“George” (February 16, 1974) And finally we arrive at the show that back when we were kids was what informed us that the kids’ block of syndicated TV had been turned over to the grown-ups. Now grown-ups ourselves (sorta, kinda), we still can’t get into M*A*S*H, but regardless of our personal feelings we weigh in on why this show was important, even if this second-season gay-themed episode gets a B/B minus. Apologies to the M*A*S*H diehards out there. Subscribe to Jonathan Bradley Welch’s new pod...
Jul 15, 2020•1 hr 10 min•Season 3Ep. 37
“Can’t Help Loving That Man” (October 20, 1991) Looking at the various 90s-era Fox shows that focused on black characters, Roc was the one with the reputation for tackling social issues with the most gravitas. Early in the show’s run, Richard Roundtree — Shaft himself! — guested as the title character’s uncle, who comes bearing the news that 1) he’s gay; 2) he’s getting married; and 3) his beloved is a white man. To discuss the various layers of this Roc episode, Drew and Glen are joined by Univ...
Jul 08, 2020•1 hr 39 min•Season 3Ep. 36
Content warning: In this episode we talk about sexual assault. “For Every Man, There's Two Women” (July 20, 1985) This week, we’re not talking about an explicitly LGBT-focused episode of TV. No, we’re talking about the episode of Too Close for Comfort in which a male character, Monroe, is sexually assaulted by two women. No, really. Jim J. Bullock, the actor playing that character, is gay in real life, and because Monroe is coded as queer as well, this episode serves as a bizarre example of not ...
Jul 01, 2020•1 hr 19 min•Season 3Ep. 35
“Lucy Thinks Ricky Is Trying to Murder Her” (November 5, 1951) Can we do a whole 52-minute episode that is essentially about one single joke? Hell yes we can. The fourth episode of I Love Lucy sure seems like it might feature the first gay joke in the history of sitcoms. And although we are open to arguments otherwise, it’s nonetheless interesting to think that the show that wouldn’t allow its married leads to share a bed onscreen would slip even a small gay joke past the network censors. Visit ...
Jun 24, 2020•52 min•Season 3Ep. 34
GEE TV is a weird little art project that Drew felt compelled to do. It’s six 80s-era NBC sitcoms in a three-hour block, complete with of-the-era commercials. In order: Silver Spoons, The Facts of Life, Gimme a Break, 227, Empty Nest and Night Court. Hit the audio to hear Drew explain it all to Glen, who’s being a good sport about this. Watch the video here . And it’s on Vimeo here . Episodes, in order: Silver Spoons, “Me & Mr. T” (October 16, 1982) The Facts of Life, “Cousin Geri Returns” (...
Jun 18, 2020•12 min•Season 3Ep. 33
“Les on a Ledge” (October 2, 1978) For reasons we can’t imagine, WKRP in Cincinnati decided its third episode should feature a trans-themed B plot alongside an A plot about one of the characters contemplating suicide because people think he’s gay. It’s a lot. And while that plot synopsis might seem like a recipe for disaster, this one is funnier and more progressive than you might expect. Don’t get us wrong: It does things that today’s audiences will probably roll their eyes at and might even sh...
Jun 17, 2020•1 hr 9 min•Season 3Ep. 32
“Surro-Gate” (December 7, 2007) Okay, hear us out. Some of you may be surprised that we’re doing American Dad or that Glen and Drew are both fans of it. We put forward the case that it’s a different sort of show than Family Guy is. This episode follows a previous gay-themed installment, and it demonstrates how bringing a homophobe around to respecting queer people as equals isn’t a one-and-done thing; it’s a continual process, and lots of people who think they’re tolerant need to realize when th...
Jun 10, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Season 3Ep. 31
“Sperm ‘n’ Herman” (September 20, 1992) At long last, we’re finally talking about the series that you’ve been dying to hear about… if your name is Drew or Glen. Yeah, we both have memories of liking Herman’s Head. And while its one gay episode does some things right and some things wrong, it’s the first sitcom we’ve discussed that tackles the complicated issue of being queer and also being a parent. It also allows us to talk about all the crazy stuff happening on Fox back in the early 90s. The J...
Jun 03, 2020•1 hr 19 min•Season 3Ep. 30
“The Gay Bar” (December 3, 1977) And then there’s Maude — for a second time! In this final-season installment, Maude battles Arthur (Conrad Bain) over his opposition to a gay bar that’s just opened up in town. It’s basically Arthur having conversation after conversation in which other character break apart his justifications for homophobia. But funny! Listen to Happy History , the new podcast Drew produced. Check out the work of Norn , the talented artist who contributed some original art to a f...
May 27, 2020•1 hr 25 min•Season 3Ep. 29
“Unidentified Funk” (December 10, 2008) and “Happy Endings (December 17, 2008) The New Adventures of Old Christine may not rank among the sitcom heavyweights, but hey — if it’s good enough for TV Land, it’s good enough for us. In 2008, this CBS series managed to skewer homophonic-leaning companies like Chick-fil-A with an episode won an award from GLAAD. Airing immediately post-Prop 8, the episode features not only a newly out Wanda Sykes but also Megan Mullally playing against type. And while t...
May 13, 2020•1 hr 5 min•Season 3Ep. 28
Do you ever feel like some songs have too many words? Well, good news: instrumental music eliminates that very problem! In this episode, Drew and Glen each list off five sitcom theme songs that they think are good despite their glaring lack of lyrics. Spoiler: many of them actually do have lyrics, it turns out. But still! If you like this episode, you may also like Singing Mountain , Drew’s other podcast, which works a lot like this but with video game music. There’s even an episode with Glen ! ...
May 08, 2020•57 min•Season 3Ep. 27
If you listen to this podcast, you’ve probably noticed that Scooby-Doo’s resident brainiac, Velma Dinkley, can read as a little queer. It’s all subtext and implication, really, but what if we told you there is a canonical connection between Velma and lesbian pop culture? Listen as we unmask her, in true Scooby-Doo style, to reveal that Velma is actually Zelda Gilroy, a character on the 1960s teen sitcom The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis — and Zelda, in turn, is Sheila Keuhl, all-around badass, a qu...
May 06, 2020•49 min•Season 3Ep. 26
“My Own Private Rodeo” (April 28, 2002) Hank finds Dale’s long-estranged father at a gay rodeo, and we’ve gotta say: for a conservative guy, Hank takes this news rather well. In our second King of the Hill episode, we’re happy to find that the show once again hits that sweet spot between red and blue, progressive and conservative, goofy and bittersweet. BTW, the four season 13 episodes that only aired in syndication are “The Honeymooners,” “Bill Gathers Moss,” “When Joseph Met Lori, and Made Out...
Apr 29, 2020•1 hr 6 min•Season 3Ep. 25
“The Blizzard” (December 6, 1984) Night Court aired on the same Thursday night block that included The Cosby Show, Family Ties and Cheers. And while Night Court never received as much prestige as the other three did, it ran for nine seasons, it landed joke after joke and it demonstrated a better understanding of its characters than most sitcoms do. In its second season, it pit its prissy, debatably gay-seeming character, played by John Larroquette, against an actual homosexual in a way that’s fu...
Apr 22, 2020•1 hr 6 min•Season 3Ep. 24
“Discovery” (October 30, 1975) Somehow, Barney Miller managed to make comedy in gritty, 1970s-era New York City, and it managed to address the rampant crime of the day even though the action never left the precinct office. In this episode, a man has to overcome his fear of homophobic police officers in order to report that he was harassed, threatened and extorted because he was gay — yet it’s still funny. Because it never hurts to point it out, the number for the National Suicide Prevention Hotl...
Apr 15, 2020•1 hr 11 min•Season 3Ep. 23
“The Apartment” (November 9, 1979) And now for something slightly different. Katherine Spiers, TableCakes CEO and our first-ever heterosexual guest, joins Drew and Glen to talk about the British sitcom Are You Being Served? and in particular its resident homo Mr. Humphries. It’s also our first remote guest, because this was recorded during pandemic times, so please forgive the fact that this outing has less-than-optimal sound quality. We will do better next time. If you can hang with Zoom-level ...
Apr 08, 2020•1 hr 22 min•Season 3Ep. 22
“As the Will Turns” (April 10, 1995) This is as close to a gay episode as Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ever got. And while it’s not necessarily the funniest piece of TV ever, it makes for a hell of a discussion of Will Smith’s personal life. This episode has some weird parallels with actual events in Will Smith, real-life actor. We’d say it’s unprecedented for a rapper-turned-actor to seemingly confront rumors about their sexuality in a network sitcom, but it plays out remarkably similar to the Livin...
Apr 01, 2020•1 hr 19 min•Season 3Ep. 21
“Oy Vey, You’re Gay” (October 23, 1995) With her over-the-top outfits and bigger-than-life persona, Fran Drescher has a certain queer appeal. In fact, more than a few little boys probably turned a love of Fran Drescher and Fran Fine into a love of drag. However, the show didn’t necessarily mine its Broadway theater milieu for a ton of gay storylines. In its third season, it did give us Catherine Oxenberg as a potential rival for Mr. Sheffield’s affections, were it not for a plot point that’s giv...
Mar 25, 2020•1 hr 10 min•Season 3Ep. 20
Happy Friday! Or maybe just tolerable Friday. Since everything sucks, we decided to give you an extra episode this week: a Patreon exclusive that we decided the general audience might want to listen to in case you’re needing extra entertainment. We’re still giving you a regular episode this next coming Wednesday, but meanwhile please enjoy this. America or burst! For most of us ’80s babies, Perfect Strangers is a quintessential sitcom of the era — it looked ’80s, it had a perfect ’80s opening th...
Mar 20, 2020•34 min•Season 3Ep. 19
It's a GEE Q&A! Following the Golden Girls table read, we decided to take a week off, and it turns out we needed one more before we jump into the cycle of actual “episode” episodes. So in lieu of that, Drew and Glen answer a bunch of questions we've been sent by listeners over the past two years. We swear it’s actually content! Call us and leave a message on the TableCakes Hotline at (209) 566-CAKE. No, really. Listen to the two “lost” episodes that SoundCloud took offline but which are live...
Mar 18, 2020•57 min•Season 3Ep. 18
“Vince Meat” (February 22, 2020) Have you seen that one Golden Girls where Blanche accidentally sexes a man to death and the girls have to hide the body? Well, your answer should be no, because that episode didn’t air back in the day. It's a script written by our own Glen Lakin and then, for the purposes of this episode, read by a host of our actor friends. It’s fucked-up and funny, and we couldn't think of a better way to celebrate our fiftieth episode. Cast: Dorothy: Meghan Parks Rose: Tony Ro...
Mar 04, 2020•38 min•Season 3Ep. 17
“Joe Goes to Heaven” (Date Unknown, 1979) The United States’ first bilingual sitcom and PBS’s first attempt at a 30-minute comedy, ¿Que Pasa USA? proved to be a regional hit in Miami, where a local PBS affiliate created and produced the show, and then across the country as a whole. Overall, it plays out like a lost Norman Lear series centered around a Cuban-American family, and this episode revolves around the possibility that strapping young Joe may be gay. GEE regular Tony Rodriguez makes his ...
Feb 26, 2020•1 hr 36 min•Season 3Ep. 16
“Frank & Son” (October 18, 1991) Is Step By Step a classic sitcom? Glen says yes, but Drew says no. Listen to an episode that a different podcast that prompted us to examine paternal homophobia and a long-running but perhaps non-classic TGIF sitcom, which Drew prefers to shorthand as “shitbag Brady Bunch.” Listen to the episode of You’re Making It Worse that inspired this episode. Support us on Patreon ! Follow: GEE on Twitter • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter Listen: iTunes • Spotify • St...
Feb 19, 2020•1 hr 17 min•Season 3Ep. 15
Two announcements: No. 1, Drew is tired and he is wanting to take a week off with an episode that requires less editing; and and No. 2, this podcast is launching a series of Patreon-only episodes where Drew and Glen discuss subjects unlikely to arise in their typical episodes. In this one, they both list off their picks for the hottest dads in sitcom history. And if you’re seeing this for the first time on the main, non-Patreon feed, then there’s already another one of these ready for your rabid...
Feb 12, 2020•47 min•Season 3Ep. 14
“Emmet’s Secret” (December 6, 1995) and “Emmett, We Hardly Knew Ye” (December 20, 1995) Even those of us who came of age in the 1990s might be surprised to find out how big a deal Grace Under Fire was in its day. The show was a huge hit, and even if it burned too bright and too quickly, it deserved its popularity because it was funnier and more heartfelt than a lot of longer-lived TV series. In this installment, we talk about two consecutive episodes that outed Grace’s father-in-law and then kil...
Feb 05, 2020•1 hr 26 min•Season 3Ep. 13
“Cousin Liz” (October 9, 1977) After two years and more than a few negative comments, Drew and Glen once again focus their gaze on All in the Family, a sitcom about America’s favorite ignoramus. This episode is a sweet and it is elegant, and it shows how readily Jean Stapleton’s Edith can accept that love between two women isn’t at all different from her love for her husband. There’s no B plot and only three characters, yet this is one of the best episodes GEE has reviewed so far. If you haven’t...
Jan 29, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Season 3Ep. 12
“The Cheever Letters” (October 28, 1992) Poor Susan Ross. If she only knew what her association with George Constanza would ultimately cost her, she would have run screaming. Early in the show’s fourth season, Susan got a glimpse of what George was capable of when he indirectly caused her dad to be outed — if not as gay then at least certainly as a one-time lover of John Cheever. Mike Ciriaco joins Glen and Drew to discuss how this episode is a Seinfeld sleeper classic, both because of and in sp...
Jan 22, 2020•1 hr 32 min•Season 3Ep. 11
“Three Gays of the Condo” (April 13, 2003) Six seasons after its inaugural gay episode, The Simpsons revisited the subject matter in the age of Will & Grace, and the end result sent Homer to live with two guys in Springfield’s gay district. This one exemplifies what it meant to do a gay sitcom after the point in time when it was no longer enough to just showcase straight characters being surprised that gay people exist, but is this a worthy successor to “Homer’s Phobia”? Drew and Glen talk t...
Jan 15, 2020•1 hr 15 min•Season 3Ep. 10
We’re celebrating the holidays and closing out 2019 with one of our all-time favorite Christmas specials: A Very Brady Christmas, a 1988 TV movie that reunited all of the original cast that matters. If you’ve seen this special, you may be wondering what’s gay about this family holiday outing. Some stuff, we say, but perhaps most subtly the use of racecar-driving as a metaphor for Bobby Brady’s reckless homosexual lifestyle. Just go with us on this one. Listen to our interview with Stan Zimmerman...
Dec 18, 2019•1 hr 32 min•Season 3Ep. 9
“The One With the Lesbian Wedding”(January 18, 1996) Carol and Susan forever! In our previous look at Friends, we concluded that the ten-season sitcom put homosexuality in a bad light. Around the same time, everyone else concluded that as well, but what if season two’s “The One With the Lesbian Wedding” actually doesn’t suck so hard? Emelie Burnette Battaglia Balenciaga returns to talk about the episode the second Friends episode that ties LGBT issues with a recently deceased old lady. “So Was F...
Dec 11, 2019•1 hr 32 min•Season 3Ep. 8
