queer tv characters

[ratcreature]

Not that I needed another tv series, but recently I started watching Traders eps. Initially it was because I've seen a bunch of SGA/Traders x-overs centered on David Hewlett's Traders character Grant Jansky, and I dislike reading crossovers without having seen at least a little bit of all characters so that I can imagine them. So I figured I'd watch an episode or two. (Yeah, we all know how well something like that tends to work out. *g*)

I didn't expect to like it much because I'm not a huge David Hewlett fan (I mean, I like his acting and characters well enough, I'm just in general not obsessed with actors, nor watch series just because an actor I like is in them), and I don't find investment banking interesting either. But it turned out that the series is really cool and I like many of the characters, not just Grant. I mean for example Donald is adorable, and Marty is kind of a jerk, but really fun too. Anyway, by now I've watched up to the middle of season three, and watched that episode in which Sally's ex-girlfriend shows up.

Obviously I find it cool that they revealed a major character as bisexual in a subplot, and handled it in a decent way too, IMO, but that ep made me wonder whether it is somehow easier to have lesbian/bisexual women appear as regular tv characters than gay/bisexual men (in not "specialized" programs, I don't mean things like QAF or L-Word and such, nor minor characters that are just there for one or two episodes for some coming out story or whatever).

That is, I remember a bunch of lesbian major or recurring characters on shows I watched, but fewer gay ones. Like there's Kerry Weaver on ER, Susan Ivanova and Talia Winters on Babylon 5, Willow, Tara and Kennedy on Buffy, Original Cindy on Dark Angel, Sharon on Wonderfalls, Marissa on The O.C. and I've heard there's a major lesbian character on Nip/Tuck and a bisexual one on One Tree Hill (I haven't watched either of the last two). OTOH I recall Tim Bayliss on Homicide being bisexual, that gay kid on Dawson's Creek (I never watched more than two episodes, so I can't recall his name), and I have heard that Six Feet Under has gay couple among the major characters as has that prison series Oz, though I watch neither.

So did I just forget a bunch of gay characters from my shows or are they all in the other many shows I've never watched? (and in a greater number than the queer women in shows I don't watch?) Or are lesbians for some strange reason more palatable than gays on tv?

And not that it has much to do with anything, but I really really wish the drunk football fans would shut up already, and stop singing, shouting and honking. It's been hours already, and this is a residential neighborhood. Argh.

Comments

[erinptah]

If you look at something like CCS, there are a couple of unrequited f/f pairings, and a couple of unrequited m/m pairings, so it evens out. Utena's the classic example, but the farthest the f/f goes is one kiss, and that was in the movie (which is crack on a stick in all other respects, so I'm not sure it counts).

I know the miko series you're referring to; I read the first two chapters. It wasn't that good, alas.

I'll have to look into Planet Ladder. Still, while subtext is all well and good, I'd love some more text. The requited kind. Where is the f/f FAKE?

[the_rck]

I love Planet Ladder, but I'll warn you that the main character is... She starts out as rather weak and not necessarily very interesting. She does get better, but she never develops much personality (apart from the traits that fit her type). Also, the ending of the series is dreadful because the manga-ka seems to have run out of space. The last volume is longer than the others, but it still-- How to explain it? Everybody gathers for the big fight to decide the fate of everything, and then the story abruptly skips forward to about a dozen pages of who's doing what several years later. I really think that she misjudged the length of what she had to tell.

Also, the two female characters don't end up together. There's definitely an attraction/connection there, at least on one side (it's hard to tell what's going on with the heroine). I'd have liked to see a lot more of Banvivrie. I wish someone would write decent fic for the series (I haven't the time in the next couple of years, not till my daughter's in school). There are about half a dozen stories out there, and they all focus on male characters.

[erinptah]

So it's one of those series that sort of skips the climax. Wish did that. So did Victorian Romance Emma (actually, it never really reached the climax, which is too bad as it had some potential f/f couples, but oh well). Le sigh.

And the f/f is unfulfilled? Le double sigh.

I'll look into it anyway, see if I can help write good Banvivrie fic.