Some weeks are more exciting than others on the tube. It's not February sweeps yet, but it sure feels like it. Feuds are the TV flavor-of-the-month right now. So let's get right to it.
If you have been off the planet, you might not have heard about the latest feud on Grey's Anatomy. T.R. Knight is gay. Isaiah Washington is black. In October, Isaiah Washington got into a fist-fight with co-star Patrick Dempsey after allegedly calling Knight a faggot. Knight had not yet publicly come out, but did so soon after. Then Washington stunned both cast and audience when he decided to use the Golden Globes win for Grey's Anatomy to grab the microphone and say, "I did not call T.R. Knight a faggot." Most stations bleeped out faggot. Some did not.
If T.R. Knight had called Isaiah Washington the n-word in October, do you think he would still have had his job for the past few months? Do you think the show's creator, Shonda Rhimes, who is African American, would have just shrugged it off? Do you think Oprah would have just glossed over the moment when she did her special on-the-set-of-Grey's Anatomy show, as she did the scuffle? Do you think it would have been enough for T.R. Knight to say, four months after the fact, that he has some issues to work on?
Let's get real, shall we? When Michael Richards used the n-word at a comedy club in LA in November, his career got flushed down the toilet, and he got sued. When Mel Gibson went on his anti-Semitic rant in July, he was forced into rehab.
Days before Washington finally got around to apologizing, Craig Ferguson was the first non-cast member to comment on the slur. Ferguson, who is still taking jabs at Gibson and Richards, said Washington should apologize, then just shut up. That was January 16, the day after the Golden Globes.
On January 17, Knight appeared on Ellen and acknowledged that Washington had called him a faggot on the set of the show.
Two days later, GLAAD issued a statement, and executive director Neil Giuliani said he wanted to meet with Washington. We recommend meeting with Knight first, and apologizing for taking so long to respond.
One could ask why it took GLAAD either four months or four days, depending on who's counting, to respond to the debacle, but some of us are sadly used to the often intolerably slow response of GLAAD to queer issues on the tube, which, we might add, is their job. The debate on AfterElton.com was going on for a couple of days before GLAAD sent out a statement.
At the Golden Globes, after Washington's meltdown, cast member Katherine Heigl (long a fave of ours since her days on Roswell ) said, "Shut your mouth!" to Washington. Later, clearly still upset, Heigl told ET and Access Hollywood that Knight was her best friend in the world, and that it was not okay that he'd been hurt.
The tabloid TV shows were weighing in all week on the issue. Cutie-pie singer and stellar guitarist John Maher told Extra, Grey's Anatomy should make Washington's character come out as gay. Extra and The Insider both made whether Washington should be fired their question of the week. More than 90% of respondents said yes.
Meanwhile, the tabloids were also taking the pulse of other queer stars. On Extra, Rex Lee from Entourage expressed his dismay over the debacle, and noted that as an openly gay actor he would have a difficult time with homophobic castmates. Indeed.
On January 19, after the outrage had boiled over, Washington first fired his publicist, then apologized. "I apologize to T.R., my colleagues, the fans of the show, and especially the lesbian and gay community for using a word that is unacceptable in any context or circumstance. By repeating the word Monday night, I marred what should have been a perfect night for everyone who works on Grey's Anatomy. I can neither defend nor explain my behavior. I can also no longer deny to myself that there are issues I obviously need to examine within my own soul, and I've asked for help.
"I know the power of words, especially those that demean. I realize that by using one filled with disrespect, I have hurt more than T.R. and my colleagues. With one word, I've hurt everyone who has struggled for the respect so many of us take for granted. I welcome the chance to meet with leaders of the gay and lesbian community to apologize in person, and to talk about what I can do to heal the wounds I've opened.
"T.R.'s courage throughout this entire episode speaks to his tremendous character. I hold his talent, and T.R. as a person, in high esteem. I know a mere apology will not end this, and I intend to let my future actions prove my sincerity."
Our sources at ABC tell us that ABC forced the statement, although they would not address whether Washington had written it or ABC had written it. For their part, ABC released a statement on the morning of January 19 saying that they were "dismayed" by comments the 43-year-old Grey's Anatomy star made at the Golden Globe Awards press conference on Monday night, and that the issue was "being addressed." Several hours later, Washington's apology was disseminated.
We like soap operas and enjoy Grey's Anatomy, even though it's not our regular fare. But as we noted back in October, the ick factor of cast disloyalty is not something to shrug off. Rhimes should also have issued an apology. As a woman and one of the few African Americans at her level in Hollywood, she knows all about discrimination, and she knows better than to let something this egregious go unremarked.
Everyone except Heigl and Dempsey dropped the ball on this one. Those two castmates stood up for Knight from the outset. Rhimes did not. ABC did not. And we have to wonder, if Ellen hadn't brought the issue out of the tabloid-TV setting and into a more queerish venue, would GLAAD ever have responded?
When the tabloid TV shows are doing a better job of addressing a homophobic incident than a queer rights group or a network, that's bad news for all of us. When straight people — Heigl, Dempsey, Ferguson — make an issue out of a homophobic slur while queers stay silent, that's bad news as well. Washington needs some sensitivity training, but he is clearly not alone. We'll stay tuned on this one.
Star soap
So on queer issues, at ABC it's the difference between night and day, isn't it? Because while the Grey's Anatomy mess was playing out in prime time, on All My Children one of the most stellar storylines about queers was playing out.
We have voiced our displeasure over the transgender/lesbian storyline between Zarf/Zoe and Bianca. We disagree with the basic premise, Zoe as a MTF transgendered lesbian. We want Bianca to be with a woman (and she did have a one-night stand with Leslie on New Year's Eve, which has to be a first for a daytime soap). We don't want her already messy love life, in which she has never been allowed to have a fully realized relationship with another woman. Her first lover went crazy and was institutionalized; her next was killed; the next was a corporate thief who then had to return to Poland; the next, identical twin of the one who was killed, wasn't sure she was even queer, then left her for another woman. We don't want her life complicated with the complexities of a transgender relationship.
That said, we have slowly fallen in love with Jeffrey Carlson's superb if mannered portrayal of the tortured Zoe. We have also fallen in love again with Babe (Alexa Havins), the Erica Kane in training.
Babe has embraced Zoe and become her champion. While all of Pine Valley has turned on Zoe as the likely Satin Slayer serial-killer, Babe has been stalwart. The January 18-19 episodes in which Zoe was verbally attacked by many of the Pine Valley residents were brilliant scenes, reflecting an amazing level of insight and depth with regard to the transgender experience.
The real revelation in the storyline has been the relationship between Zoe and Babe, rather than Zoe and Bianca. Babe has always been one to see the best in everyone. It has been her downfall on more than one occasion. But her protective care of Zoe, who was physically attacked by Jonathan, then attacked en masse by J.R., Tad, Derek, Zach, Ryan and Kendall, has been amazing to witness.
Also interesting was how Colby, a high school student and fan of rocker Zarf, was utterly down with the revelation ("Cool, trans Pine Valley," she muttered when she found out; then later, "Hey, those lyrics make sense now. Don't worry, your fans will be fine with it.") Colby told older brother J.R. to get with it, into the 21st century. Transgender was part of the sexual landscape for Colby, whose response is reflective of the generational differences regarding the TG issue, something the AMC writers got totally correct.
AMC has been careful to make some characters anti-TG and others supportive. J.R., not surprisingly, has been outrageously bigoted, referring to Zoe as a freak. Kendall has also pulled the freak card. But J.R.'s brother and Babe's former lover Jamie has been more than politically correct. He has tried to explain to J.R. the complexities of the TG experience, that surgery isn't always an answer, and so forth. He told J.R. he had a lab partner in college who was MTF, living as a woman but deciding not to have the surgery. J.R. said, "Yeah, a man in women's clothes. A freak."
It's heady stuff, and one wonders how the audience is really taking it, as this storyline has been front-burner since before Christmas (in part because of the serial-killer link). But one thing is clear, by linking Zoe to two of the show's most popular characters, the writers have integrated the character into the storyline. Her sadness and disenfranchisement are typical soap fare, making Zoe intensely sympathetic, particularly with tiny Babe standing up to all the bullies, putting herself between them and her.
We have immense regard for the writing and tone of this storyline in the past two weeks. Carlson is doing with Zoe what Eden Riegel did with Bianca, making the character multi-faceted, eschewing stereotypes and giving a stylized, nuanced performance that bespeaks the torture his character has experienced in her dysmorphic state. Alexa Havins always lights up the screen; here she is doing the best work since the days of the Bianca/Babe friendship, back in 2003.
We are still clear that we don't want Zoe and Bianca intermingled, particularly since Maggie has arrived back in Pine Valley ready to woo Bianca back to her, but we are equally sure that we want more of Zoe and Babe. And Emmys all around, please.
Just in case GLAAD hasn't noticed, this crew of writers and actors deserves mention at the GLAAD awards. We hope they will take note.
Finally, our favorite quote this week came from Craig Ferguson. Commenting on Donald Trump's latest verbal onslaught, this time against Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Ferguson opined, "It's official: first Rosie, now Condoleezza. Donald Trump is waging war against lesbians."
Hey: you thought it, he said it. Stay tuned.