TVSquad

But did we honestly expect the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation to say that there was too much gay-oriented programming on TV?

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I don't give a crap if it's gay enough, black enough, furry enough, or features enough product placement for Hershey's Kisses. I just want good tv.

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It's important to have realistic gay people on TV (the representations of gay men have been disconcertingly one-dimensional on the whole), but they are at least shown on TV. That's not as true for other minorities.
This question should be more often asked in regard to Latinos, Asians and blacks as well. I think just about all of the networks fail *miserably* when it comes to representing them and there are far more racial minorities than gay people. Plenty of TV shows get "whitewashed" without the trumpeting of organizations as large as GLAAD.

Hope the networks do better this year, but I doubt it ...

http://thecourier.typepad.com/popgoestheculture/

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we should turn over all of the networks to the "new world"

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I agree most gay charaters are just stereotypes and not really any depth.

And there are gay charaters on TV, just watch HGTV or TLC and they are on all the time.

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gah. nothing annoys me more than studies like this. There are minorities that are NEVER presented on tv, in the right or wrong manner.

If a show works without gay characters, then don't go breaking it. Don't fix what ain't broke. And as far as I'm concerned, there are way too many gay people on television... but that's just my opinion and I think I'm a part of a minority in that sense.

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What a useless study that was. Don't they have anything better to do with their time??

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...like leave inane comments on message boards?

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Back in the 80s and 90s the trend became to include a token black character on every show to attract the African American audience. I suppose now these same shows need to include a token gay character as well? I hope someone at the networks is keeping track of all of the token characters they're supposed to include in their shows.

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Indian Americans are certainly doing very well in American TV. There's that guy on Crossing Jordan, Sendil Ramamurthy on Heroes, Mindy Kaling on The Office, Naveen Andrews (he's Indian-English though), Aziz Ansari on The Daily Show, Kal Penn on 24 and in movies, etc.

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^ Sorry, I didn't mean "Aziz Ansari on The Daily Show", I meant Aasif Mandvi. Though yes Aziz Ansari (of Human Giant fame) is also Indian-American.

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It's good that more gay characters are around, but I don't want any show to feel obligated to have a gay character.

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I demand networks to HAVE SHEMALE characters. Also people who has sex with animals. If they HAVE to acknowledge a mimority, they have to acknowledge us all.

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This list is offensive. We're bashing networks for not having enough gays on their programs? No, whether a show has gays or not should not be a positive or negative strike against it.

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Who cares?! I don't watch tv to look for certain types of people, I watch it for the show. Even if there were more gays on tv, what would that prove?

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magicbox, which one are you the shemale or the animal fucker? Or are you both?? You seem like both.

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There's even a derogatory term for the black token character on every show from the US here in germany. It's "Quotenneger" which basically can be translated into "Rating-N(word)".

Funny enough series like "Family Matters" have a white token guy ^^;

I wonder how many people cry out loud that there are not enough white people on Telemundo...

Stuff like this can be pretty much over-analyzed. And basically it all runs down to this: how much people of a certain group do we want to apply too - how can we get them in front of the TV to sell our advertising minutes to companies.

THAT is all that matters.

And honestly I think people from Mexico tend to tune in to networks airing in spanish.

Here in germany we have about 8% people from turkey. Nobody is crying that there need to be more turks on TV and nobody is arguing that a couple of turkish-themed comedy shows which have come up in the recent past have to legitimacy to be produced/aired.

I just watched "Sicko". There are more important problems.

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I hate that I can't edit my posts. "no legitimacy" and I guess "be geared toward a certain audience" sounds better....

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I think anyone who looks to television for validation of a sexual, ethnic, or racial identity has more pressing issues. Like being a complete moron.

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It all boils down to one fact: I want to watch shows about people who are like me, who experience things the way I do. The fact that we can compile a list of South Asians on US television on the basis of being South Asian is a telling point. I'd like to see someone try to make a complete list of white actors just because they're white.

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