Readers' Choice: The Top 25 Gay TV Characters Revealed!
Fans of Brothers & Sisters cater waiter Scotty were heartbroken when Scotty exited the show less than halfway through the first season. After all, he had been the one to challenge Kevin Walker (Matthew Rhys) to loosen up his buttons and live life as a gay man a little more freely. And it was with Scotty that Kevin shared that first kiss that told gay viewers Brothers & Sisters was going to be much more than another drama chastely portraying a gay couple’s neutered relationship.
As written by B&S creator Jon Robin Baitz and acted by Macfarlane, Scotty is unabashedly gay, proud of who he is, and feisty when backed into a corner. After he left the show, fans pined for his return, finding Kevin’s subsequent relationships with Chad Barry (Jason Lewis) and Jason McCallister (Eric Winter) to lack the same chemistry.
Indeed, some started referring to Scotty as Kevin’s "Mr. Big" (referencing Carrie Bradshaw’s on again/off again relationship on Sex and the City) in hopes that Scotty might return. Scotty has indeed returned to B&S and just last week found himself again dating Kevin, setting up a possible love triangle with Kevin and his most recent boyfriend Jason McCallister (Eric Winter), yet another way B&S is breaking ground in portraying gay relationships on broadcast TV.
Brothers & Sisters Kevin Walker (Matthew Rhys) came along last year at a time when gay viewers could be forgiven for thinking they might never see another fully-developed gay character on broadcast television. Will & Grace, a show not without critics for its less than three-dimensional portrayal of gay men, had recently gone off the air and two new shows which prominently featured gay men – Crumbs and The Book of Daniel – were both cancelled after airing fewer than ten episodes. And most other gay characters on television were those relegated to only brief appearances such as Stanford Blatch on Sex and the City or Joe the bartender on Grey’s Anatomy.
And the prognosis for Brothers & Sisters wasn’t terribly great either as the show debuted with extensive rewrites of the pilot, rumors of on-set strife, and with Rhys stepping into the role of Kevin Walker after Jonathan LaPaglia was replaced.
But almost from the get go gay viewers found themselves watching something very different — a fully realized portrayal of a gay man who was kind, petty, funny, sexy, smart and not just a little self-destructive when it came to love.
In B&S’ first season, Kevin had not one, not two, but three love interests. Gay viewers, starved to see same-sex affection, were practically gleeful when Kevin kissed Scotty (Luke MacFarlane) not to mention when he later shared a bed with Chad Barry (Jason Lewis) with none of the resulting controversy and threats of boycotts that erupted when thirtysomething showed two men in bed.
No comments:
Post a Comment