It's not as if there aren't real people who legitimately exhibit those behaviors (hey, I've run into JustJack clones), but they're in the minority. Can't the regular Joes ever get TV representation?
It's like Wonderfalls' ill-conceived lead-in, which seems to think it novel and surprising that gay men might actually be able to fool people into thinking they're straight. News flash: 9 out of 10 of us pass for straight to the casual observer, and sometimes even to our nearest and dearest for years. (Though I must admit that in the latter case, there's usually some highly-motivated suspension of disbelief reinforcing the mistaken impression.)
Can't the regular Joes ever get TV representation?
Well, there was that show with John Goodman... (right? suddenly I can't remember if that's who it was, but I think so).
Yup - "Normal, Ohio". Okay, it flopped, but he tried!
It's like Wonderfalls' ill-conceived lead-in, which seems to think it novel and surprising that gay men might actually be able to fool people into thinking they're straight.
We should never have let you stop wearing the pink triangles.
Except John Goodman didn't play a regular joe. He pranced and minced, and looked like Dan Conner on acid. Also, his being gay was established solely by someone saying he was gay every few minutes, and his Hippo-in-a-tutu impersonation that was his walk. He didn't actually get to date any guys.
I'll admit there was occasional prancing, but it seemed to me mostly for effect. I thought mostly he was pretty Dan Connor-like, except heavier and a bit more mean. But it was a while ago and I only saw a couple of shows. I could be misremembering.
Evidently the original premise was Dan Goodman's character and his boyfriend raising two children in Ohio. The boyfriend was dropped, the children were halved and the age doubled, and now Goodman was the father who was absent for most of his son's childhood because his gayness made him run away. So it then became all about Goodman provoking spit takes among his ex-wife's family.
Can't the regular Joes ever get TV representation?
Homicide: Life on the Streets
came kinda-sorta close with the character of Tim Bayliss, IIRC.
Hmmm. Not that I didn't love Kyle Secor's character and think his storyline was groundbreaking, but he played a bisexual man who principally dated women. Taking him as the standard bearer for my particular minority would be like Carmen Electra representing the Cherokee Nation—there is a link present, but she's not exactly typical.
