ABC's Desperate Housewives (Sunday, 9 ET/PT) has its first desperate houseguys. And they may be the most unconventionally conventional gay couple on broadcast television.
The relationship of Bob (One Life to Live's Tuc Watkins) and Lee (Judging Amy's Kevin Rahm) is less than idyllic. There's marital tension. One likes the city, one likes suburbia. One's conciliatory, one's acerbic. One tries to blend in, the other couldn't care less. They have secrets. In other words, they're not that much different than most of the straight couples on Wisteria Lane.
"In capturing the gay suburban experience, the joke is they have the same issues as everyone else," says series creator Marc Cherry, who eschewed stereotypical characterizations of gay men. "The politically correct thing would have been to have everyone get along with them. But there's a lot of comedy to be played against type."
Gay characters and couples are nothing new on TV. But typically, broadcast TV gay roles have been played for laughs, flamboyance and fashion acumen.
Bob and Lee make their Desperate debut to a surprised Susan (Teri Hatcher), who extends her physical clumsiness to the social graces. "I've seen a lot of cable, so I get it. You're just great," she tells the perplexed pair upon finally realizing the couple's sexual orientation.
Cable TV has been kinder and more realistic in gay couple portrayals on such programs as HBO's Six Feet Under and The Wire, notes Damon Romine, entertainment media director at the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).
"It's great that Desperate Housewives— a clever, funny, high-profile show — is expanding its diversity by having a long-time committed gay couple. It taps into an audience that already enjoys the show," he says.
Cherry, who named the characters after ABC journalist Bob Woodruff and his wife, Lee, after meeting them at a dinner, says he and his writers are still developing Bob and Lee's story lines — which, in keeping with the neighborhood, include at least one secret between the couple and a story line involving their roles in helping rebuild the community after a tornado.
That plotline may help them in a community that ostracized them in last Sunday's episode, after they placed a huge, hideous, metal-sculptured fountain in their front yard. They blackmailed neighborhood association president Katherine (newcomer Dana Delany) from having it hauling away.
Both actors relish the high-profile roles.
"Marc should be applauded for creating gay characters who aren't issue-oriented. A lot of the time, gay characters are known through issues — coming out or health problems," Watkins says. "There are a few cliché gay jokes on Desperate Housewives. But Bob and Lee aren't stereotypical. They have horrible taste. They have a sense of humor. They're a little mean. They're certainly not PC."
Watkins continues to play David Vickers on ABC daytime soap One Life to Live, a role completely opposite to Wives' Bob. "David is an inept con man who's been married four times and sleeps around," Watkins says. "Bob is a conservative husband who is just trying to keep to himself. It's great to play both."
"Tuc's character wants to be the good guy, to be part of the community," Rahm says. "What's great about Lee is there's no filter on the stuff he says about the suburbs or what he says to other people. It's a great dynamic."
It's unclear how long the couple will remain on Wisteria Lane; currently, the pair are cast as recurring characters. "We're having fun with them," Cherry says. "I hope to keep them as long as I can."
USAToday
No comments:
Post a Comment