Are Gay TV Dads shooting blanks with Viewers?

With the number of gays growing on TV, it feels that the gay dad characters are missing the mark with viewers.

But why?

The Atlantic's Alysia Abbott explains:

The gay fathers on TV today can make us laugh, but can they inspire? If they can't inspire can they at least not embody embarrassing stereotypes? Thinking about the latest crop of gay dads on television I can't help but recall a popular chant from the Act Up demonstrations whenever someone was arrested or harassed: "The whole world is watching! The whole world is watching!" The irony is that, too often, the world wasn't watching then. But now, thanks to these primetime characters, people are definitely watching. They just aren't seeing much of the truth.

I know it's TV, but at this point in the game these stories should be better. Please check out this rest of the article. It's pretty good.

New Report: 28% of TV Watching Spent on LGBT-Inclusive Shows

This is pretty interesting. According to this study, more folks are tuning in to LGBT themed shows:

Scripted Shows for Teens, Realities for Older Females
Teen and Millennial viewers in particular dedicated over a third of their primetime scripted TV viewing to series depicting at least one regular or recurring LGBT character.* Females 50 and older were attracted to realities featuring LGBT cast-members, hosts, judges and/or competitors, dedicating a significant share of their reality TV time to these programs.* Overall, one in four scripted series and one in five reality shows were LGBT-inclusive.

“The inclusion of LGBT characters on TV more accurately portrays the diverse and multicultural society we live in by encompassing all segments of the population,” said Matt O’Grady, EVP, Audience Measurement, Nielsen.

LGBT-Inclusive Shows Attract Dynamic Audiences
Audiences for LGBT-inclusive shows were as diverse as the programs themselves, though certain demographics appear to have been more exposed to LGBT images. Within the 25-49 age demographic, LGBT-inclusive programs (and its advertisers) were most likely to reach:

• College-educated white females
• Small white collar households
• Budding families (those with 3 or fewer members)

Non-white, professional Millennials without children also tended to watch LGBT-inclusive shows more frequently than primetime in general.

LGBT-Inclusive characters were incorporated into shows that skewed towards Eastern and Pacific viewers and were less watched by Midwesterners. This differential was most pronounced among 18-24 year olds in the Midwest, especially when compared to 18-24 year olds in other regions of the U.S.

Interesting. I wondering this will promote more LGBT TV?

source

AfterElton.com's Hot 100

Last Week, AfterElton.com released their top 100 hot men of 2008. I just got around to see this list, but I was a little bit surprised with the choices.

First, I thought the list was 100 gay men since it is a gay site and channel, I just assumed it would be gay men. But it's a mix of gay and straight.

There are certain guys that are high on the list like T.R Knight? Gale Harold? Van Hansis? And he's only there because he playing gay on a soap opera.

Out of 100 men, only 9 of them were men of color. Maybe 9.5 since Cheyenne Jackson is half Native American.

The top guy (no pun intended) is Jake Gyllenhaal, which is interesting, because he beat John Barrowman.

And where were Tom Colicchio, Gregory Kieth (the guy in the pic), and Nathan Fillion. These are totally cute guys that should have made the list.

In all it's a decent list, but what I like about it was the assessment they did before counting down the top hot 100. To see it, click on the title.