I really like my Entertainment Weekly subscription. It was a total suckered-in kind of thing. I got the “free trial” that I was going to cancel before the not-free period began. Right. But I enjoy the magazine, and I particularly appreciate the subscription when I learn of fun things – such as the Entertainment Weeky/TV Land special The 50 Greatest TV Icons, scheduled to air this Friday night.
I’ll be out of town on Friday night, but my DVR is already set. I love me some TV and I want to know who is crowned the Greatest TV Icon of all time. I know who I’d pick: Kermit the Frog. Unfortunately, I suspect that Kermit will not be number one because he’s pictured in the listing in the magazine. Where would the suspense be then?
But let’s watch a video of TV icon Kermit singing his iconic song, “The Rainbow Connection,” with punk icon Debbie Harry –
just because it’s fun.
A number of the other icons have also been explicitly or implicitly mentioned in one news source or another: Simon Cowell, Ed Sullivan,
Andy Griffith, Homer Simpson, Lassie, Milton Berle.
And there are some women, too.
Lucille Ball
is an obvious one. (I feel a sad connection to her because she died on my birthday.) Susan Lucci is a less obvious one. (I feel an affectionate connection because I was her one Halloween. My friend was an Emmy running away from me.) Oprah, of course, is one of the top icons. As is Carol Burnett (whom I sat near in a restaurant once.) Finally, there’s Buffy. And, of course, Ellen DeGeneres. The other 37 or so are a secret and will be revealed on Friday night. (Can you handle the suspense?) It’s fairly easy to speculate about some of the others. I’ll bet Mary Tyler Moore will be one. (I may have seen that confirmed somewhere.) I’d like to see Maude (Bea Arthur) in there. Someone from The Brady Bunch has to be there, as does Fonzie from Happy Days. I’m sure I could go on. But I won’t.
Instead, I’ll muse for a moment about the TV icons that mattered most to me when I was growing up glued to the TV set. That’s right: the lesbian icon (or dykon, if you prefer). Ellen, of course, will represent, but I was an adult by the time she was on the scene. The lesbian icons I’m talking about are the ones I glommed onto when I was an impressionable youth. These characters were not actually out lesbians, but they were as lesbian as TV got during my childhood – with one from my adulthood thrown in for good measure. So here are my top five.
5. Letita “Buddy” Lawrence (Kristy McNichol) – Family She was always dating or interested in boys – Willie Aames, Leif Garrett – but little Buddy was the baby dyke character of the ’70s. When she was afraid of her lesbian teacher (Blair Brown), I knew that it was her own feelings she really feared.
4. Charlie’s Angels (Farrah Fawcett, Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith) – Charlie’s Angels They were athletic and smart and knew martial arts. Enough said. I know that Sabrina (Kate Jackson) was the one whom most young lesbians found most compelling, but I was always drawn to Kelly (Jaclyn Smith). I guess I’ve always liked a girly-girl who can kick ass.
3. Jaime Sommers (Lindsay Wagner) – The Bionic Woman This is another no-brainer. Yes, she was romantically involved with Steve Austin at one point, but they dispensed with that relationship as soon as she got bionic. And she was a professional tennis player. And she was hot.
2. Jane Lane – Daria I was an adult when Daria
was on the air. And Jane, of course, was a cartoon character. But if my Emmy-costume friend could have a crush on Flounder (the fish best friend in The Little Mermaid), I figured I could have a crush on Jane. Yes, she dated Tom for a while, but Jane was the nonconformist artist with the multiple earrings and the bad attitude. She had so much lesbian role model potential.
1. Jo Polniaczek (Nancy McKeon) – The Facts of Life Oh, Jo. You were the
lesbian icon of my youth. I don’t know whether I had a crush on you or identified with you, but you are the most enduring TV icon from my early adolescence. So I crown you Greatest TV Dykon of all time.
Here’s a subtexty clip of Jo and Blair realizing how much more alike than different they are:
So who are your favorite icons, lesbian or otherwise?
