Cucumber is disappotg TV – which is why we need more gay dramas | Televisn | The Guardian

Contents:

• CUCUMBER IS DISAPPOTG TV – WHICH IS WHY WE NEED MORE GAY DRAMAS
• ARE BOB THE TOMATO AND LARRY THE CUCUMBER GAY? PHIL VISCHER, SEMLER WEIGH IN
• ARE BOB THE TOMATO AND LARRY THE CUCUMBER GAY? PHIL VISCHER, SEMLER WEIGH IN
• BOB THE TOMATO, LARRY THE CUCUMBER ARE NOT GAY, SAYS VEGGIETAL CREATOR

CUCUMBER IS DISAPPOTG TV – WHICH IS WHY WE NEED MORE GAY DRAMAS

It’s hard to overstate the impact of Queer as Folk for those, like me, who grew up gay the late 90s. The sharply wrten and unpromisg cktail of hedonism, humour and human drama saw mastream TV feature gay characters whout rortg to phemism or uchg their sexualy terms of shame or tragedy.

The first is disappotment that the show’s characters portray a negative image of gay men as sex-obssed narcissists. The send argu that Cucumber shouldn’t have to be all thgs to all gay people. We should be celebratg the fact that a show unpromisgly gay enough to feature a lengthy monologue about Ryan Reynolds’ penis is beg aired at all.

ARE BOB THE TOMATO AND LARRY THE CUCUMBER GAY? PHIL VISCHER, SEMLER WEIGH IN

An anthology seri focg on a broar spectm of LGBTQ characters, not only is a sharper, more tightly wrten show, but also has the potential to serve as a great sprgboard for up-and-g gay wrers and performers. It would have been a better, braver choice for a Channel 4 flagship urse, we have ma signifint stris gay reprentatn sce 1999, and gay characters are more visible mastream drama and edy than ever before.

ARE BOB THE TOMATO AND LARRY THE CUCUMBER GAY? PHIL VISCHER, SEMLER WEIGH IN

Gay televisn dramas need to be ee to fail, and gay characters to be fully round human begs rather than walkg issu. In a tweet that appears to have been leted, Twter er Qun Smh said, “@philvischer was Milwkee at a @relientK ncert, and @gracebaldridge suggted that Bob & Larry are gay, n you nfirm?

” From his rponse, is unclear whether Vischer was nyg that the VeggieTal characters are gay, or if he was simply sayg that he uldn’t publicly nfirm the theory. Tweetg a screenshot of the teractn between Smh and Vischer, Semler said, “LET THE CARTOON VEGETABLES BE GAY PHIL. While Foreman ma further ments about holdg space for differg views, leavg some ambiguy as to whether he believ homosexualy is sful, Semler terpreted his rponse as affirmg.

The creator of the 1999 BBC seri Queer As Folk has ma three new TV seri about gay men and women — and two of them are g to the U.

BOB THE TOMATO, LARRY THE CUCUMBER ARE NOT GAY, SAYS VEGGIETAL CREATOR

Cucumber, the ma show, tells the story of Henry, a middle-aged gay man and his life and his lov and his adventur.