Gayest Episode Ever

"Joey's First Crush" (January 28, 1987) Few other shows changed as much as Gimme a Break, which began as a fish-out-of-water sitcom that had Nell Carter playing mom to three white girls in California but ended up with Nell and her best friend, Telma Hopkins' Addy, co-parenting two white boys in New York. Minus the kids, it's basically a female-female twist on Perfect Strangers, only they don't get steady boyfriends. Perhaps in an effort to make the show seem less gay, they tossed in a happily married character… who was played by newcomer Rosie O'Donnell. This episode, which is the second of Gimme a Break's outings to feature actual gay characters, showcases a lot of how this show ended up pretty damn gay. … Now that I think about it, maybe the only sitcom that changed as much over its run was Ellen — and that's pretty notable, right? Listen to our previous Gimme a Break episodes. Learn all about Betty and Barney Hill in the Monday Afternoon Movie episode about 1975's The UFO Incident. Watch: Andy Gibb dueting with Nell Carter on Gimme a Break Gimme a Break's famous Motown medley Rosie O'Donnell on Star Search

"Lisa the Drama Queen" (January 25, 2009) So here's an interesting one. In its twentieth season, The Simpson did an episode inspired by Heavenly Creatures, the 1994 Peter Jackson movie that has Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey playing schoolgirls who flee into a fantasy world and also each other. More than a decade later, this story would play out again, only with Lisa Simpson and a new character voiced by Emily Blunt, and that might seem like a strange combo, especially because the Simpson version nixes the sex and violence of the original, but it nonetheless works. Special thanks to the writer of this episode, Brian Kelley, for sharing his memories of how this episode came to be. For a limited time, you can still screen Heavenly Creatures via the GEE Patreon, but that window is closing. Info here. Listen to Drew on the In Retrospect podcast's episodes about the "lesbian/Lebanese" joke (part one & part two) 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 • 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.

"Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" (November 29, 2011 Yes, Tim Allen's follow-up to Home Improvement got branded as the most conservative sitcom on network TV, but is that fair? We're honestly not sure, because the ninth episode of Last Man Standing's first season features a gay couple. We're mostly good with how this plays out, but we also think this show changed in its second season. We're also skimming over the second-season episode "Bullying," which ended up arguing that it's okay to say "gay." Key takeaway: Tim Allen may be less conservative than Kelsey Grammer. Listen to our Home Improvement episode. Remember a short-lived sitcom from Fox's early days? Tell us about it (there's a thread on Patreon that's open to even non-members), and we may cover it for our upcoming bonus miniseries, The Fox Files! 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 • 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.

"Sorority House" (February 8, 1961) A few times on this podcast, we've bent over backwards to find a gay interpretation of a sitcom that never did anything gay, but this is not one of those. Mister Ed was developed by Arthur Lubin, a closeted gay director who was married to a woman but eventually ended up cohabitating with a male companion. It's interesting, then, that he'd be into making a TV show out of a story about Wilbur Post, who's married to a woman and who's outwardly a traditional guy even if his most significant relationship is with a male — a horse, but a male nonetheless — that he has to keep secret. Primitive though it might be, Mister Ed is actually the blueprint for more traditional magic sitcoms like Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie. You can watch this episode of Mister Ed for free on archive.org. Want to hear your words on an upcoming GEE? We're covering the Simpsons episode "Lisa the Drama Queen" and therefore we're offering patrons a chance to watch the movie that inspired it: 1994's Heavenly Creatures, which is not easy to watch online nowadays. Details at the GEE Patreon. 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 • 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.

"Fathers and Sons" (May 3, 2003) And we're back! Our first regular episode of the new year returns to the first-ever show we discussed: Frasier. It's the episode where David Ogden Stiers plays an old colleague of Frasier's late mother who acts more like Frasier and Niles than Martin does. This is the final time the series put a spotlight on the series innate queerness, and in selecting Stiers, it also tacitly endorses the notion that his M*A*S*H character helped inspire Frasier Crane. Listen to Unsafe Spaces, Josh Hallmark's new true crime podcast about serial murders in Tampa's gay community — and while you're at it, also give a listen to his other podcast, True Crime Bullshit, about serial killer Israel Keyes. Want to hear your words on an upcoming GEE? We're covering the Simpsons episode "Lisa the Drama Queen" and therefore we're offering patrons a chance to watch the movie that inspired it: 1994's Heavenly Creatures, which is not easy to watch online nowadays. Details at the GEE Patreon. Listen to our previous Frasier episodes. 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 • 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.

"Coldhearted Uranus: Makoto in Danger" (May 14, 1994) It's a new year, and we're giving you a new episode of Sailor Moon — now with 200 percent more lesbian content! This third-season episode not only showcases Haruka/Sailor Uranus and Michiru/Sailor Neptune, but also uses them as a way to explore how Makoto/Sailor Jupiter is the most queer-coded of the core five Sailor Guardians. What's most notable about this episode, however, is the fact that the Viz dub of it actually re-writes the original Japanese dialogue to seem less homophobic than the original version was. Read Drew's Thrilling Tales of Old Video Games post if you want to know how the connection to Rose of Versailles. And check out the lengthy Twitter thread posted in response to the first Sailor Moon episode, about why it wasn't surprising to have a same-sex couple in the first season of the show. Watch the clip comparing Molly's original DiC accent to Mia Farrow's. And here's the Reddit thread looking into how the Viz dub played down the homophobia of the original version of this episode. Listen to the first Sailor Moon episode, about Zoisite, on the main feed *or* if you're fancy listen to the new Sailor Moon episode, about Fisheye, on the Patreon feed.

"The Bleakening" (December 10, 2017) We're closing out 2023 with a two-part Bob's Burgers Christmas mystery that also happens to be the last episode a cult favorite trans character, Marshmallow, appeared in before vanishing from the series for six years. This is basically our way of discussing the "Sheesh! Cab, Bob?" episode without having to drag you all through it, because for all its flaws, it did give the world the cherished treasure that is Marshmallow. Happy holidays! Watch the Bob's Burgers-Archer mashup that got Simon Chong a job making art for this show — starting with this very episode. Totally Trans watched that Lady Ballers movie so you don't have to! Listen to our previous Bob's Burgers episode, about Bob's alleged bisexuality. 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 • 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.

A new episode on a Tuesday?! Well, the way our schedule ended up working out was that we are finishing the year with two Christmas episodes, and we figured it would be better to get those both out before the actual holiday, so you're getting this today and then our second Christmas ep (and the last ep of 2023) on Friday. Enjoy, we hope! "Season's Greetings" (December 14, 1987) Perhaps you haven't heard of Frank's Place. All the incentive you need for this episode is that Frank's Place is that it won Emmys, it won critical praise, and it's still remembered today as a showcase for a type of black American who wasn't often depicted on the small screen. Despite all that, it only lasted a single season. Brian Cronin joins us to discuss perhaps the only sitcom episode to feature a Hanukkah dinner ruined by a coming out. And BTW, there is a twist ending we are still unsettled by. Read Brian's work at CBR but also at his website, Pop Culture References, which frequently dives deep into sitcom history. Watch this Frank's Place (and all episodes, if you want) at archive.org. Read the LA Times piece we cite in this discussion 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 • 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.

"A Boy Like That" (April 24, 1997) Heads up: We briefly discuss suicide episode in discussing on of this show's cast members. If you're experiencing suicidal thoughts, the U.S. hotline to call is 988. Well, it took us 214 episodes, but we finally arrived at Suddenly Susan. You might dismiss Brook Shields' entry into the post-Friends landscape as an also-ran, and you are maybe right, but this first-season gay episode manages to give more depth and consideration to its one-off gay character than its fellow Must See TV alums did. That's something. Plus Kathy Griffin is here. Here's the LA Times article cited in this piece, and here's the Entertainment Weekly piece Buy Josh Trujillo's new book, Washington's Gay General: The Legends and Loves of Baron Von Steuben. 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 • 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.

Welcome to the first of our in-depth looks at LGBTQ humor in specific eras of Saturday Night Live. Of course, we're starting at the beginning, in the classic era, and yeah, some of them are better than you'd guess and some of them are so much worse. It's a real grab bag, but there are lessons to be learned about how SNL came to be what it is today and how American humor has evolved since 1975. Buy Josh Trujillo's new book, Washington's Gay General: The Legends and Loves of Baron Von Steuben. Watch all the sketches featured in this episode here. Here are the sketches, in order: Jamitol (S1E1: George Carlin, Oct. 11 1975) Long Distance (S1E4: Candice Bergen, Nov. 8 1975) Latent Elf (S1E8: Candice Bergen, Dec. 20 1975) Household Hints (S1E16: Anthony Perkins, March 13, 1976) The Snake-Handling O'Sheas (S2E2: Norman Lear, Sep. 25, 1976) Monologue (S4E11: Cicely Tyson, Feb. 10, 1979) The Ex-Police (S4E11: Cicely Tyson, Feb. 10, 1979) Miles Cowperthwaite (S4E18: Michael Palin, May 12, 1979) Not for Transexuals Only (S4E20: Buck Henry, May 26, 1979) The Continuing Correspondences of Eleanor Roosevelt (S5E3: Bill Russell, Oct. 20 1979) 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 • 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.