This in from AfterElton.com:
During Friday’s Television Critics Association conference in Los Angeles, Robert Greenblatt, President of Entertainment for Showtime announced the cable network was ordering two pilots to series, both with significant gay content.
The first announced was the tentatively titled thirty minute dark comedy Nurse Jackie, starring The Sopranos’ Edie Falco as an iconoclastic, opinionated, self-medicating nurse in New York City.
The show also features Haaz Sleiman playing Maurice, a gay Muslim who is one of Jackie’s co-workers and best friends. Regarding the role of Maurice, Greenblatt told AfterElton.com, “He’s a great character. He’s one of the six main characters … a fellow male nurse and is a really good friend of Edie’s character, Jackie.”
According to Greenblatt, the first season will consist of twelve episodes and viewers will have to wait until at least the second episode to learn more about Maurice as the pilot is devoted to setting up the show and introducing Falco as Nurse Jackie. However, a clip shown before Greenblatt spoke at the TCA showed Jackie and Maurice sharing a quiet moment discussing a traumatic event that had occurred earlier during the day.
When asked if Maurice was originally written as a gay Muslim character – something still of a novelty for American television – or was something the network suggested, Greenblatt said, “He was a gay Muslim character [from the start]. We had to find an actor to play that, but it’s not the largest talent pool. We found Haaz Sleiman. He’s a terrific actor.”
The Lebanese-born Sleiman has had roles on 24, ER, Veronica Mars and most recently had a major part in The Visitor, an independent film starring Richard Jenkins (Six Feet Under). However, gay viewers might also recognize Sleiman from Maurice Jamal’s The Ski Trip where he had a small part as Tyson, the muscle-bound date of one of the lead characters.
When Nurse Jackie debuts (reportedly in the first half of 2009) the character of Maurice will likely be the only gay character of Middle Eastern descent currently on the air and one of the few to have ever been portrayed on television. Past Middle Eastern characters include Kenny (Rami Malek) from The War at Home, Vince Taylor (Anthony Azizi) from Commander in Chief, and Salim (Omid Abtahi) from Sleeper Cell (which also aired on Showtime).
Greenblatt also announced that The United States of Tara, starring Toni Collette, had been ordered to series. Based on an idea by Steven Spielberg and written by Academy Award-winning writer Diablo Cody, the comedy features Collette as Tara, a suburban mother suffering from dissociative identity disorder (more commonly known as multiple personality disorder). Her various personalities include a rebellious teen girl, a biker, and others that impact in a variety of ways both her husband (John Corbett) as well as her children including out gay teen Marshall.
Greenblatt told AfterElton.com that Marshall will be played by fifteen-year-old Keir Gilchrist and is “an interesting character because the family is very open to [his being gay]. [He’s] just another character in the family and they are all very matter of fact about it.”
Greenblatt wasn’t certain, but believed the character of Marshall is fourteen-years-old. Given the possible negative reaction some viewers might have to a young gay teen, will USoT deal forthrightly with the topic or will gay viewers be left to deduce Marshall’s gayness? “It’s pretty clear in the pilot [he’s gay],” said Greenblatt. “It’s really kind of cool what they are doing because it’s just very matter of fact and some of [Tara’s] alternate personalities treat him differently and aren’t as tolerant of him as the rest of the family.”
Gilchrist born in London, England though currently living in Canada, made his first television appearance at age ten, ironically enough on an episode of Showtime’s Queer as Folk. He has since appeared on Life with Derek, Family Guy, and most recently on Rob Corddry’s short-lived sitcom The Winner. He has nearly a dozen film credits including Saint Ralph, Dead Silence and the upcoming Rainn Wilson comedy The Rocker.
Given Greenblatt's comments and the fact that cable networks such as Showtime are often more able to deal frankly with “delicate” subject matter such as younger gay teens, it seems probable that Marshall’s gayness will be dealt with frankly and not in a “very special way” sort of storyline that runs for three episodes and then disappears.
Indeed, Greenblatt said that is the network’s goal and where he believes the future of gay characters will be found — at least on his network. “I think what we’re going to see more of, as opposed to QAF with ten gay characters or The L Word with ten lesbian characters, I think were going to hopefully start seeing more and more shows where it is just part of the world, just another person in the universe of the show and in the case of most of our shows a lot isn’t made of it. It’s just a fact of life.”
Asked why Showtime has such a good track record with GLBT visibility with shows such as The Tudors, Weeds, QAF, and the ongoing series The L Word (Greenblatt also announced on Friday that a possible The L Word spin-off is in the works ), the entertainment president said, “We always are encouraging [diversity] and we try to make it organic and not force it. We are a network that needs to go places other networks don’t go and because there is very little gay [representation], or very many characters of color at all anywhere on TV, that is a place we can go. We have a large gay audience so we are very happy to go there and a lot of our shows have done it.”
Showtime's GLBT diversity has not gone unnoticed. In its most recent Network Responsibility Index, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) recently gave the network a "good" rating for its portrayal of gays and lesbians.
However positive, many of those gay characters and storylines have been relatively small, often receiving little screentime. Sanjay (Maulik Pancholy) has only appeared in 19 of Weeds’ 50 episodes, frequently for only a few minutes each episode while The Tudors recent gay storyline was one of many in a show with a very large cast. That storyline also recently ended in the characters’ deaths.
Both Nurse Jackie and The United States of Tara place their gay characters much closer to the central character and their storyline, thereby offering greater opportunity to integrate them into the show, giving them more screentime and possibly larger storylines.
Other good news regarding gay visibility coming from Showtime included Greenblatt’s announcement that Mary Louise Parker’s series Weeds would be returning for two more seasons; Weeds’ creator Jenji Kohan told AfterElton.com that in upcoming episodes from this season viewers could expect to see more of the pot-selling Sanjay, who will rejoin Nancy Botwin (Parker) and her family in their new Southern California locale.
The first announced was the tentatively titled thirty minute dark comedy Nurse Jackie, starring The Sopranos’ Edie Falco as an iconoclastic, opinionated, self-medicating nurse in New York City.
The show also features Haaz Sleiman playing Maurice, a gay Muslim who is one of Jackie’s co-workers and best friends. Regarding the role of Maurice, Greenblatt told AfterElton.com, “He’s a great character. He’s one of the six main characters … a fellow male nurse and is a really good friend of Edie’s character, Jackie.”
According to Greenblatt, the first season will consist of twelve episodes and viewers will have to wait until at least the second episode to learn more about Maurice as the pilot is devoted to setting up the show and introducing Falco as Nurse Jackie. However, a clip shown before Greenblatt spoke at the TCA showed Jackie and Maurice sharing a quiet moment discussing a traumatic event that had occurred earlier during the day.
When asked if Maurice was originally written as a gay Muslim character – something still of a novelty for American television – or was something the network suggested, Greenblatt said, “He was a gay Muslim character [from the start]. We had to find an actor to play that, but it’s not the largest talent pool. We found Haaz Sleiman. He’s a terrific actor.”
The Lebanese-born Sleiman has had roles on 24, ER, Veronica Mars and most recently had a major part in The Visitor, an independent film starring Richard Jenkins (Six Feet Under). However, gay viewers might also recognize Sleiman from Maurice Jamal’s The Ski Trip where he had a small part as Tyson, the muscle-bound date of one of the lead characters.
When Nurse Jackie debuts (reportedly in the first half of 2009) the character of Maurice will likely be the only gay character of Middle Eastern descent currently on the air and one of the few to have ever been portrayed on television. Past Middle Eastern characters include Kenny (Rami Malek) from The War at Home, Vince Taylor (Anthony Azizi) from Commander in Chief, and Salim (Omid Abtahi) from Sleeper Cell (which also aired on Showtime).
Greenblatt also announced that The United States of Tara, starring Toni Collette, had been ordered to series. Based on an idea by Steven Spielberg and written by Academy Award-winning writer Diablo Cody, the comedy features Collette as Tara, a suburban mother suffering from dissociative identity disorder (more commonly known as multiple personality disorder). Her various personalities include a rebellious teen girl, a biker, and others that impact in a variety of ways both her husband (John Corbett) as well as her children including out gay teen Marshall.
Greenblatt told AfterElton.com that Marshall will be played by fifteen-year-old Keir Gilchrist and is “an interesting character because the family is very open to [his being gay]. [He’s] just another character in the family and they are all very matter of fact about it.”
Greenblatt wasn’t certain, but believed the character of Marshall is fourteen-years-old. Given the possible negative reaction some viewers might have to a young gay teen, will USoT deal forthrightly with the topic or will gay viewers be left to deduce Marshall’s gayness? “It’s pretty clear in the pilot [he’s gay],” said Greenblatt. “It’s really kind of cool what they are doing because it’s just very matter of fact and some of [Tara’s] alternate personalities treat him differently and aren’t as tolerant of him as the rest of the family.”
Gilchrist born in London, England though currently living in Canada, made his first television appearance at age ten, ironically enough on an episode of Showtime’s Queer as Folk. He has since appeared on Life with Derek, Family Guy, and most recently on Rob Corddry’s short-lived sitcom The Winner. He has nearly a dozen film credits including Saint Ralph, Dead Silence and the upcoming Rainn Wilson comedy The Rocker.
Given Greenblatt's comments and the fact that cable networks such as Showtime are often more able to deal frankly with “delicate” subject matter such as younger gay teens, it seems probable that Marshall’s gayness will be dealt with frankly and not in a “very special way” sort of storyline that runs for three episodes and then disappears.
Indeed, Greenblatt said that is the network’s goal and where he believes the future of gay characters will be found — at least on his network. “I think what we’re going to see more of, as opposed to QAF with ten gay characters or The L Word with ten lesbian characters, I think were going to hopefully start seeing more and more shows where it is just part of the world, just another person in the universe of the show and in the case of most of our shows a lot isn’t made of it. It’s just a fact of life.”
Asked why Showtime has such a good track record with GLBT visibility with shows such as The Tudors, Weeds, QAF, and the ongoing series The L Word (Greenblatt also announced on Friday that a possible The L Word spin-off is in the works ), the entertainment president said, “We always are encouraging [diversity] and we try to make it organic and not force it. We are a network that needs to go places other networks don’t go and because there is very little gay [representation], or very many characters of color at all anywhere on TV, that is a place we can go. We have a large gay audience so we are very happy to go there and a lot of our shows have done it.”
Showtime's GLBT diversity has not gone unnoticed. In its most recent Network Responsibility Index, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) recently gave the network a "good" rating for its portrayal of gays and lesbians.
However positive, many of those gay characters and storylines have been relatively small, often receiving little screentime. Sanjay (Maulik Pancholy) has only appeared in 19 of Weeds’ 50 episodes, frequently for only a few minutes each episode while The Tudors recent gay storyline was one of many in a show with a very large cast. That storyline also recently ended in the characters’ deaths.
Both Nurse Jackie and The United States of Tara place their gay characters much closer to the central character and their storyline, thereby offering greater opportunity to integrate them into the show, giving them more screentime and possibly larger storylines.
Other good news regarding gay visibility coming from Showtime included Greenblatt’s announcement that Mary Louise Parker’s series Weeds would be returning for two more seasons; Weeds’ creator Jenji Kohan told AfterElton.com that in upcoming episodes from this season viewers could expect to see more of the pot-selling Sanjay, who will rejoin Nancy Botwin (Parker) and her family in their new Southern California locale.
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