Yesterday, the nominees for the 21st Annual GLAAD Media Awards were announced and I was very pleased with several of their choices.
In the film categories (there's one for Wide Release and one for Limited Release), I've only actually seen one of the ten nominated films (I Love You, Man; I've had a thing for Paul Rudd since I saw him in The Object of My Affection!) so I don't really have an informed opinion. However, based simply on the fact that I loved the book so much and can't wait to see the film, I'm hoping A Single Man wins in the Wide Release category.
For Outstanding Drama Series, they've nominated Brothers & Sisters, Grey's Anatomy, Mad Men, Skins, and True Blood. I've never seen Mad Men or True Blood, so I can't speak to either of those shows.
I loved the first two series of Skins, even though gay character Maxxie wasn't really given a leading story in the first series. Still, his brief hook up with lead (and otherwise completely straight) character Tony during their trip to Russia was a pretty cool direction for the show to take, demonstrating the fluidity of sexuality and being something you'd never see happen on an American show. In the second series, Maxxie did have more to do, but he still never got a serious onscreen romance.
I believe the GLAAD nomination is for the third series, though (I've never watched the show on BBC America, but I think that's what they're currently showing), and I was only able to endure the first episode of that before tuning out forever. The nearly complete change in cast was just too jarring and I couldn't connect with any of the new characters.
Grey's Anatomy? I watched the first season on DVD and about half of the second season in real time, and that was about half a season too much in my view. As a rule, I avoid cop shows and medical shows, since they're always so predictable and depressing. I broke my rule for Grey's Anatomy because I'd heard so many good things about it, but it quickly became everything I hate about such shows.
There weren't any LGBT characters when I was watching and I haven't followed any developments since, so I'm not sure exactly what it has been nominated for.
Which brings us to Brothers & Sisters, a show that I have followed since the beginning. I love Kevin & especially Scotty, so I guess they would be my choice to win, though even Brothers & Sisters is feeling pretty tired and almost too depressing to watch these days.
Maybe I really do need to start watching True Blood like I've been told I should!
For Outstanding Comedy Series, GLAAD has nominated three shows that I love against one another: Glee, Greek, and The United States of Tara. Modern Family and Beautiful People, neither of which I've seen yet, round out the list.
Looking just at their LGBT representation, it's hard to pick between the three shows. The United States of Tara has gay teen Marshall, who is completely accepted by his family and who had a love interest in a confused minister's son (who ended up making out with one of Marshall's mom's other personalities).
Glee has Kurt, of course, who came out to his friend Mercedes and to his father and was accepted by both. I especially love the relationship between Kurt and his dad.
Greek has gay frat brother Calvin, who has been out since the first season and who faced some difficulties in the beginning with his brothers over his sexuality. Most recently Calvin has started a relationship with Grant, his closeted roommate in the frat.
The show also features Calvin's ex, Heath, who is a brother in a rival frat and who is also out to his brothers. Heath was completely accepted from the moment he came out, but other than his on again, off again relationship with Calvin, he hasn't had much of an onscreen love life.
This past season it also featured sorority girl Rebeca questioning her own sexuality after a kiss with a visiting sorority alum.
It's really hard to pick which show is the most deserving of recognition. I'd be happy with any of them winning.
GLAAD also nominates individual episodes that deal with LGBT issues on shows without regular gay or lesbian characters. Supernatural, one of my favorites shows, was nominated this year for their episode entitled 'The Real Ghostbusters' and I really would like to see them win for this.
The episode was very meta in that lead characters Sam & Dean went to a Supernatural fan convention. On the show, their adventures have been published in book form by a character who turned out to be a prophet. These books, which no one realizes are based on a real Sam & Dean, have a cult following.
The episode was a way for the show to deal with its own fans in a tongue in cheek way and it was very funny. The LGBT element came in the form of Barnes and Damien, two of the geeky Supernatural fans who attend the convention, role playing as Sam and Dean.
They quickly realized that there were very real ghosts threatening the lives of their fellow convention attendees and ended up stepping up and helping to save the day, because it was 'what Sam and Dean would do'.
At the end of the episode, when Dean was saying his goodbyes to the characters and asked how they knew each other, they revealed that they were partners, which made an earlier moment when Damien turned back to save Barnes instead of running off to save his own life, and the encouragement they gave each other during the fight, stand out all the more.
I've never seen any of the other nominees in this category (two episodes of Private Practice, an episode of The Listener, and an episode of Parks & Recreation), but Supernatural is a show that has always playfully acknowledged their gay fans (as well as their female fans who write endless slash fiction stories about Sam and Dean, or Jared and Jensen) and this episode gave us gay characters who were not only different from most gay characters we see on TV, but also ended up risking their lives and heroically saving the day.
For Outstanding TV Movie or Mini-series, I don' think there can be any real competition. Prayers for Bobby should win, hands down. Pedro wasn't a bad film, but Prayers for Bobby was better. I haven't seen the Torchwood mini-series or An Englishman in New York.
Outstanding Daytime Drama: need you ask? One Life to Live is far superior (not only as a show overall, but in their gay storyline, which is what the award is for) to the other three nominees: As the World Turns, Guiding Light, and All My Children. In fact, if there was an overall category to award the best LGBT Media Representation in all of film and Television, Kish should win for their love scene on New Year's Eve alone.
Adam Lambert was nominated for Outstanding Music Artist for his album For Your Entertainment. He's nominated against Lady Gaga, Gossip, Otep, and Brandi Carlile, and in my admittedly biased mind, he's the clear choice.
AfterElton was nominated for Outstanding Digital Journalism Article for Bret Hartinger's excellent "Why Can’t You Just Butch Up? Gay Men, Effeminacy, and Our War with Ourselves".
There are several other categories, as well, so check out all the nominees.
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