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Report: More LGBT Characters on TV in 2010-2011 Season

September 29, 2010

GLAAD names HBO’s True Blood Most LGBT-Inclusive Show on TV

A just-published Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) report analyzing LGBT visibility on television found that LGBT characters will account for 3.9% of scripted series regulars on broadcast shows in 2010-2011, a gain of 0.9% compared to the 2009-2010 season. Twenty-three out of 587 series regular characters on 84 shows are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, according to the annual “Where We Are on TV” study.

On mainstream cable networks, the number of LGBT lead and supporting characters rebounded after a two-year decline, from 25 in 2009 to 35 in the upcoming season.

GLAAD found HBO’s vampire drama True Blood the most gay-inclusive show on television, with six regular and recurring LGBT characters.

Broadcast

On the broadcast networks—including ABC, Fox, NBC, CBS and The CW—ABC’s hit Modern Family features the most LGBT lead characters (two), while its Brothers & Sisters, Grey’s Anatomy and Happy Endings each features one LGBT lead.

For the upcoming season, ABC trounces the other broadcast networks with the highest number and percentage of LGBT characters—11 out of 152 total characters, or 7.2%. Fox comes in second with five out of 100 total characters (5%), up from zero in 2007 thanks to Glee, House and Bones. The CW features three LGBT characters out of 67 (4.5%), while NBC features three out of 143 total characters (2.1%).

CBS features a single LGBT supporting character—bisexual Kalinda Sharma on The Good Wife, played by Emmy-winning actress Archie Panjabi—out of 125 total regulars (0.8%).

Cable

HBO features the greatest number of LGBT characters with 10, while ABC Family and Showtime tie for second place with seven LGBT roles each. Syfy boasts four characters, and TNT, FX, Starz and TeenNick have three apiece. In addition True Blood, Degrassi: The Boiling Point (TeenNick), GREEK (ABC Family), Skins (BBC America), Nurse Jackie (Showtime), Shameless (Sundance) and Spartacus: Gods of the Arena (Starz) feature multiple LGBT lead and supporting roles.

Ironically, the only original programming for the 2010-2011 season on the two LGBT-focused cable networks—LOGO and here!TV—is unscripted and alternative content, so GLAAD did not include them in the survey.

Comparisons

While overall LGBT visibility has increased on TV, the same can’t be said for LGBT characters of color or gay women.

Gay male characters continue to outnumber their lesbian and bisexual female counterparts on broadcast shows 24 to 11. Six characters are people of color, though no African-American LGBT characters appear in any 2010-2011 broadcast shows.

On cable, gay men still outnumber women 35 to 17 among lead, supporting and recurring characters. One transgender character, Adam (played by Jordan Todosey) appears on Degrassi: The Boiling Point. Fourteen LGBT characters are black, Latino/a, Asian-Pacific Islander, “other” or “TBA,” according to the survey.

“The increase in lesbian, gay and bisexual characters on primetime television not only reflects the shift in American culture towards greater awareness and understanding of our community, but also a new industry standard that a growing number of creators and networks is adopting,” GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios said in a statement. “The recent critical and commercial success of shows like Modern Family and Glee clearly indicate that mainstream audiences embrace gay characters and want to see well-crafted stories about our lives.”

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