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WGA Strike’s Impact on Lesbian Visibility on TV Is Minimal

Much of the news coverage of the current Writers Guild of America strike has focused on how television viewers will be affected by the strike, with most reports pointing out that late-night comedy shows such as The Daily Show will go dark first, followed by scripted programs as they run out of completed episodes.

But although ABC has confirmed to AfterEllen.com that Cashmere Mafia has been pulled from the fall schedule (it was originally set to premiere Nov. 27), that decision does not significantly affect the representation of lesbians and bisexual women on television.

At this time, there are zero lesbian/bi characters on prime-time network television; Cashmere Mafia will add two, Bonnie Somerville’s Caitlin Dowd and Caitlin’s love interest, Alicia (Lourdes Benedicto). However, ABC’s decision to postpone the premiere of Cashmere Mafia does not mean they have decided to cancel the show, only to delay its debut, and the network has continued to move forward with plans to publicize the show. As Variety reported, “the show will now remain on the bench and serve as a utility player in case ABC needs more scripted originals later in the season.”

It is likely that the seven episodes of Cashmere Mafia that have been completed will be saved for early 2008, when other ABC prime-time shows such as Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy and Brothers & Sisters will have run out of fresh episodes if the strike has continued. The Ellen DeGeneres Show aired previously taped episodes on Monday and Tuesday this week, and it did not tape a new episode on Monday in honor of the striking writers, even though not all of the writers on DeGeneres’ talk show staff are WGA members.

Although Wednesday’s episode with guest Jake Gyllenhaal is a rerun, a Nov. 6 press release indicates that Thursday and Friday’s episodes will be new, suggesting that DeGeneres has decided to continue taping new episodes during the strike.

Other television shows that include regular or recurring lesbian characters mostly air on cable – a format for which entire seasons are shot well in advance and generally air regardless of ratings – and will not be affected by the strike.

Nip/Tuck‘s fifth season, which premiered last week on FX, includes three lesbian/bi characters – Roma Maffia’s Liz Cruz, Joely Richardson’s Julia McNamara and Portia de Rossi’s Olivia Lord – as well as two openly lesbian actors, de Rossi and Rosie O’Donnell. The 22-episode fifth season is scheduled to run in two segments; the first 14-episode segment, which is currently airing, has already been written and will air as planned.

The second segment of eight episodes will not air until later in 2008; that segment could be affected if the strike continues for several months. The Wire, which includes lesbian detective Shakima Greggs (Sonja Sohn), is scheduled to premiere in January 2008 on HBO. All episodes of this fifth season have already been shot and will air as planned.

Showtime’s The L Word, which debuts its fifth season on Jan. 6, 2008, has also completed filming all 12 episodes, and the series will air as planned.

The N’s South of Nowhere, which includes lesbian/bi teens Spencer (Gabrielle Christian) and Ashley (Mandy Musgrave) has finished shooting the second half of its third season, which is scheduled to air beginning in February 2008, and is not likely to be affected by the strike.

Both Dante’s Cove (here) and Exes & Ohs (Logo) are in the middle of their current seasons.

One of the primary effects of an extended WGA strike would be an even greater reliance by the networks on unscripted television and news programming, which does not rely on guild writers at this time. Because lesbians and bisexual women are much more likely to appear on reality TV than on scripted television, the WGA strike might actually have an unintended, positive impact on lesbian representation on TV.

At this time, lesbians and bisexual women can be found on several unscripted prime-time shows that would not be affected by the strike.

CBS’ Amazing Race includes lesbian ministers Kate Lewis and Pat Hendrickson; the cast of MTV’s Shot at Love With Tila Tequila is half-comprised of lesbians and bisexual women; BET’s College Hill Interns, with out lesbian Kathy, will air as scheduled through its Dec. 4 finale. Future unscripted programming about lesbians and bisexual women, including Shot at Love 2 and the third season of Bravo’s Work Out are not likely to be affected by the strike, either.

In this case, the fact that lesbians and bisexual women are largely excluded from prime-time scripted programming means that we won’t be missing them when broadcast television goes into reruns.

For more on the affect of the WGA strike, read the AfterEllen.com blog.

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