In its annual analysis of the fall television season, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation commended cable dramas and the reality genre for their inclusion of gays and lesbians, while sharply criticizing the broadcast networks for the lowest number of gay characters in scripted programming since GLAAD started tracking them in 1996.
'When you turn to cable and reality TV, you see us—our lives, our relationships, our diversity,' said GLAAD Executive Director Joan M. Garry. 'But when you turn to network comedies and dramas, you're seeing portraits of an America where gay people and families are nearly invisible. That's not the America we live in.'
See www.glaad.org/eye/ontv/index.php .
This fall has a strong line-up of inclusive reality shows, with two lesbian contestants on CBS' Survivor: Vanuatu, a gay couple on Fox's home renovation competition The Complex: Malibu, and two gay housemates on MTV's The Real World: Philadelphia. Other reality shows that feature openly gay participants include, among others, ABC's The Benefactor, UPN's Amish in the City and Showtime's American Candidate.
But there are only five gay male characters and one lesbian in 2004 on the networks. There is only one new gay character in primetime: George (Patrick Breen), a nanny who works for the title character in UPN's high-profile Taye Diggs-starrer Kevin Hill.
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