When the hit HBO series Girls hit the scene last year, it became an almost-instant hit. Following that show’s success, it seemed logical that someone would try their hand at a gay version of Girls. It looks like that person might be Andrew Haigh, the little-known director of the critically acclaimed 2011 gay indie-romance film Weekend. HBO ordered eight episodes of Haigh’s dramedy Looking about a group of gay friends living in San Francisco and starring Jonathan Groff, Frankie Alvarez, and Murray Bartlett. Haigh and Groff spoke with writer Christopher Glazek for the February 2014 OUT magazine cover story.

Looking follows three gay friends living in the Mission-Castro district of San Francisco as they navigate relationships, careers, and friendships. None is an heir, a genius, or a supermodel. Each has a lot of feelings. They aren’t trying to date celebrities or become the voices of their generation. “Our show is less about people at the beginning in their 20s figuring out who they are,” Groff says, “and more about people stepping into their lives in their 30s and 40s and finding their place in the world.”

From Haigh’s perspective, he didn’t want “hyper-successful” characters. “All the characters are from different socioeconomic backgrounds, different ethnicities – that can happen a lot more readily in the gay community,” says Haigh. “What you connect to initially is your sexuality, not your age or where you’ve been to school.” The characters in Looking, he says, are “not aspiring to be rich. They’re not aspiring to have lots of sex. They’re aspiring to have happier lives, more fulfilled lives.”

Haigh insists he wanted to create a story about his characters’ “journeys.” “I’m not interested in angry, bad people. I like stories about nice people. They get left out sometimes,” he says. “It’s always hared when you make a show about gay people because you just cannot – no matter how hard you try – represent every gay person in the world. Because there’s so little out there, everyone wants it to reflect their own experiences. All you can do is focus on a set of characters and who they are.”

Looking premieres January 19, 2014, at 10:30 p.m. EST on HBO.

Slowly but surely more gay characters are coming to your TV screen

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) today released the14th annual “Where We Are On TV” study, a comprehensive review of scripted LGBT primetime characters in the 2009-2010 television season. After more than doubling last year,the overall number of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) characters on broadcast networks continues a steady rise.

The report shows that 18 LGBT characters will account for 3% of scripted series regulars in the 2009-2010 broadcast television schedule, up from 1.3% in 2006, 1.1% in 2007, and 2.6% in 2008. The number of scripted LGBT series regulars found on mainstream cable networks continue to decline, from 40 in 2007, 32 in 2008 to only 25 this year.

From research and information provided by the five broadcast networks — ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and The CW — GLAAD’s “Where We Are On TV” study reviewed 79 scripted comedies and dramas announced to air this upcoming season, and counted a total of 600 series regulars, 18 of which are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

More after the jump.


“It is promising to see not only an increase in the quantity of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender television characters but that storylines about the LGBT community are becoming more reflective of current issues impacting our lives,” said GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios. “Americans now see LGBT couples marrying, raising families and contributing to their communities. As more and more Americans see these fair and accurate images of our community reflected on the small screen, they come to accept and better understand their LGBT family members and neighbors.”

For this upcoming season, ABC continues to lead the other broadcast networks in LGBT representation, with eight LGBT characters out of 168 total series regular characters (5%), the highest number and percentage of LGBT characters of any network for the 2009-2010 season. FOX, which only two years ago featured zero series regular LGBT characters at the launch of the season, now offers four LGBT series regulars out of 105 (4%). NBC has three series regular LGBT characters (3%) out of a total of 126. The CW is showing gradual improvement with two LGBT series regular characters out of 69 (3%). Unfortunately, CBS continues to disappoint. Out of 132 series regular characters, none are LGBT. For a complete list of LGBT characters on broadcast television, please click here.

On mainstream cable networks, the number of announced LGBT series regular characters dropped to 25 from last year’s total of 32. The presence of LGBT-focused cable networks here! and Logo, which program specifically for LGBT viewers, add an additional 27 series regular LGBT characters. For a complete list of LGBT characters on cable, click here.

This marks the fifth year that GLAAD has analyzed the demographics of the race, gender and ethnicity of all the 600 series regular characters expected to appear on the broadcast networks in the upcoming season. Male characters continue to outweigh female characters 57% (345) to 43% (255) in overall numbers, while 77% (466) of all series regular characters are white, down 2% from last year. African American representation has remains at 11% (67) while Latino/a representation has dropped to 5% (27). GLAAD counted 23 Asian Pacific Islander characters (4%), four more than last season.

Of the 18 announced LGBT regular charac ters in the 2009-2010 primetime broadcast season, only four are people of color.

“Our analysis also shows where there’s still work to be done. This past year, we’ve seen real progress from many networks toward making their scripted programming more LGBT inclusive. At the same time, we continue to advocate that other networks including CBS follow suit and that networks across the board better reflect the diversity of the LGBT community,” Barrios said.

This research serves as a benchmark for GLAAD’s advocacy efforts of increases in LGBT characters and stories. The storylines and characters in the Where We Are On TV report will later be reviewed for GLAAD’s Network Responsibility Index, released after May 2010 sweeps, which grades networks on overall LGBT impressions.





HBO tops GLAAD'S Network Index

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) today released its third annual Network Responsibility Index, a report that maps the quantity, quality and diversity of images of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people on television. Primetime programming on the five broadcast networks was evaluated as well as original primetime programming on 10 of the highest-rated cable networks.

HBO scored the highest rating of the 15 networks evaluated with LGBT characters on shows including 'True Blood', 'The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency' and 'Entourage' that reflect the ethnic and racial diversity of the LGBT community. Of HBO's 14 original series, 10 included LGBT content and 42 percent of the network's total programming hours included LGBT representation.

See more results and a link to the full report after the jump.


"This year programming was not only inclusive of LGBT people, but networks like HBO are beginning to reflect the broad diversity within our community," said Rashad Robinson, Senior Director of Media Programs at GLAAD. "With upcoming fall programming and new storylines there is a tremendous opportunity for networks to share the stories of all members of our community including lesbian, bisexual and transgender people as well as LGBT people of color, all groups which continue to be underrepresented across all networks."

GLAAD reviewed a total of 4,901 hours of primetime programming for inclusion of LGBT characters or issues on the five major networks (ABC, CBS, The CW, Fox and NBC) from June 1, 2008 to May 31, 2009. GLAAD also examined 1,212.5 hours of original primetime programming on 10 highly-rated cable networks. Each hour was reviewed for on-screen LGBT representations. Based on the quantity, overall quality and diversity of these representations, a rating was assigned by GLAAD's Entertainment Media Program to each network: Excellent,Good, Adequate, or Failing.

Additional findings from the GLAAD Network Responsibility Index:

Good
- HBO and Showtime received grades of Good, with HBO leading with 42 percent of programming hours featuring LGBT representations.
- ABC, with shows including Brothers & Sisters, Grey's Anatomy and Ugly Betty, again received the highest ranking of the five broadcast networks, earning a Good grade with 24 percent of their primetime programming hours including LGBT representations.
- The CW also received a grade of Good, with 20 percent of their primetime programming hours including LGBT representations.
Adequate
- While Fox received an Adequate, rising from last place and a Failing grade in 2008; 11 percent of its programming hours were LGBT-inclusive, yet some of those hours included problematic content.
- Among cable networks evaluated, TNT showed the largest growth, jumping from one percent of LGBT inclusive primetime programming hours last year to 19 percent. FX posted the sharpest decline, dropping 32 percent over the previous season. Both were graded
Failing
- NBC and CBS received Failing grades, for their 8 and 5 percent, respectively, of programming hours with LGBT images. CBS moved down from third place in last year's GLAAD Network Responsibility Index to last among the five major broadcast networks.
- A&E, Sci Fi and TBS received grades of Failing.
"Television shows that weave our stories into the fabric of the series present richer, more accurate representations and are the kinds of images that help Americans understand and embrace their LGBT family members, friends and neighbors in a more meaningful way," said Robinson.

The third annual GLAAD Network Responsibility Index was delivered to programming executives at the 15 graded networks, and GLAAD's Entertainment Media Program will continue discussions with them to advocate for improvements in the quality, quantity and diversity of their LGBT representations.

The Executive Summary and full report can be viewed online at www.glaad.org/nri2009.




TV is gayer than ever

They said it was a good year for GLBT characters on TV this year and I guess they were right. I didn't know about at least half of the GLBT characters GLAAD's listed on their website. Check out the full list here.

It's a biggun.






And it doesn't even include the plethora of GLBT folks that are always popping up on reality shows like:

Charlie from 'Survivor: Gabon'
Keith from 'Project Runway'
Ryan from MTV's 'Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Island'
and
Isis from 'America's Next Top Model'