ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 31, 1995 TAG: 9512290038
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KEN LITTLEFIELD KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
Take a sharp look back and TV-1995 was edgier and riskier than you might think. Despite the absence of new hit series, despite the excess of really bad new sitcoms, 1995 was the year that Gay Came to Stay on prime-time TV.
Finally, gayness wasn't just a verboten titillation anymore. Suddenly, gayness was cool. Although gay characters still weren't allowed to connect physically in prime time, homosexuality became a topic deemed safe, sanctioned and wide open for discussion on series old and new.
And characters of all sexual persuasions pattered about it, from straight ``Single Guy'' Jonathan Silverman 'fessing up after being mistaken for gay to ``Friends''' Chandler (Matthew Perry) worrying about seeming gay to others, to a recent gay wedding on ``Roseanne,'' to Detective Lesniak (Justine Miceli) saying she's lesbian - then not being sure - on ``NYPD Blue,'' to ground-breaking sleazy gay lawyer Alex Chosek (Brad Garrett) on sadly canceled NBC sitcom ``Pursuit of Happiness.''
``TV is doing better [in its portrayal of gays and lesbians] than it's done in the past,'' Tamra King, entertainment media director of GLADD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), said from Los Angeles.
``GLADD's mission is to promote fair, accuarate and inclusive images in all media - and it's certainly been a great fall TV season in regard to that. Brad Garrett on `The Pursuit of Happiness' was especially great because he wasn't stereotypical. That's always refreshing to see as opposed to the usual stereotypes of gay florists and hairdressers - so the world knows that we're actually in every profession.''
Yet as TV's relationship to gayness grows, it isn't all sweetness and light.
Ironically, while gay stays the hot conversation topic among straight sitcom characters - in a recent stunt stint on ``Friends'' ``Caroline in the City's'' Lea Thompson mistook Chandler and Joey for a gay couple with a baby, and Roger (Louis Mandylor) fought his own homophobia by getting a massage from a man on a recent ``Can't Hurry Love'' - NBC canceled TV's most realistic gay character, Garrett's Alex on ``Pursuit of Happiness.''
Granted, ``Pursuit'' was hardly the best of this fall's new sitcom litter, despite the abilities of Garrett and the rest of ``Pursuit's'' able cast, including fine comic Larry Miller. Yes, ``Pursuit's'' low ratings post-``Frasier'' were a disappointment to NBC.
Still, NBC pulled ``Pursuit's'' plug too soon. In November ``Pursuit'' was finally finding its stride. And now Alex's absence from prime time is a sad reversal of openmindedness, a blow against letting gay characters be just as flawed and imperfect and human as everyone else.
``Usually a gay has to be a great citizen and love animals,'' Garrett, 36, said by phone shortly after NBC announced the cancellation of ``Pursuit.''
``But I knew Alex was something different, not a caricature, certainly not swishy. He wore his heart on his sleeve, but also he was just such a low life - gay but a ruthless lawyer with no scruples at all. Maybe he was given a little more freedom to express himself (than a straight character would have received). But then most male characters are written so shallowly anyway.''
In fact, Alex was exactly the type of barrier-breaking gay character you'd expect from openly gay ``Pursuit'' producer David Lee (``Frasier,'' ``Wings'') - indeed maybe a little too barrier-breaking.
At 6-foot-8 and 270 pounds, Garrett is a really imposing figure. His Alex was a gay guy who could physically jerk anyone's strings, a legal vulture who could milk whiplash for megabucks.
Garrett said he received many letters from the gay and lesbian community during ``Pursuit's'' short run, saying ``thank you, thank you, for playing a character I can be proud of.' ''
And he isn't worried about being typecast by his short-lived role as Alex.
``Really, it's done nothing but help me. Typecast means you're working, that you've found your type.''
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines KEYWORDS: YEAR 1995by CNB