We don't know about you, but despite our other hat being politics writer/editor, we are way over this primary season. Enough with your damn debates!
Yet it's easy to see why this election is so important when you turn on the tube and yet another state has anti-LGBT legislation pending or just passed. Some TV faves have got caught up in the discrimination frenzy �" notably in Tennessee, Georgia and North Carolina. Fear the Walking Dead, Archer, Halt & Catch Fire and The Originals all shoot in Georgia. Nashville in Tennessee. Sleepy Hollow and Under the Dome in North Carolina. True Blood shot in Mississippi, but ended in Aug. 2014, for which we are now grateful, as Mississippi has the most repressive law. Various reality shows shoot in all three states, notably the highly rated Real Housewives of Atlanta. There's no escaping the politics of our own lives �" not even on TV.
But TV certainly had an influence in Georgia. After Disney threatened to pull all its TV and film projects out of the state, Gov. Nathan Deal suddenly vetoed the anti-gay bill that passed the state legislature last week. Deal cited the Constitution, but we think it was this, from Disney: "Disney and Marvel are inclusive companies, and although we have had great experiences filming in Georgia, we will plan to take our business elsewhere should any legislation allowing discriminatory practices be signed into state law," said a Disney spokesman the day after the legislation was passed. The top-grossing films of the past five years have all come from Disney.
The problem for ABC's Nashville, which has had LGBT storylines throughout its four seasons, is Nashville is set in Nashville. Emmy-nominated Nashville star Connie Britton (Rayna James) sounded off with The Hollywood Reporter on April 14 as two bills, HB 1840 and HB 2414, are being considered. HB 1840 is comprehensively anti-gay and lesbian, and has already passed the state's House and Senate. HB 2414 is yet another gender-identity bathroom bill and has yet to make its way to Gov. Bill Haslam. Britton, who has long been a strong supporter of LGBT rights, hopes Haslam vetoes both. She told THR she thinks the legislation is "extremely harmful to everyone. Obviously we are seeing a lot of this legislation crop up now," Britton said. "It's disturbing and it's unjust." She added that both bills are "completely un-American."
If the bills do go through, Britton thinks the entire crew of the hit show will be upset. "Honestly, if they proceed with this, I'm not necessarily going to feel comfortable working there. That is a tricky situation because of course we employ a lot of people in the state, and you certainly don't want to have to interrupt that, but at the same time, this is the only way that we can have our voices be heard." Referencing the Georgia veto, Britton noted, "Unfortunately, a lot of the way that we do that is through the choices we make financially."
Britton was speaking for herself, not the show, but the numbers are clear: TV shows bring huge money to cities and states, and lobbying for these shows is itself a big business. There's also quid pro quo -ing involved. THR reports that Nashville got $8 million in unspecified economic incentives because, as the state's film and TV commissioner Randy Boyd notes, Nashville has high "economic value" for Tennessee and also provides "great advertising" for tourists. The show also generates more than $30 million in revenue and employs a significant number of local people.
None of which mitigates Britton's feelings about the laws. Nor Chris Carmack's. Carmack, who plays hunky/sexy Will Lexington, a gay country-western singer who is ironically struggling with the anti-gay atmosphere of Nashville, was as distressed as Britton. He told THR the legislation is "incredibly harmful." Carmack also believes his storyline has been beneficial and well-received in Nashville, which he said had been "overwhelmingly receptive to the storyline."
Carmack, who is straight but has received accolades from GLAAD, said, "Even people coming at me and questioning me from a place of prejudice are open to conversations. The state is basically setting an example for people that it's ok to discriminate." He called the legislation "devastating" and said it directly affects people "who might be about to change their minds about something that they've believed in their whole lives."
Lesbian nuptials
Meanwhile, Disney continues to promote LGBT-themed programming, which is a kind of irony we can't help but love. The April 13 episode of ABC's black-ish was all about lesbian weddings and feminism. Dre's (Anthony Anderson) sister Rhonda (Raven Symoné) is a lesbian and she's about to get married to her long-time girlfriend Sharon (Elle Young), much to the consternation of their mother, Ruby (Jenifer Lewis), who announces when the couple arrives at Dre's house, "The homosexuals are here!"
A discussion ensues about whether or not Sharon will keep her name or take Rhonda's, an interesting debate in lesbian couples. It's revealed that Rainbow (Tracee Ellis Ross) never took Dre's name because she's a feminist and a doctor. Which leads to this hilarious exchange:
Ruby: "Oh, so I see. You done turned into one of these hairy-legged man-haters."
Rhonda: "Mom, for the last time, lesbians don't hate men or love tuna."
Ruby: "No, baby, I'm talking about feminists now."
Rhonda: "Oh well, they really do hate men. I don't know how they feel about tuna."
Rainbow: "Feminists do not hate men. We actually love tuna. We simply believe that women and men are equal. And I will fight up against any custom or tradition that reinforces that we're not. Women like Alice Paul, Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, these are the women that paved the way for me to be the doctor that I am today. I say that a lot, don't I?"
Rhonda: "What I think Mama's trying to say is that black feminists and white feminists had a little bit of a different path. It wasn't as simple for black feminists, because they had to choose between civil rights and feminism."
The conversation continues about why black women wanted to take their husbands' names, and why Sharon should keep her own. One of the things we like about black-ish is the way serious political issues get folded into the show: feminism, homophobia and humor in one half-hour? We'll take it.
We'll also take anything Fox's Empire has to give. Because there's no one we don't love on that show. The April 13 episode was directed by Paris Barclay, one of our fave black gay directors, and as we say: when we're behind the camera, we're in front of the camera. And this show has a lot of queers behind the camera. Warning: spoilers ahead!
We love Empire. We love Lee Daniels, the show's black gay creator. We love Ilene Chaiken (The L Word), the show's out lesbian executive producer. What we don't love is that the show just joined the ranks of the bazillion other TV shows that have killed off their lesbian/bisexual characters. There is no more perilous role than being a lesbian on the tube.
Who got the ax? Billionaire Mimi (Marisa Tomei) and her wife, Camilla Marks (Naomi Campbell), in a scene straight out of Shakespeare. This show is always leaning King Lear, but this episode tossed some Macbeth into the mix. Both Mimi and Camilla have had all the Lyonses under their moneyed thumbs. Cookie has been looking for a way to get Camilla out, but it's Hakeem who devises a plan. A literal bloodbath ensues.
But why did Camilla and Mimi have to go? We know Empire likes to kill people off, and we're still reeling from the last death, but why the gay girls? Or why kill Mimi when it was really Camilla everyone wanted out? Couldn't Mimi have found love with Cookie, as we have been hoping since she first arrived? And why does everything involving Lucious have to be so very very bloody?
That last is perhaps because his mother was bipolar and did some terrible things to her son. In flashbacks we saw Leah (Kelly Rowland), who died when Lucious was nine. Not a pretty picture, that may explain a lot of what is happening in Lucious' psyche.
ABC's The Family has moved into its darkest territory ever. If you haven't been watching this stellar drama, get thee to ABC.com and play catch-up. This show is navigating that blurred line between homosexuality and pedophilia in a fascinating and non-homophobic way. The sexual dynamics of the pedophiles in question, both of whom have taken very different routes, are very revealing. There's certainly a voyeuristic element to watching this, but more documentary than anything puerile.
The gay murder on the most recent episode of Lucifer was handled well. And highlighted the perils of the closet, about which not enough can be said. We'd like to see more of the lesbian side of Bethany Mayfair (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) on Greg Berlanti's Blindspot. We love Jean-Baptiste and watched some truly mediocre TV over the years simply because she was in it. We'd prefer this wasn't another "two minorities folded into one character" event, but we love that such a complex character is also a lesbian. Last week's episode had her take out a guy abusing a woman. The show killed off Bethany's previous partner, so we'd like to see her have someone for more than the time it takes to cock a pistol.
HBO has two shows in the queue on demand that are of particular interest. Anderson Cooper seems to be everywhere these days, but HBO's Nothing Left Unsaid: Anderson Cooper and Gloria Vanderbilt is one of the gayest things you will see anywhere. The Silver Fox and his 92-year-old mother sit down for a complex Oedipal wreck of a documentary that is by turns fascinating and frustrating. Vanderbilt is an extraordinary woman whom we interviewed years ago when one of her memoirs was published. Married four times, including to Leopold Stokowski and Sidney Lumet, she and Cooper have been the quintessential diva mother and gay son for many years. When Cooper was an anchor for ABC's World News Now, she would stop by the middle-of-the-night newscast to hang out in the then-very informal set.
Cooper has written and spoken before of the suicide of his brother, Carter, which happened literally before the eyes of Vanderbilt and Cooper. Vanderbilt has endured other tragedies as well. Nothing Left Unsaid is a love letter from a gay son to his adored mother, and for her part Vanderbilt is still fascinating and sharp as the proverbial tack, which makes it all compelling. Highly recommended for queens of all ages.
We worked for Spin magazine when the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas hearings were held. We were asked by our editor to "out" Hill, who was at that time rumored to be in a lesbian relationship (she's not now). It was one of very few assignments we have refused in our life, and the consequences weren't great, but we're glad we did. The smearing of Anita Hill was one of the worst things to happen in the first Bush Administration.
Kerry Washington is made to look a lot like Anita Hill in Confirmation, the HBO film she co-produced. Washington, who has been a high-profile surrogate in both the Obama 2008 and Clinton 2016 presidential campaigns, is a skilled and nuanced actor, as those of us addicted to watching her as the Beltway fixer Olivia Pope on Scandal can attest.
At the time, Hill was made out to be a psychopathic monster trying to take down a major black judicial figure, Thomas. The things that were said of her were horrible and the sheer volume of men in power saying them, including current Vice Pres. Joe Biden, prodigious.
Washington has made this project a labor of love, and her beautifully restrained performance is sure to garner an Emmy nod. The prism of history puts the nightmare for this then-35-year-old attorney into a perspective that illumines the racism and misogyny that combined to paint her as a liar and a kind of heretic to the notion that a black man should be appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court to replace Thurgood Marshall.
At times Confirmation is difficult to watch, as were the hearings themselves, because of the display of blatant sexism. But Washington and Wendell Pierce's (Clarence Thomas) performances are riveting. We know how it ends, of course. Hill, youngest of 13 whose parents were sharecroppers and yet who graduated from Yale Law School in 1980 at 24, was discredited. Thomas is still on the court today, the most conservative of all the justices. And sexual harassment on the job is still, 25 years later, a bedrock of American life for women. Confirmation, written by Oscar nominee Susannah Grant and directed by Rick Famuyiwa, debuted April 16, is currently on demand on HBO, and is a must-see. Also starring Greg Kinnear, Eric Stonestreet and Jennifer Hudson.
Speaking of HBO, set the DVRs for the return of some faves on April 24: Game of Thrones, Veep and Silicon Valley. The conventions are coming.
Finally, has it only been a year since then-Bruce Jenner told Diane Sawyer, "I am, for all intents and purposes, a woman?" The April 16 episode of I Am Cait doesn't feel much like a celebration of trans identity. There's an emotional scene with Kris Jenner, who is still reeling from the couple's 2014 divorce after more than 25 years and two children together. And there's a scene with Jenny Boylan about politics that will have most LGBT people pumping their fists as Boylan takes Jenner to task for Caitlyn's horrible right-wing "I love Ted Cruz!" politics.
We've watched a lot of friends transition over the years, and while we're glad Jenner has brought attention to trans issues, as a spokesperson for a movement? Well, listen to Boylan. Or watch the incredibly moving segment on Nightline with Reevs O'Neal, a transman living in the shadow of the North Carolina bill. O'Neal explains, "In North Carolina, it definitely wasn't safe for me to transition. It was just terrifying." He goes to Washington, D.C. for his surgery. (You can watch the segment at ABC.com)
So for the spokespersons whose politics make us cringe as well as the allies who make us proud and for the subtleties of politics in our daily viewing as well as the relentless primary that won't reach California until June 7, you know you really must stay tuned.