Gayest Episode Ever

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The Goode Family Meets Two Types of Lesbians Dec 14, 2022

Show notes

"A Tale of Two Lesbians" (June 19, 2009)

It's not exactly incorrect that you can summarize The Goode Family as "What if King of the Hill but liberal?" But that description makes it seem like Mike Judge's follow-up to KotH didn't have potential. It did, and just a few episodes in, it was world-building in a way few other series did, by giving viewers not just one lesbian couple but two — and they were nothing alike either! Imagine! Multiple representations of female queerness onscreen at the same time! We're joined by longtime friend of the pod Mir Knight to discuss why this series didn't succeed.

Listen to the free preview of our first installment of Weirdest Episode Ever here.

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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.

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We Finally Do Soap Dec 07, 2022

Show notes

Content warning: In discussing plotlines on Soap, we do bring up suicide and, very briefly, sexual assault.

"Episode 4.1" (November 12, 1980) *

Finally! It's one of the biggest cult favorite sitcoms of all time *and* it's also a show famous for having a LGBT character in the main cast. The only reason it's taken us this many years to tackle Soap is that it's so much more serialized than mostly anything else we cover, so while we focus on one particular episode, we're also discussing the entirety of Billy Crystal's gay character, Jodie Dallas. Good thing we have longtime Soap fan and TableCakes' Katherine Helmond correspondent Gwynedd Stuart on hand to discuss the show in general and the awesomeness of Jessica Tate in particular.

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Also check out Gwynedd's work on Sporked.

Listen to Gwynedd's episode of Monday Afternoon Movie about The Legend of Lizzie Borden.

See the full text of "the Soap memo." And then read the full piece on Newspapers.com (subscription required).

The Susan Harris quotes in this piece come from this 2018 Yahoo interview.

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Listen: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Stitcher • 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.

* By some counts, this is actually episode 3.22.

Who's the Boss? Just Basically Admits That Jonathan Is Gay Nov 30, 2022

Show notes

"Jonathan the Gymnast" (November 18, 1986)

Technically, Who's the Boss? never did a gay episode, but because Danny Pintauro's sexuality looms large over this sitcom, many episodes seem a little gayer as a result — and this episode especially so. In it, Tony and Angela step into the kitchen to have a frank discussion of why Jonathan is not like other boys, and it really comes off like Who's the Boss? is asking viewers to overlook this aspect of the character. It's fucked up that this happened, and it's one of several occurrences that make Drew utter the phrase "Poor Jonathan."

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Listen to the episode of Monday Afternoon Movie about The Legend of Lizzie Borden — starring Katherine Helmond but also featuring as a guest Gwynedd Stuart, who will be our guest next week to discuss Soap.

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Wings Flies Its Gay Character Back to Nantucket Nov 23, 2022

Show notes

"Sons and Lovers" (January 16, 1996)

This is an honest-to-God follow-up to our previous Wings episode, which was all about the series antagonist, Roy Biggins, finding out his son was gay. Five seasons later, someone at Wings thought to ask "Hey, what if that gay character didn't cease to exist the moment that first episode ended?" This episode marks one of the few times that a one-off gay character actually got to return. And yeah, we're re-joined by Massachusetts correspondent Jonathan Bradley Welch. It's a real journey for us all.

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Watch what remains of the attempted British remake of Wings.Buy the new issue of Beyond Sunset here.

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The Crew Was Fox's Queer-Inclusive Alternative to Friends Nov 16, 2022

Show notes

"The Man We Love" (June 30, 1996)

Last week, we looked at Married… With Children's take on an anti-Friends. This week, we decided to look at the last episode of a show that aired the previous season on Fox. While it was not designed as a response to Friends, it nonetheless managed to solve some of that show's major problems. Namely, it's racially diverse, there's a queer character in the opening credits, and the characters actually work. It's also funny, and having been co-created by writers who cut their teeth on The Golden Girls, that's no surprise. What's more, this show features an explicitly bi character — and this is something sitcoms almost never did and still don't.

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Watch episodes of The Crew on archive.org. And while you're at it, watch The Five Mrs. Buchanans too.

Read Drew's interview with Golden Girls writers, including Jamie Wooten and more.

Check out Katherine's new food venture, How to Eat L.A.

Support Glen's LEGO DnD build by leaving a comment on the LEGO website.

Listen to Drew's episode of Queer Quadrant, all about The Brady Bunch Movie — on Apple Podcasts and on Spotify.

Buy the new issue of Beyond Sunset here.

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Backdoor Pilots: Married… With Children Tries to Make the Anti-Friends Nov 09, 2022

Show notes

"Enemies" (April 14, 1996)

You may recall a late-series installment of Married… With Children that shifted focus away from the Bundys and onto an apartment of young sexy people who apparently despised each other. This was "Enemies," a kinda-sorta send-up of Friends that never saw the light of day beyond this one episode. Our theory is that it was a reformatted spinoff that at one point was going to star Christina Applegate and that also features a guy who's totally a stand-in for Matt Le Blanc.

All of this is our take on what would be the Backdoor Pilots Patreon-only bonus podcast that we're starting this month. Should we do this one? Or should we do Weirdest Episode Ever?

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According to Pop Culture References, it looks like The Bob Cummings Show was the first TV show to do a backdoor pilot.

And here's that 1996 Levi's commercial that Drew thinks this episode is reacting to.

Buy the new issue of Beyond Sunset here.

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Weirdest Episode Ever: Dick Van Dyke vs. Space Aliens Nov 02, 2022

Show notes

"It May Look Like a Walnut" (February 6, 1963) It's not the first "weird" episode that a sitcom ever did, but it's probably the most famous: the second-season installment of The Dick Van Dyke Show where it departed from the usual formula and became a sci-fi B-movie. It turns out to be a dream, of course, but you actually aren't sure until the final moments, and it's still one of the stranger sequences you'll ever see on a mainstream sitcom. This episode is not all that gay but it is the first of two pitches for our next Patreon-exclusive show. Should we do a whole ten-episode season of the weirdest episodes ever? We will be putting it up to vote after next week's episode, the other choice, is live. Listen to the mini-episode about the Dick Van Dyke Show's debatable semen joke — and watch the scene here. Check out our sponsor, Spaces! And join our spaces for Gayest Episode Ever and Cartoons That Made Us Gay. Stuff to listen to: Our previous Dick Van Dyke episode about the "seaman" joke The new Halloween episode of Singing Mountain We Love Trash The Square Roots podcast Stuff to watch: Head of the Family, the failed Dick Van Dyke pilot The Tiny Toons parody of Dick Van Dyke (with Elmyra Tyler Moore) Dick Van Dyke Show Revisited My Sister Eileen Stuff to read: Robert David Sullivan's essay on this Dick Van Dyke Show episode Buy the new issue of Beyond Sunset here. Go shop at our TeePublic store! Follow: GEE on Facebook • GEE's Facebook Group • GEE on Twitter • GEE on Instagram • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter Listen: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Stitcher • 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.

The Addams Family Considers Conversion Therapy Oct 26, 2022

Show notes

"Morticia and the Psychiatrist" (September 25, 1964)

This year, we're celebrating Halloween with one of the two most Halloween-tastic TV families of all time — and no worries, because we talk plenty about the other one too. Joining us to discuss the second episode of The Addams Family is Ted Biaselli, director of original series at Netflix, who shares some of his experience developing the new Addams Family reboot, Wednesday, and his lifelong relationship with the creepiest and kookiest family in sitcom history.

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Listen to Ted's previous episodes, The Cartoons That Made Us Gay and Glen Writes a Golden Girls.

Also, here is the blog post Drew references as identifying the Addams Family as east coast while the Munsters are west coast.

Also:The new Halloween episode of Singing Mountain The Square Roots podcast

Buy the new issue of Beyond Sunset here.

Go shop at our TeePublic store!

Follow: GEE on Facebook • GEE's Facebook Group • GEE on Twitter • GEE on Instagram • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter

Listen: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Stitcher • Google Podcasts • Himalaya • TuneIn

Modern Family Meets a Gay Clown Oct 19, 2022

Show notes

"Fizbo" (November 25, 2009)

People have been asking us to cover this show basically since we started the podcast, and so this week we finally decided to cover it… by looking into an episode no one wanted us to do. In our heads, the most interesting part of the show is Cam and Mitchell, and the most interesting part of Cam and Mitchell is Eric Stonestreet's portrayal of Cam. He's straight, but we say he delivers a nuanced character who both embraces and defies stereotypes. Also, he's a clown, it turns out. Which may be appropriate, depending on your point of view.

Check out our sponsor, Spaces! And join our spaces for Gayest Episode Ever and Cartoons That Made Us Gay.

Buy the new issue of Beyond Sunset here.

Go shop at our TeePublic store!

Follow: GEE on Facebook • GEE's Facebook Group • GEE on Twitter • GEE on Instagram • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter

Listen: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Stitcher • Google Podcasts • Himalaya • TuneIn

Archie Bunker Goes to a Gay Bar Oct 12, 2022

Show notes

"The Boys' Night Out" (February 13, 1983)

More than a hundred episodes later (of All in the Family but also of this podcast), we return to the Archie Bunker primary universe to find out if everyone's favorite bigot got over his homophobia. The answer: kind of? But that is probably just the result of season after season of broadcast TV sanding off his rougher edges.

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Listen to Drew talk Street Fighter II and Thrilling Tales of Old Video Games on the Video Game History Hour podcast.

Media of note:

Buy the new issue of Beyond Sunset here.

Go shop at our TeePublic store!

Follow: GEE on Facebook • GEE's Facebook Group • GEE on Twitter • GEE on Instagram • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter

Listen: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Stitcher • Google Podcasts • Himalaya • TuneIn