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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

Is NBC the gay network?

13:12 / 29.03.02

Did anyone else catch the homicidal lesbian theme in this week's primetime dramas on NBC? I haven't quite worked out how I feel about it.

Spoilers (for those who worry about these things)
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I'm willing to say two shows makes a theme and Both Law and Order and ER featured similar stories about a woman killing the object of her affection.

Law and Order: An achieving high school student accidentally kills the woman she was in love during an argument because she's worried that she'll be outted when her lover/friend reports a sexual assault.

ER: A college students stabs her roommate to death and then tries to kill herself because she's in love with her roommate. Revealed in a bed side whisper to Dr. Kerry Weaver, who is also gay.

I find the themes a little problematic, homosexuality will drive you to homicide isn't a plot I want to see on prime time television. However, I did like the fact that invisibility was an issue. No one seemed to know about the relationships in either show and it was the last thing anyone looked into. That being said, I'm still very mixed on this one. Anyone else have any thoughts?

13:43 / 29.03.02

I really enjoyed the John Larroquette episode of the Practice (ABC, I think) where he uses Bobby's lawfirm to get away with murdering his gay lover (or his lover's ex-lover or something). Basically because he was really cool and smart. But the next day found I had kind of a bad taste in my mouth over just that homosexuality turns into a murderer idea. I've seen it in other shows and films as well.

It's like the whole marijuana is a gateway drug bullshit. Homosexuality is a gateway crime that will eventually lead to you becoming a killer.

13:49 / 29.03.02

Maybe they'll start killing off some characters on 'Will and Grace' then. Hopefully.

Matthew Fluxington

13:54 / 29.03.02

Um, here's my thoughts: I think yr getting a little too conspiratorial. Those shows are written by completely different people and produced by different companies, there's hardly an agenda, it's just coincidence. ER has been very good with the character of Dr. Weaver, I would hardly start pinning homophobia on the writers of that show.

Just because there were homicidal lesbians on both of those shows, it's not as if they are trying to stereotype lesbians as stab-happy lunatics. It's just a peculiar coincidence, it's not like that's a popular archetype or stereotype of lesbian women...

ER's had plenty of episodes in which straight men attack their female lovers and vice versa. I don't think it's anything to get uppity about.

14:33 / 29.03.02

Flux- Perhaps I am a little conspiratorial, maybe I'm just overly sensitive, but this isn't the first time it's happened with different shows.

For a couple of weeks I kept joking about Thursdays being gay night because of Will and Grace, ER, Friends and the short lived Steven Weber show. All of which were simultaneously featuring gay or lesbian characters and several "gay" subplots. Maybe I don't watch enough of the other networks, but I haven't seen anywhere near the number of gay/lesbian plots and subplots on any other station. ( And now they've infiltrated Wednesday, gasp! )Does NBC just have a lot of gay friendly/interested writers working on several of their shows? I don't know, thus the asking.

And for the record I had heard nothing about that episode of the practice. I know that there are supposedly gay shows in the works, which I only know about because of the Washington Blade (http://www.washblade.com/point/020322e.htm#top). Are the other networks already doing the same thing and I'm just missing it?

Gridley- I see T-shirts.

Just say no to the gateway sin: homosexuality. Joking aside, what other movies and shows? Why do I keep missing these things?

invix- I nominate Grace to go in a freak, preferably painful, accident arranged by Karen in a fit of repressed love. To bad they didn't go ahead with this one last night. It would have fit in nicely.