MovieChat Forums > The Crazy Ones (2013) Discussion > why there's a gay guy for every tv comed...

why there's a gay guy for every tv comedy series?


just wondering why there have to be at minimum one gay guy?

why not lesbian?

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1. Lesbian's are not funny.

2. Not every comedy has a gay character. Cougar Town and Ally McBeal first spring to mind as having no gay characters.


3. Why does everyone TV show have to have at minimum one straight guy? (food for thought?)





You, a salty water ocean wave.
Knock, me down and kiss my face.

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I thought the exchange of "He was gay before everyone else was" and Garrett's response of, "It's like when your favorite band suddenly gets popular. I'm still sticking with it though." was hilarious.

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Studies have shown that approximately 3% of the US population is LGBT.

So, it's actually a little 'on the nose' when most shows with only 10 characters have 1 gay character.

But the point is that it would require a pretty unique story setting to accommodate all gay characters.

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"Studies have shown that approximately 3% of the US population is LGBT. "

It is MUCH higher than that, plus that does not even account for all the cloested.



You, a salty water ocean wave.
Knock, me down and kiss my face.

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You go girl! There are so many dudes that have man on man sex. I see guys having sex in the loo, beaches, bars, truck stops, gym showers...guys have sex with each other all the time. Don't know about women, I respect them a lot, I'm not interested since my first girlfriend dumped me at my 17th birthday party. I would say at least 20%-30% of men are gay or bisexual.

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Where did you get that figure from?

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He probably lives in San Fransisco. The number is going to be ridiculously high here.

I heard it's about 10% (same as being left handed).

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That's an insanely high number. Most research shows it well under 10%. I know gay men and women, but the percentage is not 1/10, much less 1/5 or 3/10.

If there was absolutely no stigma with homosexuality, maybe that figure would go up, though I suspect we'd see bisexuality go up more than homosexuality. My guess is you can measure this more accurately by looking at homosexuality in wild animal populations.

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I live in a very liberal beach town in So. Cal., growing up and still do. We may be the devil's state, but, I tell you since high school at least 25% of the men I've slept with had a girlfriend then, or, has had one in the past. Surfer boys were very accessible, Marines are very easy if your with one or two, not in packs. In my late teens and twenty's, If you have weed and a six pack, lots of guys become bisexual. I'm straight acting and do not molest drunk men, they always knew what was happening and enjoyed it. Most bars I ever went to were local, straight pubs. I've seen guys from my past and no one has ever beat me up or admitted any remorse to me. Now that the world is a little more scary with HIV, I'm in a committed relationship now and really slowed down on my activities. So Casey, beware of the "straight guy"next to you, you never know......

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Lol, and you just pulled false statistics out of your ass. You have no clue on the percentage, and FYI, many straight men experiment at least once, doesn't mean they're LGBT. So before you go thinking you know *beep* all about *beep* all, condemning the other person for the same thing, you should check yourself.

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[deleted]

"much higher" ?

Based on what.

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If you ask me, ALL the US population is GAY!

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I read AT LEAST 77% of the population are gay.

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Human sexuality is on a spectrum anyway. These studies are silly as participants are self-reporting a demographic that still bears a social stigma. Therefore, the figures are historically low.

What this thread does expose is the ignorant undereducation of people like the OP and other similarly-minded people who have contempt for and insecurities about gay people.

Gay people are on "every show" because it is no longer the days when most homosexuals are expected to be closeted. Nearly everyone now has an openly gay family member, co-worker, neighbor, acquaintance, etc. Every show reflects that gay people are (and have always been) in every part of society, not just the hair salons and drag bars. They are not just female gym teachers and interior designers. But they can be people's favorite authors, news anchors, the firefighter that puts out their trailer park meth lab accidents. That's why gays are on "every show".

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Actually, 3% sounds about right considering most reputable studies have flat out proven gays make up less than 1% of the population. These are studies done by actual gay people too, lol. Now, how is it much higher than that when actual scientific studies from actual gay people prove it to be around that?


Never give in. Never give up. Never surrender.

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Here are a couple anecdotes. I work at a regular call center in a suburb of Kansas City. My department is comprised of about 70 people. I know 6 people who are gay or bi, including myself. So, that's about 8.5% I'm fairly out, and I know these others are gay/bi because they've come out to me. Most of them are fairly discreet and I don't think it's obvious they are gay. If someone were to ask another coworker how many gay people are in their department they might say 2 or 3 because they just don't know about the others. Again, this isn't in a "gay mecca" area of the country or in an industry that attracts LGBT people.

About fifteen years ago I went to a small, Christian-based private college in rural central Kansas with about 600 students. You wouldn't think there would be many gay people in an atmosphere like that, right? I was one of the founding members of a student and faculty LGBT group. At first, only myself, a male student, and 4-5 faculty members were part of the group. But, as the group started doing more fun activities and they saw that there wasn't really a negative backlash toward members of the group, more people started to come out and join the group. That was really neat to see, especially in the late 90s/early 2000s in rural central Kansas. When I graduated there were about 20 lgbt students and faculty in the group, so about a 3.3% rate in a population where gay people don't exactly flock to. Plus, these are just the people who attended the group. I know there were a few others who were gay and either closeted or just didn't want to attend the group. I'm sure if I had gone to a large state school like Kansas University the percentage would've been waaaaay higher.


As far as those "actual scientific studies" done by "actual gay people" I'd really like to see those. Self-reporting is a slippery slope. For example, do you think a politician who runs on an anti-gay platform yet has sex with the same gender on the down-low would put that they're gay on a census? What about someone who is deeply closeted? What about someone who is married to someone of the opposite gender but harbors gay feelings? What about someone who has sex with the same gender but doesn't think that means they're gay? How are these samples being collected? What are the demographics of the sample?


I want to do to you what Spring does to cherry trees, but in a prison way.

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sorry but the scientific data has been the same 3% every time theyve researched it over the last 100 years. look it up.


In L.A. there is a lot more gay people (gays move her from all over) and therefore more gay friendly people and i think shows reflect what they see here than how it is in the rest of the world. in LA its about 1 in 14 are gay.

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3% who will answer honestly on a survey, and even that is on the low end. And since not every show has a gay regular or even secondary character, I don't think the stats on TV are all that skewed.

There ARE lesbians too, for the OP. 2 and a Half Men just added one. Under the Dome, Chicago Fire, Ray Donovan, Orange is the New Black, all have lesbian characters.

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[deleted]

Why would it require a unique story setting? A gay character's story doesn't have to revolve around the fact that they're gay.

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[deleted]

Studies have shown that approximately 3% of the US population is LGBT.


That would be 3 per every 100 characters.

most shows with only 10 characters have 1 gay character.


That's actually 10% not 3%.

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Studies have shown that approximately 3% of the US population is LGBT.
And here's the study http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/health-survey-gi ves-government-its-first-large-scale-data-on-gay-bisexual-population/2 014/07/14/2db9f4b0-092f-11e4-bbf1-cc51275e7f8f_story.html
Less than 3 percent of the U.S. population identify themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Tuesday in the first large-scale government survey measuring Americans’ sexual orientation.

The National Health Interview Survey, which is the government’s premier tool for annually assessing Americans’ health and behaviors, found that 1.6 percent of adults self-identify as gay or lesbian, and 0.7 percent consider themselves bisexual.

The overwhelming majority of adults, 96.6 percent, labeled themselves as straight in the 2013 survey. An additional 1.1 percent declined to answer, responded “I don’t know the answer” or said they were “something else.”

The figures offered a slightly smaller assessment of the size of the gay, lesbian and bisexual population than other surveys, which have pegged the overall proportion at closer to 3.5 or 4 percent. In particular, the estimate for bisexuals was lower than in some other surveys.
The reason you have so many gays represented in television is because there's a vastly higher population of gays in the industry.

Hollywood is a very insular town, and provincial in its own way. They look around, see an infinitely greater than average representation of gays in their ranks, and think, "This is what it's like 'out there'." No, it's what it's like in Hollywood.

You will probably disagree. That's the nature of discussions -- they have two sides.

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1. Lesbian's are not funny.


That would be news to Ellen DeGeneres.

2. Not every comedy has a gay character. Cougar Town and Ally McBeal first spring to mind as having no gay characters.


Ally McBeal? That was cancelled more than 10 years ago. You might as well cite "I Love Lucy".

3. Why does everyone TV show have to have at minimum one straight guy? (food for thought?)


Who says it does? I'm still expecting Alan to turn Walden on "Two And A Half Men".

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"That would be news to Ellen DeGeneres."

Would it though, really?
You think she's funny?

I'm British, perhaps we have different ideas of what is funny and what isn't. Ellen is great, don't get me wrong, but she's not funny.

The only funny lesbian I can think of is perhaps Rosie O.


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You are a fool.

Expiration dates are mere suggestions! Like late fees and traffic lights.

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I think it's more to do with Women not being that funny, unless they're fat.

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[deleted]

[deleted]

"1. Lesbian's are not funny."

Neither is blatant bigotry. That's as prejudiced, ignorant, and inaccurate as someone suggesting that Japanese and Koreans aren't funny just because they can't personally think of any stars that are.

"The only funny lesbian I can think of is perhaps Rosie O. "

There are just far fewer of them out in hollywood but there are TONS of hilarious gay women. Just google Lesbian Comedians for crissakes. WTF?

Margaret Cho
Lily Tomlin
Portia de Rossi (Arrested Development, Ally McBeal)
Wanda Sykes
Cynthia Nixon (Sex in the City)
Jane Lynch (Glee, The L Word, almost all of Christopher Guest's HILARIOUS movies, Best in Show etc)
Heather Matarazzo (Welcome to the Dollhouse, Princess Diaries)
Sarah Paulson
Judy Gold
Queen friggin' Latifah
Meredith Baxter (Family Ties)

And that's just off the top of my head.

http://www.afterellen.com/50-hot-women-in-comedy/07/2013/

Get a clue.

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Portia deRossi, Jane Lynch, Carol Leiffer, Judy Gold, Stephanie Miller, Lily Tomlin. . .

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1. Lesbian's are not funny.


What a load of crap. There are way more funny moments in The L Word then there is in Queer As Folk.

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[deleted]

*Yawn*

Gee, could you trot out something a little less obvious, next time? I know. You're PC, and better than everyone else; but, the OP has a point. When you compare the demographics, one can only come to the conclusion that having a stereotypical, "whacky" gay character is just that - a stereotype. Your "food for thought" is the intellectual equivalent of cotton candy. Run along, now. Your copy of Tiger Beat is waiting.



"Careful, man! There's a beverage, here."

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[deleted]

Because the world is 95% normal...

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Because it's funny...especially when it's a 7 foot actor who looks like Chewbacca. Although there's plenty of comedies without gay characters. Dads, Last Man Standing, The Millers, The Goldbergs, Trophy Wife. Don't think those have any.

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I've missed the last few episodes so I might have missed something, but isn't Amanda(the assistant lady whose hair RW smells in the first episode) a lesbian? In that burrito episode doesn't she read a poem where a 'Charlie' dumps her and they find out Charlie is a 'her'.

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I'm guessing the OP is referring to Brad Garret's character that was introduced on the last episode who is gay.

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[deleted]

He kept talking about his husband being a swimmer or something.

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Yes indeed Amanda did have a lesbian relationship, though Sydney pointed out not to label her. Also they mentioned Sydney's lesbian fling in college.

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I too get a bit annoyed by the (usually stereotypical camp) gays that pop up in every show simply because it has been so overused in the last decade. No to mention that they tend to portray them the same way, more often than not (femminine, metrosexual, Barbra Streisand/musical/... loving, possibly the lead girl's best friend,...). But in this show I actually like Brad Garrett and his character's subversion of what we are usually served in today's sitcoms, which makes him an addition to the show I could really get behind. So to speak.


_____________

"I require a reminder as to why raining arcane destruction is not an appropriate response to all of life's indignities. Quickly, please, before they are out of range." - Vaarsuvius

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[deleted]

It was frustrating when the comments by Brad Garret Indicated he'd be a character who happened to be Gay, and it's not really an in your face type thing, but i don't think that's at all how it was played out.

it took all of 16 seconds for him to bring up his husband, and then go straight into a joke about a juice cleanse, and then immediately followed up by another gay joke. That was followed by a full minute of gay jokes with the angel cards, the finger snap, does timothy go up on you, etc etc.

If they wanted to actually pull this off just have him be a guy who works in the office, introduce his husband one episode to one of the newer characters who wouldn't have met him, and just have that be it. Or drop in a "oh my husband got me tickets to that..." or something, and not immediately make a joke out of it. Then, move on to just another joke.

To be honest, when they made that announcement, it definitely interested me to see how they'd pull it off, so i guess in a way i might be overly critical, but in the end i'm just feeling like they're taking cheap shots at that.

And for what it's worth, i'm a straight guy with a girlfriend who isn't overly taken up with the cause one way or another. I'm just somebody who read an article about a show i like, and then tuned in like i was always planning to.

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Isn't Lauren bi?

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One can only hope...

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It's pandering to the gay community, honestly it's rather annoying they feel like they have to.

"NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition!!"

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so what, are't the rest pandering to straight communities?
aren't most shows pandering to heterosexuals?

don't use the pandering excuse to hide your prejudice.

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No, the rest is a representation of "normal."


"NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition!!"

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"normal"... what IS normal? Fat guy with hot wife, token minority friends and a laugh track? Spare me.

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