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2008 Year in Review: Television

Last year in our annual overview of the Year in Television, Malinda Lo wrote, “Though there is still plenty of room for improvement – particularly on broadcast TV – the low points of 2007 do not contradict the fact that lesbian/bi representation on TV this past year has increased and improved significantly.”

Clearly, a lot can change in a year.

Though 2008 comes to a close with word of possible new queer female characters on the horizon in the coming year, the prospects for lesbians and bisexual women on television over the last twelve months have been somewhat grim.

This has been particularly true for lesbians, whose numbers on scripted network television have now dwindled to zero.

While portrayals of lesbian characters on Grey’s Anatomy and Cashmere Mafia (both on ABC) showed initial promise, it wasn’t long before their storylines turned sour and came to a screeching halt, due to either the end of a storyline (Grey’s Anatomy) or the cancellation of the show itself (Cashmere Mafia). Cable television programs such as The L Word, South of Nowhere, and a handful of reality programs have become the last bastion for lesbians on the small screen.

As a result, those wanting to see lesbians on television have needed to trade in their love of fiction for the real lives of openly lesbian actors (Lily Tomlin, Jane Lynch), talk show hosts (Ellen DeGeneres), and news commentators (Rachel Maddow).

In 2008, however, bisexual characters, whose representations in popular culture have historically faced their own unique set of problems, rose to a level of some prominence in the bleak arena of television with storylines on House, M.D. and Bones (both on Fox).

Unfortunately, as AfterEllen.com Editor-in-Chief Sarah Warn recently reported in her Visibility Matters column “The Disappearing Lesbian on Primetime Broadcast TV”, “…it appears that improved visibility for bisexual women has come at the expense of visibility for lesbians, and this trade-off is only going to happen more frequently moving forward.”

If there is any one trend that sums up the year in television for lesbian and bisexual women in 2008, it is that of the replacement of lesbian characters with bisexual characters in scripted television.

Why? As Warn observed in her “Visibility Matters” column:

In a television environment in which lesbian and bisexual women are still primarily confined to token or supporting characters, and there’s only room for one leading queer woman (if any), writers on mainstream TV shows will choose a bisexual character over a lesbian every time…because [bisexual characters] allow for maximum titillation (which translates to ratings) and storytelling options (since they can be paired with a man or a woman), and minimal potential for alienating a majority of their audience (straight men).

Scripted Television

In terms of lesbian representation on television in 2008, the story of the year was that of the firing of actress Brooke Smith (aka Dr. Erica Hahn) and the ending of the lesbian romance between her character and series regular Callie Torres (played by Sara Ramirez) on Grey’s Anatomy.

Dr. Erica Hahn (Brooke Smith), left, and Dr. Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez)

The storyline and the affair itself were short-lived, but because they came to pass on one of the most popular (and acclaimed) shows on television, their impact was undeniable. At the time, theirs was the only lesbian/bisexual relationship on primetime American broadcast television, and the first significant gay relationship portrayed on Grey’s Anatomy.

In May of 2008, the possibility of a Hahn-Callie affair was hinted at on the show, and in July of 2008 Brooke Smith told AfterEllen.com that she was excited to explore her character’s sexuality on the show and was certain that the lesbian relationship would not be played for ratings alone.

When the Hahn-Callie affair finally got its start in October, the portrayal of their sexual discovery (neither initially identified as lesbian) was lauded for being tender, funny, and realistic. Even Hahn learning that she was, perhaps, more fulfilled by lesbian sex than Callie struck a chord of truth for women who have found themselves on either end of a similar situation.

Which is why the sudden dismissal of Smith and the subsequent end of her relationship with Callie was so jarring to devoted lesbian and bisexual viewers, many of whom had watched the show since its inception and had long been hoping for a quality lesbian storyline.

Rumors about the reason behind the firing were rampant and fans blamed everyone from conservative families willing to boycott Disney over the matter (ABC is owned by Disney) to ABC executives who reportedly “had issues” with the explicit nature of the relationship between Hahn and Torres and the Hahn character in general.

Series creator Shonda Rimes attempted to dismiss the rumors by issuing this statement:

Brooke Smith was obviously not fired for playing a lesbian. Clearly it’s not an issue as we have a lesbian character on the show — Calliope Torres. Sara Ramirez is an incredible comedic and dramatic actress and we wanted to be able to play up her magic. Unfortunately, we did not find that the magic and chemistry with Brooke’s character would sustain in the long run. The impact of the Callie/Erica relationship will be felt and played out in a story for Callie. I believe it belittles the relationship to simply replace Erica with ‘another lesbian.’ If you’ll remember, Cristina mourned the loss of Burke for a full season.

Unfortunately, since Callie had clearly identified herself as a bisexual woman, not a lesbian, in the previous episode, this statement just made Rhimes and ABC appear even more out of step with their own show, and the intelligence of its viewers.

The firing incited a swift bit of online activism from scores of LGBT (and LGBT-friendly) viewers, who were no doubt already feeling the sting of homophobia that week due to the passage of anti-gay measures in several states that same week as part of the November elections.

Following on the heels of the firing was more de-gaying Grey gossip, this time that Melissa George’s new intern character, Sadie, initially described as bisexual, would now be heterosexual (or technically bisexual, but in name only).

Cue another round of groans (and angry emails) from lesbians and bisexual women everywhere.

Earlier this month, ABC announced that Jessica Capshaw (Bette Porter’s hot-to-trot teaching assistant on season four of The L Word) would join the Grey’s cast as Callie’s new love interest for at least three episodes beginning in January 2009. Capshaw will play pediatrician Dr. Arizona Robbins, who has come to Seattle Grace to assist with a case.

We hope that all of the lesbian/bisexual drama this season on Grey’s will play out in a positive manner in 2009, but it’s not likely given the events so far this season, which inspire me to quote a line from Tootsie: That is one nutty hospital!

One of the other big stories about a queer female character played out at yet another nutty hospital in 2008, that of Dr. Remy Hadley, aka “Thirteen” (played by Olivia Wilde) on House, M.D..

Thirteen (Olivia Wilde)

Wilde joined the cast in 2007 as one of 40 interns hired by cantankerous medical guru Gregory House, M.D. House whittled down his group of medical “contestants” in a reality television-style competition until only three were left to join his staff. Number Thirteen a.k.a. Hadley was among them, and her character’s bisexuality was confounding to the man in charge, making her the target of his considerable snark.

This season, her character was diagnosed with fatal Huntington’s Disease and her response was to live each day as if it were her last (opportunity to have sex with a woman).

Fox produced a steamy promo ad for the October 21 episode (“Lucky Thirteen”) showing Thirteen in a torrid embrace with another woman. But when the episode actually aired, a crucial 20 seconds from the promo didn’t make the final cut.

Even before the episode aired, House executive producer Katie Jacobs suggested that Thirteen’s red-hot scene with another woman was, more than anything else, a symptom of her reaction to the fatal Huntington’s diagnosis.

When you don’t know how many years you have left to live, you might exhibit some reckless, risk-taking behavior. And she doesn’t express it through her work, but after hours, she’s leading quite a life … Thirteen’s sexual involvement with this woman is not really about this other woman. It’s about Thirteen’s reckless behavior. It’s not the first time she’s done it, and it won’t be the last time.

Thirteen’s colleague, Foreman (played by Omar Epps) expressed concern at her wild behavior, and she later confided in him about her feelings about having the disease. At the end of the episode that aired last week (“Joy to the World”) the two were seen kissing passionately.

AE contributing writer and blogger Dorothy Snarker followed the development of Thirteen’s bisexual storyline, and noted, “Look, we have so few examples of gay women in sexual relationships on TV in the first place, must this one be shown as a symptom of her reckless behavior? …Intentional or not, this sets up the dynamic that Thirteen is ‘unhealthy’ and ‘unstable’ when she is with women and ‘healthy’ and ‘balanced’ when she is with men.”

Regardless of how revolutionary House might aim to be in their portrayal of the unabashedly bisexual Thirteen, playing into the oldest of stereotypes regarding the stability of heterosexual relationships when compared to their queer counterparts is a definite step in the wrong direction.

It will be interesting to see how the show continues to navigate Thirteen’s bisexuality if she is coupled with Foreman for any length of time, or if their relationship might be just the dose of “health” needed to stave off Thirteen’s disease.

Fox was home to yet another supporting female character whose bisexuality was explored this season. On the quirky crime-procedural Bones, series regular Angela (Michaela Conlin) reunited with her ex-girlfriend Roxie (In Plain Sight’s Nichole Hiltz) when she became a suspect in a murder investigation.

Angela (Michaela Conlin), right, with Roxie (Nichole Hiltz)

Though paired with a male love interest since the second season of the show, Angela’s bisexual past was hinted at as early as the first season of Bones, then brought up again last season when a private investigator made a comment to Angela about “a girl named Roxie, whose heart you broke in second-year art school.”

Just in time for Sweeps week (early November, around the same time Smith’s firing from Grey’s was announced), “The Skull in the Sculpture” episode of Bones (which introduced Roxie) aired on Fox. In the episode, Roxie and Angela see each other again for the first time since college.

Roxie is questioned as part of the investigation into the murder of her boss. When questioned about the nature of her relationship with her deceased employer, she proclaims, “I’m gay, I’m a lesbian, I’ve never been with a man in my life and I never will!” Yes, Roxie is gay. Duly noted.

Angela considers rekindling with Roxie, and after getting the advice of her mostly progressive and gay-friendly colleagues, the two women kiss at the end of the episode, and proceed to have a (mostly off-screen) relationship for the next few episodes, and even discuss moving in together (ultimately concluding it’s too soon).

The show is currently on hiatus through January, and the Roxie character is rumored to recur in 2009. But EW.com is already reporting that that Roxie-Angela relationship will end in a break-up in February, and that Angela’s next love interest will be male.

When originally alerting AE readers to the airing of “The Skull in the Sculpture” episode, AfterEllen.com Editor-In-Chief Sarah Warn reminded us, “…be forewarned: it’s no coincidence that we’re getting a lesbian-themed episode of Bones in the middle of Sweeps. After this episode, Angela will most likely go back to being bisexual in the same way that Callie on Grey’s Anatomy is (i.e. it will rarely be mentioned again).”

Let’s hope she’s wrong, and not just because of the continual lack of lesbian/bisexual representation on television. It’s also a matter of racial diversity, since Angela is the only one of all the bisexual characters on primetime broadcast television who is Asian American (Conlin is of Chinese and Irish descent, and her character is half-Chinese).

The one leading lesbian character to briefly rear her head on primetime broadcast television this year was Caitlin (played by Bonnie Somerville) on ABC’s Cashmere Mafia.

Before it ever premiered, the much-hyped show about four female friends supporting one another through the ups and downs of both business and personal life seemed to be the only really glimmer of hope for lesbian representation on primetime broadcast television.

The evolution of the Caitlin character included her coming out to herself, then her friends, then eventually becoming involved with the woman who first turned her head (Alicia Lawson, played by Lourdes Benedicto).

Alicia (Lourdes Benedicto), left, and Caitlin (Bonnie Somerville)

While some of her storyline was handled with dramatic/comedic aplomb, the lesbian storyline ran afoul of many viewers with the quick introduction of a stereotypical pregnancy subplot in the relationship with Alicia.

Moving at a speed typically only seen in real-life lesbian relationships, Alicia reports after only a handful of dates that she is pregnant (via insemination) and Caitlin ponders whether or not she is ready for co-parenting.

In Cashmere’s short seven-episode run, Caitlin’s tentative exploration of her lesbian identity was interrupted by a sexual liaison with a man. The resulting confusion wreaks havoc on her relationship with Alicia, who ultimately breaks up with Caitlin to reconcile with the ex-girlfriend with whom she originally became pregnant.

While Caitlin’s journey may be a realistic portrayal of the complicated coming out process for many women, it was hell on her relationship with Alicia and because the show didn’t last beyond seven episodes, viewers never got to find out how it ended.

Was Caitlin indeed a lesbian? Was she bisexual? In which category should we score this particular addition to the body count of queer women on television in 2008?

As may ultimately be the case with the Angela-Roxie relationship on Bones, the handling of the Caitlin-Alicia relationship marked a lost opportunity for not only a (now) rare portrayal of a lesbian relationship on television, but that of an ongoing bi-racial lesbian relationship. While no explicit mention of her ethnic background was ever made on Cashmere Mafia’sshort run, Benedicto is half-Latina and half-Filipina.

Along with the passage of Cashmere Mafia and Lawson’s storyline went the opportunity for a lesbian character of color on primetime network television.

2008 also marked the end and near-end of two of the most popular cable programs with lesbian characters for several years running.

South of Nowhere ended its three-year run on The N last week, and The L Word is set to wrap-up its unprecedented six season run in early 2009 on Showtime.

South of Nowhere broke some much-needed new ground with its portrayal of a teen lesbian relationship when it debuted in 2006.The coming-out storyline for Ohio teen Spencer Carlin (Gabrielle Christian) was included as part of a larger family drama that included issues of racism, marital fidelity, religion, addiction, violence, and teen sexuality.

The show was rewarded with immediate devotion from lesbian viewers of all ages who found Spencer’s coming out story and subsequent relationship with young lesbian rebel Ashley Davies (Mandy Musgrave) to be both realistic and romantic in its tentative beginnings.

Ashley (Mandy Musgrave), left, and Spencer (Gabrielle Christian)

Season two, however, was a different story. While Spencer and Ashley finally consummated their relationship, it quickly became clear that when it came to displays of physical affection, lesbian and heterosexual relationships on SON were held to vastly different standards.

Despite protestations from the The N to the contrary, viewers couldn’t help but notice that Spencer and Ashley’s chaste kisses and hugs were frequently interrupted, while heterosexual teen romances were allowed a fuller range of physical expression (one of those relationships even resulted in a pregnancy).

To make matters worse, by the end of the second season, Ashley was reconsidering her feelings for former boyfriend Aiden, which would leave Spencer to weather the difficulties of coming out to a homophobic Catholic mother largely on her own.

The N stole much momentum from the show by splitting its third and final season into two parts, airing the end of the first half of the season airing in September 2007, and the second half over a year later in October 2008.

While the first half of the third season offered over-the-top dramatic situations that tested the limits of viewer imagination (Ashley’s father dies and she inherits his millions, Spencer’s brother Clay is gunned down and his grieving girlfriend Chelsea conveniently loses their unborn baby), the second half seemed somewhat boring in comparison and the series finale ended with more of a whimper than a bang.

But for all of its faults, South of Nowhere stayed true to the coming out story of its lead character, Spencer Carlin.

Whatever temptation there might have been to have her question her sexual orientation, once Spencer came out, she stayed out. And she continued to come out to the people around her, including interested male suitors and her ultra-conservative grandmother. Perhaps her greatest obstacle, her homophobic mother, Paula, had her own gracefully-plotted arc of coming to love and accept her lesbian daughter.

Paula (Maeve Quinlan) with Spencer

The character of Ashley did not fare quite as well. The character ostracized for being gay in the first season turned out to not be into “labels.” Essentially coded as bisexual, Ashley stereotypically ran back and forth between her girlfriend (Spencer) and boyfriend (Aiden) for much of the series, and was clearly labeled as sexually promiscuous.

In addition to being saddled with some bisexual stereotypes, Ashley’s poor-little-rich-girl-turned-rockstar-in-the-making storyline made her less sympathetic and believable than Spencer, and her character’s actions (romantic or otherwise) often read as opportunistic.

Ultimately though, the show’s greatest success was its ability to allow its lead character to transcend the often one-dimensional coming-out story arc in favor of allowing her to fully integrate her new identity into every aspect of her otherwise common teen existence.

Spencer wasn’t just a lesbian teen, she was a lesbian teen who fought with her mother, bonded with her father, grappled with the loss of her brother, struggled to find stability with her fickle girlfriend, agonized over which college to attend and tried to figure out what she wanted to be when she grew up.

For all of those things, South of Nowhere will not only be missed, but also difficult to replace. If nothing else, the show set a new standard for just how complex the portrayal of a teen lesbian character can be if both the series creators and the hosting network are willing and able.

The fifth season of that other lesbian show on cable television, The L Word, enjoyed a return to its roots in 2008. The series found some of the depth, humor and camaraderie among its characters that defined the show when it originally premiered on Showtime in 2004.

The comedy was largely supplied by the addition of over-the-top rival bar-owner Dawn Denbo (played by Elizabeth Keener) and by the transformation of formerly under-employed nebbish writer Jenny Schechter (played by Mia Kirshner) to hot shot director on the big Hollywood feature film version of her article, Lez Girls.

Jenny’s ascent to power-mad dictator status included an All About Eve-inspired subplot that gave long-time Jenny-hating viewers the opportunity to watch her plummet from grace at the hands of crafty underling Adele (played by Malaya Rivera Drew).

Despite the comedy, however, some of the issues that have dogged the show in seasons past, such as the depiction of bisexual characters and women of color, continued to be topics of discussion in 2008 as well.

In its five year existence, The L Word has had a conflicted relationship with its bisexual characters. In the first season of the show, both Alice Pieszecki (played by Leisha Hailey) and Jenny Schechter (Kirshner) identified as bisexual, and in the third season of the show Tina Kennard (Laurel Holloman) left her long-term relationship with Bette to date a man, but refused to specifically identify as bisexual when pressed by her friends.

By season five, however Jenny, Alice and Tina are dating women exclusively and none of them are even talking about identifying as bisexual.

This L Word trend, quite the opposite of what we are currently seeing on network television, prompted AfterEllen.com contributing writer Nicole Kristal to remark that “L Word viewers have been trained to forget the show used to depict bisexuality with more realism and less stereotype. It’s just that some of us – the ones who stomach the biphobic remarks in hope that someday we’ll be represented fairly once again – remember. And that’s why we foolishly keep tuning in.”

In terms of depicting women of color, the controversial character Papi, prominent in the fourth season of the show and widely criticized for both embodying negative stereotypes about Latinas and for being played by a non-Latina actress (Janina Gavankar is of mixed Indian and Dutch descent), disappeared from the cast without explanation in 2008.

Rose Rollins’s depiction of Army National Guard office Tasha Williams, one of the few lesbian of color characters on television, continued to be full of depth and passion.

Rollins enjoyed increased screen time in a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” storyline in season five that culminated in her discharge from the military. That particular plot development increases the opportunity to further develop the character of Tasha on the show, as her storyline has, up to this point, has been mostly limited to her being a closeted member of the military.

The L Word’s scheduled season six in 2009 will be limited to only eight episodes, and early spoilers suggest that they will revolve around the murder of one of the main characters on the series.

After that, the future of the series has yet to be determined.

Creator Ilene Chaiken is currently developing an L Word spin-off pilot for Showtime, centered on the Alice Pieszecki character, and reportedly set in a women’s prison.

Regardless of how the spin-off might fare, with the announcement of a final (if abbreviated) season, The L Word has a rare opportunity to right past wrongs (where in the world is Carmen de la Pico Morales?) and address some of the criticism about how race, gender and sexual orientation have been depicted on the show over the last five years.

But if nothing else, we can all look forward to the guest appearance of Lucy Lawless in the final season of the show. Chaiken may not ultimately deliver the peace, love and understanding that some L Word viewers may be seeking as the series draws to a close, but it’s hard to find fault with the decision to invite Xena to join the cast of the most infamous lesbian program in the history of television.

Daytime television

Daytime drama may not enjoy the glamour and notoriety of nighttime drama, but it’s a mistake to underestimate the impact that soap operas can have on lesbian representation.

Soaps have often been more progressive in their depiction of controversial topics (such as gay and lesbian sexuality) than primetime television, and one of the leaders in that arena is ABC’s long-running All My Children.

Actress Eden Riegel developed an international fan base with her depiction of a teenaged lesbian on the show begining in 2000, and her character’s subtextual-turned-textual love affair with Maggie (Elizabeth Hendrickson) became the stuff of soap opera legend.

In 2008, Riegel returned to AMC to reprise the role of Bianca, now a mother of two and engaged to a woman named Reese (played by Tamara Braun).

Bianca (Eden Riegel), left, with Reese (Tamara Braun)

While lesbian characters and relationships were evaporating on primetime television in 2008, AMC reversed that dour trend by bringing back fan-favorite Bianca and giving her the sort of hyper-romantic storyline for which soaps are famous.

In October on AMC, Reese arrived in Pine Valley after Bianca had given birth to their daughter (in the middle of a tornado, because it’s a soap opera) and made a very romantic marriage proposal to Bianca. Of course, Bianca accepted Reese’s proposal, and it was the first lesbian marriage proposal on daytime television.

To make matters even better (for a change), it was followed by a romantic kiss between the two women, which is more than we’ve seen on most popular primetime dramas.

Then in November, AMC broke ground yet again by showing a sex scene between Bianca and Reese. The scene itself was pretty tame, but, as Sarah Warn noted in her AfterEllen.com blog post on the episode,

…this was still a breakthrough for All My Children … which previously has only shown two women in bed together once, to my recollection (Bianca in Lena’s hotel room), and they were sitting side-by-side – not lying down – in a “morning after” scene (not kissing or engaging in sexual activity the way the heterosexual characters do all the time on the show).

Beyond the sex scene, the Bianca-Reese relationship actually fits the description of “family” typically reserved for heterosexual relationships on television, primetime or otherwise.

Riegel told AfterEllen.com that the family element of the AMC story was one the things that compelled her to return to the show:

When they asked me to come back, it was to explore Bianca and Reese’s relationship as they moved toward a wedding. Which is why I was so excited to return.

In terms of the future, what I want is for us to really dig in deep to the issues that come up for same sex couples as they make the adjustment to from love’s first blush to becoming a family. Bianca and Reese have had a head start with Bianca’s beautiful daughter Miranda, but bringing another child into the picture brings it’s own set of complications. Especially when it’s the biological daughter of only one of them.

I love the idea of exploring what family really means and what’s great about daytime television is that you get to see the relationships and dynamics shift and grow over a longer period of time than you can in other, quicker mediums.

And unlike Grey’s Anatomy, Bones, or House, M.D., both of the characters on AMC are out lesbians and their lesbian relationship will last well beyond Sweeps week.

Minor but memorable

In addition to the more headline-grabbing primetime programs on both broadcast and cable television, there were also a number of shows in 2008 with minor lesbian and bisexual characters, as well as inventive lesbian/bisexual subplots.

For example, the CBS comedy The New Adventures of Old Christine featured a brief lesbian marriage storyline, centered around Christine (Julia Louis Dreyfus) marrying her best friend Barb (played by the newly out and recently married Wanda Sykes) to help her obtain US citizenship, back in the good old days in California when gay marriage was still legal (pre-Prop 8).

Christine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), left, and Barb (Wanda Sykes)

In October, ABC comedy Samantha Who? featured a predictable but funny episode involving one of the show’s straight characters vying for the attention of the hot office lesbian.

The critically acclaimed Friday Night Lights also included a new lesbian character who is already winning over critics and audiences alike, and a lesbian couple made a brief appearance on a recent episode of ER.

Helen Eigenberg (center) and Robin Weigert guest star on ER

In the case of minor characters like these, our hope is always that their stories might just blossom into something bigger in the coming year.

ABC Family’s drama Lincoln Heights included a recurring lesbian character who finally got to dance with the girl she liked at the prom in the season finale, resulting in a rare depiction of a black lesbian couple on TV.

When 90210 premiered this fall, Lauren London guest-starred as a cheerleader who made only a brief mention of her bisexuality. This month we learned that her character would be back in 2009, this time with a girlfriend.

Finally, as we’ve come to expect, the roles of lesbian victims and villains were in abundance as usual on multiple crime procedurals this year. As Sarah Warn noted in her Visibility Matters column “The Disappearing Lesbian on Primetime Broadcast TV,” “In just the first two months of the 2009-2009 season, we’ve had sadomasochistic lesbian crime victims on Life; a dead lesbian astronaut and her grieving partner on Law and Order: SVU; and a dead lesbian victim’s advocate on Without a Trace.”

Unscripted television

So-called reality television is usually so over-the-top that its representation of lesbian and bisexual women is typically far more dramatic than what we find in scripted television. But the histrionics (both on and off screen) surrounding the Grey’s Anatomy fiasco this season were hard to top. In fact, reality television seemed almost tame by comparison.

Lisa Fernandes, Jenn Biesty, and Zoi Antonitsas of Top Chef Season 4

Back in June of this year, writer Malinda Lo reported that with the concurrent broadcast of Bravo’s Work Out, and Top Chef, Shot at Love 2 With Tila Tequila and Logo’s Gimme Sugar:

For the first time ever in television history, this week there are at least a dozen lesbian/bi women on prime-time TV in reality shows on three different networks….These women range in age from 20 to their late 30s, have many different interests and personalities, and even represent some diversity in race, with several Asian-American lesbian/bi women among them.

While the sheer volume of lesbian and bi characters supplied by these programs was comforting, the quality of representation on the shows varied wildly. Top Chef was easily the most benign of the group, but Jackie Warner’s Work Out was, for the third season running, a hot bed of lesbian intrigue, betrayal, controversy and smack talk.

Jackie Warner (left) and Rebecca Cardon of Bravo’s Work Out

Similarly, Gimme Sugar placed friendships between lesbian and bi women in the foreground, but with the bisexual character taking more than her share of grief from her lesbian friends simply for being bisexual.

The cast of Logo’s Gimme Sugar

Of course, all of these issues seem insignificant when compared to the Tila Tequila dating-show train-wreck, Shot at Love 2, which regularly employed trashy, offensive, and hyper-sexual stereotypes about lesbians or bisexual women (or heterosexual men, for that matter) in its hot pursuit of a mate of either gender for its host.

Tila and her suitors

Other notable queer women in realty television in 2008 included Tabatha Coffey in her Shear Genius spin-off, Tabatha’s Salon Takeover; Elina Ivanova from America’s Next Top Model (which, this season, also included an MTF transgender contestant, Isis); and Cat Cora on Iron Chef America.

Actual lesbian and bisexual women on non-reality television

While it seems there will always be a place for lesbians and bisexual women in the unruly world of reality television, what was perhaps most notable about the representation of “real” queer women on television this year was the high number of out lesbian and bisexual actors (and one particularly notable newswoman) regularly seen on daytime and primetime broadcast and cable television.

Ellen DeGeneres (right) with Portia De Rossi

The most high-profile out lesbian on television continued to be Ellen DeGeneres, who in 2008 made headlines with her wedding to Portia De Rossi in August and won an Emmy for Outstanding Talk Show Host for her work on her talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

Former talk show host Rosie O’Donnell’s attempt at a TV comeback with her variety show, Rosie Live!, was not well received, however, by critics or viewers.

Air America vet Rachel Maddow made a big splash on television this year when she became the first out lesbian to host a primetime news or political commentary show on American television with The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC. When asked by AfterEllen.com about being an openly gay journalist, she talked about the importance about being out:

That’s the thing that we owe the people who came before us who are the pioneers, and that’s the thing we owe the next generation of gay people in terms of clearing the way and making life easier for them. I think that there is a moral imperative to be out, and I think that if you’re not out, you have to come to an ethical understanding with yourself why you are not. And it shouldn’t be something that is excused lightly. I don’t think that people should be forced out of the closet, but I think that every gay person, sort of, ought to push themselves in that regard. Because it’s not just you. It’s for the community and it’s for the country.
Watching Maddow’s coverage of the 2008 presidential election left more than one lesbian wishing that Maddow was running for office herself.

While we can safely file that idea under “Maybe, Someday,” for now we can amuse ourselves by watching Tony Award-winning out lesbian actor Cherry Jones play the U.S. president on 24.

In 2008, openly bisexual actor Saffron Burrows starred in the new NBC series, My Own Worst Enemy, while the always hilarious out actress Jane Lynch trotted across multiple networks to make memorable appearances on The L Word, My Name is Earl, Psych, and Two and a Half Men.

Other out actors on television in 2008 included Jasika Nicole on Fringe (Fox), Sara Gilbert on Big Bang Theory (CBS), Kirsten Vangsness on the crime drama Criminal Minds (CBS), and Lily Tomlin in a guest role on Desperate Housewives. (ABC)

The Year Ahead

If 2008 was a disappointment for lesbian and bisexual representation on television, we can at least look forward to what looks to be a bountiful 2009.

In the first half of the year alone, we can expect the return of The L Word, Exes and Ohs, Nip/Tuck (with out lesbian actor Portia De Rossi again playing a lesbian character), and the American debut of Mistresses on BBC America. New mid-season comedies will also bring more out actors as series regulars, including De Rossi in Better Off Ted, and Sarah Paulson in Cupid.

2009 also brings an out bisexual woman on Real World: Brooklyn, Last Comic Standing Co-Executive Producer Page Hurwitz’s latest project, Comedy Road Show, and maybe, just maybe, the long-awaited US

version of the popular British prison drama Bad Girls on HBO (just in time for Showtime to possibly debut their women-in-prison drama – the L Word spin-off).

And if after all that, your appetite for lesbian and bisexual representation on television in 2009 still hasn’t been satiated, then consider this: Tila Tequila has abdicated her Shot at Love throne to the “world’s hottest twins” – bisexual sisters Rikki and Vikki Ikki – in A Double Shot at Love with the Ikki Twins, doubling the exploitation and doubling the un-fun.

That L Word spin-off is sounding better already, isn’t it?

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