TV

Foreign Affairs: Worldwide on the Web

Explorers, today we’re embarking on an especially exotic journey and heading into the wild. The world wild web, that is.

Web shows aren’t for everybody. Some people don’t like them. Some people used to not like them and then they came across a web show with a sexy queer vampire who attends a college that puts Sunnydale high to shame. Some were always on board, generally speaking, but weren’t always sure where to go to find the content. Whether you want to try something new, or just haven’t found the one to “turn you” yet, this one’s for you.

Here’s the deal when it comes to web shows: The quality isn’t always the best, the episodes aren’t very long, and the shows can come to an abrupt end, leaving you broken-hearted, swimming in a pile of comfort food on the floor. So you see? It can be tricky.

But there’s something to be said about web shows—you can watch them no matter where you are. No mean zone restriction messages, just simple YouTube/Vimeo and co. And, when they get it right, they get it really right.

The language, though, is a different matter. We can’t always be so lucky and get international shows from our friends in the north, down under, or over the pond (even though they supply us with quite a lot of material).

But here’s a fun thought for our bilingual readers: A good friend of mine contacted Felicia Day years ago and offered to do Hebrew captions for The Guild (which I always refer to as “the mother of all webs hows” because let’s face it, it is.) Felicia said yes, and the result was a Youtube channel with Hebrew captions for the episodes. Web shows creators are usually way more accessible than TV peeps, and furthermore, they like to communicate. And so, if any of you try and do something similar to what I mentioned above and it works out and we end with English subtitles, let us know! We’ll make sure everybody knows about it!

“Know about what, Chen? You haven’t told us anything interesting yet.”

Sheesh, I know, OK? I know. This was just a little stalling technique, because truth be told, the wild can get intense, but, I’m ready if you are.

Let’s head to one of the more LGBT-friendly destinations we’ve been to, I’m talking about the country that brought us Carmilla. Yes, welcome to Canada once more!

AfterEllen’s romance with Out With Dad started five years ago. The show, which finished its third season (that’s 42 episodes that you guys can watch!) is set in Toronto both on and off screen. It is the coming of age story of the 15-year-old Rose, who lives with her single dad, and is trying to figure out her sexuality.

There’s also Vanessa, Rose’s best friend-turned-girlfriend. I think you know what it’s like when you’re young, and queer, and have a best friend. Confusing, is what it’s like. Vanessa’s story was complicated too, which is why she got her own spin-off.

Check out the trailer for the first season and remember, if you like it, you can just go on and watch it all!

Rose and Vanessa. Some things are complicated, some are super simple.

The people behind the show are gearing up for the fourth season, and, there’s more: Jason Leaver and Nadine Bell (who created LesLieVille) have co-created a new show, But, How Do I Have Sex? The dramedy, which will shoot in Toronto later this year, will follow the lives of a lesbian woman who isn’t entirely comfortable with her label just yet, and her best friend, a wheelchair-bound straight guy, as each try to figure out how you date (and of course, have sex) when there’s something that limits you. Our lesbian girl, by the way, is Kate Conway, the same actress who portrays Rose Miller in Out with Dad.

Here’s the trailer. And their official website.

But oh, we’re not done with Toronto based shows. B.J. Fletcher Private Eye, was also covered by AfterEllen! The series follows the shenanigans of the crazy PI whom the show is named after. She has a sidekick/best friend/love interest in Georgia. And you can watch it all on the official website! Isn’t it grand?

Toronto seems to be a really good place for LGBT related web shows. It was brought to my attention, that last year, during the first Toronto WebFest, a special award was given to an outstanding LGBTQ web series (which was given to the British “The Vessel” but that’s beside the point.)

Go Canada and thanks for all the maple!

But enough about how much we love Canada, really, we’re gonna make it blush. Off to Vietnam we go, to discuss the show My Best Gay Friend (Bß?Ö ba ?æ?® th?Áa, which actually means something along the lines of “The Bitchy Trio.”)

The show, which was created by an openly out gay student, had a very nice following and touched the lives of three gay roommates. It came to be when the creator wanted to show a more realistic representation of the gay lives, other than the negative portrayal productions in Vietnam used to show until then. While none of the lead trio is a queer female (they are all gay man), the show is very LGBTQ oriented, with a transgender actor in the role of one of the lead’s mothers, and guest lesbian characters.

Episode 9 even deals with a lesbian wedding. Cindy Thai Tai, the first openly transsexual person in Vietnam, even guest starred in this episode. No doubt, the whole thing sounds intriguing, which is why I’m happy to report that you can watch it all right here with English subtitles!

Let’s stay in the eastern region of the world and head to another country which shows big love for LGBTQ characters—Australia. One of Australia’s first and most famous web shows is The Newtown Girls, another show we’ve ran in the past.

Show’s producer, Natalie Krikowa, explained that the Australian TV industry is relatively small compared to the parallel industries in the US and the UK. This format, allows for wider range of representation.

The show is following Scarlet’s journey to find love, in Newtown, a suburb of Sydney, Australia. There’s an exploration of the queer community of Newtown, which also means a lot of drama in the ten-part series, especially since Scarlet was absent from the scene for a whole year, getting over her broken heart, outside of the country.

When Scarlet gets back, she’s a girl on a mission. She has a list to check items off of, and a soul mate to find. Quickly enough she learns that getting a job might be the easiest item on that list. Things with her best friend are complicated, the whole soul mate thing is proving to be hard, but hey, one step at the time, at least she set up her Twitter account.

If this wasn’t enough to trigger your interest, you should know that there are girls kissing within the first minute of the show and that there are probably four potential pairs to ship. Oh, and Debra Ades has a bit of Amy Adams in her, which makes one go “score!” if you ask me.

The show even has an on-line store for merchandise! Huzzah!

While the show ended, you can watch all 10 episodes here, and, there’s a bright side! When I asked Natalie about the future of Newtown, even after all these years, she said never say never! Also, Julie Kalceff, who was both a writer and a director on the show, is currently writing and directing another web show you might wanna check out: Starting From….Now, which follows the adventures of four lesbians in Sydney. Three whole seasons are available for your enjoyment, and you can help them make season 4! You know you want to!

Last, but not least, is Argentina’s Lado C.

The show, which is produced and filmed in Buenos Aires, follows a group of childhood friends as they re-live part of their past by listening to tapes, as in cassettes. Hence the name Side C.

The show is extremely LGBTQ friendly, as a matter of fact, it was pretty much created for the LGBTQ community, with one Lesbian character (Mia), a transgender woman with a surprising secret (Zoe), and Rita, who’s pansexual. The production makes sure to take part in LGBTQ related activities as promoting equality means a lot to them. Here‘s a video the cast shot in 2013, protesting the anti-gay laws that passed in Russia. It’s hardly the only thing they’ve done. I think we approve of them before we even began talking about the show.

It’s a rare project in the media world of the last few years, since it’s a sit-com. You get the laughs track and everything. The show describes itself as touching on the subjects of identity, sexual diversity, acceptance, tolerance, and many other subjects relevant to nowadays.

Here are some other things to consider: The actors break the fourth wall quite often, adding to the general meta feel of the whole thing.

In the opening sequence of the show we meet geeky roommates whose living room is decorated with Charmander and a megazord.

Their music is entirely original from the opening theme, through the underscore and the ending song. As a matter of fact, each episode ends with a song by a different indie band that submitted its work to the production. LGBTQ friendly and helping to promote artists? Not too bad.

We also can’t ignore the fact that Mia’s ringtone is what used to be Sugar Rush‘s opening song. (OK, it’s famous for a thousand other reasons, but our logic is a gay one.)

Bonus: Did I mention Mia is a redhead? I was promised that she will find herself attached to someone by the end of the season. Maybe that someone is the mysterious Alma in the photo below?

And most importantly, first episode is up for viewing with English subtitles! Producer Sabrina Sanguinetti assured me that all six episodes of the first season will be up soon (hopefully April, but no promises), subtitles included! There are currently working on Season 2.

Thanks to my special Spanish consultant, Constanza, who you should follow because she’s a fierce superstar. Be sure to check Lado C out! But wait, we’re not done yet, for it is a tradition by now to take out your notepads for more tidbits.

Also from Argentina, is Plan V, available both in Spanish and English!

Make sure you check out Brazil’s RED, which we recommended not so long ago.

A definite favorite is Spain’s Chica Busca Chica, which was so successful that after a six years journey, it was turned into a movie.

Since we can never get enough of Canadian content, I’d like to mention Seeking Simone. (We ran them!) The show was an official selection by the Inside Out—Toronto’s LGBT Film Festival, and you can see the entirety of its two seasons here.

A few years back, a campaign was launched to help the German show Emma Stahl come to life. The show was about to have everything you can possibly dream of. A kick ass special agent lesbian lead, tons of action, high production value and a Verbotene Liebe alum. Emma was meant to be a player, with a more serious romantic development as the show went on, but sadly, after finishing the campaign and shooting a very appealing trailer, the producers realized they wanted so much more for the show. Production stopped, but they’re seriously thinking about coming back in a platform TBD, so hopefully, you haven’t seen the last of the special agent!

This concludes this series of opening columns. I promised you a friendly competition to see which country is in the lead of the BLT chart after all the additions you send me. Remember, this is counting the number of TV shows, past and present, that had BLT characters in them. Here are the top 5.

UK (Scotland and Wales included): 37 shows

Australia: 20 shows

Spain: 10 shows

Israel: 9 shows

Canada and Germany: 8 shows each (I don’t believe Israel is rated higher than Canada. While I’m very proud, I call on you, Canadians, to tell me if I missed something!)

It’s been a pleasure, explorers, and whether or not we’ll have a worldly recap every week, is really up to you and the tips you will send to [email protected] . If you’d let me know about it, I’ll let the rest know about it, too! Hope you enjoyed this journey as much as I did!

Follow me on Twitter: @shokoshik.

Lesbian Apparel and Accessories Gay All Day sweatshirt -- AE exclusive

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Back to top button