Revisiting the Gayest Moments in TV History

Well this sure sounds fun -- if only my friends and I didn't just have a lengthy (Zoom) conversation about how it's impossible to listen to podcasts without a commute!

"Gayest Episode Ever" is an LGBTQ+ podcast hosted by journalist Drew Mackie and screenwriter Glen Lakin. The podcast has a fun concept -- looking at LGBTQ+ themed episodes from shows past, back when LGBTQ+ characters and storylines were rare and (often) done terribly. "Gayest Episode Ever" is not only touching, funny and smart, but it also provides insightful commentary on the evolution of queer representation, gay rights and how culture can both affect, and be affected by, what we see on TV. 

Many of the shows highlighted on the podcast include "The Golden Girls," "I Love Lucy," "Perfect Strangers," "The Nanny," "Night Court," "Scooby-Doo," "American Dad," "The Simpsons" and "The New Adventures of Old Christine," among many others.

I see they also cover a bunch of shows I know quite well -- two "Maude" episodes' Finch's trans friend on "Just Shoot Me" (played by a typecast Jenny McCarthy); "Alice" dating a gay jock; "Jennifer Slept Here" ("Ann Jillian looking like her most Debbie Harry ever") and, of course, the Monroe rape episode of "Too Close for Comfort."

But I'm most interested in hearing what they have to say about a "Barney Miller" episode that really affected me as a child, about a gay couple (Marty and Darryl) who came into the 12th Precinct (which Darryl calls “enemy territory”) to report that a man is extorting gay men by posing as a police officer. I haven't since it since I was about 8, but I remember being so crushed that my lust object -- Max Gail as Detective Wojciehowicz -- was so frightened and weirded out by the fey men and how it made me hate myself because of it.

Check it out on iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud and Stitcher, or visit their website HERE.