Girl Meets World: Teencom with Actual, Real Gay Characters

I didn't think we really needed a Disney Channel sequel to Boy Meets World (1993-2000), the TGIF sitcom about a high schooler (Ben Savage), his girlfriend Topanga (Danielle Fischel), and his boyfriend Shawn (Rider Strong).  It was great, loaded down with gay subtexts that the actors seemed fully aware of.  But what contemporary kid has ever heard of it?

Then I saw the picture of the boy on the elephant.

I can't think of anything to say about it.

He's 14-year old Teo Halm, who has just signed on to play the older brother.  He doesn't have many acting credits, but checking out his tweets and instagrams makes me rather certain that his character will be gay-vague.

The teencom, to premiere in January 2014, makes Corey a middle-school history teacher, and Topanga the owner of a restaurant specializing in pudding. Shawn may be stopping by occasionally.

 The central characters are Corey and Topanga's 12-year old daughter Riley (Rowan Blanchard) and her bff Sabrina (Maya Fox).  Girl-power lesbian subtext, anyone?

Riley has two brothers, Elliott (Teo Halm) and Louis (August Maturo), an obnoxious cousin (Leon Sparks), and a crush (Peyton Meyer, left).

Peyton's tweets and instagrams (top photo, for instnace) also suggest that his character might be gay-vague.

Or not.  Apparently this series will be a teencom first, featuring an actual, real, live gay character.  Wearing a Sign and everything.

No word on whether he or she is a regular, recurring, or one-shot.

But, in a few months, barring a last minute decision to close the closet door, the Disney Channel will breaking the silence.

Update: At the last minute, Disney decided to scrap the Teo Halm character, and the gay potential with him.

Fun Size: Nickelodeon Sex Comedy with Gay Characters

American movies and tv programs aimed at a juvenile audience are aggressively heterosexist, screaming hysterically in every episode "Heterosexual desire is universal!" and "Gay people absolutely do not exist!"  Nickelodeon's Fun Size (2012) got away with gay characters only because they were minor, adult, and female, and did not detract from the furious heterosexual machinations of the teens.

Oh, and because the movie got a PG-13 rating: Parents Strongly Cautioned!  Children under age 13 could be traumatized by discovering that gay people exist!

It's a Halloween-themed movie ("Fun Size" refers to the miniature candy bars people pass out to trick-or-treaters).

Wren (Victoria Justice of Victorious) has been invited to a big, cool Halloween party thrown by Aaron (Thomas McDonnell, left), the hunk she is crushing on.

But on the way, her younger brother Albert gets lost in a sea of trick-or-treaters, and she has to find him.  She enlists her best friend April (Jane Levy) and two nerds, Roosevelt (Thomas Mann) and Peng (Osric Chau, left), who have crushes on them.  Guess who hooks up?

Meanwhile Albert gets involved with Fuzzy (Thomas Middleditch), who is plotting to toilet-paper his ex-girlfriend's house in revenge after she breaks up with him to date the jerk Jorgen (Johnny Knoxville).  Not to worry, Fuzzy finds a new girl.

In fact, the only one who doesn't hook up is little Albert.  Which is surprising, since in contemporary juvenile media, 8-year olds are usually portrayed as just as hetero-horny as teens.

There's a lackluster gay subtext between Roosevelt and Peng, and some beefcake, such as Josh Pence (left) as Wren's mother's twink boyfriend.

You also get to see Fuzzy naked.

And the gay characters: Roosevelt's two Moms, an oddball lesbian couple who will allow him to borrow the family car only if he can ask in Ancient Greek (he misses the word for "seat belt").

Not enough to detract from the unyielding heterosexism of this Nickelodeon sex comedy.

Why You Should Be Watching "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia"

And this isn't the only reason.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia has been airing on FX since 2005, but since it has less than half of the number of episodes of an ordinary sitcom, it's only up to about 100 episodes to date.

The premise sounds like many sitcoms:  Five friends run a bar together, and engage in various wacky schemes to make money or improve their social standing in the community:

1. The Ivy-League-educated but underachieving Davis (Glenn Howerton, far left).
2. His twin sister Dee, an aspiring actress.
3. Davis's roommate, muscular martial-arts enthusiast Mac (Rob McElhenney)
4. The dimwitted Charlie (Charlie Day, right and above)
5. Davis and Dee's crooked millionaire dad, Frank (Danny DeVito, not shown).

But it's not like any other sitcom on television.

First, there's a lot of improv.

Second, there are complex interconnecting storylines, a la Seinfeld.

Third, the characters are sociopaths: manipulative, egotistical, amoral, sexist, completely oblivious to other people's feelings, even willing to betray each other to further their own agenda (although there are occasional  glimmers of affection).

Fourth, it's comedy genius.

There is no homophobia (although in one episode Mac feigns homophobia to win back his transsexual ex-girlfriend).

Gay characters appear frequently, and gay subtexts abound.

Actor Glenn Howerton states that he plays Davis as "ambiguously gay," longing for the attention of both men and women.  Davis and Mac are roommates and homoromantic partners who go out to a nice dinner every month, "just the two of us."

Frank and Charlie are obviously lovers.  They live together, sleep in the same bed, and play naked games with unspecified rules.  They get married, and later file for divorce, but decide to stay together when their divorce lawyer points out the "love between them."

When Frank begins dating Charlie's mother, Charlie devises a wild scheme to break them up, and then yells "Don't try to steal my man again!"

They go out for an anniversary dinner, and Frank begins a speech: "Meeting you has changed my life..." before he's interrupted.







All of the guys have respectable physiques, and there are substantial shirtless and semi-nude scenes.

Did I mention that it's wildly funny?

 The actors are all gay allies.  Rob McElhenney (left), who plays Mac, was "partially raised by two moms."

Enough talk -- go to Netflix or Amazon and start watching, already.

See also: Trailer Park Boys

Kostja Ullmann after Summer Storm

You've probably seen Kostja Ullmann in Summer Storm (Sommersturm), the amazing German movie (2004) about gay people who aren't trapped in a pre-Stonewall world of angst, homophobia, and silence.  The 28-year old actor has been a fixture of German tv and film ever since, usually in projects that require nude or semi-nude shots.

 Not a lot of gay content, but some atypical sexual situations that lend themselves to queer symbolism.

He reunites with Sommersturm costar Marlon Kittel in The School Trip (Klassenfahrt, 2004).

I haven't seen The Ode to Joy (2006), about German prisoners of war in Japan during World War I, but POW movies always have strong gay subtexts.

What's going on in this episode of Dona Leon entitled "The Girl of His Dreams"?  It's about an inspector trying to solve the murder of a Gypsy girl.  Maybe Kostja is a suspect.

In Hounded (Verfolgt), aka Punish Me (2006), a troubled teen named Jan (Kostja) begins a destructive relationship with his middle-aged probation officer.  She's a woman, but Jan's androgyny gives the move some strong gay symbolism.

Stellungswechsel (2007) is about five guys who set up a male-escort service.  All female clients, but still....