Hey, Dad: Australia's Growing Pains

The U.S. was not alone in its 1980s obsession with TGIF sitcoms, the warm, fuzzy, "families stick together" reaction to the acerbic workplace comedies of the 1970s.  Hey, Dad...! (1987-94) was the the most popular example in Australia.

It was a sort of an English version of Papa Soltero, starring Sydney architect Martin Kelly (Robert Hughes. right), a single dad with three rowdy kids: teen operator Simon (Paul Smith, top photo), fashion-obsessed Debbie (Simone Buchanan), and preteen Jennifer (Sarah Monahan).

After 39 episodes, Paul Smith left the series abruptly, under mysterious circumstances that are still causing fan speculation, and Christopher Mayer took over as Simon.

Rounding out the cast were Martin's secretary Betty; Simon's buddy, the  dimwitted, gay-vague Nudge (Christopher Truswell, left); and later, his friendly enemy Ben  (Ben Oxenbould, below). Plus any number of famous Australian actors in guest roles.

Simon was not as girl-crazy as the teenage boys on American TGIF sitcoms like Growing Pains, Family Ties, and Step by Step.  He liked girls on occasion, and even got engaged in a 1988 episode, but he was more interested in cars, surfing, football, and his gay-vague buddy Nudge. The two were inseparable for 14 years.  Eventually they got jobs together and moved into an apartment together.

And apparently the male cast members consented to a substantial number of shirtless, underwear, and swimsuit shots.

In a bizarre black-humor twist, the series ended with everyone getting blown up by a bomb stashed in their television set.

It aired in 20 countries.  There were tie-in novels, parodies, references, fan clubs. "Betty" even wrote a tongue-in-cheek secretarial guide. Nudge appeared as "himself" in the 2003 comedy Ned.

It's out on DVD in Germany, and there are episodes on youtube.

13 Nickelodeon Teen Hunks of the 1990s

Teencoms come and go quickly, and the hunks that inspired romantic fantasies in millions of gay boys and straight girls move on to other projects.  Or other careers.  Here are the beefcake, bonding, and gay resumes of the teen hunks who you watched on Nickelodeon during the 1990s.

Not including stars of programs I've already posted on: The Adventures of Peter and Peter, Hey Dude, and Kenan and Kel.

1. Jason Zimbler, nerdy kid brother on Clarissa Explains It All (1991-94).   He's now a software designer.

2.-4  On. Salute Your Shorts (1991-92), the  inmates at the boys camp included Blake Soper and Danny Cooksey (both now gay-positive musicians), and Erik MacArthur  (right), who starred in the homophobic comedy Bottoms Up (2006)

5. Darris Love, next door neighbor privy to the teen superhero's secret on The Secret World of Alex Mack (1994-98). He later starred on MTV's beefcake-heavy Undressed, and played on ER, CSI, and Without a Trace.

6. Josh Server and gay-positive Nick Cannon, one of the spotlights of the comedy-variety show All That (1994-2005).

7. Adam Busch, best friend/co-conspirator of the first female Asian in a titular role on U.S. television, on. The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo (1996-98).  He played Warren on the gay-positive Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

8. On The Journey of Allen Strange (1997-2000), Allen (Arjay Smith) was a gay-vague alien stranded on Earth, living with a human family. Today Arjay Smith's career has brought him to The Day After Tomorrow, 24, and CSI: Miami.

9-10. The Animorphs (1998-2000), teenage shape-shifters, included Boris Cabrera (left), now working as a fitness trainer, and Shawn Ashmore (top photo), who starred Any Mother's Son (1997), about a gay soldier who is murdered, and in the X-Men movies as the gay-vague Iceman.

11. Cousin Skeeter (1998-2001).  Cousin Skeeter was a puppet, but the star was Robert Ri'chard, still a busy actor.

12. 100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd (1998-2002).  Eddie was a bully transformed into a dog as punishment, with former victim Brandon Gilberstadt around to assist his redemption.  Brandon is now an associate producer for MTV and the gay-themed Logo network.

13. The Brothers Garcia (2000-2004).  The standout star of the three brothers was the soft, pretty Jeffrey Licon, whom everyone thought was gay. He played in the gay-themed Mysterious Skin (2004) and Joan of Arcadia.

Richard Chamberlain: King of the Miniseries

Some Boomers recall gay actor Richard Chamberlain as the young, idealisticvDoctor Kildare (1961-66), or the swashbuckling adventurer of The Three Musketeers (1973), The Count of Monte Cristo (1975), and The Man in the Iron Mask (1979), but I don't remember seeing him before The Last Wave (1977), where he played an outsider trying to understand an alien culture, with a strong homoromantic subtext.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Richard became "The King of the Miniseries," starring in vast made-for-tv epics set in exotic locales,  usually as an outsider trying to understand more alien cultures, with more homoromantic subtexts.

The first part of the overlong Centennial (1978-79) involves the homoromantic friendship between a French trapper, Pasquinel (Robert Conrad) and Scotsman Alexander McKeag (Richard), who triangulate their romance by falling in love with the same woman.

In Shogun (1980), Englishman John Blackthorne (Richard) is shipwrecked in 17th century Japan, and becomes involved with the struggle of the warlord Toranaga (Toshiro Mifune) to become Shogun (supreme ruler).  The previews emphasized the requisite hetero-romance, but the miniseries was really about the strained attraction between the Japanese warlord and the mysterious outsider.

In The Thornbirds (1983), Irish priest Ralph de Bricassart (Richard) is sent to a remote village in Australia, where he has an affair with central character Meggie.  Years later, Ralph returns and meets his grown-up son (Philip Anglim). Neither is aware of the other's identity, so when they experience an odd emotional connection, it is easy to mistake it for homoromantic desire.

By the way, here's a shirtless shot of Philip Anglim, who also starred in The Elephant Man (1982) and in several episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Though Richard was not publicly gay during this period, he was open about his romantic partners, first  Wesley Eure of Land of the Lost, and later Martin Rabbett, who starred with him in Allan Quartermaine and the Lost City of Gold (1986). They were together for 33 years before separating.

All in the Family's Gay Episode

Speaking of firsts, the first specifically identified gay character on tv appeared on an episode of All in the Family on February 9, 1971, only 1 1/2 years after Stonewall.  I didn't see it at the time: the church forbade All in the Family because Archie Bunker's daughter and son-in-law were atheists.  I was probably watching Boy from Dead Man's Bayou, starring Mike Lookinland.

Lovable bigot Archie (Carroll O'Connor) gets upset when Mike and Gloria's hippie friend Roger (Anthony Geary) behaves in a flamboyant fashion.  He must be a fruit!  They insist that he's not, but Archie is not convinced.

Meanwhile, at the bar where Archie hangs out, bartender Barney (Billy Halop, another of the original Dead End Kids) points out tough ex-footballer Steve (Philip Carey).  "I don't care if he comes in for a beer, but I don't want his. . .friends. . . turning this place into a hangout."

What?  Steve's a fruit?  But he's so. . .big!

Archie confronts Steve, who admits that he is, indeed, gay.  Archie refuses to believe it, and as proof, challenges him to an arm wrestling contest.  Steve wins, but he's still gay.

It's not exactly a gay pride moment.  The moral is: appearances can be deceiving, so don't judge until you have all the facts.  Being gay is still reprehensible, something heterosexuals "judge."

But it's a lot better than the cadres of lisping, limp-wristed fashion designers and psycho-killers who would populate television for the next twenty years.

Philip Carey was a long-term Hollywood tough guy with starring roles in The 77th Bengal Lancers, Lancer, and Tonka, with Sal Mineo (top photo). He went on to play Asa Buchanan on One Life to Live (1987-2008).

Coincidentally, Anthony Geary is bisexual in real life.  He would go on to General Hospital (1978-2013) playing rapist-turned-romantic hero Luke Spencer in the most famous soap opera story arc of all time (30,000,000 people watched him marry Laura Webber on November 17, 1981).