In 1981, the new children's network Nickelodeon was filling space with anything it could find, from 1930s-era Warner Brothers cartoons to the teen soap Degrassi Junior High to the old British series Danger Mouse. One of its happier acquisitions was You Can't Do That on Television (YCDTOT), a sketch comedy series which premiered in 1979 in Canada. It lasted until 1990, bringing on an endless array of kids (over 100 in all) to mock the conventions, fears, and idiocies of the preteen world. Everything from the standard (tedious homework, nonsensical school rules, horrible cafeteria food) to the edgy (racism, gender roles, divorce).
And a lot for gay boys to like.
1. The boys in the cast appeared shirtless or in their underwear constantly, in nearly every episode. Gay preteens must have been mesmerized. Unfortunately, cast members usually retired when they hit adolescence, but there were a few exceptions to provide beefcake for the teenagers, such as Alasdair Gillis (above and left).
3. Gender stereotypes were frequently critiqued. Boys dressed as ballerinas, played with dolls, disliked sports, and were bad at math. Girls worked on cars and wore leather jackets.
4. Although gay people were never mentioned, the critique of the most cherished myths and preconceptions of childhood helped gay kids recognize that the myth of universal heterosexual desire could be critiqued as well.
I can't remember his name but there was one guy on there that use to always be in the dungeon with his arms tied up above his head... you could always see his newly, and lightly hairy armpits. It use to drive me wild!
ReplyDeleteThat would be Jonathan (Jono) Gebert. He was in the very first season of "Whatever Turns You On", where he was in the "no white clothes on television" skit which left him stripped to his underwear, and the "weather" skit, where he had several buckets of water dumped on him (rain, melted snow, melted hail, etc.). By the next season he had gone through a growth spurt, which purportedly left him too tall for the link set, so he appeared only in the dungeon and firing squad scenes. Near the end of the hour-long version of the "Crime and Vandalism" episode, he is featured completely shirtless in the dungeon.
DeleteAre any of the cast members gay?
ReplyDeleteAlasdair is gay
DeleteSome of the scenes were obviously intended for the gay kids in the audience. I couldn't believe what they were getting away with.
ReplyDeleteI heard that Alasdair was gay. Kevin Kubucheski became a social worker. Doug Ptolemy turned into a major hunk when he grew up.
ReplyDeleteI wrote for You Can't Do That On Television in 1985-86. These days, I have Google tell me whenever it finds people talking about the show, and it's so interesting to see what turns up.
ReplyDeleteSorry to disappoint you, but to my knowledge there was nothing in the show that was aimed at gay kids in the audience. Putting boys in girls clothes or having them get caught with their clothes off was all about embarrassment, which is a vital ingredient in comedy, especially for kids. Yes, there was a secondary "beefcake" element with the boys when they got older, but that was aimed at teenage girls, who were writing to Alasdair in large numbers at the time I was working on the show.
Now, is it possible that my producer Roger Price had some kind of hidden agenda that he didn't tell me about? I suppose anything's possible. And we certainly wouldn't have minded gay kids watching the show and enjoying what they saw. But as far as I know, nothing was being done on purpose.
I usually delete posts that point out that characters are Not Wearing Signs, but in this case I'll make an exception. Point #3 of Not Wearing a Sign: Authorial intent is irrelevant. After writing 5 books on children's media, I can safely state that:
ReplyDeleteNot one tv program, movie, comic book, or cartoon has ever been produced with the idea that there will be gay children in the audience. Not one. Not ever. Gay children are most emphatically assumed not to exist. Writers, producers, directors, and actors all, without exception, assume that every child, without exception, is heterosexual.
Gay children are interlopers in an alien country. Everything they see, everything they hear, everything they read is meant for someone else. They have to grab what they can. If they must distort the text, read things that the author didn't intent, find things that aren't even there, no problem. When it is a matter of survival, anything goes.
What about Kevin Keller in Archie comics? Isn't he aimed at gay kids?
ReplyDeleteHe may be aimed at gay kids, but most likely he's intended to increase the tolerance of heterosexual kids.
ReplyDeletethis show was like gay porn for me when i was 12-13.. i loved alasdair and kevin (of course) but there were also several other cuties that came through the "revolving door" of castmembers, but they usually didn't last long..
ReplyDeletei've heard rumors in recent years that alasdair gillis is gay, but i don't have any personal knowledge and he's never discussed his sexuality publicly as far as i know.
I got a "gay vibe" from Alisdair when he was interviewed on a revivial program.
DeleteI had a major crush on Aisdair too. One day I was doing research on Celtic musician in Canada and came across an article about Bagpiper Duncan Gillis. I remember reading somewhere that Alisdair's brother was a piper and sure enough this particular Duncan Gillis was it. It did not take long to look on YouTube to find Duncan playing and sure enough, there was Alisdair playing fiddle with him -link provided at the bottom. In subsequent research I found out that Alastair himself was quite the musician. In addition I found out that Alastair was married and had children. I'm sorry to disappoint everyone, but I'm also happy that a person I loved and cared about has found happiness! https://youtu.be/tGsYa3RThU8
ReplyDeleteBen Schreiner, who was on the show in 84, is gay.
ReplyDeleteBen looked like Sondra Locke when he was on the show. No surprise there.
DeleteAs a gay pre-teen in the 80's I couldnt wait to rush home after school to catch the show to see my fave boy-crush shackled to a dungeon wall with an open shirt. You definitely cant do that on TV today.
ReplyDeleteRoger Price was by all accounts a character and it's quite likely some of his behavior would raise red flags nowadays. For one thing, the young actors were rarely accompanied to the set by their parents, a legal requirement nowadays, and were forbidden to show their scripts to their parents. Price wanted their undiluted 'kid' reactions, unfiltered by adult input.
ReplyDeleteHe also enjoyed embarrassing the kids in generally harmless ways on the show. If a boy and girl didn't like one another, for example, he'd write them as a couple. Or he'd find a nickname they didn't like and put it in the show. He didn't want kids at home envying the cast so he'd make the kids in their skits endure all sorts of things.
He was, however, protective of them in a weird sort of way. Reportedly, at a production meeting, he got the crew together, pulled out a gun and threatened to shoot anyone he found offering drugs to or harming the kids.
I enjoyed ycdtotv in my mid-high school years. And like many others, I enjoyed the firing squad scenes (but would it have been that difficult to actually tie the guys to the pole?) and the boys shackled to the dungeon wall. My all-time favorite was a blond kid (not Kevin K.) tied to railroad tracks!
ReplyDeleteRemembers "Stop the execution!" Also a skit where two brothers are behind censorship bars, and they step out of them to reveal underwear.
ReplyDeleteI was definitely too young to catch anything gay, intentional or otherwise. Born in 83. Even the unnecessary censorship.