I Want My Gay TV?

Viacom's MTV is evidently looking at setting up a "gay-themed cable network" according to Broadcasting & Cable.

Not that there is anything wrong with it and all, but how could a gay network avoid slipping into parody? Or is just suggesting it a sly attempt to drive social conservatives absolutely bonkers?

Stay tuned.

Comments

[Sir Real]

RST, Brad S.-

Gay culture extends from the Drag and TV events that you obviously despise to "Queer Eye for the Str8 Guy", and through Circuit parties, Gay Rodeos, Lesbian Bike Rallies, Womyn's music festivals,gay campgrounds and leather events. It includes organizations like gay bowling leagues, choruses, and sharpshooting clubs, and concerns itself with such issues as Civil Unions, Gay-Straight Alliances, Barebacking, and racism in the gay community, in addition to moisturizers, haute couture, and interior decorating.

However, assholes such as yourself are fond of trying to define it for us queers, as exclusively about "limp-wristed girl(s) with a penises."
Gay culture isn't about "stereotypes", it is STEREOTYPED by those people outside of it (case in point- you two). Complaining that it's about stereotypes, and then going on to level witless hatefull stereotypes at it, would be ironic if it weren't so sad.

So, thanks for sharing- now shut the fuck up.

[Brad S]

Sir Real - you just restated my main point: most homosexuals don't exhibit any stereotypical "gay" traits (traits that might be portrayed on a show like Will & Grace, or Queer Eye, etc). Being homosexual and exhibiting "gay" traits are two very different things.

[joe]

Brad, think of African Americans proudly adopting the then-rude term "black." Think of Irish guys playing up the hard drinking tough guy image. Think of middle class suburbanites from Florida wearing rebel flag shirts, trucker hats, and ripped jeans.

Get it?

[Julian Sanchez]

Yeah, I've got to second that one... if you think "gay culture" is just "talking with a lisp" and being "limp wristed," you can't have had much exposure to it.

[Brad S]

joe - actually, I think of TV producers trying to boost ratings and sell advertising time by showing programming that packages a common set of gay stereotypes that many find amusing or even endearing. I mean, the same producers could put out a show about an average homosexual who looks like, talks like, acts like, and generally goes about life in the same manner as the average heterosexual, but that wouldn't really get the ratings...

[mike]

I'm a gay, Italian, skinhead frat guy. Have fun with that one, Viacom.

I actually have more anger towards those who perpetuate the stereotypes than those who see the TV and think that they're true. Can't blame someone for being ignorant, you just have to teach them differently. And all the limp image-obsessed gays, Sopranos-inspired dagos, racist skinheads and alcoholic frat boys aren't helping me out any. They aren't helping anyone out, actually.

[joe]

I imagine choosing the color of your boot laces is a sensitive subject, then. 😉

[mike]

Between skinhead boot lace colors and gay hanky codes, I could have a lot of fun, yes.

[Tom from Texas]

What the hell is barebacking?

Fag culture isn't very obvious here in the Piney Woods. Steel-toed workboots tend to stomp it out if it ever flares. We do, however, have a surprisingly high number of lesbians, many formerly hetero women who grew disgusted with asshole men.

There is a faggotization of the general American culture going on, however. Best exhibited by hardware stores that have now become "home improvement" and "home decor" stores. The queer interior designers and our female significant others have decided that we should care about our nest. I weep for my brethren when I see men debating with their women over what to paint the bathroom. It's a goddamn bathroom! It's the place where you piss and shit! Who gives a fuck what color it's painted?

[Rv. Agnos]

I'm imagining an entire network dedicated to re-runs of The Flintstone (you know about Fred and Barney, right?), Sesame Street (Bert & Ernie), etc.

Gay is in the mind of the beholder. All you need to do is put it on a gay network.

I'd love to see them re-broadcasting the 700 Club. ("Ooh, look! They're going to play 'The Missionary and the Native' again!")

[joe]

I wonder if they could do an MST2K version of televangelist shows and claim the parody fair use exemption from copyright law.

[Sir Real]

Um- why would a gay network TRY to avoid slipping into parody?

I mean, the whole camp aesthetic is predicated on parody- and while modern gay rights groups may be oversensitive in regards to defamation, NO group makes fun of itself with as much relish as queers...

[Brad S]

Viacom already has one gay themed network.

It's called VH1...

[mike]

They've been saying this for years.

[hey]

canada has Pridevision tv...

its on digital, and no one watches it, but its gay tv...

the thing is, it sucks, because its too earnest (i.e. political... militant x stuff)

north american gay tv is already well covered by fashion television (canadian channel) home & garden tv (all the presenters are gay) TLC (trading spaces...) and vh1

[egghead]

Can I get my own network too? I'm a short white guy who is hair-challenged and thus a persecuted minority. Won't somebody help?

[joe]

Oh yeah, middle aged white guys never have anything to watch. The media just ignores them. I mean, why would any media corporation trying to sell advertising want to produce television for the wealthiest demographic in the country?

[Lonewacko: I'm Still Blogging]

I used to know someone who traveled around shooting videos for a gay news network, I think called Q or similar. I never saw it, but I'd imagine it was on cable or syndication or something. He and a friend also tried to start a gay shopping channel. I don't know what happened there. But, it's not like it hasn't been tried.

[Erasmus]

Who said I was middle-aged?
Gays tend also to be a wealthy demographic.
(No pesky kids)

[dude]

Like hey said - what on cable TV isn't gay? Even Fox is gay. . . come on.

I agree, there should be a Hair-Challenged American Network. They could do shows like:

Trading Hats
Who Wants to Marry a Comb-Over?
etc.

[rst]

It would be a constant stereotype. It's a notion that probably has steam on the heels of Queer Eye, popular because it's a festival of faggotry. There's homosexuality, and then there's gay culture. The former is pertinent in places where, well, who gives a damn, so why would a television channel matter? The latter is a collection of ideosyncracies and stereotypes which have nothing at all to do with being gay, and everything to do with being a limp-wristed girl with a penis.

[Jeff Patterson]

If networks like MTV, Oxygen, SciFi, and Cartoon network can manage to be boring 85% of the time, then so can a gay network.

[egghead]

Dude -
Now that I think about it, there are currently "reality" shows focusing on how ugly people might get laid, or embarrased in the attempt. They're fat, bald, toothless, pimply, and the camera just luuuuuves them! And they must be having sex 'cause I keep seeing their kids at the mall.

It's true: everything new is old.
Next: Short eye for the fat guy.

[Brad S]

rst - I agree. At least when it comes to males, there is a critical distinction between "homosexuality" and "gay culture". A homosexual is someone whose sexual preference is the same sex (i.e. other males). Otherwise, your average homosexual looks a lot like your average heterosexual. Gay culture, on the other hand, is more or less a collection of stereotypes about what a "typical gay person" (as if there was such a thing) looks like and acts like (talks with a lisp, very clean and tidy, limp wristed, etc). Of course, gay traits can be exhibited by both homosexuals and heterosexuals. In fact, when I'm with my male friends, we'll call something "gay" without meaning that it is homosexual. It's just gay. The local radio station has a segment called "gay / not gay". It's the same thing. Some traits, for whatever reason, have been lumped under the umbrella of "gay", whether or not the majority (or even a minority) of homosexuals exhibit said trait.

[D Lusional]

I can't wait for the Ellen marathon - and more re-reruns of Wil and Grace. I hear there may also be a Happy Days spin-off, Jonny loves Chachi.

[Andy D.]

Ok, I haven't been following this thread, but isn't making an all gay TV network a little like making an all black basketball league?

[Kenny]

Culture _is_ nothing but a bunch of stereotypes, whether it's gay culture, American culture, Israeli culture, NRA culture, indy-rock culture, or what have you. At least, to a certain extent. How much does anything you see on BET or UPN or whatever other TV channels target themselves towards a black audience actually have to do with either having ancestors from Africa or having a larger-than-average amount of melanin in one's skin?

[mike]

Fag culture isn't very obvious here in the Piney Woods. Steel-toed workboots tend to stomp it out if it ever flares. We do, however, have a surprisingly high number of lesbians, many formerly hetero women who grew disgusted with asshole men.

So your ex-wife went lesbian, then? I can see why...

[rst]

So, thanks for sharing- now shut the fuck up.

Oh, don't get your panties in a bunch.

[Jean Bart]

Tom From Texas,

Some people obviously give a fuck what color it is painted. Next thing we know, you will be preaching about the vast gay conspiracy, and the "Protocols of Gaydom." If you had ever read a U.S. Civil War letter, you would know that ideas concerning what is "proper" for a "gender" in the U.S. has never been what you seem to think that it is. You fucking bigot.

[Douglas Fletcher]

I think Jean Bart just slapped Tom from Texas with his glove. This is war!

[not Weishaupt]

Barebacking, I am told is the practice of having intercourse with your partner sans condom. That should clear things up for Tom. As for the bathroom decor, I'm afraid I must agree with him. I could give a rat's ass what it looks like. Las tyear the wife wanted to redo the shitter. No problem honey, pick a color tab from the display and let me get to work. I think it's red.

[Durango 95]

As a straight married father of two toddlers, I can tell the color of the bathroom DOES matter, as I spend an inordinate amount of time hiding in there. Might well have a color you can stand looking at once you've finished reading the magazine article you've been purusing. "Daddy's almost done, honey!"

[Gawker]

Spike TV (www.spiketv.com) is the channel for the "ordinary guy." So, for all you straight, white, middle-aged, middle-income white men - you now have your own channel.

[Betty]

Q Television now on a cable network near you!! they have finally arrived. check out the website "built for gays by gays" finally someone is stepping forward and representing the GBLT neighborhood. I called TWC and requested Q-Television..

Betty

[Murray Ralph]

EMAIL: [e-mail]
IP: 82.146.43.155
URL: http://www.penis-enlarge-pills.com
DATE: 02/27/2004 10:04:45
Art is vision, not expression.

[Henyon Heather]

EMAIL: [e-mail]
IP: 80.58.44.42
URL: http://preteen-sex.info
DATE: 05/20/2004 08:11:15
Assassination is the extreme form of censorship.