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“And Then There Was Shawn” (February 27, 1998)
Somehow, Boy Meets World got ABC to say yes to a parody of Scream within the confines of the TGIF lineup. That’s wild enough, but it’s even more surprising what this “it was all a dream” episode lifts directly from the 1996 slasher. Joining us to discuss this unlikely intersection of franchises are the hosts of the Guide to the Unknown podcast, Kristen Anderson and her little brother, Will Rogers (not the gay beach). Happy Halloween!
Listen to Guide to the Unknown groundbreaking analysis of the Scary Movie franchise, SCARMUTO.
Listen to William’s narrative horror podcast Blackwood.
And if you want to read more about the Scream 3/Harvey Weinstein connection, read this Slate article.
Watch the new season of Glen's show, Ninjago: Dragons Unleashed!
Listen to Drew discussing 16-bit horror video games on Retronauts.
Episodes what we mentioned:
Guide to the Unknown, “Mommy Watched Scream”
Guide to the Unknown, “Scream, Queen! / Freddy’s Revenge”
Gayest Episode Ever, “Boy Meets World Accidentally Does a Trans Episode”
Gayest Episode Ever, “The Terror of Zombie Sandy Duncan”
Gayest Episode Ever, “Two Guys, a Girl and a Post-Scream Slasher Halloween”
Gayest Episode Ever, “The Facts of Life Goes to the Twilight Zone”
Weirdest Episode Ever, “Family Matters Fights and Evil Murderous Puppet”
Monday Afternoon Movie, “Summer of Fear with John Arthur Hill”
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“The Joker Is a Card” (October 14, 1965)
Nearly two hundred episodes later, we’re finally returning to Bewitched to give Uncle Arthur a proper introduction. And while he’s a big part of Bewitched’s gay fandom, Paul Lynde brings a lot of baggage to the role that taught Americans to laugh at eccentric gay weirdos everywhere.
Watch the new season of Glen's show, Ninjago: Dragons Unleashed!
Listen to Drew discussing 16-bit horror video games on Retronauts.
This episode featured a lot of references to previous episodes, so here are all of those, for your listening pleasure:
The previous GEE about Bewitched (but honestly this new episode is better)
Our episode about I Dream of Jeannie
Our episode about The Addams Family, which deals with similar themes of ethnicity/culture erasure
The GEE/Monday Afternoon Movie crossover episode about the Paul Lynde Halloween Special
The Monday Afternoon Movie episode about The Legend of Lizzie Borden, which starred Elizabeth Montgomery and Katherine Helmond
And finally the Monday Afternoon Movie episode about the Star Wars Holiday Special, with special guest Bruce Villance
Finally, the Hollywood Squares zingers all come from this YouTube compilation.
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“Simpson and Delilah” (October 18, 1990)
Not only the earliest gay-themed Simpsons episode we’ve ever done, this one is also the first gay-themed episode The Simpsons ever did. And while the enigmatic Karl doesn’t get to be explicitly gay, we argue whether having a gay-coded character might have been the show’s way to — in its second season and at the height of Simpsons mania — signal to grown-ups that no, despite the t-shirts, this was not a show for kids and it could operate at a higher level. But how many adults watching TV in 1990 knew who Harvey Fierstein was?
Remember when I did a supercut of all the LGBTQ jokes on The Simpsons? It still lives, even if you have to go to YouTube to watch it now for stupid homophobic reasons. It has 3.7 million views so far! I just think that's neat!
Also listen to the most recent Talking Simpsons take on this episode here.
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“Wild Child” (February 4, 1988)
Officially, A Different World never did a gay episode and there were no queer students at Hillman. Nestled in the middle of the Bonet/Tomei season, however, is an interesting episode about a girl named Cougar, who happens to be easily read as a lesbian and interact in interesting ways with both Denise and Whitley. Entertainment journalist Stacey Yvonne joins us to discuss this episode and why A Different World still matters in 2024.
You can watch this episode of A Different World on our Vimeo.
Listen to Stacey's appearances on Sam Pancake Presents the Monday Afternoon Movie discussing the made-for-TV horror films The Possessed and The Strange and Deadly Occurrence.
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“Pranks for the Memories” (September 18, 1991) and “Beetlebones” (September 27, 1991)
Sure, we’ve all thought more about Beetlejuice in the last few weeks than we have in the last few decades, but we come to you today not to discuss the sequel film but the animated spinoff. Henry Giardina returns to explain why this more kid-friendly version of the Tim Burton ghoul lends itself to trans and queer readings.
Listen to Henry’s movie podcast, I’ll Watch Anything, and also subscribe to Totally Trans, which is currently on hiatus.
Mentioned in this episode:
The Lost Gals and specifically their episode about Drop Dead Fred
The Best Movies Never Made and their episodes about all the Beetlejuice sequels that never were
Guide to the Unknown and their episode about A Nightmare on Elm Street 3
What Went Wrong and their episode about the making of Beetlejuice
Cracked’s oral history of the Beetlejuice cartoon
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“Mac Finds His Pride” (November 7, 2018)
Twelve seasons in, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia stopped giving Mac the Smithers treatment and let him be gay, but it’s the season thirteen finale we’re talking about because it highlights Mac’s sexuality without making jokes, at least for the third act. The episode received wide praise, but did it also jeopardize the show’s comedic tone in order to make a statement?
Thanks to Dr. Alfred Smith, David Russell and Ally J. Shivka for offering their interpretations of the narrative in the dance sequence!
Watch the dance sequence in question here.
Read Vulture’s analysis of “Mac Finds His Pride.”
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This is the second-to-last of our summer reruns; new episodes back Sept. 18 on the Patreon feed and Sept. 25 on the main feed! For this one, we're taking a break from looking at the ways that sitcoms advanced American discourse about LGBTQ people and instead gawking at campy 80s fluff — because that is also a thing that is important to gay people.
“Jennifer: The Movie” (October 29, 1983)
We’re celebrating both Halloween and week two of our celebration of Ann Jillian with an episode about how the 1983 NBC series Jennifer Slept Here is both so very weird and also a little gay boy’s fantasy — because it pairs an awkward boy with glamorous ghost, and that’s secretly what every little gay boy wishes he had to guide him through his awkward years. This is peak 80s, but also it has one of the best sitcom themes ever, regardless of decade.
Watch Drew’s video of the 1982 Night of a Thousand Stars fashion show, which features Ann Jillian looking like her most Debbie Harry ever.
Gawk in awe at:
The opening to Mr. Smith The opening to Double Trouble The opening to Mr. Merlin The opening to Down to Earth The opening to Ann Jillian Ann as the Red Queen in the live action Alice in Wonderland + the very scary Jabberwocky scenes -
Yep, we are still in summer reruns — but to return with new episodes in September! This one is out second look at the Showtime sitcom Brothers, which I feel too few listeners know about. Let this episode be your primer, however! And your jumping off point to watching the entire series on YouTube!
“It Only Hurts When I’m Gay” (October 25, 1985)
On paper, the idea of a sitcom taking on the subject of gay bashing seems like the worst idea, but somehow Brothers — TV’s first gay sitcom — manages to tell a real story about violence against gay people while avoiding the hokey “very special episode” tropes. We’re as shocked as anyone how good this turned out, and what’s more, it’s genuinely funny without underselling the gravity of the attack.
You can now watch Glen’s movie, Being Frank, on Freevee via Amazon Prime. WATCH IT NOW!
Please, watch this episode (and other Brothers episodes!) on YouTube. The posting we used to do this episode only had 36 views as of the time this GEE first went live!
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This is a summer rerun of an episode that originally went live in May 2023. We know that no one likes to reflect on how Roseanne used to be awesome, but we get through that emotional baggage as quickly as we can to discuss why Martin Mull's character is openly gay but also tweaks certain gay stereotypes.
“The Driver’s Seat” (November 30, 1993)
We’re giving another shot to Roseanne, because perhaps it’s been long enough that you all want to listen to stories about this iconic series. Perhaps not! Regardless, this show offered us Martin Mull’s Leon, who goes unsung in the annals of gay supporting characters. He’s a villain, though much of his evildoing has nothing to do with his sexuality, and in this particular episode, his gayness doesn’t even come up — which is unusual, because usually gay supporting characters on sitcoms only show up to be gay and do nothing else.
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This is a summer rerun of an episode that originally went live in May 2023. It's good even if you think you don't care about Green Acres, we swear!
“What’s in a Name?” (February 16, 1966)
On a show all about the zany inhabitants of Hooterville, Ralph Monroe (Mary Grace Canfield) stands out because the most unusual thing about her is her name. She works as a carpenter and dresses for her work, but that name alone is enough that most Hootervillians don’t know what pronoun to use for her. As we discuss with special guest Josh Trujillo, Ralph is not a trans character, but this episode about her seeking a new name so she can get married, offers enough to qualify her as interesting enough to merit her own episode of this podcast… darling.
Since this episode originally went life, Josh's book, WASHINGTON'S GAY GENERAL, went on sale. GO BUY IT!
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“The New Girl” (September 19, 1992)
Tori Scott is more than just the mysterious seventh Bayside High student who exists in a fractured Saved by the Bell timeline in which Jessie and Kelly don’t exist. She’s also really gay in the tradition of Jo from The Facts of Life, and not only because Leanna Creel, the actress who played Tori, came out in real life. Erin Fletcher returns to explain why she’s actually a better match for Zack than Kelly or AC Slater… because Zack Morris is the Blair Warner of Saved by the Bell.
Listen to Erin’s previous appearance, in which we also discussed a lesbian-tinged ep titled “The New Girl.” (And yes, there is a Tori Scott fanvid.)
Follow: GEE on Facebook • GEE’s Facebook Group • GEE on Twitter • GEE on Instagram • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter
Listen: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Google Podcasts • Himalaya • TuneIn
And yes, we do have an official website! We even have episode transcripts courtesy of Sarah Neal. Our logo was designed by Rob Wilson. This episode’s art was designed by Ian O’Phelan.
This is a TableCakes podcast.
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Leading up to our return in September, we are doing summer reruns, which is our way of repurposing episodes that with a little configuring (and retitling) might get more listens than they got back in the day. First up: Mama's Family! And next week, you'll be getting a full-fledged new episode about Saved by the Bell! Enjoy!
“There Is Nothing Like the Dames” (February 17, 1990)
Believe it or not, Mama’s Family has a deeply queer history. While the final result of — the syndicated revival that returned to TV after NBC canceled the it — bears little of that, this episode goes over all the ways a recurring sketch on The Carol Burnett Show originally told the story of a queer-coded artist who can’t relate to his family back home. It’s all the stranger to consider that Mama’s Family never did an explicitly queer episode, even with all those Bob Mackie costumes.
Read the article in which Bubba actor Allan Kayser talks about his famously tight jeans.
Vicki Lawrence sings the original, non-instrumental version of the Mama’s Family theme song. But also listen to her disco banger “Don’t Stop the Music” and the no. 1 murder mystery pop hit “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia.”
Watch the brilliant 1982 TV movie adaptation of the Harper family saga, Eunice. Also watch The Carol Burnett Show’s famous “Went With the Wind” sketch. But most importantly watch the original sketch version that led to Mama’s Family, when it was just called “The Family.” It made Drew way more sad than sketch comedy usually does. -
“Queer Studies and Advanced Waxing” (March 31, 2015)
In its sixth and final season, Community decided to explore the series-long running joke about Dean Pelton’s mysterious, complex sexuality. Henry Gilbert once again joins us to discuss how the dean is not actually gay — he may be a pansexual imp, after all — but in forcing him to pick a tidy label, this show does a good job showing how many queer people end up pigeonholing themselves in a way that doesn’t fully express who they are.
Listen to Henry’s podcast, Talking Simpsons.
Listen to his episode about Pride Nite at Disneyland on Podcast: The Ride.
The Community “this better not awaken anything in me” clip.
The trailer for Portuguese Gremlins, which is not only the best thing Community ever did but also a justification for the medium of TV in general.
Follow: GEE on Facebook • GEE’s Facebook Group • GEE on Twitter • GEE on Instagram • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter
Listen: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Google Podcasts • Himalaya • TuneIn
And yes, we do have an official website! We even have episode transcripts courtesy of Sarah Neal. Our logo was designed by Rob Wilson. This episode’s art was designed by Ian O’Phelan.
This is a TableCakes podcast.
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“Drew’s Brother” (November 19, 1997)
We finally did it! We not only found the perfect guest for this episode — writer, performer and UCB alum Joan Ford — but we also got the chance to tell the world that The Drew Carey Show deserves to live it. It’s not only the most successful Friends clone but also the only one that sustained a whole series about working class young people. And in its third season, it introduced Drew’s brother Steve (John Caroll Lynch) who is a cross-dresser who might just be a transwoman. What’s more, the show pairs Steve off with Mimi Bobeck (Kathy Kinney), who is dragtastic and deserving of queer icon status in her own right.
Follow: GEE on Facebook • GEE’s Facebook Group • GEE on Twitter • GEE on Instagram • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter
Listen: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Google Podcasts • Himalaya • TuneIn
And yes, we do have an official website! We even have episode transcripts courtesy of Sarah Neal. Our logo was designed by Rob Wilson. This episode’s art was designed by Ian O’Phelan.
This is a TableCakes podcast.
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“The Censors,” (April 10, 1980)
James L. Brooks followed up the hit Taxi with another workplace ensemble that skewed decidedly fancier: The Associates featured a young and unknown Martin Short among a group of fresh hires at a Wall Street law firm. The show didn’t work and is almost forgotten today. But its second-to-last episode did feature a trip to the Hollywood set of a sitcom where a producer battles an overzealous censor. There’s a gay sublot, but the overall story is a cautionary tale that applies to people making TV today just as much as it did four decades ago
Follow: GEE on Facebook • GEE’s Facebook Group • GEE on Twitter • GEE on Instagram • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter
Listen: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Google Podcasts • Himalaya • TuneIn
And yes, we do have an official website! We even have episode transcripts courtesy of Sarah Neal. Our logo was designed by Rob Wilson. This episode’s art was designed by Ian O’Phelan.
This is a TableCakes podcast.
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"Single Stamina" (November 27, 2006)
Now that HIMYM has been off the air for a full decade, it’s worth considering how this show holds up better than most from the early 2000s did. Not only did it give us Robin Sparkles, it just might be the only TV show to compare equally well to both Friends and Lost, as improbable as that sounds. This episode has Wayne Brady playing a gay character in a bit of stunt casting that worked a lot better before he came out, but it also just might be the thing that convinced Neil Patrick Harris to finally come out as well.
Listen to the newest episode of Cartoons That Made Us Gay, all about Conan: The Adventurer and the inherent gayness of the “barbarian” genre in general.
Follow: GEE on Facebook • GEE’s Facebook Group • GEE on Twitter • GEE on Instagram • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter
Listen: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Google Podcasts • Himalaya • TuneIn
And yes, we do have an official website! We even have episode transcripts courtesy of Sarah Neal. Our logo was designed by Rob Wilson. This episode’s art was designed by Ian O’Phelan.
This is a TableCakes podcast.
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What if we broke format to discuss America’s favorite smartypants game show? Well, we did it. And special guest Emily Heller joins us to discuss Amy Schneider, who became Jeopardy’s second-longest-running winner ever — and as a result became a household name and a trans icon.
Listen to Emily’s Jeopardy podcast, What Is…? A Jeopardy! Podcast on Apple or Spotify!
Listen to Peaches Christ and also Drew on Matt Baume’s new My So-Called Life podcast!
Follow: GEE on Facebook • GEE’s Facebook Group • GEE on Twitter • GEE on Instagram • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter
Listen: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Google Podcasts • Himalaya • TuneIn
And yes, we do have an official website! We even have episode transcripts courtesy of Sarah Neal. Our logo was designed by Rob Wilson. This episode’s art was designed by Ian O’Phelan.
This is a TableCakes podcast.
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“The Courtship of Bess Richards” (October 4, 1986)
The second episode of Amen concerns Sherman Hemsley’s Ernie trying to land his choir a new singer in Nell Carter’s Bess, and the result is a comedy of errors in which both he and she perform romantic interest that neither is capable of actually feeling. The result is a WWF-style wrestling match between these two iconic sitcom stars, and we’re joined once again by Dr. Alfred L. Martin to discuss how this is rendered all the stranger because Hemsley and Carter both were closeted and therefore all too accustomed to acting out hetero identities different from how they lived privately.
This episode mentions a TV Guide article about Sherman Hemsley’s private life that I now cannot find online. However, I bought the issue on eBay and will post as soon as it arrives. You can see Zach Wilson’s posting of it on Twitter. Thanks, Zach!
Buy Dr. Alfred’s book, The Generic Closet: Black Gayness and the Black-Cast Sitcom.
Listen to Hemsley in the performance of Purlie that Alfred mentions.
Watch a clip of Hemsley’s gay villain turn in 2000’s Screwed.
Listen to Dr. Alfred’s previous episodes:
Roc Has a Gay Uncle Moesha Meets a Gay Guy Sanford Arms Meets a Gay — And He’s Black! -
“Menage a Phyllis” (November 2, 1974)
In the third-season episode “My Brother’s Keeper,” Rhoda famously said the word “gay,” turning a plot about her association with Phyllis’ brother on its head. Two seasons later, Phyllis shows up in another episode that discusses gay issues but weirdly doesn’t say that word. Regardless, there’s perhaps more to be made of the newsroom’s opinions about what codes as gay, and Dan Steadman returns to discuss this and what we’ll call the “Murray Slaughter problem.”
Read Dead Buckley’s 2018 piece “Queer Coding on the Mary Tyler Moore Show”
Episodes referenced:
Dan’s previous episode, “Mike Seaver Actually Said the Word ‘Gay’” Our previous Mary Tyler Moore episode, “Mary and Rhoda Meet a Homo” Our episode “Phyllis Dates a Homo” Our episode “The Dream On Guy Has a Gay Dad” -
“Cousin Geri” (December 24, 1980)
Fun game for listeners: Take a shot every time Drew mentions the phrase “gigantic bitch” in connection with Lisa Welchel’s Blair, who is in rare form this episode as she shuns her disabled cousin Geri for reasons that aren’t the ones you’re probably assuming. In this discussion, we bring up why Geri Jewell is a trailblazer as far as being queer and also one other thing and also why “actress recurring on Deadwood” is lowkey code for lesbian.
Erin Fletcher, we want you back for that Saved by the Bell episode.
Follow: GEE on Facebook • GEE’s Facebook Group • GEE on Twitter • GEE on Instagram • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter
Listen: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Google Podcasts • Himalaya • TuneIn
And yes, we do have an official website! We even have episode transcripts courtesy of Sarah Neal. Our logo was designed by Rob Wilson. This episode’s art was designed by Ian O’Phelan.
This is a TableCakes podcast.
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