted a fair representation of the LGBT community on television, but saying that MTV's representation of that is excellent is unfortunate. Does MTV ACCURATELY portray the community? That is the important question. An over-representation is not a fair and accurate representation and therefore is an insult to the LGBT community, as far as I'm concerned.And I agree with 'fatfreeoreos' statement that a character should not be added to a show to 'meet a quota'... If you are creating a classic Elizabethan tragedy, you are not going to just whack a gay character in there...
I don't understand how MTV's 42% statistic is "excellent" -- isn't that just over-representing a minority? I'm pretty sure 42% of the country isn't gay
Interesting how GLAAD feels the need to force upon our shows Gay themes by using strong-arm tactics. I guess gay actors who work in television aren't capable of getting gigs based on talent?Oh well, the networks will learn when they overload their shows with these themes, they'll lose market share and the shows will be canceled. The general audience will accept the themes provided they fit the show and story but when they replace the plot of the series, the series will tank.There's a reason why MTV is not a top network and has no market share with anyone over 25 years of age.
It's all so ridiculous. GLAAD's idiotic report card merely counts the number of gay characters without taking anything else into consideration. One interesting layered GLBT character is better than two dozen gay characters added to look cool to the shows geared toward the young audiences. CBS's even more idiotic reaction, pledging tons of new gay characters and dropping names in the week following is proof enough that reports like these don't improve the quality of gay characters, only their numbers.
I really don't think any show should add characters just to meet a quota.
Kalinda from The Good Wife is a lesbian, it was strongly hinted. I don't know if GLAAD factored that into their CBS numbers.