Love, Sidney May Just Be the First Gay Sitcom
Added 2021-05-22 20:04:27 +0000 UTC“Alison” (May 16, 1983)
Most of you haven’t had the chance to watch Love, Sidney, the the NBC series that ran from 1981 to 1983 and which featured Tony Randall as the title character — a gay man who is out to everyone but the audience. The show features queer themes more than you’ve been led to believe, perhaps, and interestingly it’s the hourlong episode “Alison” that showcases Sidney’s sexuality by giving him a female love interest. What results is poignant, personal and more progressive than you’d expect from a broadcast network sitcom at the time. To discuss this landmark show, we are joined by Steven Capsuto, author and historian focusing on queer representation of television.
Buy the revised edition of Steven’s book, Alternate Channels: Queer Images on 20th-Century TV.
Watch the TV movie that preceded Love, Sidney, Sidney Shorr, A Girl’s Best Friend.
Read Charles Morrow’s article on Tony Randall, “Love, Lennie.”
Watch Drew’s video compilation of every LGBT joke ever on the history of The Simpsons.
Buy Glen’s movie, Being Frank.
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This episode’s outro track is “Love Resurrection” by Allison Moyet: Apple Music • Spotify • Amazon Music
Comments
This was such a great episode! I really feel in touch with the warmth of this show from the clips you played and the discussion in general. I'm also fascinated by the existence of this genre(?) of show. The open secret of the underlying sexuality makes the show even more interesting to dissect!
Alan Defibaugh
2021-05-25 22:28:29 +0000 UTCI always try to find the episode under discussion first, so, crud.
Timothy Burleson
2021-05-24 03:37:55 +0000 UTCNo. As we discuss at the top of the podcast, it’s not available anywhere public.
Drew Mackie
2021-05-24 03:33:30 +0000 UTCHate to sound like a broken record, but is this anywhere? Checked all the streaming and (cough ahem) other sources and nothing.
Timothy Burleson
2021-05-24 03:20:40 +0000 UTC
